Doctor Who: The Many Lives of Doctor Who by Richard Dinnick et al.

 Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor: The Many Lives of Doctor Who

Published: 2018
Acquired: March 2020
Read: November 2021

Writer: Richard Dinnick

Letterers: Sarah Jacobs and John Roshell
Artists: Mariano Laclaustra, Giorgia Sposito, Brian Williamson, Arianna Florean, Claudia Ianniciello, Iolanda Zanfardino, Neil Edwards, Pasquale Qualano, Rachael Stott

Inker: Fer Centurion

Colorists: Carlos Cabrera, Adele Matera, Dijjo Lima, Enrica Eren Angiolini

This story (which is a volume 0 to Titan's Thirteenth Doctor series) takes place while the twelfth Doctor is regenerating into the thirteenth. As this happens, they think about various aspects of their life, leading to a series of mini-stories about all the previous Doctors. I will be honest, I pretty much hated it, mostly thanks to the narration of the Doctor. The twelfth Doctor's speech at the end of "Twice Upon a Time" was ponderous enough; it didn't need this added to it. "Earth. You have a fondness for it. Especially London," they'll think to themself, and then we get a third Doctor adventure. No shit! "Remember Gallifrey. Your home planet?" As the book goes on, they seem to get increasingly strained. "You're not ill all that often. And human medicine isn't really your thing." Is this really stuff intrinsic to the Doctor that they need to be reminded of?

The mini-adventures are fine, but pretty insubstantial, and kind of over-stuffed with continuity callbacks. I get that Titan was trying to capitalize on the thirteenth Doctor hype, and needed some stuff to draw attention to its new offerings, but both this and The Road to the Thirteenth Doctor seemed pretty pointless. The best way to introduce a new Doctor is just to introduce a new Doctor! They don't need all this palaver.

I read an issue of Titan's Doctor Who comic every day (except when I have hard-copy comics to read). Next up in sequence: The Thirteenth Doctor: A New Beginning

Doctor Who: The Road to the Thirteenth Doctor by James Peaty, Iolanda Zanfardino, Pasquale Qualano, Brian Williamson, et al.

 Doctor Who: The Road to the Thirteenth Doctor

Collection published: 2019
Contents originally published: 2018
Acquired: March 2020
Read: November 2021

Writers: James Peaty, Jody Houser
Artists: Iolanda Zanfardino, Pasquale Qualano, Brian Williamson, Rachael Stott

Colorists: Dijjo Lima, Enrica Eren Angiolini
Letterers: Richard Starkings and Jimmy Betancourt

This volume seems pretty pointless. Do new incarnations of the Doctor need "roads" to them? What does that even mean? How can you set up a new incarnation of the Doctor? What it turns out to mean here is three standalone stories about the three previous incarnations of the Doctor, the three who had ongoings from Titan for the previous three years. So we get a tenth Doctor, Gabby, and Cindy adventure; an eleventh Doctor and Alice adventure; and a twelfth Doctor and Bill adventure. Each is fine, but I found the reveals in the tenth Doctor one not very convincing (the monsters look cool but that's it) and the story in the eleventh Doctor one confusing. I don't even remember the twelfth Doctor one. Some Titan writers have done impressive single-issue adventures (mostly the writers on the Eleventh Doctor series), but these are not of them.

Each story is followed by a short back-up featuring the same Doctor, but by the creative team of the upcoming Thirteenth Doctor book and set during an episode of the tv show. In each case, the Doctor sees a hand coming through a time portal, and then does nothing about it, continuing about his business. Having already read the first volume of The Thirteenth Doctor as of this writing, it's pretty pointless set-up, and I don't entirely buy that the Doctor would just ignore each of these time portals and go about his business. Sure, we know it has nothing to do with the events of "The Girl in the Fireplace" or "The Power of Three" or whatever, but how does he? But I do like some Rachael Stott art.

I read an issue of Titan's Doctor Who comic every day (except when I have hard-copy comics to read). Next up in sequence: The Thirteenth Doctor: The Many Lives of Doctor Who

Doctor Who: Vortex Butterflies by Nick Abadzis, Giorgia Sposito, Iolanda Zanfardino, et al.

Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor: Facing Fate, Vol 2: Vortex Butterflies

 

Collection published: 2018
Contents originally published: 2017
Read: September 2021

Writer: Nick Abadzis
Artists: Giorgia Sposito with Arianna Florean & Iolanda Zanfardino
Colorists: Arianna Florean with Nicola Righi
Letterers: Richard Starkings and Jimmy Betancourt

The uphill climb of The Tenth Doctor continues—so help me, I actually enjoyed this! Every time the action flashed to what "Noob" was doing, my interest plummeted, but aside from that, this was a solid tenth Doctor comic. Unlike previous stories in this series, it keeps the focus on the characters and their emotions, following up on the emotional fall-out from the pretty intense things that the tenth Doctor, Gabby, and Cindy have gone through; the appearance of Sarah Jane Smith could be gratuitous, but is a perfect grace note here, too. There's a strong sense of increasing desperation as events escalate (some Titan storylines are pretty badly paced but not this one), and the way the imagery of the Jon Pertwee title sequence is used is pretty damn clever. I am excited to see where this series wraps up in the next volume.

I read an issue of Titan's Doctor Who comic every day (except when I have hard-copy comics to read). Next up in sequence: The Twelfth Doctor: The Wolves of Winter

Review: Doctor Who: Arena of Fear by Nick Abadzis, Eleonora Carlini, Elena Casagrande, Iolanda Zanfardino, et al.

Collection published: 2016
Contents originally published: 2016
Acquired: March 2020
Read: March 2021

Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor, Vol 5: Arena of Fear

Writer: Nick Abadzis
Artists: Eleonora Carlini, Elena Casagrande, Iolanda Zanfardino, with Simone De Meo & Luca Maresca
Colorists: Arianna Florean & Rod Fernandes, with Azzurra Florean
Letters: Richard Starkings and Jimmy Betancourt

When I read this, it had been four months since I read the previous volume of The Tenth Doctor. I guess that volume ended on a cliffhanger? I didn't remember, but this volume begins with our main characters (now including Captain Jack for some reason) in an alien arena without their memories. I guess I should read the "Previously..." notes more carefully, but usually they seem to only contain pretty vague information. Even if I had, I still wouldn't have realized I was supposed to remember the Terileptil from the previous story arc.

This volume continues the downward trajectory of this title. I just don't care about the large cast of recurring characters writer Nick Abadzis insists on bringing to the fore so often. What is up with the evil tech guy? Who cares! Reading about a group of people regain their memories is particularly dull; it's a common sf tv trope, and sometime shows do interesting things with it... but none are to be found here. Really, this arena plotline needed to stick to its two issues in the previous volume, and stay there; it was not a four-issue idea. This series is at its best when it does Russell T Davies pastiche... not whatever this is supposed to be. It actually reads like Chris Chibnall pastiche, a couple years early: a huge cast that mostly just stands there because there's too many of them for most of them to do anything.

from Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor: Year Two #10
(art by Elena Casagrande)

There are two other stories here: an okay short about Cindy getting lost inside the TARDIS (she's a companion now, I guess), and one about a witch in a country village. This has its moments, but Iolanda Zanfardino is not among Titan's great art finds. At least we get a few issues by Elena Casagrande.

I read an issue of Titan's Doctor Who comic every day (except when I have hard-copy comics to read). Next up in sequence: The Twelfth Doctor: The School of Death