Written by Nick AbadzisArtwork by Elena Casagrande
Colours by Arianna Florean
Contains Issues 1-5 of The Tenth Doctor: Year One (Revolutions Of Terror & The Arts In Space)
Revolutions Of Terror:
Gabriella Gonzalez is stuck in a dead-end job in her family's New York Laundromat, dreaming of collage and bigger, better and brighter things
So, when a strange man with an even stranger big blue box barges into her life on the eve of the Day of the Dead celebrations - talking about an infestation of psychic aliens - she seizes her chance for adventure with both hands.
After Donna's tragic exit, the Doctor thought he was done with new companions. But Gabby Gonzalez is going to prove him wrong... if she survives the night!
The Arts In Space:
In exchange for the invaluable assistance she offered defending New York - and to say sorry for dropping into her life like a tornado! - the Doctor has promised Gabby one trip - just one trip! - in the TARDIS.
With the whole universe laid before her, all of time and space, where will Gabriella Gonzalez choose to go? What will they find when they get there... and can one trip in the TARDIS ever be enough?
More importantly, the Doctor has been hurt by the fate of his companions before - and recently! With Donna still fresh in his mind, can Gabby convince him that he shouldn't travel alone, for just a little while longer?
With Titan Comics having acquired the licence for distributing Doctor Who comics in America, it was interesting that they decided to open two split lines of comic strips: one featuring the current eleventh Doctor, and another featuring arguably the most popular modern Doctor, the tenth. And they decided to introduce a new companion in order to set up these stories as a long running arc. And, while I certainly wouldn't even call these strips the best tenth Doctor comics there have ever been, let alone the best Doctor Who strips, the strips in here are well thought-out, well drawn and a nice return for David Tennant's Doctor.
This graphic novel contains two stories: Revolutions Of Terror and The Arts In Space. The first, Revolutions Of Terror, takes it's plot beats from each of the three companion introduction stories that Russell T Davies wrote in his time, and comes across like a homage to that particular style of the programme. And while several of the kinks that dog those stories are here, I don't think Nick Abadzis really adds enough for this to stand up well on it's own. Sure, I really like what he was going for here, and, I have to concede, there are many great moments in this story, particularly between the Doctor and Gabby. My main issue with this story, however, is that, like in that particular era of the programme, this story's monsters, and they're main plan, is of secondary importance to the introduction of Gabby. There's a lot of material dealing with how downtrodden the character is, but it does come across, at times, very heavy handily, and why I did, at times, find the first part a real struggle to read. Once we get thrust into the main bulk of the narrative, the story does pick up speed, and some of the concepts within it are really quite clever. Having a race of creatures that amplify negative emotions to feed on isn't necessarily the most original idea, and it's one that has been done elsewhere. However, here it's treated differently to previous attempts, particularly with regards to the setting and time when the story is set, and I do think that you can put aside the fact that all of this has been done before and just get caught up in the story. I think that this part of the plot is, however, mostly side-lined in order to focus upon Gabby, and setting up her backstory, which I think is a key problem with a lot of recent companion introductions. Their initial story spends far too much time, in my opinion, set them up as characters, and really forcing us to like them, to the point where we're glad when they join the Doctor, and we look forward to seeing how they develop across their travels, rather than telling a strong, well-paced story in it's own right. Partners In Crime did avoid this pitfall, to a certain degree, due to the fact that Donna had already been introduced into the show. But here, Gabby's character becomes the thing that the story becomes centred around, which is ironic, because, to me, there's not a lot there. No, don't get me wrong, she isn't a cypher for the Doctor to bounce exposition off of like the companions could be in the Classic Series, or the indistinct, rather generic cypher that Clara could slip into. But her background can be summed up rather easily: she's a wannabe art student who feels that her life is going in the wrong direction, and she feels like the Doctor can bring that to her. I do actually think, however, that it's a great basis for a companion, and Gabby comes across really well in this story.
Of course, these stories also feature the tenth Doctor. Now, I wasn't a fan of the tenth Doctor on television, but Abadzis makes his character a lot more tolerable here. Maybe it's just all detached from the pen of Davies or the performance of Tennant, but I think this is perhaps closer to the original interpretation of the tenth Doctor, the version that should have perhaps been more dominant on screen. He does have a trendy, geek feel to his character, but he isn't arrogant or mopey or irritating. Of course, he does follow the trend of stories like Rose, Smith And Jones and even Partners In Crime by attempting to keep himself distant from the action. And, in most of those cases, it works quite well, and it's the same here. The Doctor is separate, and on his own, and I really like how this Doctor works when placed in that situation. The character feels less irritating here, and, while there are moments of regret regarding Donna, both here and in the second tale in this set, we do see how the events of Journey's End have affected him, and so that regard, this whole series of strip adventures for the tenth Doctor are filling in a missing link with regards to his story. The rest of the characters are kept mostly to the background, with only Gabby's family really being of any importance. While not as poorly handled as Martha's family, they do come across as slightly one-note, and they end up just feeling rather soulless, with little in the way of character development beyond a sentence explaining their motivations. The reader is too easily drawn into siding with Gabby in my opinion. There's no counterbalance, we're not allowed to see things from Gabby's father's point of view. I feel this is a real misstep, and one that could prove to hurt present-day adventures later in the run. The remained of the characters amounted to little more than cameos, although Gabby's friend Cindy was kind of cool, albeit formed with a few too many 'modern-day American teenager' stereotypes. I have to say that I was really impressed with the art, which captured the story perfectly. It felt a lot like a storyboard for a TV episode, which I think helped give it that really strong impression of it being from that particular point in the shows history. The story itself is very visual, and it's given lots of flair and style. The likeness of the different characters is excellent, and artist Elena Casagrande draws a very good likeness of David Tennant. This is all polished off with some excellent colouring by Arianna Florean. Overall, Revolutions Of Terror is a competent enough start, and while it does contain a few issues and a surprising lack of originality considering the vastness of the format (particularly in a comic strip), Revolutions Of Terror is a decent start that does at least promise good things to come.
The second and final story in this graphic novel, The Arts In Space, is a huge step-up from the first, and one of the most imaginative Doctor Who strips I've come across. It takes the standard story you'd expect had David Tennant done a fourth season, and takes Gabby for her first trip into outer space. However, while Russell had a tendency to anchor his futuristic tales firmly in the present day, Abadzis really lets his imagination run away with him, and the result is a really clever and engaging strip that presents a truly alien culture really well and vividly. His presentation of the tenth Doctor here is even better than in the first story, with him namedropping the great and the good every five seconds and getting stuck into the mystery of what's going on. The tenth Doctor was always at his best when he wasn't showing off, or having an emotional crisis, but just acting like the Doctor of the classic show: dark and dramatic when the situation needed it, yes, but just getting on with trying to solve the mystery or fix the problem. He does get to show off to TARDIS newcomer Gabby, but it's all in good faith, and rather than showing off about himself, he's showing off the wonders of the universe. It perhaps one of the best latter-day characterisations of the tenth Doctor there has been, especially considering that, in most of his TV adventures, he was just presented as being smug and arrogant. Here, though, it's all good natured, and I really like the bond that develops between his and Gabby here. It's not romantic like him and Rose, or equals like him and Martha, or even two best friends like him and Donna. The tenth Doctor falls into an almost teacher-like role, with Gabby as his pupil, as he takes her around time and space. Here, Gabby really comes into her own, and we really get to see her resourcefulness mixed in with wonder and delight. One of the best parts of the story is the scrapbook section at the beginning, as Gabby presents a narrative to Cindy of her first adventure with the Doctor. While a first person narrative is, of course, employed in all kinds of fiction all the time, it's rather hard to pull off in a comic format, what with it being so reliant on visuals. However, that isn't a hindrance here, because these scrapbook sections are skilfully integrated into the story. It's a great way of not only reminding the audience of Gabby's hobby, but it's such a visually arresting opening that hooks the reader in. The massive two-page spread is a visual feast, and the remainder of the story is no different. This is really where artists Casagrande and Florean really come into their own, with some absolutely stunning work. The cliffhanger shot of the Doctor tumbling down the endless staircase was a beautiful piece in particular.
The story itself is beautifully imaginative, with some great ideas and scope. While living art, as a concept, might seem rather old-hat, Abadzais uses this as a great starting point for his main narrative, which turns into a surreal dreamspace-like sequence, bringing to mind classic Who stories like The Deadly Assassin or The Mind Robber. The story does take some rather interesting turns in that regard, and there's not clearly identifiable danger. Any threat could come from any direction, and, while there are a series of bizarre sculptures which clearly turn out to be dangerous (reminding me of, in many ways, the Big Finish fourth Doctor audio Ferril's Folly), most of the danger in this story comes in a form you might not be expecting. It's hardly a jump scare narrative, but there are moments where something will jump at our protagonists that the reader might not be expecting. Abadzais also plays around with the idea that art can be a lie, and that it can hide the truth of things. This really wasn't an idea I was expecting to be played around with in a comic strip, and it doesn't just only provide an amazing twist, but also a great idea that Gabby has to think about. After all, for her, art is everything, and having to experience the pain that deceptive art can hide is something that Doctor Who rarely touches upon, but it's a great theme to be played around with. I did think it could have been pushed a little further, since Gabby does seem to reset a little back to factory settings by the end of the story, but it's nice to see that it's a theme that's at least examined, if however briefly. I did feel that the guest characters were, once more, very thinly sketched out. The Doctor's friend is absent for a bulk of the narrative, and so all we're really left with is the two apprentices. Sure, they are a really cool idea, and I like the way they start to become more malleable the more the Doctor and Gabby interact with them, but I found that they were, to me at least, a little lacking in character. I think, had this been a longer story, I think we might have been able to dive a little bit into their backstory, but I just felt that, with this story, we were skimming the surface levels simply because there wasn't the time to go deeper. This idea has a hell of a lot of potential, and I just felt that, had this been a longer story, it would have perhaps provided a bit more of an impact. However, if they were aiming for clever and brief sci-fi, they got what they were aiming for, because this release certainly doesn't outstay it's welcome, and it's a great improvement upon Revolutions Of Terror. If these tenth Doctor stories continue like this, I'll be very, very grateful.
Overall, this collection of strips won't be listen in the annals of amazing Doctor Who comic strips like The Iron Legion or The Crimson Hand or even The Forgotten. But it's still early days for Titan, and, if they can continue to produce material in the same vein as this, with some of those elements like originality, unlimited boundaries and fully-formed guest characters addressed, they'll be onto a winning formula. On the whole, it's enjoyable, but tweaks do need to be made.
Revolutions Of Terror Rating - 6/10
The Arts In Space Rating - 7/10
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