Dave Taylor (3) (1964–2025)

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/terrorformer-by-robbie-morrison-et-al/

compilation of two two-issue stories, both of which I rather liked.

Terrorformer has the newly regenerated Doctor and Clara visiting a planet which should have been an ice world but seems to have become rather hot; it turns out that there’s an intelligent star behind it all (this made me look up the temperature at the core of the Sun). Clara gets some decent character moments too.

The Swords of Okti is set in both past and show more future India, and puts Clara aside for most of it to give the Doctor two temporary Indian companions – who I think are the first South Asians to have that role in any medium? The story was originally published as The Swords of Kali, but re-titled after a Hindu group in Nevada protested at the appropriation of the goddess. In any case, it’s a fairly standard aliens-pose-as-gods narrative but with the extra cultural wrinkles. show less

If I ever become Grand Czar of Doctor Who Tie-Ins, I would have a stamp made for rejecting proposals, and it would read, "IF YOUR BORING NEW VILLAIN IS AN ANCIENT ENEMY OF THE TIME LORDS, IT'S STILL BORING." This volume opens with "Terrorformer," a painfully by-the-numbers Doctor Who story with cartoonish characterization, and a terribly uninteresting villain that I'm sure we're doomed to hear more about going forward.

It continues with "The Swords of Okti," about the Doctor and Clara show more unravelling some kind of plot by an evil family and evil aliens across past and future India (picking up on some of the hints in the Moffat era that future India is a space power). This has its moments, but suffers from some weird tonal shifts; a guest character's dad dies, and moments later she's grinning widely and bantering about jelly babies.

I didn't think much of artist Dave Taylor's stiff, plasticky faces, especially the somewhat caricatured villains in the second story.

Titan Doctor Who: « Previous in sequence | Next in sequence » show less

The first volume of Twelfth Doctor comics contains two stories. Terrorformer is a totally outer-space story involving advanced terraforming technologies that go spectacularly wrong (hence the title). The Swords of Okti takes place on a future Earth several centuries ahead of us and features the Indian space program, along with Indian legend.

I found the stories rather good. They pretty fairly represented the Twelve and Clara dynamic, and I especially liked when Clara became possessed in the show more second story. In the TV show, my favourite Clara moment was when she became a Zygon. I always thought she was way more interesting as an evil character.

The art was kind of weird in places. Terrorformer in particular looked a bit sketchy, not terribly detailed, and at one point Peter Capaldi looked like Alex Trebek. I preferred how he looked on some of the alternate covers provided at the end of the volume, especially the one where he’s standing against a brick wall and the artists’ names are written as graffiti on a wall. (I have a T-shirt with this cover design.)

Overall, I enjoyed this adventure into the world of Doctor Who comics and will read more! show less

I'm a huge fan of the Riddler and would like to say I enjoyed this story more, but it doesn't quite work. The Riddler has one of the most convoluted plans I've ever seen, and I'm not sure the plan would actually work. Certainly the logistics of it, and the ridiculously quick sensation that his show becomes with no publicity behind it seems hard to believe. Plus, this is not my favorite type of Riddler portrayal; he's too silly and laughing like a maniac. It makes him too much like the Joker. show more Close, but not quite good. show less