Villordsutch reviews Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor #1…
The Eisner Award-winning Nick Abadzis (Laika) and fan-favorite Elena Casagrande (Angel, Suicide Risk, Doctor Who, Star Trek) take control of the TARDIS for their first five-issue arc with the Tenth Doctor, as played by David Tennant! Gabriella Gonzalez is stuck in a dead-end job in her family’s New York Laundromat, dreaming of college 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!
After what seems like far too long a delay in getting my Doctor Who monthly comic fix I finally get in my hands (well on my Nexus 7 at least) issue #1 of Titan Comics’ Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor. As you’ve read over the past few months, as Flickering Myth has fed you morsels of information, the opening story arc is in good hands with names like Nick Abadzi, Elena Casagrande and not forgetting Arianna Florean being brought in to make sure that once this blue touch-paper is lit this firework is hopefully impressive.
So is it? Is this firework as climatic as I would have liked or have I let my anticipation run away with itself and instead of a memorable satisfying treat am I left with a cheap discount store sparkler? Well I’m more than overjoyed to say that the team involved in bringing the Tenth Doctor to these pages have got Doctor Who and this story spot on.
As regular readers will know I’m both an older Who fan (Tom Baker onwards) and NuWho fan and this tale sings from both hymn sheets. Here we have a slow building story from Nick Abadzi, which concentrates less on the Doctor and more on the other players in this game; only on occasion do you see the Doctor appear, capturing perfectly Tennant in each panel. Added to this the excellent artwork and colours from Elena Casagrande and Arianna Florean respectively, and this comic blooms into life. Whovians will not be disappointed after such a long wait with this opening issue.
A word or two has to be said about the rather amazing cover variant by Alice X. Zhang and if at all possible try to get your hands on this one as this will finish off making your issue #1 to the level of sheer brilliance.
So it’s been worth the wait and Titan Comics has delivered a brilliant start to the Tenth Doctor run of Doctor Who comics. My only question is how do I get those mini Doctor Who Titan figures?
Villordsutch likes his sci-fi and looks like a tubby Viking according to his children. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter.
Originally published July 17, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
