Villordsutch reviews Doctor Who: Four Doctors #5…
We finally arrive at the last chapter of Doctor Who: Four Doctors, and with the cruel amount of time Titan Comics have made us wait for the last slice of the series in this weekly event, Paul Cornell and Neil Edwards better have delivered us something rather impressive or there will be hell to pay!
After last issue’s slaughter of both Alice and Gabby via the Voord you’d be surprised to see a future Gabby currently stood back in the Parisian café where our adventure began. It appears our Eleventh Doctor organised a Deus Ex Machina though it quite possibly would be more apt reading Angelus Ex Machina, as Gabby – opening her cartoons in the future – has been flung back in time and has managed to give an extra powerful warning on why the Doctors shouldn’t go to Marinus. With the Companions in agreement, the Doctors Collective choose to ignore this and go in under the banner of Forewarned is Forearmed; knowledge is power and the future Gabby has now given them all the ammunition they need.
It’s here in the closing issue that Paul Cornell clearly shows his knowledge of Doctor Who, not just in the enemies and their capabilities, which was used quite fantastically, but also the personalities of each of the Doctor’s incarnations too. You can hear the Doctors’ voices and whispers inside these pages and they are balanced perfectly throughout. Our final issue is running at an exciting, break-neck speed until it comes to a close, however it closes well and we’re treated to a glimpse of something that some may consider was missing throughout the series, though I myself don’t think they were needed at all.
The art from Neil Edwards and colours from Ivan Nunes are as ever great, however there are a few moments where there are a few bad face squashing moments going on, and these aren’t in the frantic scenes which you could allow due to motion blur.
As a collected work Doctor Who: Four Doctors,began for myself as an anticipated Time War saga and I’ll admit that in the first two issues – when I wasn’t seeing much of the War Doctor – I was feeling slightly disappointed. however it was in Issue #3 it all changed. Paul Cornell surprised us, he changed the whole game and suddenly the Time War left the room; with that I was hooked on what he was selling, I needed this Voord tale and I wanted more of it. Along with this we also have running through the series the impressive artwork – as ever – from Neil Edwards and the colours from Ivan Nunes who have put the icing on the Doctor Who like cake.
Doctor Who: Four Doctors has been an excellent series and one you should have read.
Check out our recent interview with Paul Cornell here at Flickering Myth.
Rating: 8/10
Villordsutch likes his sci-fi and looks like a tubby Viking according to his children. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=BZj9CSNJgF8
Originally published September 23, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
