Villordsutch reviews Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time #11…
“Our yearlong celebration of Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary continues! Geronimo! The Eleventh Doctor joins the fray in this issue of a 12-part epic adventure featuring all 11 incarnations of the Doctor. Now that the Doctor has uncovered the true identity of his latest adversary, he must track him through time and space for a final confrontation!”
Well this issue has arrived rather suddenly! It has only been two weeks since I reviewed Prisoners of Time #10. Trying to find out why I have received this issue so early, I took to the web and it appears (according to the web chatter) that IDW and their ties with Doctor Who are coming to an end so they want to publish the remaining Who comics as quickly as possible; a shame really but these things happen and I’m sure Who will appear elsewhere.
Putting this glum news aside, I turn towards this unexpected comic where we catch up with our current Doctor (the Eleventh incarnationn) and it starts with Adam assistant-napping right at the beginning, which is refreshing as in past issues I’ve complained about the lack of any sort of story for the main story arc. Well, in this issue we get practically a full comic dedicated to said story arc. We begin with the Doctor and Clara discussing a recent adventure when Adam (rather rudely) zaps both of our heroes unconscious and scarpers off with our bouncy haired assistant. The Doctor is aware of what is happening and travels through time and space trying to locate Adam (giving a nod to Star Trek along the way), eventually ending up at van Statten’s underground lair/museum. This is where we discover how Adam came across the Time Agent’s watch and how he managed to get in and out of the Doctor’s life (we also get another Trek nod here too).
I rather enjoyed this issue; it is by no means fantastic but it is enjoyable. The Tipton Brothers have delivered what I’ve desired through-out a lot of the previous issues and here we get to see where this has been going for the past few months and it’s about time to be brutally honest. I feel, however, that due to having to squash the climax to the main arc in this and the upcoming #12 it all feels a bit rushed. Case in point is the moment Adam questions his partner’s motives, which was about a subtle as a brick through a window. I feel if we’d had this story extended through the previous releases this climax could have be better.
Luckily for us the artwork by Matthew Dow Smith is better than just enjoyable – it has a very sombre, lonely feel with shadows falling across our players and the locations and this feeling of isolation is increased by the excellent paint tin of Charlie Kirchoff. This extends the feeling of the moment and it’s all very impressive to look at.
So as we are coming to an end of the series it’s good to see what we’ve been building too, and whilst enjoyable, it’s all a bit too rushed to be great. Not long now until #12. Hopefully we’ll go out with a bang.
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 November 14, 2013. Updated April 15, 2018.
