Originally published November 14, 2015. Updated April 15, 2018.
Chris Sanderson reviews Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor #1…
Get ready for an all-new season of comics adventures featuring the Eighth Doctor, as played by Paul McGann in the Doctor Who movie, fan-favorite minisode Night of the Doctor… and over fourteen years (and counting!) of astounding Big Finish audio spectaculars! Five amazing, interconnected new stories take the Doctor on a rollercoaster of threat and misadventure, as he investigates the mysteries surrounding his new companion Josie. Victorian magic shows, murderous trees, lost books, crystalline life-forms, barges in space crammed with the undead… and the grand journey all begins in a sleepy Welsh town… besieged by living paintings!
Today I got the opportunity to pick up something I was really excited about, the very first issue of Paul McGann’s Doctor Who comic which I found out about a few weeks ago and have been so excited for as I have to be honest he is my favourite Doctor from the old era. If you have ever seen the movie you’ll know it’s a little cheesy and to this day we’ve never really seen the charm of Paul McGann on screen, but if you happen to be aware of the Big Finish audio dramas, his Doctor has had quite a few adventures along with some of the other Doctors off screen, and last Eighth Doctor’s regeneration which completes the series bridging the old series and the new to one continuity. So naturally there is quite the following of Eight and getting to review this is a treat all the the same time.
This is a standalone adventure unlike the Twelfth Doctor’s current adventures which span multiple issues for the one adventure. It starts off with The Doctor returning to a home that was his in a previous incarnation, specifically the first doctor. Upon arrival a girl seems to have made her way in and setup shop there for painting and a place to live. The Doctor quizzing her on her identity discovers that she is homeless but seems to be very friendly with the locals. A nice twist is why he’s there, to retrieve a book he left there, which he explains wasn’t actually him that left it there for himself it was in fact his first iteration, William Hartnells doctor left himself a message to his later self with instructions on where to go and an invitation.
After having one of the local ladies show up looking for Eight’s new protégé, she makes us aware that something is not right in the village and that they need to get there right away. The Doctor as per all of his incarnations is not one to shy away from misadventure; personally if the world was trying to be destroyed by Daleks and Aliens I’d find the deepest darkest hole and hide, that is of course until I see a little blue box come to save the day. When they reach the tavern they start to see things going wrong, the paintings are all of landscapes with characters gone missing! And this is where our beloved Doctor must step up to the plate and save this little village from being destroyed by the beings in the paintings which are coming to life due to the energy from a telepathic circuit removed from the TARDIS years before, which is making all of Josie’s paintings come to life as she created them from her mind.
I don’t want to give too much of this charming story away; it serves as a fantastic introduction to The Eighth Doctor’s series of comics and when it’s all said and done it appears he may have a new companion to adventure with as he then picks up the invitation at the start of the books and runs off into the unknown to face God knows what. I am very happy with this issue and am really looking forward to next month’s to see what happens next.
Rating: 9/10 – Really captures the essence of the much requested Eighth Doctor and sets the scene for some of his adventures, which are wrapped up with some nice pacing and some solid Doctor shenanigans.
Chris Sanderson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=qXJL6jGfZhg
