Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Adventures, Year Two, Volume 7: War of Gods

The Year Two Adventures of the Tenth Doctor comes to a close in War of Gods.

Time Lord Troubles

I’ll admit, when IDW lost the rights to the Doctor Who franchise in 2014, I was upset as were a number of fans. Yet, I think the BBC did the right thing by switching Doctor Who over to Titan Comics. IDW’s writers had a bad habit of taking established stories, place them in a different setting, and pass them off as all-new. The publisher had an even worse habit of having each version of the Doctor regurgitate their most popular catchphrases ad nauseam.

If a Dalek was attacking the Eleventh Doctor, he’d yell ‘Fish Fingers and Custard!” for no reason at all. Everything was ‘Fantastic’ to IDW’s version of the Ninth Doctor- even a plague of oozing boils and foot fungus. Yet, the worst offender has to be the writers of the Tom Baker comics and their excessive love for Jelly Babies

Maybe the reason IDW had to go crazy with the tag lines were that the art wasn’t all that good. Almost all of IDW’s artwork on the Doctor Who franchise was poorly drawn. If not for the photos of the Doctor on the cover, you couldn’t tell which regeneration the book was about.

I am happy to say that bad writing and lousy art is not an issue with this collection of Tenth Doctor tales.

A Classic Who Villain Returns

While continuing the Anubis story from Volume 6: Sins of the Father, this book also acts as an unofficial sequel to the 1975 classic Who episode Pyramids of Mars. Eisner Award winning writer Nick Abadzis (Laika) pits the Tenth Doctor against one of the classic foes of the Tom Baker era: Sutekh.

Sutekh or Set is the Egyptian god of disorder. He was last seen by Who fans in England attempting to rule the universe with an army of robot mummies. The Fourth Doctor developed a process to destroy the Egyptian deity. Surviving the Doctor’s assault, Sutekh spent quite some time in a pocket universe. It is during this banishment that the villain manages to recruit a new of foes to the Doctor in order to destroy the Time Lord. Featuring a number of memorable baddies  from the TV series and Titan Comics, the Doctor and his companions Gabby and Cindy must stop the army of gods and monsters. Should they fail, Sutekh will achieve his ultimate goal: complete annihilation of the universe.

Feel The Doctor’s Pain

The soul and two hearts of the Tennant Doctor is very real here. You can feel his anger, sadness, and quirks throughout the book. Although this story is about a classic foe of the Doctor’s, it is a completely fresh feeling story. It also helps that the Tenth Doctor looks like the Tenth Doctor. Aiding Nick Abadzis in this feat are artists Giorgia Sposito and Warren Pleece.

Even the backup short (by Supergirl’s James Pleety) that features a gallery of Companions was exciting and new. Pleety’s story just didn’t dig deep enough into the loss the Doctor has felt over losing Donna or Rose. Plus, it would have been a nice twist to have Ten meet a future companion that he doesn’t know yet- like Amy or Bill.

If you were hesitant to give the Doctor Who Titan Comics a try- STOP! The company is really holding it’s own. The writers, artists, and editors truly seem to love and care for the franchise. The BBC was wise to trust Titan with the keys to the TARDIS.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

(Article was originally published on the website outrightgeekery.com on June 2, 2017.)