Hunters of the Burning Stone collects a trio of comics from Doctor Who Magazine starring the Eleventh Doctor.
The first story has the Doctor, Amy, and Rory on a tour of the Doctor's 1,000 Favorite Places To Visit. He means to take the Ponds to modern day Prague but winds up behind the Iron Curtain prior to the fall of the Iron Curtain. Things couldn't a more dangerous turn as Rory ends up kidnapped by Soviet agents and Doctor reveals that history could be altered as the fall of the Berlin Wall isn't a fixed point in time.
Then take a look at a holiday adventure from Amy and Rory's childhood. It's a fun adventure filled with the dastardly Krampus, some evil elves, and a mysterious schoolgirl named Mels! Don't skip the last page of this story it is is such a beautiful goodbye to the Ponds after the events of 'The Angels Take Manhattan.'
Lastly, the Doctor is reunited with his very first companions, schoolteachers Ian and Barbara. It's DWM's take on the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who and it was a surprise filled journey full of Easter Eggs, cameos, and much more.
These are the rarest of the Doctor Who comics to find. Published from the British publisher Panini Press, unless you find a comic book store willing to carry these imports, you have to either go on Amazon and hope the price is right or you get lucky like I did and find it at a used book store for a decent price.
Though all three of these stories are stand alone reads, they all continue a storyline that starts in the companion piece The Chains of Olympus. I do feel like maybe I should have waited until I found that book and read that one first- but it's British Who comics and like a kid at Christmas, I couldn't wait to tear into this this. I was a bit lost at times but this was worth it!
Worth Consuming
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.
Abslom Daak: the Dalek Killer. The only man in the known galaxy who chose the death penalty over saying 'Sorry.' He's also the only other person that brings fear into the hearts of the Dalek race other than the Doctor.
(Madman Fun-Fact: Until last season's episode 'Time Heist', Abslom Daak was just a character in the comic books. But when his face popped up on a screen of known criminals at large on a data screen- he joined Doctor Who Canon. Read the stories that inspired that little Easter Egg in this edition: Nemesis of the Daleks.)
In this collection, the Dalek Killer meets the Doctor for the first time in an adventure filled with carnage, excitement, and lots of tiny tanks yelling 'EXTERMINATE!' Accompanying this multi-part story is Daak's origin along with an epic adventure in which Daak rounds up his team of Dalek-killing mercenaries.
Along with the Daak stories are about a dozen Seventh Doctor adventures which range from deadly serious to down right goofy. There was maybe only one or two stories that I didn't like but as a whole, there were tons of time-travelling/ mind-bending plot twists that Doctor Who is known for.
Another awesome addition to this anthology was a couple of backup features. One segment is arranged like they were data files printed from the TARDIS or UNIT. The second feature is a director's cut style commentary behind all of the stories in this volume. Both were very entertaining and informative about the creative process of British comics.
Featuring art and scripts by Richard Starkings (Elephantmen), John Tomlinson (John Constantine: Hellblazer) and others, Nemesis of the Daleks was an enjoyable read. It was also very British. To my knowledge, all of the stories in the collection have never seen print in the States before (except for a couple that appeared in the pages of Doctor Who Magazine.) Most appeared in a weekly Hulk comic or an anthology of Marvel licenses based on TV shows like GI Joe.
Published by Panini UK LTD, the same company that put out those collectible sticker albums when we were kids, volumes like this can be found in the US but they are hard to come by. I found mine copy at a used bookstore. It is only the second such volumes I've ever found in about 10 years of searching. But Amazon has just about the entire run of Doctor Who British reprints featuring your favorite incarnations of Timelord, available for about $15-$20 each.
Worth Consuming
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.
