The Widow's Curse

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3112695.html

This is a collection of Tenth Doctor comics, mostly from Doctor Who Magazine (a couple from the Storybooks), four written by Jonathan Morris, three by Rob Davis, and one each by Dan McDaid and Ian Edgington; with art in three cases by Martin Geraghty, two by Rob Davis, and one each by Mike Collins, John Ross, Roger Langridge and Adrian Salmon. Of the nine stories, the two standouts for me were the title story, The Widow's Curse, by Davis and Geraghty, a creepy Caribbean story that brings back the Sycorax; and The Time of My Life, by Morris and Davis, a rather lovely farewell to Donna as a companion. I'll also note The Immortal Emperor by Morris and Davis, which I was a bit dubious about previously and remain dubious about; and Death to the Doctor, by Morris and Langridge, which features a bunch of second-rate adversaries getting together to exact revenge, including the vaguely Irish Questor who was defeated by the First Doctor, Stephen and Dodo, I think the only explicitly Irish character in Whovian comics continuity. The only way is up. ( )

Some nine complete comic stories are collected in this volume, and it's the usual mixed bag for Doctor Who Magazine of late, though this is stronger than the tenth Doctor's first volume, The Betrothal of Sontar. Rob Davis, who dominates this volume, has a great knack for setting up stories but a poor one for ending them; the Doctor is incidental to the ultimate resolution of "The Woman Who Sold the World", and "The Widow's Curse" would be an excellent story if it hadn't ended the exact same way as Dan McDaid's very strong "The First" four strips earlier. (Martha Jones has rarely looked as good as she does when pencilled by Martin Geraghty in this story, to boot.) Also very good is Ian Edginton's "Universal Monsters", which reverses some horror tropes to good effect, supplemented by some unique and fantastic artwork by Adrian Salmon.

The real standout writer of the book is Jonathan Morris. Though his "Sun Screen" and "The Immortal Emperor" are too slight to work, his "Death to the Doctor!", which features a poorly-run alliance of Doctor-hating villains, is very funny (and nicely illustrated by Roger Landridge) and his "The Time of My Life" is a moving tribute to the brief run of one of Doctor Who's greatest companions, the best temp in Chiswick, Donna Noble. As always for these collections, there is excellent creator commentary in back, and I do think that despite its weaknesses, this volume plays to the comic strip's strengths more than the earlier ninth and tenth Doctor strips. The stories are visual and unusual without just being goofy or weird, and the tone is much more level and less frantic.