Titan Comics 2016
Written by George Mann & Cavan Scott
Illustrated by Ivan Rodriguez & Walter Geovanni
Coloured by Nicola Righi
Lettered by Richard Starkings and Comicraft’s Jimmy Betancourt
The Cybermen are attacking at every point in history! The fabric of reality is collapsing, and only the Doctors can stop it! The Ninth Doctor tried to escape a Cyberised 2006 in the
TARDIS – and the central console exploded! The Tenth Doctor is on the front of the war in space, drafted into battle alongside the Sontarans! The Eleventh Doctor is on Prehistoric Earth, where the Cybermen have somehow infected the sleeping Silurians to create an insurmountable fighting force, millennia before the rise of humanity! And the Twelfth Doctor is on a Cyberised Gallifrey at the End of Time, discovering just how deep Rassilon’s bargain goes...!
Oh sweet mother of Pearl Bailey this is something else! Seriously this needs to be a big budget feature film or at the very least an animated full length movie! I thought that the last mini-series featuring four Doctors was good but this makes that one look like childsplay. I’m not even a fan of the Twelfth Doctor and yet I’m enjoying his scenes and participation in this story. I cannot believe the sheer scope of this tale and how incorporated all the different Doctor’s are and they’ve yet to meet up.
This issue seems to move really fast it has a quick flow to it and the segway’s from Doctor to Doctor are handled extremely well. The characterisation here is great and the large cast of characters each get their moment to shine. I love the fact that each segment shows us a situation that requires the Doctor’s to really pull something out of thin air if they are going to get out of this one. That on the fly thinking and last minute save effort that they are so famously known for needs to come into play but the real question for readers is how on Earth can they do that this time?
The interior artwork here is superb! The way it’s able to showcase both the broader scope of the story through the use of page layouts, angles, perspective and filling up the panels with all those backgrounds. Gosh the use of the artwork to give us that sense of urgency and danger and how each point in the timeline is brought to life just adds the overall effect of what the writing presents. The creativity and imagination on display is perfect. That one page pin-up with a look at so many of the Doctors represented was far and away the best thing in this issue.
This has captured the spirit of the series in ways that can’t quite put into words. With the drama, tension, science fiction and human resilience showing hope against all odds is that essence that you can’t quantify. The boys really have created something that makes the pulse race and the fear rise as we can see no way that the Cybermen don’t win with Rassilon as their leader.
Titan Comics is the home of the franchise and it’s never flourished better than it has been since coming here. Should the last two issues of this run continue on like we’ve seen this should hands down be considered THE limited series of the year it’s too good not to.