
Titan Comics 2014
Written by Nick Abadzis
Penciled by Elena Casagrande
Inked by Simone Di Meo
Coloured by Hi-Fi
Leaving Gabby to make amends with Cindy, the Doctor discovered an unearthly device in the heart of Manhattan, capable of triggering rejuvenation. The Doctor tracked the device to the apartment of actress Dorothy Bell – dogged at every step by street-smart agent Cleo. Having seized the artifact at Bell’s home, Cleo unleashed a fraction of its power, before fleeing back to her employers, Erik and Hanif, leaving Dorothy, her assistant, Vivian, and the Doctor in a state of retroregeneration... But the artifact restored more than a healthy youthful glow to Dorothy: she merged with the mysterious alien entity within – and is now drawing a strange extraterrestrial power toward Earth!
Nick’s grasp of Tennant’s Doctor is phenomenal to put it mildly. That he has a new companion here and it’s all based out of New York was a little strange at first but now I’ve come to like that this could be more global in scope and it would be nice to see something in the Far East as story arc. For now however they still need to deal with the rejuvenated and powered up Dorothy and seemingly save the world not only from the Obsidian Block approaching Earth but also from Cleo and her crazy employer who seems to think that the reemergence of gods is imminent.
That Dorothy and her new passenger seem to think that Gabby is something special seems to fit with most of the Doctor’s companions. It’s never been shown but it seems each of his companions have had something special about them that is either hinted at or never fully revealed, except for Rose.
I have to say one of the benefits to a comic book story with the Doctor compared to a television episode is that we have more opportunity to really delve in different avenues of the story and the characters. There seems to me more time or just a better use of pages and time to flesh out the story more fully in ways that television just doesn’t allow for. Nick has this great talent for writing and it’s such a joy and pleasure to read his work and this issue showcases that as we see what Dorothy’s actions are and how the organization Cleo belongs to is involved and the dialogue that each character brings to the table.
That we are used to seeing aliens as the central “bad guy” in a majority of the Doctor’s stories by taking a different route here Nick’s expanding on what kind of threats and situations the Doctor finds himself in and actually expands his character more than ever before.
Elena is a joy, she’s both a very sweet individual and an amazingly talented artist and her work here really helps to express emotion, feeling and just show the larger scale events happening, like the obsidian block or Dorothy’s new abilities to build. Her David Tennant can’t be beat he’s just a perfect representation of the real man and what she can do on paper not just with him but with all characters involved she really is a standout in a crowded field of artists.
I’m having just as much fun if not more so now reading the Tenth Doctor’s adventures than watching his run on the show.