Posted in: BBC, Comics, Doctor Who, Review, Titan, TV | Tagged: bbc, doctor who, Doctor Who: Doom's Day, Jody Houser, michelle gomez, peter capaldi, Roberta Ingranata, Sooz Kempner, Titan comics

Doctor Who: Doom's Day Comics "Hours" Offer Fanservice, Not Much More

Doctor Who: Doom's Day #1 and #2 may be wittier & more fun than previous chapters in the multimedia event, but it's still mostly fanservice.

Doctor Who: Doom's Day continues the show's multimedia 60th Anniversary event with a two-issue comic book crossover event in the Doctor Who comic series published by Titan Books. This is the third part of the event after the first prose story on the Doctor Who website and the extended comics story in Doctor Who Magazine, and… we're still struggling to see what the point of it is beyond some fanservice, unfortunately.

In case you're coming in cold, Doctor Who: Doom's Day is about Doom (embodied by up-and-coming UK standup comedian Sooz Kempner, who will voice her in the audio stories), reputedly the best freelance assassin from the 51st Century who works for an organization that rents out its services to people who need someone bumped off across Space and Time. Doom's job usually means taking out bad people who need taking out, but she finds herself warned by one of the Doctors (which one? It's not entirely clear) to stop before finding that Death is coming for her. With only 24 hours to live, she arranges for her booker to send her on one new job every hour across Time and Space where the Doctor is likely to appear, hoping that he or she might help her survive.

Doctor Who: Doom's Day – Better than Previous Chapters

Of all the Doctor Who: Doom's Day stories, this two-issue Titan Comics story is at least the one with the most wit and sense of fun. Doom's assignments start at a fancy-dress party in 1883 New York, where he encounters Missy (as played by Michelle Gomez in the TV series), who's hunting for the same targets: time travelers who aren't supposed to be there. Turns out their missions are linked: Doom has been hired to kill the thieves and killers out to steal and use a jewel that could power a planet-killing weapon, and Missy is on her reluctant redemption tour, tasked by the Twelfth Doctor (played by Peter Capaldi in the TV series and taking place during his final season where The Doctor is Missy's keeper) to find the jewel and keep it out of the hands of bad people.  It also almost makes us care about Doom's fate since she's in a rush not just trying to save her own life, but the assassination jobs she's taken here are all linked to Missy's mission to track down and stop a weapon of mass destruction. Missy is going around claiming to be Doctor Who and trying to do Doctor-y things but failing because she's utterly contemptuous of everyone and unfailingly rude. Doom immediately knows she's not The Doctor, and the two immediately dislike each other – and Missy ends up chasing her across Space and Time to get to the jewel while Doom is killing her targets to meet her deadline. The chase takes them to the Stormcage, where River Song and various villains, including an earlier incarnation of The Master, are being held, to an intergalactic comic con (cue in-jokes) to a desolate, dead planet, bickering all the way yet managing not trying to kill each other – Missy because she's been forbidden by the Doctor to kill anyone and Doom because Missy is not her assignment… so far.

Witty Dialogue but Mediocre Art

Writer Jody Houser knows how to weave wisecracks and intercharacter banter that draws on fans' knowledge of the show's lore. Missy is as snobbish, psychopathic, and gleefully rude to everyone as ever. Doom shows more of a deft hand at equally sarcastic banter and wisecracks than in her previous stories. However, Houser's scripts here seem to be at a beginner's level, with too many panels wasted on a single character talking that makes the flow and pace awkward, exacerbated by the mediocre art by Roberta Ingranata, who is seemingly unable to draw any facial expression other than a close-lipped frown or drawing action in any coherent or exciting way. Thankfully, Houser's deft hand at fun dialogue carries the story to the finish line with Missy and Doom's cat-and-mouse banter that better art could have hinted at a sexual tension in their mutual distrust of each other tempered by reluctant respect between professionals. The comedy irony here is that the two of them are professionals who do very bad things to people. They just happen to be here doing bad things to bad people in the name of good.

We're still wondering what the point of the Doctor Who: Doom's Day event is beyond fanservice and selling some books and audios and are hoping for a payoff that means more than that.

Doctor Who: Doom's Day #1 and #2

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Review by Adi Tantimedh

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5.5/10

Possibly the chapter of the Doctor Who: Doom's Day multimedia event with the most fun and personality, but still mostly fanservice with a steady stream of in-jokes that left us wondering if there was going to be any real point by the time the whole serialized story comes to its conclusion. The awkwardly-paced script and mediocre art don't help the matter, but the witty dialogue and banter are a huge improvement over previous chapters.

Credits

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Writer

Jody House

Artist

Roberta Ingranata

Publisher

Titan Books

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