"Look at your hair. See? It's a total mess."
Doctor Who Classics Series 3 #4
IDW Publishing (June 2010)
originally published: Doctor Who Magazine #98-100
WRITERS: Steve Parkhouse; Alan McKenzie ARTIST: John Ridgeway EDITOR: Ian Rimmer IDW COLORIST: Charlie Kirchoff IDW EDITOR: Denton J. Tipton DESIGNER: Shawn Lee COVER ARTIST: Robert Hack
The Doctor uses the TARDIS to chase Astrolabus and the kidnapped Frobrisher into a storybook dimension. Frobisher is rescued and the Doctor learns what his evil counterpart has done with the star charts, using them to gain power of life and death. Voyager arrives and punishes Astrolabus, freeing the Doctor from his mission. Then comes a new writer and a new arc, as our heroes stop for a rest, only to find advance technology on a primitive world. Investigating, they end up being sold into slavery when they can’t pay a bar tab, only to be bought by someone who thinks the Doctor can help his master rescue his daughter. And he knows of the Doctor because he’s a Draconian!
What they got right: I believe this is Parkhouse’s last story for the comic, and he goes out with a good ending. Everything is wrapped up, and I’ll miss his run on the series. McKenzie takes over as writer and starts out with a decent mystery.
What they got wrong: The cover not only is focuses on the story that takes up a third of the end of the comic, but reveals the identity of the alien that’s kept secret until the last page. I know these are reprints, but there are more than enough readers who either haven’t read this story in years or at all that this is a big mistake on someone’s part at IDW.
Recommendation: This series is already a must for fans of the classic series, but good stories overall. I very much recommend it.
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