This is another one I’ve already reviewed back when I did weekly reviews for new comics. I just want to keep the flow going through catching up with Doctor Who comic reviews.
“What do you mean my daughter married another me?”
Doctor Who Classics Series 2 #6
IDW Publishing (May 2009)
“The Tides Of Time” parts 4-6
(originally published in Doctor Who Monthly #64-66, Marvel UK, 1982)
WRITER: Steve Parkhouse
ARTIST: Dave Gibbons
EDITOR: Alan McKenzie
IDW COLORIST/COVER: Charlie Kirchoff (over Dave Gibbons-cover)
IDW EDITOR: Denton J. Tipton
IDW DESIGNER: Amuri Osorio
Aided by Shayde, the guy with a black ball for a head, the Doctor and Sir Justin continue their search for the Event Synthesizer. The trio meets up with a group from the connected planetary system Althrace, which exists in a white hole. There they learn the history of Melanicus, his defeat by Merlin, and his teaming with Catavolcus, another old foe of the Doctor (from the extended fiction, I couldn’t find info on him during the original review but now there’s a wiki for almost everything), and how he ended up in control of the Synthesizer. Now he has all of history fighting each other in a huge war, but by hooking up Shayde, an agent of the Time Lords within the Gallifreyan Matrix, to their organic machinery, they will be able to pinpoint Melanicus’s location.
What they got right: The recoloring is still excellent on this series. I believe the originals were in black and white. Doctor 5 is making himself some interesting companions, and Parkhouse continues to be one of my favorite Who comic writers.
What they got wrong: The science still makes little sense to me, but this is a British sci-fi comic, where that happens a lot.
Updated thoughts: IDW’s coloring does indeed look better in this story than in the Fourth Doctor stories I’ve reviewed from their reprints. While I question Shade having caucasian hands instead of continuing his black color scheme (he is supposed to be a “shadow-man” after all) I can ignore it for the most part. I kind of want to know more about Catavolcus now. Also, Sir Justin gets a good fight scene in and helps gets the Doctor from the mirror dimension, although I still can’t figure out how he got there.
Recommendation: This story still stands up after all this time (no pun intended), and worth picking up.
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