After the loss of Rose, Martha and Donna in quick succession, The Tenth Doctor has been traveling with Gabby Gonzalez and Cindy Wu, two New Yorkers from the year 2014 or thereabouts. But things got complicated in their last journey, and now even The Doctor may not know the way home… Your Major Spoilers review of Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Year 3 #1 awaits!
DOCTOR WHO: THE TENTH DOCTOR YEAR 3 #1
Writer: Nick Abadzis
Artist: Valeria Favoccia & Giorgia Sposito
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Richard Starkings and Comicraft’s Jimmy Betancourt
Editor: Jessica Burton
Publisher: Titan Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Previously in Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Year 3: “After saving the entire universe and prevailing against the Osiran god Sutekh’s impossible power, The Doctor, Gabby, Cindy and even and amnesiac ‘Noobis’ are ready to set off on brand new adventures through time and space! But something is amiss… and the world is not longer as they knew it!”
TRAPPED IN A WORLD HE NEVER MADE
The Doctor awakens from a deep sleep, only to find himself in a back alley, with a complete stranger who knows his name. Well, his alias anyway… “Smithy” is confused as to where he is and why there’s a giant “department store” looming over the cityscape. At the same time, Gabby finds herself waiting tables in a restaurant, overseen by her “friend” Blanca, and Cindy tries to find her dog (actually the Osiran known as Noobis), only to keep getting sidetracked by her girlfriend Cleo. Gabby realizes that she’s been living a circular pattern of nonsense, while Noobis and Cindy manage to shake off the illusion of reality long enough for her to find herself in a strange chamber, surrounded by what seem to be duplicates of her own body. As for the Doctor, he is attacked by mysterious Wraith Hounds, but when he goes for his Screwdriver, suddenly finds himself in what must be one of his personal nightmare scenarios…
A SHOCKING ENDING
That ending page is a real shocker for me (one that I won’t spoil for you guys, as it may give one clue too many as to the identity of the creature or creatures behind their strange situation. Abadzis has a really strong handle on the Tenth Doctor’s voice, and Gabby and Cindy are both interesting companions for the seemingly happy-go-lucky Doctor. The art is really lovely as well, with multiple visual cues that something is wrong even before the ruse begins to unravel. There are a number of truly disturbing scenes herein contained, such as the stack of dead Cindy’s and the Doctor’s horror movie moment, but the strongest parts of the art come as Gabby tries to shake off the effects of whatever has changed her reality, forcing herself to remember The Doctor and the truth…
THE BOTTOM LINE: SUSPENSEFUL AND EFFECTIVE
I’ve always been a big fan of the Titan Comics take on the various Doctors and the untold tales that we’ve never seen, and this issue makes for an engaging kickoff to a new arc of Ten’s life. Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Year 3 #1 sets things off with a bang, showing off the resourcefulness of the Doctor and his traveling companions while creating a suspenseful mystery that I want to see unfold, earning a more than impressive 3.5 out of 5 stars overall. The tone and voices are perfectly suited to a continuation of Ten’s adventures, which previous adaptation comics have shown us can be more difficult than it would seem…
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