Doctor Who: Free Comic Book Day Issue 2019 - Titan Comics

DOCTOR WHO: FREE COMIC BOOK DAY ISSUE, May 2019

Described by “Titan Comics” as the “perfect introduction to the hit new series from Eisner-nominated comics writer Jody Houser”, this ‘free’ sixteen page periodical must have quickly provided any perusing Whovians with a crystal clear clarification that the American author was going to maintain the somewhat controversial tone set by executive producer Chris Chibnall during the BBC Television programme’s divisive eleventh season. For whilst the short(ish) script contains a semi-intriguing plot based upon the premise that the penalty for losing at a fairground stall is to be indefinitely short-range teleported into a prize pool, it also includes a few examples of Jodie Whittaker’s contentiously arrogant incarnation acting all holier-than-thou, despite the fact she lies her way into the amusement park in the first place…

This disconcertingly duplicitous attitude of moral superiority by the titular character arguably starts to grate upon the nerves right from the publication’s very opening, when the Time Lord decides to simply use her psychic paper so as to award the TARDIS crew an “ultimate supreme class multi-guest package” rather than legitimately pay for their tickets. Such flagrant dishonesty seems an entirely unethical abuse of the ‘blank, white card that has special properties’ and debatably sends entirely the wrong message for a book supposedly penned for readers of “all-ages”.

To make matters worse, it is as a direct result of the Doctor’s deceitfulness that Graham O’Brien is suddenly placed in danger, due to trying his luck at a Bevivian game of chance whilst the others run about the funfair like demented adolescent loons. Admittedly, “the game is most definitely rigged”, but if the time traveller had bought her “fam” tickets legitimately, then they would all have been aware of what rules they were agreeing to as multi-guests upon entry; “I violated no laws here! They chose to play! No kidnapping!”

Unsurprisingly, the Gallifreyian herself cheats in order to win both her companion’s freedom and “whoever else may have been roped in by your shiny ball.” However, having aggressively threatened the alien carnival worker to “find a new line of work”, the dislikeable Doctor still has time to sanctimoniously lecture him (as well as the audience), and actually goes as far as to unconvincingly justify her fraudulent entry and deceitfulness simply because “this is what we do.”

The variant cover art of "DOCTOR WHO: FREE COMIC BOOK DAY ISSUE" 2019 by Jessica Martin