Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor #2.3 - Titan Comics

DOCTOR WHO: THE THIRTEENTH DOCTOR No. 2.3, April 2020

Bearing in mind that this twenty two page periodical depicts the exploits of two incarnations of the Doctor, four members of the TARDIS crew and the Machiavellian machinations of both the Weeping Angels and several automatons animated by the Nestene Consciousness, there surely can’t have been many fans of this comic who weren’t in awe as to just how much energy Jody Houser imbues “A Little Help From My Friends” with. In fact, seeing as how well all the different aforementioned elements interact with one another, the vast majority of this ongoing series’ readers were probably lamenting just why the American author’s script for Issue Three of “Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor” hadn’t been used as part of a screenplay for an actual broadcast (Christmas) special of the BBC science fiction programme.

For starters, there’s plenty of tension to be had out of the marvellously penned sequences involving the titular character and Martha Jones cautiously rummaging about “some creepy” clothing store. Surrounded by the heads, arms, legs and torsos of numerous mannequins, some bibliophiles might have anticipated the confrontation awaiting the overeager explorers just around the corner. But the sudden appearance of a featureless police officer lurking in the back storeroom is still rather startling, especially when a sudden jump scare is thrown into the mix a la the Auton’s hand from the March 2005 televised story “Rose”.

Likewise, the Eisner Award-Nominee’s portrayal of the Tenth Doctor, teaming up with Ryan Sinclair, Yasmin Khan and Graham O’Brien, is similarly tense, with the Time Lord’s “Fam” working in unison to thwart the feeding frenzy of a Weeping Angel. The dialogue for both Ryan and his granddad is absolutely spot on throughout this slowly-evolving ‘chase’, yet is only a taster of things to come, when Houser turns her attention to the banter between the “happy-go-lucky” Gallifreyan and his female successor; “Weeeell, plan is really more of a metaphor for making it up as I go along.”

Helping all these scintillating shenanigans along are Roberta Ingranata’s marvellous storyboards and Enrica Eren Angiolini's colours, which impressively exude both the appropriate levels of apprehension needed for so dark a narrative, as well as the physical nuances of the very actors involved in the television show. Indeed, the mannerisms and facial expressions of the leading cast, especially Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor, are so good, that in some ways it’s hard not to imagine this comic simply being a collection of colourised tele-snaps from one of the show’s missing episodes.

The regular cover art of "DOCTOR WHO: THE THIRTEENTH DOCTOR" No. 2.3 by Karen Hallion