Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor #2.4 - Titan Comics

DOCTOR WHO: THE THIRTEENTH DOCTOR No. 2.4, May 2020

Despite packing this publication with plenty of thrills in the shape of the Weeping Angels, Nestene consciousness, and of course a triumphant team-up with the Tenth Doctor, there’s something of a disconcertingly familiar air to Jody Houser’s script for “A Little Help From My Friends” which arguably must have made the twenty-two page periodical’s plot a little too simplistic for some of this book’s readers in May 2020. Sure, the “writer of comics and other story-shaped things” certainly tries to raise the ante by suggesting that the TARDIS could be invaded by Steven Moffat's "quantum-locked humanoids" at any moment, and then later by depicting Sixties London being momentarily overrun by Autons. Yet such is the comfortable confidence of the two incarnations of the same Time Lord that it’s genuinely hard to find much menace in either the murderous plastic mannequins as they run amok through a packed shopping street or even the formidable-looking visage of the Nestene’s bulbous leader; “I thought you said this was the way to the loo! Us? We’re just tourists. I didn’t even want to be here myself.”

In addition, practically everything within this comic would appear to be ‘played for laughs’ with almost everyone within its quite considerable cast taking the opportunity to verbalise at least one wisecrack whenever the situation looks set to go from bad to worse. These almost endless gags do have their moments, especially when David Tenant’s persona repeatedly bounces ideas off of his future self with an energetic “Oh, but that’s brilliant.” However, after a short while such persistent levity completely erodes any suggestion that the time travellers are in any sort of trouble, to the point where even the Doctor’s frustrating habit of leaving her companions’ in the dark as to her ultimate plan doesn’t generate any sense of mystery whatsoever, just a lethargic feeling of ‘what will be will be’… 

Luckily, all this ‘adventuring by numbers’ is well-pencilled by Roberta Ingranata, who quite wonderfully captures a good likeness of the televised characters in the vast majority of this book’s panels. Stunningly coloured by Enrica Eren Angiolini, the TARDIS console room has debatably never looked better than it does in this magazine, with the Italian’s choice of oranges and yellows superbly contrasting with the light blues and whites she later utilises to represent deep space.

Writer: Jody Houser, Artist: Roberta Ingranata, and Colorist: Enrica Eren Angiolini