Doctor Who: Time Lord Victorious #1 - Titan Comics

DOCTOR WHO: TIME LORD VICTORIOUS No. 1, October 2020

Considering that the Time Lord Victorious saga was “told across audio, novels, comics, vinyl, digital, immersive theatre, escape rooms and games”, this forty-four page periodical’s 6,600 strong audience probably struggled to see what all the fuss was about in September 2020. For whilst Jody Houser’s script certainly heralds the return of the Doctor’s “deadliest enemies”, her pedestrian-paced plot of the Gallifreyan’s Tenth incarnation simply conversing with a variety of Daleks on Skaro is hardly the “thrilling new adventure” promised by “Titan Comics” in its pre-publication fluff.

Instead, all Issue One of “Doctor Who: Time Lord Victorious” arguably offers its readers is an exercise in how to draw out an actionless, dialogue-driven narrative across an entire double-sized comic book using such techniques as sedentary soliloquies, a coma-inducing chase sequence through the known universe, and yet another confrontation with the Emperor Dalek in which the so-called supreme ruler of the Dalek Empire once again begs the Doctor for help because the race of inhuman killers are "scared" of being defeated by another alien race; “The Hond are alive. And they are coming for us. The Dalek armies have held them back. But now they are coming to Skaro to invade. To exterminate… The Doctooor will save Skaro and the Daleks.”

Of course, that isn’t to say that Houser’s narrative, based upon a story by James Goss, doesn’t contain some noteworthy features, as the appearance of the dilapidated Prime Strategist and his ‘tour’ of the Vault of Obscenities attests. But this rusty, bent-out-of-shape Dalek sadly only makes an appearance towards the very end of the badly bloated magazine, and then is debatably just used by the Eisner-nominated author to demonstrate just how physically immobile the original design of the Kaled Mark Three Travel Machines were before ‘its people made flying cases’ so as to overcome large holes in the ground.

Fortunately however, those bibliophiles brave enough to endure this book’s lethargy do at least get to enjoy plenty of Roberta Ingranata’s excellent pencilling, with the Italian illustrator providing an astounding good likeness of thespian David Tennant and his easily recognisable mannerisms throughout. Indeed, the artwork makes it very easy to imagine the actor actually saying the lines, as well as helping the Prime Strategist navigate the ruins of the mysterious vault with all the tangible energy the Tenth Doctor was famous for when seen on the small screen.

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