Doctor Who: Origins #2 - Titan Comics

DOCTOR WHO: ORIGINS #2, August 2022

Arguably consisting of little more than a slow-paced tour of the planet Kreb, this twenty-page periodical’s pedestrian plot probably won’t land particularly well with those Whovians who like their leading protagonist to be a little more action-orientated. In fact, it’s difficult to imagine a less dynamic incarnation of the Gallifreyan than the one Jody Houser pens nonchalantly wandering around this comic’s friendly, extra-terrestrial settlement supping wine and eating cooked meat; “This is beautiful work. Was this planet the first location for your colony?”

Of course, that isn’t to say that Issue Two of “Doctor Who: Origins” is entirely weighed down by a seemingly never-ending carousel of heavily populated text balloons and insights into an alien farming culture - courtesy of the Fugitive Doctor’s latest travelling companion, Taslo. The Division’s newest, super-eager recruit is a constant reminder as to how aggressive the mysterious “clandestine Time Lord agency” apparently is during this period of Rassilon's people, especially when she suddenly murders the unarmed Leader Noat with a cold-blooded knife blow from behind once the girl’s content no-one else can witness her lethal attack.

This horrible homicide comes completely out of the blue just when the reader probably thinks absolutely nothing of consequence is ever going to occur within this publication and establishes the already dislikeable youth as a truly callous killer, who will thoughtlessly obey her superiors’ orders without any compunction whatsoever. Indeed, arguably one of this book’s biggest hurdles for some bibliophiles may well be just how successful the Eisner Award-Nominee is in making the young woman so incredibly loathsome, as the self-centred, holier-than-thou adolescent is truly off-putting whenever artist Roberta Ingranata even so much as pencils Taslo in the background grumpily mooching about.

Similarly as disconcerting though, is the American author’s handling of the titular character, who seems perfectly happy to simply wander through the quite sizeable Kreb community without any plan whatsoever, despite the Division’s warning that this will be “a dangerous assignment”. Such surprising nonchalance even seems to disconcertingly extend to her companion’s shocking slaying of the weaponless Noat, after which the Doctor lamentably lies for Taslo by dishonestly claiming the hapless alien accidentally fell to her death off a cliff top.

The regular cover art of "DOCTOR WHO: ORIGINS" #2 by Abigail Harding