Doctor Who: The Fifteenth Doctor #3 - Titan Comics

DOCTOR WHO: THE FIFTEENTH DOCTOR No.3, October 2024

Whilst Dan Watters’ script for Issue Three of “Doctor Who: The Fifteenth Doctor” debatably doesn’t explain just how the Timelord’s latest adversary somehow manages to whisk him and the TARDIS away to some perilous Pocket Dimension. The increasing sense of palpable fear resonating from Ruby Sunday’s dire predicament at the hands of “the entire Sanctum Security Team” on Earth should still definitely keep this comic’s audience absolutely hooked; “Don’t look at me. I didn’t even plan this bit.”

For openers the British author does a very good job of tapping into the illogical and downright merciless group-mind mentality of scared humans which was so wonderfully explored in the Tenth Doctor’s 2008 televised episode "Midnight". These terrified shoppers are simply willing to sacrifice anyone so as to return to their mundane lives, and this comic’s narrative provides them with plenty of (erroneous) facts to fuel their fears - most notably the Gallifreyan’s companion inadvertently appearing alongside two giant insectoid extra-terrestrials just as the mob have reactivated the mall’s robot guardians. 

Furthermore, the writer shows just how dangerous it can be to have an unflinching faith in the titular time traveller, similar to that which cost Clara Oswald her life in “Face The Raven”. Considering just how short a time Ruby and the Doctor have actually travelled together this unshakeable belief is perhaps a little unconvincing. But its impact upon this twenty-two page periodical’s plot is arguably made much more harrowing by the young orphan talking a pair of harmless aliens into leaving the safety of their underground habitat, and subsequently seeing them brutally killed in a solar storm as a result.

Also definitely adding to this publication’s storytelling is artist Kelsey Ramsay and Colorist Valentina Bianconi, who together provide the Scream Sommelier with all the devilish character a Whovian would expect from so powerful an antagonist – most notably when the phantom-like figure rather humorously breaks the Fourth Wall. Quite possibly the creative pair’s biggest success though comes with the portrayal of the Cancaranka, whose formidably scary size is wonderfully off-set by their amiable manners and deep-set desire to simply exist without being squashed to death. It genuinely is difficult not to like the two large, multi-limbed insects, and their horribly painful deaths due to trusting in Sunday is extremely depressing.

The regular cover art of "DOCTOR WHO: THE FIFTEENTH DOCTOR" #3 by Abigail Harding