The Blood of Azrael

"Yeah. The TARDIS dumped the Doctor." 

Writer: Scott Gray

Format: Comic Strip

Released: January-May 2014

Printed in: DWM 470-474

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Clara

Synopsis

The TARDIS has been sold. The 11th Doctor and Clara are stuck with no means of time travel transport. Annabel Lake has returned with another devious plan, along with her father Patrick. The legendary Azrael, a being so mighty it even gave the Doctor nightmares as a child, is on the loose. Who exactly is Danny Fisher? And why are people openly accepting death in a horrific way. As blood statues start to emerge all over a ruined Cornucopia, the Doctor's aim is clear. He must defeat Azrael and find the TARDIS. 

Verdict 

The Blood of Azrael was a fantastic comic strip sendoff for the Eleventh Doctor. It showed all the wonderful traits of Matt Smith's incarnation; anger, brilliance and compassion. After the events of Pay the Piper, the TARDIS was sold and dematerialised. It was an outstanding cliffhanger and left me wanting to complete the next comic strip right away! And the wait was worth it. The story behind Danny Fisher was fantastic where we see him as a young boy being attacked by a monster in part one to blood soaking the TARDIS in the final part. The reappearance of Patrick and Annabel Lake was unexpected before the climax of the previous comic strip, but I do like how events from The Broken Man weren't resolved at all in Hunters of the Burning Stone. The references to the 50th anniversary comic story were terrific and it still made me smile that the all mighty Hunters were actually the cavemen from An Unearthly Child. I liked how this adventure showed the after affects of the Hunter's actions on Cornucopia. The plot of this comic though was relatively simple but the twists and turns made a simple plot very exciting. You had Haratio Lynk and Amy Johnson there to aid the Doctor and Clara but as things entailed the Doctor was slowly convincing Annabel that she and Danny were wrong and he was right. The legend of Azrael, an evil necrotist who believed death was his ally. He believed that if the dead were used as artwork then they would be immortal. A quite sickening concept. His imagery of death was very brutal and agonising, literally blood soaking the victims into statues. The mask of Azrael was very intriguing and a pivotal part of the story. As we discovered that the Doctor wasn't actually battling Azrael, just the new holder of his mask who'd found it 10,000 years after his death, and held all of the memories. Rather shockingly, it was Danny! He'd used Annabel to help him get the TARDIS in Pay the Piper, and now he was killing people for mass artwork. The wasting wall was an abomination and now he was planning on using the TARDIS to wipe out life on Cornucopia. I loved Danny's story though, how he killed the alien when he was young. The reference to The Sontaran Strategem was just magnificent and how it had led him to where he was now. Continuing the horrors of Azrael. The climax was very good with Annabel tricking Danny into thinking she was on his side only to turn on him and ultimately cause his death. The way the Doctor and the TARDIS 'talked things out' was just marvellous and I adored the continuation from the TV series with it apparent that the TARDIS was jealous of Clara! Brilliant. Overall, a very good comic strip full of action and surprises. This might have been the Eleventh Doctor's final comic strip, but I get the feeling we might not have seen the last of the Lake family. 

Rating: 9/10