Art Attack

"He helps people. Does all kind of crazy stuff. He never stops."

Writer: Mike Collins

Format: Comic Strip

Released: July 2005

Printed in: DWM 358

Featuring: Ninth Doctor, Rose

Synopsis 

Rose wants some peace and quiet. She's getting tired of constant danger and alien threats when exiting the TARDIS on her travels with the Doctor. She wants to see something fantastic so the Doctor takes her to see an old friend of his, the Mona Lisa painting, in the 37th century...

Verdict 

Art Attack was a fantastic little comic strip! I'm not sure why DWM has done so many one part stories as is the case with this one - I think with this format stories should eclipse just the one issue (unless of course it's a feature length and extended comic). But to be honest the shortness in length didn't effect the quality of the story at all I don't think. It was interesting from the off which is sometimes difficult in this format but there always seemed like something mysterious was going on. The relationship between the Ninth Doctor and Rose was excellent here and it was evident they were enjoying their travels together. Well, maybe that only speaks for the Doctor. I loved that Rose just wanted to visit a place where she could have some peace and quiet. Sadly for her, that doesn't make a good Doctor Who story I'm afraid. However, to some extent she got her wish here. She got to see the infamous painting of the Mona Lisa 2600 years after her home century. Quite an experience I would imagine! I loved how the Doctor wouldn't allow Rose to just go and see the painting in her own time in whatever gallery or museum it was currently stored. He had a time machine so he was going to utilise it! Cazkelf was a very good character and I liked his appearance and how it linked with the story's theme and title. Very arty indeed! Speaking of the theme, I liked the artistic stance we got here. Historical or futuristic art stories, or even present day ones as we've previously seen, are brilliant and should be done more regularly in my opinion (obviously not so close together though!). We've only really had the amazing City of Death, which was wonderfully referenced as I would have hoped for, and Vincent and the Doctor as art-like themed stories. And this comic strip could be a good paving stone for a future arty story. The use of headsets to control and transport the humanoids was clever and I liked how the events of the story certainly weren't that of a planned alien invasion. The assumed menace of the story was horrified at that suggestion! Superb. I liked that the Doctor returned Cazkelf to his home planet, now wrecked. The Doctor reminiscing of being the last of his people was a nice throw in and I liked how it was implied that Rose was his purpose for continuing through the pain. I liked the continuation from The Unquiet Dead with the same incarnation referencing World War Five. Judging from what we saw here, it must've been a pretty catastrophic event! The ending of this comic was great with performed art seemingly achieved with the materialisation of the TARDIS. Fantastic. 

Rating: 8/10