Apotheosis

"You listen, beardy. We're a team. Who's gonna save your neck when your brilliant plan goes pear-shaped?"

Writer: Jonathan Morris

Format: Comic Strip

Released: June - August 2011

Printed in: DWM 435-437

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Amy

Synopsis 

The Doctor and Amy arrive on a space station where time is running faster. They team up with a party of nuns to escape but the problem may lead to the TARDIS itself...

Verdict 

Apotheosis was a fantastic comic strip leading into the final adventure of this lengthy story's arc. For the first time since The Golden Ones, barring a cameo or two in a couple of stories, the arc resumed as the central part of the story and the revelations of everything were brilliant! I like how everything started with the very first comic strip to feature the Eleventh Doctor and Amy, Supernature. Now, it's been quite a while since I read that story but I can vaguely recall mentioning in my blog how it was just your basic introductory story for the new characters. But now we know it's actually got relevance to the arc that's very good! The jungle reappeared of all things! That crazy, barmy jungle was back and on a spaceship! Amy seemed much more like her TV self in this story as compared to previous adventures with her dialogue. I loved the reference to the 2030 World Cup Final ending Scotland 3-0 England at Wembley Stadium. Hmm, now I don't like the English and am partly Scottish but predominately I'm Welsh and proud and just couldn't envisage that final. I mean, England are never going to reach it! The Plague Robots were pretty good enemies here. I liked their appearance and the war between them and the organic Space Nuns sounded excellent. I adore the idea of a man vs robot war, especially considering it'd lasted for a millennium! The Plague Robots' admiration for the returning Chiyoko was great seeing as she was half organic and half machine. More specifically, she was part TARDIS. The creation of this Japanese girl who we've previously seen with the Axons was mightily intriguing! She had an incredible amount of power which was interesting, she just wiped out the Plague Robots as if they were playthings. The amalgamation of previous people the Doctor and Amy encountered being obsorbed into the TARDIS was a scary thought and it was a nice throwback to the previous stories in the range, with all but the Christmas special of The Professor, the Queen and the Bookshop being referenced. The amalgamation creature looked very good and frightening which I like in a monster, especially one of that stature! The different time zones going at different speeds is a concept I adore after the Rise and Fall Short Trip and it was played out here very well with very good explanation. The ageing of Amy was a shock and I thought the scenes where it seemed that she was all but dead were fantastic, except the fact it's completely unbelievable that a TV introduced companion will die in comic strip format. A shame. The stubble on the Doctor was a comical moment, especially with Amy's reaction. I liked the action packed scenes in the ship setting and the way Amy was restored to her youth in the nick of time. Quite literally restored. The arrival of Chiyoko and her power was fantastic and the story itself was a very good lead in to what should be a promising finale in The Child of Time. 

Rating: 8/10