The Friendly Place

"There was a shift in government. And the new rulers of the system decided that maintaining Rokhandi was an... unnecessary expense."

Writer: Al Ewing

Format: Comic Strip

Released: September 2014

Series: DW11 #2

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Alice

Synopsis 

Alice lost her mother, her job and her apartment, and was at her lowest ebb. That's when the Doctor crashed into her life, chasing an alien rainbow dog - known as a Kharitite - through the streets of London! The Doctor and Alice proved a pretty good team, reuniting the Kharitite and its owner without totally decimating the House of Parliaments. Now they're off an a new adventure...!

Verdict 

The Friendly Place was a good continuation of the new range of Eleventh Doctor comics from Titan. I must start at my absolute pleasure at seeing the Time Lord mystery figure from After Life as part of the things you should know before reading. The description of the figure was intriguing and it seems inevitable that the figure will be appearing and be a major part of a future story, one I'm looking extremely forward to! Anyway, back to the story at hand and the Eleventh Doctor was depicted absolutely perfectly! As I was reading I could easily imagine Matt Smith saying the words within the speech. The quirkiness and just brilliance that Smith brought to his role was evident here and that's always a bonus. The Doctor's displeasure at what had occurred to Rokhandi was fantastic and so typical of this incarnation. The description of what the Doctor was hoping to show Alice for her first adventure was stunning. I like how he wants the first journey in the TARDIS to be special, a big occassion, and that made me think bag to Amy and Clara's first stories. He definitely wanted their first trip to be spectacular and that was evident in The Beast Below and The Rings of Akhaten and was really nice to see here. I love how these comics are set between Series 5 and 6! The Doctor doesn't seem to be missing the Ponds at all which is intriguing. The use of 'floss' in this story was interesting and it actually seemed like the victims were getting high! It seemed a little too close to drug use, I had no problem with it, but I think some might. The Doctor being unhappy at how nobody was unhappy was great and the relationship between him and Alice was of interest. She doesn't seem ebullient enough for this Doctor but of course it's very early days and I'm more than willing to give her a chance. I just hope she doesn't turn out like the Fourth Doctor's comic strip companion Sharon. The humour between the Doctor and Alice though was fantastic with the Doctor constantly referring to his new companion as a librarian whilst she repeatedly states she's a library assistant. The constant referencing by Alice regarding her late mother is already becoming a tad tiresome sadly. The plot of the story was very decent and somewhat reminded me of The Nightmare Fair with the whole evil theme park feel. The song was done very cleverly and was super catchy! It was done to a similar level of standard as that in Supernature. The way the Doctor defeated the entity as it was referred was great with the sheer scale of what he desired causing its destruction! I liked how Alice was pleased with what had been achieved as they departed for the TARDIS. A good story with a clever end and lots of humour! The epilogue was of severe interest too with an apparent range (or hopefully not story) arc. Just what is the larger entity? And who's behind it? I look forward to finding out! 

Rating: 8/10