More than meets the Eye

"The sonic is the ultimate lock pick - and now it's in the hands of someone who could really misuse it."

Writer: Richard Cookson

Format: Comic Strip

Released: October 2014

Printed in: DWA 357

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Clara

Synopsis 

The city is being targeted by alien magpies who are taking anything they can that's shiny - including the sonic screwdriver! 

Verdict 

More than meets the Eye was a pretty decent little comic strip! The name really did catch my eye despite the title and I like the amount of ambiguity and mystery that could be thought of for a Doctor Who story with a title such as this. Of course, I've more than grown out of the style of comic strip which appears in the Doctor Who Adventures magazine but with the app installed on my phone, for occasions such as this, I was happy to get a notification saying that this issue was downloadable for free. Now, it's more than debatable whether the Doctor Who Adventures comic strips should be considered canonical with their length and style (I personally would be inclined to say they were despite my age), but this one did have a very good idea! The Seevith were extremely intriguing and I did like the revelation that they were alien magpies! Now, when I say that I don't mean they were literally magpie birds from out of space, I mean that they would take anything shiny! The scenes of the shiny objects being taken away was quite comical but things soon got serious when the Doctor's had a personal item stolen. Not just any personal item, the sonic screwdriver! He managed hands free from his fifth to seventh incarnations but ever since The Movie he hasn't been able to cope without the sonic! Just how much it meant to him was made abundantly clear in Smith and Jones and I'm sure the Twelfth Doctor is just the same as his tenth (well, eleventh) self. Clara referencing the Judoon was excellent and I do wonder where she has met them! I'd really like to blog that story as Judoon stories can always be intriguing, whether it's in Doctor Who or the Sarah Jane Adventures. The threat of the Seevith at the cliffhanger of the comic strip was pretty good but I really am against a cliffhanger in a story that only consists of four pages! Now, I know it's the same team who do the Doctor Who Adventures comic strips that do the Doctor Who Annuals and I think I've more than made it clear my feelings on the length of stories. DWA is basically full of rubbish to be honest so I don't understand why they don't extend the comic stories and perhaps gain a couple more buyers every fortnight! The revelation about them being magpies was interesting. The Doctor identifying who the TARDIS pairing were up against from a book showing the fifty most peskiest species wasn't terrific I didn't think. And I did like Clara in this comic strip but the fact that shiny paper was used to power a spaceship didn't sit right with me. I just couldn't accept that! But overall, a decent comic strip that started off very well but a poor resolution let the story down somewhat sadly. 

Rating: 7/10