Funhouse

"For the universe's best-travelled nan, your sense of direction is the pits!"

Writer: Max Stockbridge

Format: Comic Strip

Released: July-August 1985

Printed in: DWM 102-103

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Frobisher

Synopsis 

A creature with the form of a rambling of house has possessed the TARDIS. Now both the house and TARDIS hurtle through the time vortex with the Doctor and Frobisher struggling to regain control.

Verdict 

Funhouse was a very good comic strip adventure to get me right back into the swing of things with the Voyager graphic novel. This was a very decent penultimate story and I found it in some pretty obvious ways similar to The Doctor's Wife. Obviously we didn't have the Doctor and co leaving the universe and the possibility of more Time Lords existing, as this features the Sixth Doctor they're not yet destroyed, but we do have an evil house that is trying to take over the TARDIS! And it seems to do just that as it almost merges with the time machine. The two seem to become one and that causes a mass of trouble for the Doctor and Frobisher. I think in almost every blog for the stories in this graphic novel I've vented my frustration at Peri not appearing when she's on the front cover but I guess, on a technicality, that I can't continue that as finally she does make an appearance, even if it is in just a cameo role and created by the illusions of the Funhouse. It seems that she's simply been dropped off somewhere which I find intriguing. Surely we could have seen that happen in a comic strip story? It would seem to flow more naturally from The Caves of Androzani or The Twin Dilemma. Frobisher was a good companion in this story and I liked that in the climax we saw the reverse through time with his appearances from The Shape Shifter and War-Game. I think this story gave the reader a subtle insight into what it's like to be a companion around the Doctor on times. After the good cliffhanger I found myself agreeing with Frobisher in not having a clue what the Doctor was talking about. He seemed to understand the situation with ease, as seemed in my reading of Ten Little Aliens yesterday, whilst his companion just entrusted that he knew what he was doing and would save the day. That was certainly the case here I felt. The pace was very good and I thought the characterisation of the Sixth Doctor was once again very good, as it has been in pretty much every story in this graphic novel. I'm really enjoying the artwork, which is slightly to my surprise as I was skeptical about reading comic strips in black and white, and I'm sure it'll continue to impress me in past and future graphic novels. I liked that the end scene on almost every page was of the TARDIS and a caption of Funhouse admiring its power. It needed the merge. The climax was very good and energetic and I loved that we got to see a brief cameo of all five previous incarnations of the Doctor as he seemed to de-age in freeing the TARDIS of the Funhouse. The Time Lord used time itself as his means of escape and trapped the deranged house in the vortex - something it actually seemed to enjoy! It really was quite the barmy funhouse. It certainly wasn't the kind of thing you find at the funfair! It's not often that a comic strip story has an epilogue but I found that intriguing and it filled a nice little gap at the end. Overall, a very good comic strip and I now look forward to the intriguingly named four-part finale, in which Peri better make an appearance! 

Rating: 8/10