The Tides of Time

"The barriers that separate time are breaking down!"

Writer: Steve Parkhouse

Format: Comic Strip

Released: February-August 1982

Printed in: DWM 61-67

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Justin, Shayde

Synopsis 

The demon Malanicus has taken over the Event Synthesiser, a vast organic machine that controls the flow of events in time. On Earth, the effects are felt as the entire planet is hit by time-warps!

Verdict 

The Tides of Time was an absolutely incredible comic strip adventure to truly kick off the graphic novel of the same name. I purchased this graphic novel quite some time ago now for a steal of a price at £2.99 (including postage!) and although I had read Timeslip a few weeks ago from its pages, that never really felt like the beginning of the graphic novel for me. This collection is all about the Fifth Doctor so today's story really got things going for me and I must say I was amazed at how good this story was. It has immediately become one of my all time favourite comic strip adventures! It completes a rare feat in my blogging of having two perfect scores in a row and I'm obviously delighted with that! I don't just go around giving out 10/10 scores for the sake of it. Stories need to earn it and boy did this do that. I loved it from start to finish and although kicking off the run of the Fifth Doctor in the comic strip pages of DWM with a seven-part mammoth story, it absolutely worked. Every part seemed fresh but maintained the overriding story whilst doing so which was really impressive. After reading the epic Prisoners of Time recently, I must say it took a bit of adjusting to return to a black and white comic story but with seven parts to get through I soon was familiar once again. With this being the first comic strip to feature the Fifth Doctor, I was really impressed with Steve Parkhouse's characterisation of the young incarnation. It was absolutely spot on which just again added to the brilliance of the story. I thought the plot was excellent and paced so well over the seven parts which is actually quite a difficult task when you have a lengthy story. I loved the focus on the Event Synthesiser which in itself was a superb concept. Malanicus was a fantastic enemy and I liked how more was learned about him as the story went on, particularly in the sixth part where we learned that he was actually from Althrace long ago. I probably was not in the best position to be reading this story as I haven't actually read any of the Fourth Doctor graphic novels, despite owning The Iron Legion, and it would seem that the previous story was quite important in understanding some elements of this one. Merlin the Wise seemed a great character but I don't know anything about his backstory so I think I'll have to wait to read his first appearance before I judge him. The Doctor getting a glance of Zoe was magnificent and I like how he was still being haunted by the events of The War Games where he lost his faithful companion and she lost her memory. But in this story we said hello and goodbye to an excellent companion in Justin. I thought he was superb and his grasping of time despite coming from long ago in the past was marvellous. The inclusion of the Time Lords, and more prominently Rassilon, was unexpected but it was an incredibly good surprise. Their appearance was more than warranted with the threats that time faced at the hands of Malanicus and I liked how they provided the Doctor with the help of Shayde on his mission to put things right. Despite this being Shayde's first appearance, it was not my first story featuring the companion as I have read the Oblivion graphic novel in which a spectacular return is made. I love the concept of a shadow companion and I think alongside the Fifth Doctor it'll work superbly. I thought pretty much every cliffhanger moment was good which was another positive and I liked that we had continuation from The Invasion of Time with the Doctor still being referred to as president. The climax was done brilliantly with an action-packed finish but I loved the ambiguity surrounding the conclusion with the Doctor wondering if the events of the story actually occurred or were just remnants of the matrix. I liked that. Overall, a simply stunning start to the graphic novel with a quite incredible adventure!

Rating: 10/10