Space Vikings!

"Why is somebody trying to re-create a Norse myth?"

Writer: Jonathan Morris
Format: Comic Strip
Released: August 2009
Printed in: Doctor Who Storybook 2010

Featuring: Tenth Doctor

Synopsis

The Tenth Doctor and his newfound friend Bjorn get caught up in some trouble where a travelling space-opera's computers have got fact and fiction mixed up. With the computer god of Odin recruiting for a final battle, can the Doctor escape?

Verdict

Space Vikings! was a great little story to continue my reading of The Crimson Hand graphic novel. This was a lot of fun and whilst it didn't actually appear in the pages of Doctor Who Magazine, it certainly contributes a lot of quality to what has been an extremely consistent run with the Tenth Doctor since the beginning of The Widow's Curse collection of stories. This is the first time I have read graphic novel collections back to back and whilst I'm not usually a fan of sticking with the same format and Doctor for such a long time, taking advantage of the library resources before moving back home for a month is something I cannot miss! Therefore, the Tenth Doctor comic run looks set to continue for the next week at least. Anyway, onto the story itself and it was actually terrific in that it dealt with the Norse myth of Asgard. I'm a huge fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Thor is actually my favourite character alongside Iron Man so seeing a character called Thorir was quite humorous. I thought it might have been something to do with copyright at first, and it still might be, but then Asgard and Odin getting mentioned was terrific. The prospect of Doctor Who doing a crossover with the MCU is beyond my wildest dreams but this is probably somewhere close to as good as we're going to get. Bjorn filled the companion role pretty well here but I'm not sure that he was needed. I did like how the story started with things obviously having already occurred as the Doctor and Bjorn were well acquainted and were already putting a plan into action. The characterisation of the Tenth Doctor was very good and I liked his reaction to seeing Valhalla very much. His reaction to discovering that Odin was just computer generated was excellent too and he almost seemed to find the whole situation a little comical. Everything could so easily have been avoided and this touring space-opera was now actually finding soldiers for a battle! It was bonkers but fantastic. That's a good combination. The conclusion was quite entertaining and whilst it was a little easy for the Doctor to duck and have Thorir destroy the place and Odin with it, the comment at the end where the Doctor stated the show wasn't over until the fat lady sings, only for a fat lady to look like she was about to sing, was terrific. A very funny way to finish a story that was certainly a lot of fun. Overall, another great story!

Rating: 8/10