The Deep Hereafter

"What does a hotshot lawyer want with the biggest bomb in the world?"

Writer: Dan McDaid
Format: Comic Strip
Released: August 2009
Printed in: DWM 412

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Majenta

Synopsis

The Tenth Doctor and Majenta Pryce visit a forgotten colony that resembles a gangster-ridden Earth city in the 1930s, only to find themselves investigating the murder of a fish-headed private eye...

Verdict

The Deep Hereafter was quite a disappointing little comic strip sadly. It continued my reading of The Crimson Hand but sadly a run of consistently high ratings came to an abrupt end. It was a real shame because Dan McDaid has been giving us some fantastic stories but things just never really got going here. I thought the change in style was interesting and a brave way to go and I admire that he wanted to freshen things up and prevent repetitiveness but it just didn't quite work for me. The gang theme was pretty good but the delivery was not. I like the idea but the writing of the Doctor was actually really horrible for me which was probably the worst thing about the adventure. It just didn't capture the era of the Tenth Doctor and the characterisation just wasn't there. I didn't get the sense of David Tennant which is different from all the previous comic strips in this collection. Majenta was not bad but I was quite taken aback by her 'good riddance' comment when she and the Doctor discovered Johnny Seaview and saw him die. I liked how the Doctor reacted angrily but that didn't seem to last. That is probably owing to events spiralling out of his control but I can't imagine him actually being okay with comments like that coming from his companion. This comic strip seemed like a bit of a breather with all that's been going on with the Tenth Doctor and Majenta lately and with the rate I'm currently going through the comics (don't let the blog entry date deceive you), it was quite welcomed! A murder mystery story is always a good place to start but I thought some of the names got a bit silly. The sexual tension between the Doctor and Winter Palace was surprising too and his reaction just didn't seem in line with the character of this incarnation which was a shame. The delivery of the gang-setting didn't work anywhere near as good as the likes of Gangland which was disappointing and I thought the conclusion was a little flawed and just a bit of a visual mumble. The threat of the World Bomb was very real and once it was revealed that Hecto Shellac was the culprit, the danger became quite imminent until the Doctor had a sudden change of heart and just decided to set the bomb off anyway. That didn't quite work for my liking and whilst Shellac's reaction to being defeated was great, I wasn't too sure about the Doctor just thinking of England and then it becoming a brand new world. Overall, some good elements but as a whole it wasn't the best of adventures sadly.

Rating: 5/10