Herald of Madness Part 2

"This is an insult to the true study of the stars!"

Writer: Scott Gray
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 7th March 2019
Printed in: DWM 536

Featuring: Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Ryan, Graham

Synopsis

Madness descends on the Gathering of Castle Houska as the Baroness takes a vested interest in young student Johannes Kepler. Her foreknowledge could change the world of 1601 as we know it, so the Doctor and her friends set out to ensure that history follows the right path...

Verdict

Herald of Madness continued in decent form with this second part of the comic strip adventure! Firstly, to the magazine itself and sadly it may be some time before I actually get around to reading its content as I still haven't gotten around to starting last month's! As is evident by the sudden lack of blogging, my MA studies have taken full priority and I think sporadic blogging will sadly be the case at least up until the middle of May. Anyway, enough about me. This looks set to be a splendid issue of DWM and it has gotten me very excited about the upcoming animation release of The Macra Terror! I think it's a great choice for restoration and I look forward to reading all of the previews and everything associated with its release. The interviews with Frazier Hines and Anneke Wills should be splendid and I think Mark Troughton will also be a great interviewee. That's not all on offer this month though, as we have an interview with Christopher H. Bidmead which should be fantastic given his stature in the Doctor Who world. I know nothing of the content, but a feature that is titled 'Daleks vs Grass' should be quite spectacular so I look forward to that one very much. The Fact of Fiction is something I have increasingly enjoyed in recent issues and Gridlock being this month's subject is terrific as that is a superb episode! I'm also looking forward, as always, to the likes of Galaxy Forum and Gallifrey Guardian but I do wish we could be ridded of the god-awful Blogs of Doom! Yuck. Now, onto the comic strip and I thought it continued well from a decent cliffhanger in the first part. The Doctor was quickly able to overcome the telepathic threat and she did so in a way that ridiculed the perpetrator which I thought was fantastic. The characterisation of Jodie Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor continued to impress but I do wish Yaz was utilised more! Hopefully she gets more page time in the next part. The continued theme of Kepler being a student and Tycho misunderstanding why he isn't the important one was fantastic and it's something I have really enjoyed. The foreknowledge is very dangerous here and that was something that worried Yaz. Ryan didn't have a great deal to do in this part other than accompany the Doctor but that was absolutely fine. I thought the little flashback to the building of Castle Houska was brilliant and I can't wait to draw the connections between that and the Baroness. She was angered by the Doctor and her friends' presence and the cliffhanger was probably an improvement on last month as she grew the body of a horse amidst her attack and death threat towards Graham and Yaz! It was most unexpected. Overall, a great continuation!