The Ripper's Curse

"Jack the Ripper has been captured!"

Writer: Tony Lee
Format: Comic Strip
Released: March-April 2011
Printed in: DW11 #2-4

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Amy, Rory

Synopsis

Jack the Ripper is caught, and even the Doctor has trouble talking his way out of this one! But why is the true Ripper following Amy? What is her connection to Mary Kelly? And how has Rory become the chief of police? Can the true course of history be maintained?

Verdict

The Ripper's Curse was an excellent continuation of the Eleventh Doctor Archives! Now, I'm only on the second story of the first volume but I have to say that this will take some beating. It was a wonderful  story from start to finish with it being Doctor Who's take on Jack the Ripper. It's quite shocking that this has, to my knowledge and blog entries covered, not been done before and the direction was certainly unique and somewhat unexpected. It turns out that Jack the Ripper was actually a very large and green shape shifting alien that fed on the energies built up by emotions such as excitement and fear. Why his victims were all women I'm not sure, but I was willing to let that slide. The era of the late nineteenth century was wonderfully captured and I really enjoyed how the Doctor, Amy and Rory all managed to fit in. Rory being dubbed Inspector Clousaeu was terrific and after a shaky start, he embraced his newfound role fantastically. His desperation when it appeared that Amy had become the sixth victim of Jack the Ripper was lovely to see and I was quite surprised by how unmoved the Doctor was with everything that was going on. It was great how Amy had used an alias and that had become a talking point on a modern day Jack the Ripper tour which the Doctor used to cheat a little bit and save his companion. I thought it was quite ironic that this was the case after he gave a stern speech about how history had to stay on track and that Amy could not save Mary. She went and did so anyway, only for another Mary to die in her place. Abberline was excellent as the man in charge of the case to find Jack the Ripper and I liked how well the era of the story accommodated an alien war from the future. Jack the Ripper actually being a Re'nar was unexpected but I liked how it was used as the explanation for why the Ripper case is so unexplainable. Why wouldn't it be an alien in the Doctor Who universe? The concluding moment for Mac'atyde were quite sudden with the Ju'Wes engaging in battle and shoving him through his own time portal meaning instant death. The only qualm I had with this story was the fact that Mac'atyde was in the TARDIS with the Doctor at his mercy at one point, simply walked out, and then later claimed that he would take the Doctor's time machine. Surely he already gave up the opportunity? Regardless, I thought it was a superb adventure that was brilliantly captured in the era. Overall, a great comic strip!

Rating: 9/10