The Doctor and the Nurse

"They believe the past and future don't exist."

Writer: Brandon Seifert
Format: Comic Strip
Released: December 2012 - January 2013
Printed in: DW12 #3-4

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Amy, Rory

Synopsis

The stress from their past few adventures have the Doctor and Rory at each other's throats, and Amy has had just about enough. So she sends them on a boy's night out, much to their chagrin, but with a TARDIS at their disposal...

Verdict

The Doctor and the Nurse was a very good comic strip adventure and quite a unique way to continue my reading of the Eleventh Doctor Archives Volume 2 from IDW! Even though Amy featured relatively largely in this adventure, it was very much one for solely the Eleventh Doctor and Rory and that is quite an intriguing approach. The stresses of recent outings in the TARDIS catching up with them was very good and something you would definitely expect given how close they come to death and everything they have to go through. Seeing these real life effects on the TARDIS team was brilliant and something that more could definitely be made of in the future. Amy getting angered by the bickering between her boys was very humorous and I love the authority she possesses within the TARDIS. She really is in charge and I think that is a great dynamic. When she made sure that Rory and the Doctor went off and had some bonding time, much to their annoyance, the fact that they ended up losing her by leaving her in 1814 during the Great Beer Flood and failing to return was terrific. It really was very humorous and the constant time hopping searching for Amy was having its effects on the TARDIS. A stop to Cardiff was required and a welcomed return of the Rift! I'm a huge Torchwood fan so I really liked that occurring in the Eleventh Doctor era as we never really got it on television. I thought the characterisation of Matt Smith's incarnation was once again terrific and has probably been the thing I've been most impressed with from IDW in my reading of their comic strips thus far. It really does make a difference to how I read a story so I'm delighted to see it continue once again here. Amy's sub-story of the Great Beer Flood was very good and I was glad to see her have some historical knowledge in realising that she was in a pre-Victorian era. The Doctor and Rory failing to bond because they were clashing over whether they should save Amy or do the right thing in preventing the gorilla from taking over miniaturised New York was very good. They both clearly cared for things and that was nice to see. One thing that did irk me a little in this comic strip was the use of the Cybermen. They barely appeared and I really don't think they deserve to just be thrown about without really having an effect on the story. It occurred in A Good Man Goes to War and I didn't much like it then either. The Siblinghood were the main opposition in this story and I thought the concept behind them was magnificent. The idea of them being presentist was just wonderful as they obviously wouldn't take too kindly to the Doctor! I really liked the reference and similarities this story had to The Girl Who Waited but I thought it was a shame that things ended so abruptly. Am I to assume that the saber-tooth is still roaming around the TARDIS? Overall though, this remained a really fantastic story.

Rating: 8/10