Dead Man's Hand

"A dead man who cannot die, killing people with the power of fear."

Writer: Tony Lee
Format: Comic Strip
Released: September-November 2013
Printed in: DW12 #13-16

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Clara

Synopsis

The Doctor and Clara cross paths with Oscar Wilde and Calamity Jane in the frontier town of Deadwood as they pay their respects to the recently passed Wild Bill Hickok. But soon they discover the grave is empty, and that the town is being plague by a masked gunman who shoots his victims with nothing but a finger!

Verdict

Dead Man's Hand was another great adventure to continue IDW's third volume of Eleventh Doctor Archives! This one had more of an established feel following the previous story's introducing of Clara to the comic strips. I thought the Wild West setting actually worked very well and that's quite surprising for me to say as I really am not a fan of that period of history in the slightest. I thought The Gunfighters was horrendous and I wasn't a huge fan of A Town Called Mercy either. This one actually had some significant similarities to the latter TV episode which was a little surprising to me given that the same incarnation of the Doctor was in this one. Of course, Clara joined him this time but I was surprised the Doctor didn't mention his previous experience in Mercy with the Gunslinger. Anyway, onto this one now and the addition of Oscar Wilde as a sort of companion to the Doctor for this comic strip was really great and I thought he was a fantastic choice given Clara's love and career in literature. Her unintentionally inspiring him for some of the novels he would write was excellent and I loved the Doctor's reaction to that. His wearing of the Eighth Doctor's outfit was superb too. The addition of Calamity Jane as well was really good and this obviously was a choice of time and setting rather than throwing these historical figures together. That was until Thomas Edison was being used by Sondrah in an unexpected turn of events. When the alien recognised the Doctor and reacted with joyful glee, I seemed a little annoyed with myself that I didn't recognise him, but then of course I wouldn't as it was a being with multiple minds. And one of those minds was surprisingly Es'Cartss. I really didn't see a sequel of sorts to The Forgotten coming but I liked the continuity. One thing that was a little iffy was how similar it was to the previous story of Sky Jacks, but I do try and judge things standalone where possible so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt here. The Doctor invoking the Shadow Proclamation conventions was good but I was surprised by how willing Sondrah was. The T'Keyn Nexus baring similarities to the Matrix was good and I enjoyed the links this story had with The Day of the Doctor in freeing the returning parasite here. I loved the scenes in the Nexus with the multiple incarnations of the Doctor confronting Sondrah, but I do question some of the knowledge that each displayed, even if the Eleventh Doctor was the one talking through them. Its distain for the Tenth Doctor was brilliant and a good way of narrowing down who the enemy could be. The Doctor realised when he mentioned the Matrix and from there things became somewhat straightforward. It was all very enjoyable though and one highlight of the story was the emotional battle between Jane and Bill. It was quite saddening that she had to go through him dying once again despite living in the hope of him being around again. Wilde rescuing Earth with his words was wonderful and a very good way to end the story. Finding out about the dead man was not why I expected but I was fine with that not being focus. Overall, a very enjoyable story, even if I'd like to think the Doctor would have a better attitude concerning leaving Susan in The Dalek Invasion of Earth.

Rating: 8/10