The Naked Flame

"The light of the gods... it calls!"

Writer: Warwick Gray
Format: Comic Strip
Released: September 1994
Printed in: Doctor Who Yearbook 1995

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane

Synopsis

The Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane lands on Vortis. An injured Menoptera lies unconscious on the ground on the post-Animus world. But a new intelligence is feeding. Light will feed Clynex, and if the Doctor isn't careful then he will have the whole Menoptera species against him.

Verdict

The Naked Flame was another decent little comic strip to continue along my reading of The Clockwise War graphic novel! It was another tale with the Fourth Doctor following on from Rest and Re-Creation and it followed a very similar standard. This time around though we had Sarah Jane as the companion and she was looking splendid in that famed striped costume. I really do adore her in that and long for the Pop Vinyl figure of her dawning that attire. I thought it was quite intriguing though as her wearing of those clothes, probably but not absolutely, places this story very close towards her departure in The Hand of Fear. It's a shame to think of how things ended between her and the Doctor but they got to do good here whilst also experiencing some horrors. Those horrors were something I thought more could have been made of but I'll get to that a little later on. The return to Vortis for the Doctor was wonderful for me, even if I am far from being a fan of The Web Planet. There's something about that story that draws me in though and even though I know it would be a struggle, I am actually keen to give it another watch and I'm especially eager to read the early Doctor Who Annual stories where the First Doctor visits the planet once again. Here though we had the Fourth Doctor meeting the Menoptera and they weren't quite as friendly as they were in that televised serial! I was very intrigued though to find that the Doctor had visited Vortis in another incarnation prior to Return to the Web Planet! I did enjoy that and all the connotations that went with it. Jresta made a good character as one of the Menoptera and I thought the similarities to the aforementioned Fifth Doctor audio were very intriguing with the meeting of a wingless Menoptera. Given the gap between the two stories, I do wonder (and kind of hope) that this comic strip influenced it. She was good and Sarah Jane's reaction to finding out that she was referred to as a cripple by her own people was excellent to see. It was abhorrent and that was clearly visible in the companion's reaction. One thing I was less keen on in this comic strip was the Clynex. I did like the idea that it was an intelligence defeated by the Animus before the First Doctor first arrived on Vortis, but even by the Doctor's own acknowledgement, it wasn't actually the most intelligent of intelligences. It was very easily defeated and whilst I fully appreciate that that's what's needed in a shorter comic strip like this one, it didn't quite fit right with me. I did very much like that Jresta's being wingless was why she was able to survive while all the other Menoptera flew to their deaths as the Clynex seemed to gain full control on the planet. I was quite stunned at the amount of death to be honest but the fact I was shocked was good. Overall, this was a very intriguing and interesting story and with a bit more action and a better enemy, this could have been even better than just decent! Still, a very enjoyable continuation of the graphic novel.

Rating: 7/10