Genesis!

"Cybermen! All of them partly human!"

Writer: Alan McKenzie
Format: Comic Strip
Released: March 1986
Printed in: DWM 110

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Peri, Frobisher

Synopsis

In the castle on Sylvaniar, the Doctor and Captain Krogh discover a Cyberman with a human arm and leg attacking Director Rukh. Krogh's attack is easily deflected, but when two guards enter with the recently attacked Dr Sovak, the Cyberman flees through a curtain. Just what is happening?

Verdict

Genesis! was a very good conclusion to what has been a terrific trio of comic strip stories! I am quite surprised that this wasn't advertised as a three-part adventure given that they all followed on from each other, and I know that they were shown that way in the contents of The World Shapers graphic novel, but I had to go with separate blogs and that may possibly have to do with the fact I needed a few days of short-length blog entries due to moving house. This followed straight on from Revelation! and that was a good thing after the cliffhanger with the part-human Cyberman attacking Director Rukh. I was a little surprised that the Cyberman just disappeared but that made for great use of the castle setting. The Doctor continued his good relationship with Captain Krogh from the previous adventure and the fact that they were followed from the secret passage was intriguing. I liked that when all signs pointed towards Kravall being the culprit for the Cyberman experiment and the murders that were being committed across the castle scientists, the Doctor had no doubts that not everything was as it seemed. It wasn't perhaps too much of a surprise to find that it was actually Sovak who was the scientist that was orchestrating the deaths. The revelation of the fate that befell the peasants when their ship had crashed was excellent and them becoming Cybermen was fantastic. The image of what was seemingly a conveyor belt system of Cybermen was superb and the fact that they were part human was simply stunning. Those poor peasants didn't stand a chance with the maniacal Sovak conducting his experiments after the crashed spaceship. The flashback scene to that moment that occurred a year prior to the events of this comic strip adventure was very good and it did a lot for tying the three stories together which was a big positive. The idea of it being a genesis was something I found questionable, but I guess I can allow that this was the beginning of a new type of Cyberman. The idea of them going back partially to being human, at least as far as one of their legs or arms were concerned, was fascinating as it is something close to Cybermen devolving. I think that's such a good concept and something that could be explored further. One thing that perhaps didn't work overly well, without being much of an issue, was the sudden coming of the ending after three stories of build. Overloading a circuit into destruction is something that has been played out many times before, but it was feasible here with how deranged Sovak was and his desire to control the Cybermen. He just got too greedy and the Doctor was almost goading him into doing just that. Not only did the overload take out the Cybermen, it also took out the castle which was an unexpected occurrence. The Doctor's desire to reach Peri and Frobisher before they would burn to death trapped in the cell was a lovely moment, and the ending with the latter revealing that he was ill and unable to shape-shift was something good to go on with. With how long Frobisher has been a penguin though, I can't say I was too surprised. Overall though, a really good comic strip story!

Rating: 8/10