The Piggybackers Part 1

"It's the Cuban Missile Crisis!"

Writer: Scott Gray

Format: Comic Strip

Released: 5th March 2020

Printed in: DWM 549

Featuring: Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Ryan, Graham

Synopsis

The Thirteenth Doctor aims to take her companions to New Asgard in the 51st century, but ends up in 1960s America. It's the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis and everywhere is tense, sitting on tender hooks waiting for either America or Russia to make the first move. Meanwhile, children are losing their mouths learning of precautionary measures at school...

Verdict

The Piggybackers started in interesting style with a strong opening instalment. It was wonderful to be getting a brand new story following on from the very lengthy Mistress of Chaos, but more of the comic strip shortly because this looks set to be an incredible issue of Doctor Who Magazine! There really is so much going on this issue with Jo Martin taking centre stage as she interviews for the first time after being revealed as the Fugitive Doctor. I can't wait to read about the process that led to her casting as this intriguing incarnation. I'm sure it will be a fantastic little read. I am yet to actually read any articles in the magazine at the moment, but after a quick flick through Galaxy Forum, I was delighted to find that I got my email printed as I discussed Can You Hear Me? and the Celestial Toymaker. It maintained my 100% success rate of getting printed which is really wonderful to say and I'm very grateful. The new feature of Apocrypha looks absolutely tremendous as we get to discuss what I assume will be some obscure stories as we start with The Fishmen of Kandalinga. I can't wait to read about this one. The return of Public Image will be interesting to see how the latest series has fared on the television ratings which always makes for a good read. Concluding The Daleks' Master Plan's run in The Fact of Fiction will be fantastic and I've really enjoyed its discussion so far. I am also looking very forward to submitting my answers to the Season Survey and I'm sure the results will be very interesting in a future issue. Taking a look at Ten Years of the Eleventh Doctor should be magnificent and after a brief flick through, it looks set to be a wonderful little read looking back over Series 5. I'm also looking forward to the Face Lift segment as we discuss the animation of The Faceless Ones that's due out soon. Now, back to the comic strip and I enjoyed it very much. I was hugely excited by the setting as Doctor Who could definitely play with the Cuban Missile Crisis brilliantly. There are so many directions this comic strip could go, but I would not have guessed that there would be a connection with a school. Ryan's arrival there as he walked in on the presentation detailing what to do in the event of an air raid siren alert, and then seemed to lose his mouth and have no option of answering against some of the messages! Edith Harcourt will surely play a big part in what's to come in the story but what will the connection between a schoolteacher and the height of the Cold War? I do hope that the setting is done well and I liked how it brought back memories of Rosa for some of the fam. The characterisation of the Thirteenth Doctor was done excellently as she slurped her third milkshake and said she carried on despite the lactose with experience! That was a lot of fun. This one definitely had the feeling of getting things going and setting things up. When it comes to a comic strip, there's not much more you can ask for in a first part. Overall, a very good introductory instalment.