Fire and Brimstone

"The mighty Dalek Empire – afraid of its own murderous cousins!"

Writer: Alan Barnes

Format: Comic Strip

Released: May-August 1997

Printed in: DWM 251-255

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Izzy

Synopsis

The Doctor and Izzy materialise on Icarus Falling, a small satellite orbiting Crivello's sun, and witness an attack by the Daleks. While attempting to stop his deadliest foes' plans, the Doctor soon learns of the Threshold's involvement, with their plan in full motion...

Verdict

Fire and Brimstone was a brilliant continuation of the Endgame graphic novel! This was quite the epic comic story and it really did have the feeling of being a finale, but from where things ended I get the sense that things are only temporarily halted. It followed on nicely from where The Keep left off and it worked well to have it set 200 years in the future of those events. I enjoyed the reference to A Matter of Life and Death with the trouble the TARDIS was having since the parasite in the Vortex, and that makes me even more dumbfounded by the positioning of stories printed within the pages of the graphic novel I am reading. It's just utter madness! I thought things carried on well from the Doctor's previous encounter with Crivello's Cauldron and it was great to see how it was all just a set up the entire time. That set up was orchestrated by the Daleks which I really wasn't expecting! I bet this must have been quite a big deal at the time of release as it would be the first visual adventure depicting the Eighth Doctor doing battle with his greatest enemies. The bravado shown by the Doctor when he just saunters into the Daleks' presence was magnificent and I thoroughly enjoyed the characterisation of the eighth incarnation here. Izzy, too, was excellent and she's definitely settling in as a companion now which is terrific to see. I am very familiar with her following my reading of the Oblivion graphic novel some years back, but it's terrific to see her settling in now in her early days with the Doctor. This adventure was full of action and the Daleks arrived in force and in abundance. They weren't messing around which I liked a lot and playing with the idea of the Daleks being fearful was excellent. Of course, the only thing they were fearful was an alternate version of themselves which was just brilliant! The brief image we got of the amalgamated and mutated version of the Daleks from a parallel dimension was great and I just thought the whole idea worked really well. It wasn't too dissimilar to the Dalek War series of Dalek Empire. I thought the designs of the Daleks here were very good and I loved how domineering the Dalek Supreme was! That was very impressive and it was also fun to see a number of Special Weapons Daleks once the assault of the vileness of other realities came through to our universe. The Daleks needing the Doctor to guide the Cauldron after exploding through the gateway of the black hole was good and connected things with The Keep very well. I was a big fan of that. The Daleks not realising that there would be horrors unknown from beyond the gateway was good and it definitely appeared that they underestimated things. One element of the story that didn't sit right with me was the wording at the start of part four where it was described that the Daleks would rape each and every universe. That just didn't seem the right kind of description and was very much out of place! I can't see that being acceptable in 1997! Anyway, the idea behind the Daleks' plan was still very good and the brashness with their desire to conquer all of possible face was magnificent. This was definitely a good example of the Daleks being at their best. I thought the cliffhanger at the end of part two was superb with the Doctor exterminated, but the resolution that it was just a transmit was a little disappointing. The connections this story had with Ground Zero were interesting with the Threshold and the Time Lords being employers, something I am sure more of will come into meaning as I continue through the graphic novel. I am very intrigued by that adventure though with the news that Ace died being news to me! The end sequences for this one was epic and the artwork was sublime with all of creation being saved in just 47 rels. Overall, a fantastic comic strip story!

Rating: 9/10