It's Behind You!

"Bow before me weaklings!"

Writer: Jacqueline Rayner

Format: Comic Strip

Released: December 2021

Series: DWM 572

Featuring: Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Dan

Synopsis

The Doctor has taken Yaz and Dan to see a pantomime production of Cinderella. However, Dan is not having fun, and with all of his complaints, the Doctor decides to go off to arrange something special during the intermission, except things get a bit more real than she anticipated...

Verdict

It's Behind You! was a pretty decent comic strip to continue the comic strip run of the Thirteenth Doctor in the pages of Doctor Who Magazine! I'm excited to see what Jacqueline Rayner will do with her hands clasped on the comics, but so far I think the quality has been massively impacted by the quantity. This was only six pages long and that just wasn't enough to deliver a coherent adventure that had any kind of emotional attachment or something to really care about. I love that we have further adventures of the Doctor, Yaz and Dan following the Flux Series 13 and I thought the characterisation of Dan in particular was done really well for his comic strip run. Rayner is definitely up there when it comes to writing comedy and having a companion played by John Bishop is surely right up her alley! The moments for Dan focusing on a choc ice were great and I liked how he wasn't a fan of the pantomime anymore because he wasn't a child. But as a fully grown adult his one wish granted from the genie was to get his ice cream. Of all the things! I knew pantomime would feature from the story's title, but I wasn't expecting things to go south so quickly. The emergence of an alien crashing the Cinderella play was fun but then I felt things perhaps got a little too silly. I didn't quite understand why everyone evacuated if it turned out that the whole point of the performance was for things to get very real. The idea of the Doctor being on Spacebook was fun and I bet she would be deadly and embarrassing on social media in a really lovely way. I think the quirkiness of Jodie Whittaker's incarnation was definitely present in the writing here which was certainly a benefit. I thought the pace of the story over six pages was really fast and I think if there was more room to play with it then we could have much more excitement. I did like that the strip was full of action and it was certainly always moving which is a positive. The descent through the stage trapdoor to the prop room and seeing all of those props and costumes alive and providing danger was a very fun image. The inadvertent way that Dan provided the solution was amusing and I loved that the Doctor found some magic beans to climb the beanstalk and get the genie that was snatched from the other realm. She wished that her friends were safe and that was that, which tied things up neatly and efficiently but it was definitely a bit quick. It came very suddenly but I liked the chaos. And who doesn't like the big kid in Dan getting his ice creams! The whole it's behind you gag wasn't utilised as well as it could have been, but I feel like this is one the younger readers will enjoy which I can certainly appreciate. Overall, it's lovely to have the comic strip back but I do hope the page count and quality can improve in due course! A good little read regardless to continue the adventures of the current TARDIS team prior to Eve of the Daleks. 

Rating: 6/10