The Forest Bride

"The trees that sustain us all."

Writer: Jacqueline Rayner

Format: Comic Strip

Released: October-November 2021

Printed in: DWM 570-571

Featuring: Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz

Synopsis

While the Doctor tries to fix the TARDIS biscuit dispenser, Yaz explores a mysterious forest on an Earth colony world. A strange bard tells tales of those taken by the forest to be wed, but it's not always by choice...

Verdict

The Forest Bride was a pretty decent comic strip adventure to see the much anticipated return of the format to the pages of Doctor Who Magazine! I'm a DWM subscriber and I have to say that during lockdown I have really missed the comic strip feature and I think it's a great shame that by the time the BBC Centenary Special airs next year, the Thirteenth Doctor won't have amassed a huge comic strip content. Regardless, it's good to have it back and I was excited to see that Jacqueline Rayner was at the helm. She's a favoured writer of mine but this wasn't one of my favourite of her works unfortunately! I thought it was fine without doing an awful lot which was a little strange. I think the first part only being six pages long had something to do with that because it really isn't a lot of time to set things up, especially when there is only one part to come. It's excellent to have a story set between Series 12 and 13 here with just the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz as was the case with Black Powder. It's good to have that and I think it's the only logical move given the serialised nature of Flux and the departure of Dan. I thought it was good characterisation of the Doctor at the start with the fixing of the biscuit dispenser in the TARDIS because a fig roll was stuck! Yaz going off to explore on her own was good signs of character development and definitely in line with her during Series 13. I like that she has that confidence and experience now, and it didn't take her long to get involved! The whole idea of the forest bride was intriguing and it would have worked better with some more time to develop. Trying to force marriage is no strange concept in history or Doctor Who, but when that pact is between a woman and the forest then things change in a big way. It got uncomfortably quickly as Yaz tried to save the would-be bride and I thought it was fun for her to claim she was from the Sheff Field. The reaction of the Doctor upon arrival into the forest and hearing screams was fun because she knew it was Yaz. Who else? The cliffhanger was actually really impressive with Yaz becoming at one with the forest and the image of her deep within the tree was terrific. However, that cliffhanger never really seemed to be taken further and the second part was just a bit slow for me. The Doctor was on hand and there never really seemed any danger. I liked the Bard and how it was apparently telling of the thoughts of those taken as brides, but when the Doctor revealed that it was all a sham, very easily I might add, everything just ended quickly. The Doctor was in full control and found that the trees had been delivered by Earth colonists, and quickly delivered the signal to enable those brides to be released from their forestry prisons. It was all so fast and didn't really have a sense of build and excitement, which was a shame as I thought the idea at the heart of the story was good. Overall, great to have the comic strip back but I hope we can improve! 

Rating: 6/10