Free Comic Book Day 2022

"We're not just gonna let you kidnap our toys."

Writer: Jody Houser

Format: Comic Strip

Released: April 2022

Series: Origins #0

Featuring: Fugitive Doctor

Synopsis

The Doctor is a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. A long time ago, they stole a TARDIS in a bid to explore the universe in complete freedom When near death, Time Lords have the ability to regenerate, forming a new body and personality quirks. Recently, the Doctor discovered they had lived through an unknown number of regenerations which had been wiped from their memory. This is the story of one of those forgotten lives, known as the Fugitive Doctor...

Verdict

The untitled adventure comprising the Free Comic Book Day 2022 instalment from Doctor Who Comic was a really nice teaser of what is to come from Titan this year in their comic strip adventures. I think it's really good and just exciting to be exploring more from the Fugitive Doctor now and that seems to indicate to me that her last appearance on screen would have come during the Flux Series 13 of Doctor Who. I don't envisage that Chris Chibnall and company would have given permission to allow this incarnation to be explored further if they weren't done with her, and that's also the case with the Fugitive Doctor Adventures to come at some point in the future from Big Finish. I have already pre-ordered all four issues of the upcoming Origins adventures from Titan for the Fugitive Doctor, and this was a fine little start for this incarnation in the comic strip format. She made quite the entrance here to the private club house and that wasn't initially welcomed because she was clearly over the age of thirteen. That amused me and I must say I wasn't expecting the first interaction for the Fugitive Doctor acting as part of the Division to be with some children. The 1962 setting was good and the interaction from some teenagers with the Doctor was amusingly intriguing. The fact that we had monsters and aliens threatening to strip the Earth bare and just hiding out as teddies was a little strange, but the name of the lead being Monstario the Devourer was fantastic. I thought that was such a good name so I found it a little silly to be the name of essentially an animated teddy, but it did go down the line of being so silly it was good. The children enjoying the Doctor quickly was a nice turn of face and it was a lovely touch that they actually offered her to be part of their club in the end, after serious group discussions of course and a bypass of the age limit. She wasn't able to accept, but she did appreciate the help in literally bagging Monstario and his gang. That all happened very suddenly and really eliminated any seriousness of the threat of the gang despite what they claimed they'd do, but I liked how Monstario acknowledged the Doctor as a Division agent and that seemed to carry a lot of weight. I liked the ending with the children sadly just missing the departure of the TARDIS and missing out on the spaceship, but the one year later sequence was really nice. I think it's fantastic that we got to see the moment the First Doctor and Susan arrived on Earth prior to the events of An Unearthly Child, and the Doctor having a good feeling about Earth was wonderful. He was here for a little hiding from prying eyes and it was a place where Susan could continue her studies. I'm interested to see if this means the First Doctor and Susan will play any part in the upcoming Origins series, as if they're not then I'm quite stumped as to the reason for their appearance here! Regardless, it was a nice touch and when this whole story was presented for free I can't have too many complaints. Overall, a really nice little adventure to tease an upcoming series I am very excited for.

Rating: 7/10