Fear of the Future

"Your eyes were playing tricks."

Writer: Jacqueline Rayner

Format: Comic Strip

Released: June 2022

Printed in: DWM 579

Featuring: Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Dan

Synopsis

With the Doctor's TARDIS parked along a sandy beach surrounded by cliffs, Dan prepares for a fun and relaxing day, complete with t-shirt, shorts and sunglasses. Except, when he sees Yaz drowning in the sea the Doctor realises that the sunglasses aren't all they appear to be...

Verdict

Fear of the Future was a good story to continue the comic strip adventures of the current TARDIS team of the Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz and Dan! I've been a little critical of the comic run for the team currently adorning the screen in recent months but after a stellar shift in direction with Dr Who & the Mechanoids, things slowly got back on track with this adventure. Now, with the comic strip content in each issue of Doctor Who Magazine now down to only six pages, that doesn't allow a huge amount of room for story depth or background. But I liked the twist with this single parter in that seemed to be setting up a future adventure to come. That approach works well and could definitely be something to take further before the Fourteenth Doctor arrives in comic strip format, something which seems like it will be quite a way off yet given that David Tennant is filming scenes for the sixtieth anniversary which won't air for another fifteen months yet! Alas, it was nice to get some continuity from Legend of the Sea Devils with Dan and Yaz getting their holiday at the beach and I thought the artwork was very fun. It was amusing to see the Doctor still almost fully in costume despite the sun, but she adorned a classic hat which was lovely. The likeness of Jodie Whittaker and John Bishop in particular was uncanny. I liked the approach of seeing through the glasses and that was represented nicely in the drawn format. Dan's worry at seeing Yaz drowning in the sea was obviously understandable, so his reaction to her just sitting on the beach with the Doctor could have had a little more comedy added given the nature of him as a companion. The Doctor seemed nonplussed by events but when he then witnessed a man falling off of a cliff, things started to tick in her head that all wasn't as it seemed. It turned out the sunglasses that Dan had taken from within the TARDIS were something much more than shades as a neat little advert for a product recall showed. I thought it was typical of the Doctor to conveniently forget the details of these alien shades that were brilliantly called preventicles. That was so funny and just fantastic, seeming to fit in very well with the quirkiness of the Thirteenth Doctor. The funky spectacles were faulty and rather than do as their name suggested, they actually ended up often contributing to the disasters they showed the wearer as was the case with Dan and the man on the cliff. If it wasn't for the Doctor's interference, Dan would have actually made the man fall from the cliff instead of prevent. Faulty indeed! Definitely worthy of a product recall. I liked how Dan stamped on them to break them and not need any more trouble than the trio already got themselves into, but the little moment at the end where a wasp was seen terrorising the trio was an intriguing look into the future! Wasps had already caused concern for Yaz, so setting up a future comic strip there is a fantastic move in my book. I look forward to the direction to come. Overall, a very decent little comic strip adventure.

Rating: 7/10