The Power of Thoueris!

"No god's spoiling my holiday."

Writer: Scott Gray

Format: Comic Strip

Released: August 2003

Printed in: DWM 333

Featuring: Eighth Doctor

Synopsis

Egypt, quite a while ago: The Doctor has decided to take a holiday... which of course mean that something is bound to turn up and ruin it for him. It just so happens, that a wannabe Osiran God is the answer...

Verdict

The Power of Thoueris! was a terrific little comic strip to continue my sporadic reading through The Flood graphic novel! I have really enjoyed this collection so far and with this one being only one part long, I must admit I feared the worst as those do not always tend to be of the highest quality because there just isn't enough time to provide the depth a good story needs. However, I thought the pace on this one definitely aided my enjoyment of the reading and it was very frantic and exciting! It was amusing to think that the Doctor could enjoy a holiday as if history has taught us anything, there would always be something that would crop up and interfere with his plans for relaxation. It just so happened that on this occasion it was a wannabe Egyptian god from the planet Phaester Osiris which I loved. The continuity of the Osirans is strong and I really like that they never seem to venture far from the Doctor across his many incarnations. I liked how the Doctor mentioned the Osirans being told to go home by Horus and I was surprised that there wasn't a mention of Pyramids of Mars and Sutekh given the connection shared by Thoeuris, but that didn't make the story any less enjoyable. Ediphis filling in the companion role for the comic strip was nice and I just enjoyed the idea of the Doctor getting to know an Egyptian in the old times. I would have preferred getting a specific year for the setting in Egypt, but it was actually quite fun for the simplicity of it actually stating in the comic strip that these events were 'quite a while ago'. The title of the adventure also acting as dialogue was a nice touch and probably where the almost exclusive to comic strip exclamation mark comes from. I thought the artwork was pretty funky for this comic as well as it almost seemed blocky which was a lot of fun. The Doctor was not in his usual attire which was a refreshing little change and I was intrigued in my research after reading that the hat adorned was intended to be the same one of the Fifth Doctor's! That's a nice little touch. I liked the focus of the Nile as a resource and the Doctor explaining how it was a fine example of stopping people hunting with the constant fish supply and developing holidays was fun. What else would be a prime example of a developed civilisation? I really liked how the Doctor didn't take anything for granted and when Thoueris quickly established herself as the god and in control of the land, he got into gear and cut his holiday short. He wasn't having any of it with her being essentially a big bully, although it was amusing for her being big and glowing as enough to represent a god as far as Ediphus was concerned. The Doctor and Ediphus teaming together against Thoueris was really good and some fine action, as the former was able to take out her control and have the crocodiles in the Nile that she previously commanded to attack her and weaken her enough to send her back to her own domain. The reaction of Thoueris when the Doctor mentioned her own planet and people immediately took any credibility away from her, which was really impressive as far as the Doctor's authoritarian demeanour was concerned. Overall, a great little comic strip! 

Rating: 8/10