Bad Blood

"All we are to them is meat."

Writer: Scott Gray

Format: Comic Strip

Released: December 2003 - April 2004

Printed in: DWM 338-342

Featuring: Eighth Doctor

Synopsis 

The Eighth Doctor arrives in America and joins General George Custer and Tatanka Yotanka as men begin to turn into monsters...

Verdict

Bad Blood was a very strong comic strip story! This continued my sporadic reading of The Flood graphic novel nicely and was a really good outing for the Eighth Doctor riding solo. However, it appears he will be solo no more as he reaches his comic strip finale but more on that as we get there. I was a big fan of the 1875 setting and even more so with it just being referred to as Dakota. No north or south. It’s quite staggering to think how long the USA has actually been its own country given the superpower status it now has, but 1875 doesn’t seem like it’s a huge amount of time into the past and yet at that point the country wasn’t even a century old! That provided a strong basis for the story and the conflict between Americans and Natives. The soldiers here weren’t exactly pleasant towards their Indian counterparts and were far from adhering to the treaty in place between their peoples. That was a shame as I thought some of the tribespeople were brilliant characters! I was particularly a fan of Running Bear who held position as the de-facto leader fantastically well and was experienced in liaising with the soldiers despite them being non-complimentary of their existence. The idea of the Doctor being expected and arriving out of nothingness was terrific with him having a fun reaction to that fact. He always does enjoy being anticipated. I thought it was fun for him to be wearing the local clothing and the way he stood between the soldiers and Indians was great. He didn’t want conflict. The return of Jodafra and Destrii was not unexpected but was a really strong cliffhanger that sent the entire story into a completely different direction than I was expecting! After a relatively slow build with the Windigo who looked pretty ferocious, the image of their arrival almost from heaven and shooting death rays to wipe out the legendary beasts was impressive. The Doctor wasn’t exactly overly thrilled to see his old adversary and friend, but at least they had been spared. The mention of Izzy and references to Oblivion were great continuity and I really liked how Destrii was flaunting herself. She was far from what you’d expect in a Doctor Who companion and whilst I know that’s part of her charm, she’s really quite unique! It’s still odd to see her as almost like a fish but it’s striking and works well in the comic strip format. I certainly don’t think she’d last long on screen as a regular character. The power struggle between Jodafra and George Custer was a real highlight and the use of the former rounding up the children of the natives to feed to the Windigo was pretty horrifying. He had no regard for human life and that showed, regardless of their age. The Doctor realising that alcohol was the catalyst for the DNA rewrite in the miners that had become Windigo was good and explained a lot, and it also highlighted the purity of the children which was a crying shame. Destrii was quiet for much of the comic despite flaunting herself and even taunting the Doctor about getting with her, but when she saw what her uncle was up to with the children she came into her own and showed more than enough companion capabilities! I was less a fan of her apologies to her uncle as it was clear she had done the right thing in stopping the operation, but familial connections like that are tough to break. Jodafra was outraged by his niece though and left her behind! The Windigo being dealt with through flaming arrows was brilliant given that it was furry and soaked in alcohol, and the natives wanting dynamite to seal the cave and trap the soul was excellent. I thought that worked really well. The Doctor literally picking up Destrii at the conclusion and taking her for refuge in the TARDIS was admirable and I’m sure will provide a fun dynamic moving forward. Overall, a great comic strip adventure!

Rating: 8/10