The Flood

"Flesh will always fail."

Writer: Scott Gray

Format: Comic Strip

Released: July 2004 - February 2005

Printed in: DWM 346-353

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Destrii

Synopsis 

The Eighth Doctor and Destrii arrive on Earth to find rain falling on a market place, rain that radically alters emotions. It is a test being conducted by Cybermen from the future...

Verdict

The Flood was a superb conclusion to the graphic novel of the same name, and to the comic strip run of the Eighth Doctor! It really has been a wild ride of adventures for the eighth incarnation across four incredible volumes. This was a fitting conclusion and whilst we didn’t get the regeneration we might have been hoping for, this definitely felt like an ending which was rather lovely. At eight parts, this is is a mammoth story but it really is paced so well and it’s actually incredible to see how much influence this comic strip may have had on the early era of the modern series. We have Cybermen in disguises that aren’t akin to ghosts, the Doctor holding the power of the Vortex within him and even collective thought. They are big aspects of the first three finales under Russell T Davies, and yet the story is entirely original. It’s good to have continuity with The Fallen in bringing back MI6 and Leighton Woodrow, with the Doctor not exactly being thrilled to be reunited with the organisation as you might expect. I thought the way Destrii had just oozed companion after a hasty arrival in Sins of the Father was intriguing and I was a fan of having her presented as human form. It helps with familiarity and feeling normal, but she has all of the traits of the creature we know. Her reaction to being on Earth was terrific and her claims of being a local expert were humorous considering she didn’t know what money was and had severely offended a Chinese couple running a food stall at Camden Market. Having a focus on Camden was good and later discovering that this was because of the diversity of the area was brilliant. Now, this comic strip does a fine job of reinventing the Cybermen and I think it’s chilling that they genuinely believe they have arrived on Earth to save it. The conversation between the Cyber Controller and the Doctor regarding emotion is sublime and I just love that the Doctor refuses to think of emotion as a weakness. He will never see the way of the Cyberman and that was brilliant. I think this might go down as the best comic strip adventure for the Eighth Doctor in terms of his character because he gets so much time and many moments to shine. He’s centre stage and for his swan song, that’s exactly how it should be. The fact he literally offered himself dying as an offer for the Cybermen to leave Earth and the ultimate way to make them stronger was incredible. That wasn’t the clever thinking Destrii had in mind when the situation got desperate, but it showed the heights the Doctor was willing to go to in order to save Earth. It was a defining moment. I must admit, I was not a huge fan of the redesign of the Cybermen presented here. I’m glad that it was acknowledged they were from the future but they seemed almost too flexible and didn’t have that kind of booming presence you might expect. They didn’t invoke fear, but I still liked that a lot of familiar elements were there. The triangle helmet was a nice touch though. Their plan was incredible though and I loved the logic behind it. It was so thought out and in disabling the nuclear power of humanity, panic was ensuing and that meant heightening emotions through the rain was an easy means of getting man to beg for Cyber conversion. That was a really powerful image. The complete blankness of the Cybermen was having them at their best and I thought they did so well in showing that they really were emotionless. Having both the Cyber Leader and Controller present was great and it’s always fun to have some sort of hierarchy. I liked the fact that only Destrii could see the Cybermen initially with the golden haze around them looking great. The real world feel this adventure had was impressive and I loved the extensive news coverage the Cybermen had garnered. The scale of this story really was impressive! Despite things visually being contained to Camden as the primary test site of the Cybermen, the whole world did feel at threat. Destrii not having any fear of the Cybermen was tremendous and she was far from backing down in getting them in a fight. That was amusing stuff and pretty damn admirable. I’m just one story Destrii firmly became a companion for me and that made the ending all the more poetic. Let’s get to the conclusion then and I thought the part seven cliffhanger with the Doctor jumping into the fragment of the Space-Time Vortex that powered the Cyber ship was outstanding! Then having him ascend and almost mock the Cybermen was incredible. It was a tremendous way to rid them from the story and really asserted the Doctor’s status as a Time Lord. The imagery of the Cybermen melting away was fantastic and a brilliant use of the comic strip format. The Doctor saves the day brilliantly and the somber ending of him and Destrii walking off into the sunset over the hill is a nice way to see them off into future and unseen adventures. However, the commentary that accompanied this graphic novel was enlightening as DWM were actually offered the chance to depict the regeneration of the Eighth Doctor into the Ninth! The fact this was turned down is pretty incredible, but reading how passionate Scott Gray was about Destrii and his thoughts on a regeneration story was more than understandable. I was fully in agreement that we would need Destrii there and having the Ninth Doctor in the clothes of his predecessor. In hindsight of course it’s a good job this didn’t happen as it may have robbed us of The Night of the Doctor, but alas a regeneration in comic strip might have been something special! But regardless, it was still a fitting finale for this epic run and the narration from Izzy as she looked on at events and also getting cameos from Grace and Max Edison was tremendous. Overall, a sublime finale!

Rating: 9/10