The Friendly Place

"There'd be monsters and baddies and happy endings. Probably a moral."

Writer: Al Ewing

Format: Comic Strip

Released: 26th March 2015

Printed in: DWC #2

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Clara

Synopsis 

Alice lost her mother, her job and her apartment, and was at her lowest ebb. That's when the Doctor crashed into her life, chasing an alien rainbow dog - known as Kharitite - through the streets of London! 

The Doctor and Alice proved a pretty good team, reuniting the Kharitite and its owner without totally decimating the Houses of Parliament. Now they're on a new adventure...

Verdict 

The Friendly Place was another excellent little story to continue along the Eleventh Doctor section of the wonderful new Doctor Who Comic. After a successful opening story in After Life in which Alice was introduced as companion, I really loved how the Doctor wanted to show her something wonderful for her first trip in the TARDIS. That didn't work out though unfortunately as he'd misjudged the time period in landing on Rokhandi. Possibly only by ten years but it was enough to really annoy the Time Lord. I'm intrigued that we're seeing this side of Matt Smith's Doctor in these comics and I really do think he'd play the part incredibly well. Alice and him are an interesting match up so I'm looking forward to seeing how they get along with great anticipation. The theme park was presented fantastically with an array of colour and ebullience. The pig the Doctor was shouting at for what was actually his mistake was a pretty funny moment. Alice, the library assistant not librarian as the Doctor was keen to keep getting wrong, didn't seem too bothered by the fact the time period was wrong. She was just over the moon to have landed on a different planet in the future! With a theme park! The Doctor, and Alice to her credit, noticed that the place was severely lacking unhappy people. A theme park isn't that amazing that there's not one single person who isn't happy. I liked how they'd picked up on that. The segment of an incredible quote, which appears in my chosen quote accompanying the blog entry above, was terrific throughout the story and I loved how it was brought full circle at the story's closure. The mystery of the theme park was good and I liked the singing of it being a friendly world. It tied in nicely with the adventure's title but actually this wasn't as friendly and happy as it appeared. As the Doctor and Alice went deeper into the theme park, the mystery was soon becoming clearer. The offers of dental floss and 100% cotton t-shirts most certainly shouldn't be accepted! I found the Entity (I'm not sure it should be a capital but for now that's how it's known so I'll keep it like that) a really good idea and found it not too dissimilar to the Flesh from The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People. However, they could show you what you most desired. Before it was revealed what the Doctor asked for, I thought it may have been what was responsible for the Doctor seeing a Time Lord in After Life. I'm very excited to see how that is explained in the future. I'm also looking forward to August Hart's first meeting with the Doctor, Alice and what seems to be a future companion. A very clever and brilliant preview of a future adventure. Just who is "the other one" to whom he referred. I can't wait to find out. The man himself was a good villain and it's clear he's not a happy chap about what the Doctor and co did to his plans on their last meeting. Obviously it's in his past but from the Doctor and the reader's perspective, it's something very much to look forward to. The conclusion was very nice with the theme park being returned to normal and most of the controlled employees getting their memories back. Alice mentioning my opening quote was a beautiful end to a great story! I'm very impressed with Doctor Who Comic and next issue I won't be rereading two thirds of it which will be fantastic.

Rating: 9/10