Whodunnit?

"I've taken on a lot of strays over the years - stowaways, like Jones. And people who didn't have much to leave behind."

Writer: Al Ewing

Format: Comic Strip

Released: 21st May 2015

Printed in: DWC #4

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Alice, Jones

Synopsis 

Alice Obiefune and the Doctor have seen wonder and terror together - from a rainbow Allen dog loose in the streets of London, to Rokhandi, a verdant paradise turned creepy theme park. Last issue, they faced a SURVEYOUinc agent in the 1930s Bayou, and picked up a new travelling companion - Jones, destined to become a cosmic rock god, but supernaturally forgettable at this point in his personal timeline!

Verdict 

Whodunnit? was a decent start to what is obviously a two part story but it seems to have followed the pattern of the TV series in that the second part has a different name. I'm not a fan of that on the TV series and I think it makes even less doing it in the comic strips! This isn't a jab at the story at all but more so the writer of the overall story. Thus far with the Eleventh Doctor segment of Doctor Who Comic UK, every story has been a one part adventure which I think is very good. Out of the three stories to feature each month I think it definitely works to have one Doctor with a brand new story. Whilst the Twelfth and Tenth Doctors can have longer stories spread over a couple of issues, as was the case with Terrorformer and Revolutions of Terror respectively, a constant new story would be great. But it appears that early trend set with the Eleventh Doctor is over, even if the second part does have a new name which goes against what the other two segments of this comic are doing. Although in saying this, the intention of course was for each Doctor to have his own series of comics, as is the case in the USA where these comics were intended for. Speaking of the Eleventh Doctor adventures ahead of us, judging by this story I'm not going to be too keen on the companions. Alice really wound me up in this story although it may actually be a good thing - I'm not sure. It's only the bloody fourth story and we're already having it teased to us that Alice wants to go home? What's that all about. She should be having the time of her life travelling the universe and seeing all its wonders. But instead she's just interested in getting back home so she can sort out the issues she's having with her landlord. I was completely baffled but it was a nice littler reference to After Life. After Jones arrived as companion in What He Wants..., he was intriguing here. He did genuinely seem thrilled at seeing space out of a window but his constant random song writing out loud was grinding my gears near the end of the story. The Doctor describing his companions and how he's given them better lives was wonderful and I think Alice's reaction may be why I have a newfound grudge against her. She was outraged! Jones was just oblivious and to me he almost seemed high! The William Hartnell tribute was a wonderful touch but I wasn't keen on the flashbacks to Alice and her mother visiting her father's grave. She's all grown up now, surely she could move past whatever hurt her in her childhood? I know that may sound cynical but it's getting tiresome now in my opinion. After The Friendly Place, I wasn't expecting August Hart to appear again so soon. I knew it was inevitable but I thought we'd be kept waiting for a good few issues yet. The reference of this story in that aforementioned first meeting with Hart is now all the better. I think it's intriguing though as no matter what happens in this story, we know Hart survives and ends up on Rokhandi. That's certainly kept my interest levels up. The paradox mention was nice but it does seem that even the Doctor has accepted Alice wants to leave her travels in the TARDIS. She'd even leave in favour of landlord trouble if given the choice. The cliffhanger though finally made Jones relevant as companion as he was facing some trouble in the too frequently mentioned toilet. What was Arc? Overall, it was good but could have been better. Despite being advertised as a murder mystery it wasn't really that at all. However, I am left anticipating the next part (which is where the rating will be).