The Arts in Space Part 2

"That's the Doctor for you. If it's not intellectual overload, it's serious overload."

Writer: Nick Abadzis 

Format: Comic Strip

Released: 18th June 2015

Printed in: DWC #5

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Gabby

Synopsis 

The Doctor took Gabby to the alien artistic community of Ouloumos. Overwhelmed by the experience, Gabby has been documenting her trip to show her best friend, Cindy Wu. One of the Doctor's favourite artists, Zhe Ikiyuyu, was missing from the gallery. Several years ago, Zhe retreated to her private moon, and hasn't been seen since. The Doctor and Gabby discovered that Zhe's shapeshifting, environment-twisting Apprentice was running her retreat, and has gone murderoisly mad in Zhe's absence! 

Verdict 

The Arts in Space concluded in wonderful fashion with this second part! It was a brilliant follow up and was exactly what I was hoping for after a heavily narrated first part. That wasn't bad at all but there wasn't much basis for a story but that all changed here and created a superb comic strip adventure over the two issues. I really was impressed and I'm now thinking that the Tenth Doctor segment of Doctor Who Comic has become my favourite. It's the first time that I've had a brand new comic strip run with this incarnation of the Doctor as for some reason that still annoys me I didn't collect Doctor Who Magazine back during the Tenth Doctor years. But hey, that's making these comics all the better and I can always purchase the graphic novels to see what went on in the pages of DWM between 2005-2010. Now I know that the same might be said for the Eleventh Doctor's segment as I only started collecting DWM late on during Matt Smith's run, reading the last three stories, but I think what's so appealing about the Tenth Doctor's adventures is that I absolutely love Gabby as companion. She's just brilliant. I loved her narration and what she thought of seeing the universe and its wonders in her letter to Cindy was marvellous. Have we ever had a more grateful companion? I'm struggling to think of one. I liked the focus on artwork and after a great Logopolis reference in the last part, I liked how we got two references to Revolutions of Terror in this part. I get the feeling that's going to become an important story when we look back on Gabby's time as companion when she departs (which hopefully isn't for a long time!). Gabby being shown the wonders of block transfer artwork was lovely to see and she just embraced it. She'd never felt anything like it before and she was overjoyed. After huffing it through an Accounts class (I've just completed my A-Level Accounts course so I can sympathise with how boring that can be on times!) as well as working double shifts in the laundromat and family restaurant, this was even more special for Gabby. I thought the Apprentices, well just the male for this part really, served as a great enemy and I liked the similar moment to The Poison Sky where the Tenth Doctor knows that his companion is being mimicked. I loved the painting of the Fourth Doctor and Romana appearing on the wall! He's becoming quite a popular incarnation lately after also appearing on a wall in The Swords of Kali with the Twelfth Doctor. The subtle reference to The End of Time was great and it's clear that with the Ood appearance, that story isn't too far away. I think that plays into the hands of Gabby staying for as long as these Titan Comics last as there's only so much room to play with in regards to the Tenth Doctor after Journey's End. The Doctor working out the truth about the sculpture of Zhe was great and his mission to free her was good. She was grateful to see her and the fact she recognised him instantly surely means that it was this incarnation that visited those frequently referenced parties? To be fair, up to this point in the Doctor's life I can't really see any other incarnation being the partying type. The ending was very sweet with the Apprentice threat removed and Zhe restored, but it was all about Gabby. She was welcomed back to work with Zhe anytime once she was done travelling in the TARDIS, but it seems that will go on for a long time yet as that whole 'one trip' business rubbish came out. Of course Gabby would be staying. And now she was going to the past, where she'll come up against some old foes of the Doctor's...

Rating: 9/10