Screams of the Jungle Part 2

"You want me to trust you? You're wearing the face of my dead boyfriend."

Writer: Jonathan Morris 

Format: Comic Strip

Released: 20th August 2015

Printed in: DWM 490

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Clara

Synopsis 

The Doctor and Clara are in peril. The former is being chased by what appears to be a T-Rex and the latter is shocked that her dead boyfriend Danny Pink seems to have been resurrected! But what truth lies with the spirits of the jungle?

Verdict 

Screams of the Jungle continued magnificently in the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine. I'll get to the comic strip in a minute but I think it's a great shame that the wonderful magazine and Colin Baker aren't seeing eye to eye. The interview wasn't actually that nice to read with the actor who portrayed the superb Sixth Doctor taking a shot at DWM because of the Mighty 200 poll which placed his debut story The Twin Dilemma at the bottom. I'm not sure I understand his point in not having favourites as I think every single Whovian has a favourite Doctor, story and monster! Most of us have lists! I've praised Colin Baker numerous times in this blog but I wonder if he ever came across it, would he not like it because I give each story a rating? His debut story would certainly be up in the higher end of ratings as despite its unpopularity, I really like his debut. The only viewing I've had got it a 9/10. In my opinion, how anything scores lower than Love and Monsters is beyond me, but that's for a blog on another day. The magazine really looks to be a good one and I've actually read a lot of it, it's just taken me a while to get to reading and blogging the comic strip! That comes just over a week since the magazine was released. I'm looking forward to the new series preview very much and the cover really has got me in the mood for Series 9 which begins not far from now on September 19th! It's stunning and I'm looking very forward to seeing what DWM has to offer with the Secret Diaries of the Master. I'm sure that'll be an interesting feature. The promotion feature on the new 'Complete History' collection that will be released may persuade me to get it but with university on the horizon I just can't see that I'll be able to afford it! It's going to be a struggle to keep up the collection of DWM and DWC (providing I can find a supplier of the latter!). The feature on the translation in Doctor Who stories should be interesting also. I'm particularly looking forward to the previews of the three upcoming novels that form the intriguing arc of the Glamour Chronicles. I can't wait for those! Now, back to the comic strip and I thought it was absolutely superb this month. After part one, which had to follow the brilliant Blood and Ice, I was a bit skeptical on whether this story would deliver. I've not been a huge fan of Jonathan Morris in the past but he has produced a sublime second part here. After a great cliffhanger, we finally had the best characterisation of Clara in DWM yet in my opinion. She was disgraced to see that somebody would be a Danny imposter! I loved it. Clara is a wonderful companion on television and hopefully DWM follows DWC in the way she's characterised. They're getting there and my favourite post-revival companion seems to be getting fair treatment in the comic strip stories now. The team of the Doctor, Mr Hitch, Wiremu and Gela went through quite a lot in this segment of the story! There was torment, adventure and death. The hunt for the Hadax Ura wasn't as straightforward as they first thought. The truth of the superweapon was revealed in horrible fashion. It was created to stop the war, but how it would go about succeeding that was horrific! It would wipe out both sides and use them for its own gain. The revelation that the jungle was computerised was a shock and I loved how the water represented the data streams. The characterisation of the Twelfth Doctor was once again outstanding as it always seems to be in DWM. The cliffhanger was once again marvellous with Clara apparently going under cybernetic transformation! At one point in the story I thought the Cybermen would return but I'm glad that's not the case now. Clara seems to be in some serious trouble now though! I'm anticipating the next bumper issue of DWM and part three of the comic strip very much.