The Weeping Angels of Mons Part 3

"You don't scare me, 'cause right now you don't even exist. You're a stone cold statue."

Writer: Robbie Morrison 

Format: Comic Strip

Released: 10th September 2015

Printed in: DWC #8

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Gabby

Synopsis 

On the battlefields of WWI, the soldiers believed mysterious moving statues were saving them from the horrors of the war, but the Doctor knows the truth is far worse. Having recovered his sonic screwdriver and won the trust of Captain Fairbairn and his troops, the Doctor just now lead the survivors to safety...

Verdict 

The Weeping Angels of Mons continued in sublime style with this terrific third part of the story. It's not long until I'll get to finish the comic strip adventure as part four begins on the very next page of the magazine! It's another bumper issue of Doctor Who Comic with the Tenth Doctor getting the double bill on this occasion but I sure do hope that we get to see The Rise and Fall story's second (and however many after) part. I'm sadly not convinced that will happen so I may have to email the magazine regarding the status of that story. Anyway, back to the story at hand and after two brilliant parts the third followed in the same standard and this looks set to be the best comic strip yet from the pages of this magazine. After the excellent cliffhanger of part two, I just adored how Gabby stood up to the Weeping Angel. Whilst she was looking at it couldn't hurt it and as my quote shows, it technically didn't exist. But despite her staring contest experience with her younger brother, she couldn't not blink forever. She was holding out but eventually gave in and almost accepted death... just as Jamie came to save her. The relationship between those two has been lovely and they've really hit it off. Gabby is just an outstanding companion and I really do love her! Of all the companions created off television I think she has to be my favourite now partly because she's current. Yes, this is obviously part of the Tenth Doctor era but there's nothing like collecting things as they're released. I do love Izzy with the Eighth Doctor also in the comics and Charley in the audios, but there's something about Gabby. She's drawn so beautifully and the relationship she has with the Doctor is magnificent. The reference to Revolutions of Terror was very good and I was quite surprised by the Doctor's outburst when he realised how close Gabby was to dying. After all the pain he'd gone through with Donna, he didn't want anything similar. He'd promised her one trip but that had come and gone in The Arts in Space but I'm sure Gabby won't go home so easily. She's absolutely loved travelling with the Doctor in their short time together and she'll be eager to see that it continues! She'll sweet talk her way into staying in the TARDIS I'm sure. I've really loved the Weeping Angels in this story and with the realisation that they were starving, they seemed more dangerous and evil than ever. World War One appeared to be the perfect hunting ground for them but ironically it was anything but. With all the death that surrounds the War the life they usually harvest from would be severely limited. There was barely enough energy to keep them going. The Angels were starving and hunting in packs which I thought was marvellous. I really enjoyed the historical references to the Napoleonic Wars and the Zulu War when Fairbarn carried out his captain's duty and sacrificed his life to allow the others to escape. The triumphant arrival of Shuggy, just a day after he'd left, was superb. There was a slight change though as he'd aged some fifty-odd years! His story of being zapped back to the past and meeting the girl of his dreams was very good. I thought the cliffhanger leading into the fourth and final part was very good. As it seemed that the TARDIS was destroyed in part one, the translation circuits were still working so the TARDIS had survived! However, it was going to be in a fate worse than destroyed - it was moving, and in the hands of the Weeping Angels. It's been outstanding so far and I can't wait to read the concluding part! That's where the rating will come and I'm very confident it will be a good one.