F.A.Q.

"What if there was a perfectly simple explanation... all we'd need is somebody clever to come along and explain it all..."

Writer: Tony Lee

Format: Comic Strip

Released: May-July 2006

Printed in: DWM 369-371

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Rose

Synopsis 

The Doctor and Rose find themselves in London, but something is amiss - a tree with human faces on it, a barbarian attacking them, and a fissure. What is this barbaric place?

Verdict 

F.A.Q. was a quite brilliant comic strip seventy I must say! I was pleasantly surprised by how good this was as judging from the name (I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover but I can't help it sometimes!) I wasn't expecting anything glorious but this was actually superb. I know that now it's nearly a decade since the story was released but I think the setting of 'today' couldn't be more true. It fitted in with the story like no other predecessor before which I thought was sublime. Has a setting ever been more suited to the story? I think not. I am struggling to think of something even closely resembling the impact this had on me. Now, I can't relate to any of the issues raised with children in the story as thankfully I haven't had the misfortune of dealing with the likes that Craig had gone through here in this story. I'm glad to say that I don't know anybody personally going through any similar issues but I am certainly aware in society that there are children who suffer and turn to things such as imaginary friends, as was the case here. For a comic strip, the story was extremely real which was a superb achievement from Tony Lee, a writer I don't believe I've had the privelage of reading a story from before. This might be his only work in Doctor Who, I'm not sure. But I will definitely be looking into researching to see if he has done any other stories! I would be really intrigued to see if he went with a similar style. I'm not sure how much blogging will get done over the next few days as I really must crack on with some university work but I will be trying my best to fit things in before and around Christmas! The 2015 Christmas special will of course get blogged on Christmas Day, just as Last Christmas was last year. I just hope things turn out to be an improvement! With River Song returning, it surely must be better! It simply has to be. But enough about that until Christmas Day itself. This story had a really good plot and I loved the idea of the Doctor and Rose landing in a virtual world. It's such a good and modern idea and I really am surprised that it hasn't been used more often. There are pretty much endless possibilities as well, it's virtual! There aren't any restrictions when dealing with the virtual world. I really liked how Craig could make whatever he wanted to happen by simply asking questions. We had some nice superhero appearances and arguments, mostly cantered around the Revenger, of which the Doctor appeared to have read the entire collection! Along with the Eleventh Doctor in the recently read Four Doctors, the modern Doctors really do seem to like a comic collection! I can't say I'm at all surprised. I thought the references to Rose and The Christmas Invasion were very good and although they got a mention for the second consecutive story in this graphic novel, I still thought it was fantastic. The Betrothal of Sontar graphic novel is proving so far to be right up there with the best collections! And considering I only paid 38p for it, I am most pleased. The characterisation of both the Tenth Doctor and Rose were excellent which also impresses me with it still being early on in the pair's run. The characterisation has been captured a lot earlier than the current comic strip pairing of the Twelfth Doctor and Clara, which would appear in The Eye of Torment graphic novel. One I probably won't buy as I have all the DWM issues so it doesn't really seem worth it. I just can't believe it took me until 2013 to start collecting the great magazine! Trudy served as the enemy in my opinion and I really enjoyed the concept of an imaginary friend trying to break out into the real world! Now that is audacious. Tony Lee made it work with ease though and towards the end, I liked how the Doctor got control of his virtual surroundings and it was he who could now change everything by asking questions. And as he called for the monsters to be locked up, Trudy got included in that confirming the Doctor's assumption. She was thwarted, and overall this was a simply brilliant comic strip adventure! The cliffhangers were pretty good too! 

Rating: 9/10