The Betrothal of Sontar

"There's no glory in sleep... only in a noble death."

Writers: John Tomlinson & Nick Abadzis 

Format: Comic Strip

Released: February - March 2006

Printed in: DWM 365-367

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Rose

Synopsis 

The Doctor and Rose Tyler land on the icebound world of Serac where they encounter the Sontaran crew of the Betrothal of Sontar, a mining vessel commanded by Colonel Snathe, whose quest for the 'Worldbane' has driven him insane...

Verdict 

The Betrothal of Sontar was an excellent story to kick off the graphic novel of the same name. I technically only paid 38p for this graphic novel, including postage, thanks to a ridiculously low price on Amazon and a nice £5 voucher won on a 'Spa Treatment' careers day at university (it wasn't as fun as it sounds). That was a few weeks ago now but with this blog entry being quite a landmark one, I couldn't resist but to start. What better way to celebrate the 600th blog entry than the first Tenth Doctor comic strip and the return of the Sontarans! With my limited (but slowly growing) resources at university, and with time constraints due to preparation for my trip to Dublin on the weekend, this was the perfect choice. Reading now, nearly a decade after release, it's brilliant to see a modern Doctor battling the Classic version of an enemy that would later return on screen with a bit of a revamp. We got this again recently actually with Instruments of War, but this was unique for me as I was reading a long time after release. It seems so wonderfully wrong having the Classic era Sontarans doing battle with the Tenth Doctor. It's good though that Rose got to meet the fantastic villains! I thought she was characterised pretty well but the highlight in regards to characterisation was that of the Tenth Doctor, something I was hugely impressed with. Now by the time this story hit the pages of DWM, only The Christmas Invasion had aired featuring the Tenth Doctor so before New Earth kicked off Series 2, this comic strip adventure is what game before the full debut of the Tenth Doctor. In his first episode he was coming to grips with the changes he underwent following the events of Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways, but here all that is shaken off and the Doctor and Rose are out on an adventure. A jolly good one of that. I thought the setting of Serac was very good and I found it very intriguing to discover that this was the very first story to name the Sontaran home world as Sontar. I really did think it had been mentioned in the Classic era but it appears I am mistaken! I really liked Colonel Snathe and Commander Lerox in this story. Both were very different but with the adaption of Strax in recent stories, both were what we know Sontarans to be (or what they would become). The theory of Thanatos was very interesting and I liked the way the Doctor blurted it out at the start of part two to save himself from another quick fire regeneration. Both cliffhangers were very solid which is always a bonus in a multi-part story! There should be a reason for you to go out and pick up the next part of the story, something I will be doing tomorrow with Doctor Who Comic as I look forward to the conclusions of Gangland and Four Doctors. No Sontarans in those though (at least I don't think so!). It was just fantastic to see them back in print in the modern era, pre dating their on screen return in The Sontaran Strategem/The Poison Sky. The plot throughout was of very high standard which was pleasing and I'm just glad that for a landmark blog entry, I really enjoyed the story! The climax was very exciting which was positive. Overall, just magnificent! Outstanding characterisation of both the Doctor and Rose, the return of the Sontarans with an intriguing revelation that not all are cloned with the gene for war. A great start to the graphic novel. 

Rating: 9/10