Zorgo the Terrible

"I've wasted my life trying to kill you, Doctor. And now I'm old and weak. Dying."

Writer: Paul Lang

Format: Comic Strip

Released: October 2015

Printed in: Doctor Who Annual 2016

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Clara

Synopsis 

The Doctor and Clara come face to face with an enemy that the Time Lord has defeated countless times before. However, the Doctor doesn't recognise Zorgo but will soon realise just how terrible he really is. 

Verdict 

Zorgo the Terrible wasn't too bad for a Doctor Who Annual comic strip. To be fair, it did have some good moments but I just can't understand why the audience has remained wholeheartedly for very young children. The last few Annuals have been nothing short of dismal to be honest and I really don't get why the audience has remained as those readers who purchase Doctor Who Adventures rather than Doctor Who Magazine. The two Annuals that I have and those that I have done on Scribd from the Classic era were just fantastic and the 2006 edition followed that format but ever since the Tenth Doctor took the throne, the Annuals have been very poor in my opinion. The DWM Special 2016 Yearbook could be argued as being the adult equivalent of the Annual but that doesn't hold the same sense of nostalgia and definitely isn't as prized a possession in my collection. Well, that's my opinion anyway. After picking the Annual up for a considerable decrease on the laughable RRP of £7.99 today, I was actually chuffed that I didn't get this for Christmas! It's an improvement on last year but it's really not that much better. I just find it so disheartening and it is something I feel strongly about because it could be done so much better, acquiring for both the young and adult audience. The Classic Annuals did it so wonderfully well and I can't understand why it doesn't get replicated nowadays. The story itself was surprisingly the first of a two part story in the Annual with the second comic strip within the pages actually being a continuation which was at least something new. I can respect that they were trying something new and even if the audience is aimed at DWA readers, I'm glad we'll have an extended story and it'll be double the length of the usual Annual stories. I do wish that they just called it part one and part two instead of two different names so I could do it as one blog but hey, that would just be too easy wouldn't it. I've criticised comic strip stories having differently named parts in the run of the Eleventh Doctor in DWC and I just don't see the point! Especially in an Annual. From what I know, it doesn't happen in DWA so why should it happen here? Zorgo changed his mind about the Doctor awfully quickly which was strange but I liked the idea of the Doctor arriving after defeating the enemy countless times. It was similar to The Roots of Evil I found with the Fourth Doctor dealing with the effects of an Eleventh Doctor victory over an enemy. A dragon appearance so soon after The Dragon Lord was something I didn't expect and I found it quite ironic after I criticised the DWM story for being a bit childish. There were some positives I thought though which may come as a surprise. It wasn't all bad! I did enjoy the flashbacks even if I did think it was a golden opportunity to showcase a different TARDIS pairing but then again as I write, I realise that would be rather difficult considering the Twelfth Doctor didn't recognise Zorgo. We could have had an incredible glance at a future incarnation of the Doctor but I do understand why that didn't happen. It shouldn't have happened, at least not in a Doctor Who Annual comic strip that is! DWM and DWC could get away with it no problem but not here that's for sure. It just wouldn't be the right place. I thought the characterisation of both Jenna Coleman's Clara and Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor were very good which was pleasing and that stance seems to have improved across all formats lately which is pleasing. I'm not sure what to expect from part two after seeing this part of the story end with the Doctor and Clara on a dragon but despite my loathing of its name, it will still get blogged. But until then, that's where the rating will appear. I just hope it somehow improves!