Weapons of Past Destruction Part 3

"He just wanted to talk to you and you killed him!"

Writer: Cavan Scott 

Format: Comic Strip

Released: 14th January 2016

Printed in: DWC: Tales from the TARDIS 02

Featuring: Ninth Doctor, Rose, Captain Jack

Synopsis 

The Ninth Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack find themselves in a spot of bother at the Fluren Temporal Bazaar as the bidding for the mind of the Doctor gets nasty. How far will the Lect or Unon go to know how weapons from the Time War truly work?

Verdict 

Weapons of Past Destruction continued wonderfully well with this fantastic third instalment of the lengthy adventure! It looks set to overthrow The Weeping Angels of Mons as the longest story from Doctor Who Comic yet, whether that's the normal title or this Tales from the TARDIS sister title. It really was an outstanding continuation of the story I started over the Christmas holidays and to be fair it really did seem a long time since I had the first two parts that appeared in the very first issue of this comic title. It was not advertised to me so I was delighted to see that we were adding the Ninth Doctor to the list of incarnations from Titan Comics whose adventures would be made available in the UK! I'm very grateful to WH Smith in Bath for continuing to stock both titles of DWC and long may that continue throughout my stay here at university. They haven't let me down yet so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. After refreshing my memory of the story by re-reading the first two parts, I was enthralled with how much I enjoyed the story and I certainly think that this is the best part yet! It advanced the story along very well and we now know a lot more about the Lect and Unon. After the part two cliffhanger with the Lect surrounding the TARDIS trio, the continuation here was very good. The Unon actually saving the day was terrific but to Rose's horror, just when it seemed like the Doctor had the upper hand of the situation and wanted to talk, the Unon seemed to disintegrate him into bits. It really did seem like he had just been reduced to nothing but ashes. That would have been quite a rubbish way for the Doctor to die given all else he had gone through! He of course turned out to be in a sub-void at the hands of Arnora, the Mother Superior of the Unon. I thought it was quite a fancy title I must say. When in that void though the Doctor's ability to talk about just about anything was demonstrated marvellously. I really liked how we got a mention of the Rani and the Corsair (a nice homage to The Doctor's Wife). I do like a name drop I must admit. I enjoyed the characterisation of Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor very much and j must praise Cavan Scott on also capturing the likeness of Rose and Captain Jack as the companions. Some of the dialogue is really impressive with how it directly links to characterisation. Rose's reaction to the Doctor's apparent death was excellent and instantly you could just see how helpless she would be if he were to suddenly die. She doesn't know any better that he's alive, but at least here she has Jack. I'm really liking Captain Jack in these comics so far and I think it's marvellous that we get to see more adventures with this relatively rare TARDIS trio. I'm very glad Titan Comics decided on going with Captain Jack instead of just Rose as it definitely adds something to each comic strip. The Doctor's flashback to the Time War where we got a great graphic of the Eighth and War Doctors was magnificent and it was probably the highlight of the comic strip's artwork so far. I thought the cliffhanger to this part was absolutely brilliant and it really did have me wanting to read part four almost immediately! After Captain Jack's surprise future self showing up, it would appear that Rose is falling again as she couldn't quire reach Jack's hand and get into the TARDIS. And as for the planet, the time bubble defences seem to be giving up and it's only seconds away from destruction! The Doctor is helpless, and that's what makes a great cliffhanger. As always, the rating will appear in the blog entry of the final part.