Weapons of Past Destruction Part 4

"Getting caught in a supernova? That's new."

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 

With the Doctor apparently dead, Rose lost once again and Captain Jack and the TARDIS not getting along all that well, how will the war between the Lect and Unon be prevented from reaching devastating consequences?

Verdict 

Weapons of Past Destruction continued in excellent style with this fantastic fourth part of the story! When I first found out that the Ninth Doctor comics were kicking off with a five-part epic I was a bit sceptical of whether that was the right way to go. But then I came to do some thinking about the comics as a whole and I realised that we didn't need any introducing to the characters as we are more than familiar with this tremendous trio, despite its arguable rarity with them only appearing in three television stories and three novels together. But those three television stories were actually spread across five episodes and as comes naturally with the television format, putting those characters into other formats makes things a whole lot easier for things like familiarity and characterisation. Speaking of which, I thought the characterisation for all three main characters was excellent once again and considering this is the first story from DWC for this trio, Cavan Scott has done a brilliant job in capturing their likenesses at such an early stage of the run. I thought the plot advancement was really good with the TARDIS team being split up for the majority of the story. That often opens up a lot of doors for story advancement and that's exactly what occurred here. We had Rose trapped at the mercy of the Lect and through that we actually got to learn a great deal about the alien race! The reveal of what was actually inside the robots was quite a surprise and throughout the story thus far, I honesty didn't think they would be similar to the Daleks in having a creature inside literally pulling the strings. That creature didn't seem too impressed with its life though as it openly revealed that it was living in torture. At that moment it seemed the same fate awaited Rose but what happened between that moment and the cliffhanger we don't know, and I'd sure love to find out! Jack's role in the story was very good and I liked how he was the one flying the TARDIS around but just as he was hoping to bring Rose aboard, the Unon took command and were bringing the TARDIS to the Doctor. Rescuing it. The Doctor and Jack were soon reunited and quickly deployed on a mission to Traxis, a vulnerable planet that was on a Time War fault line. All of its past, present and future was collapsing into one but thanks to Gallifreyan technology and the Doctor's ingenuity, the whole in time was stitched back together. The inclusion of the mammoth didn't really seem necessary but it was a lot of fun and it allowed us to get that glorious 'fantastic!' moment from the Ninth Doctor that I really have been waiting for in this comic strip run. It was probably my favourite moment of this part! I also liked the great artwork showing the new era Sontarans and a stunning version of the 1960s Cybermen! The artists have been allowed to go wild in this story and I bet they've had a ball penning it. I also really liked that Rose mentioned having faced Slitheen, in what would be Aliens of London/World War Three and the Daleks, in the brilliant Dalek. Once the Doctor and Jack had saved Traxis and a Time War fault line from fissuring out further, the cliffhanger was something I did not expect. Rose seemed to be in league with the Lect and tricked Jack into revealing their location! The Lect and the Unon were in the same location, and with Rose on the other side it seems like all hell is going to break loose in the fifth and final part! This was again excellent but I do look forward to the finale, which is of course where the rating will appear.