Clara Oswald and the School of Death Part 1

"I will not murder my teacher."

Writer: Robbie Morrison 

Format: Comic Strip

Released: 10th March 2016

Printed in: DWC: Tales from the TARDIS 04

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Clara 

Synopsis 

With the Doctor off gallivanting on a spaceship annoying old enemies he doesn't even remember he had, Clara heads to Ravenscaur School in Scotland where her friend has mysteriously gone missing and things are not as they seem. The answer seems to lie in a cave on the beach...

Verdict 

Clara Oswald and the School of Death kicked off in brilliant style with this fantastic first part! This story kicks off the second year of Twelfth Doctor adventures and it seems that after the hugely eventful The Hyperion Empire finale of the first year, things are going to continue in much the same way. That is something that I'm certainly in favour of as I like action and I think it's great that such climatic things are happening in the comic strip adventures because it gives the format as a whole a lot more credibility in being a serious part of the Doctor Who universe. I know some fans who take no notice of the comic strips in Doctor Who Magazine and would laugh at the thought of picking this magazine, Doctor Who Comic or a graphic novel up. I don't understand why because in the comic strip format as a whole, there have been some phenomenal adventures. Hunters of the Burning Stone ranks as one of my all time favourite stories across any format, but there have also been absolute classics like Children of the Revolution, The Weeping Angels of Mons and Relative Dimensions. Comic strip stories really do offer so much as there is no limiting the writer's imagination and I think that was highlighted clearly in this story. I absolutely love the title as it is a play on the Target novelisations of nearly every single Classic era story and that just leads me to thinking about modern stories getting the novelisation job. I'd certainly be in favour of that happening as the story being told across a different format gives a different perspective and whilst I can't see it happening, I'm loving how this story title gets us probably as close as we're going to get to it happening. I was expecting the whole story to be centred around Clara due to the name but to my surprise it was just like any other adventure in terms of time on the page for the TARDIS duo. It seems some time now since Clara died in Face the Raven and officially left us in Heaven Sent/Hell Bent, but the beauty of the comic strips is that we continue to get new adventures with the tremendous companion even after she's gone. Beck was an interesting character who wasn't very likeable at all with the way he was 'checking out' Clara and thinking she would tease him by wearing a bikini. It was pretty laughable really and actually bordering on something very sexist for a Doctor Who story, but the ending actually put a smile on my face as the guy got what he deserved. You don't just tell a women she looks 'fit' and expect anything from her. It was pretty derogatory in my opinion and I loved Clara's horrified reaction to him. She was hoping to never be seeing him again and judging by the cliffhanger, Clara might just get her wish. I'm not entirely sure what Beck and the school kids were up to wondering into the cave, but I'm now not certain they'll make it back out alive. The creature at the end didn't appear too threatening but I'm sure there'll be a lot more to it. This is a Doctor Who story after all. The Doctor's encounter with Van Volk was very humorous and I loved the characterisation of Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor here with him not even remembering causing the trouble that led him to being despised, but not saying it was out of the question. His descriptions of his fourth, fifth and eleventh incarnations was brilliant and so perfectly in line with this Doctor's thoughts on his past selves. The mystery of the school and the disappearance of Christel has given a lot to the story and there are now many directions in which it can go. I look forward to seeing how things pan out in the next part! But for now it has started excellently.