Endgame

"Did you really think we would just let you steal away our friends and go on about our lives as if nothing had happened?"

Writers: Scott and David Tipton 

Format: Comic Strip

Released: November 2013

Series: Prisoners of Time 12

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Clara, Amy, Rory, Tenth Doctor, Donna, Martha, Mickey, Jack, Ninth Doctor, Rose, Eighth Doctor, Grace, Seventh Doctor, Ace, Mel, Sixth Doctor, Peri, Frobisher, Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan, Adric, Turlough, Kamelion, Fourth Doctor, Romana II, K9, Leela, Harry, Third Doctor, Sarah, Liz, Jo, Brigadier, Second Doctor, Jamie, Zoe, Victoria, Polly, Ben, First Doctor, Ian, Barbara, Susan, Vicki, Sara, Steven

Synopsis 

Our yearlong celebration of Doctor Who's 50th anniversary concludes! All eleven Doctors must team up if there's any hope of defeating his latest and most surprising adversary! Everything has been leading up to this epic conclusion! 

Verdict 

Endgame was a fantastic conclusion to what has been a simply stunning fiftieth anniversary story in Prisoners of Time! The year leading up to 23rd November 2013 really did provide us with some phenomenal stories and this comic strip epic joins that list with superb quality. Doctor Who Magazine's 50th anniversary comic story, Hunters of the Burning Stone, was completely different to this and I think both comic strip adventures really celebrate not only the fiftieth anniversary but the format itself. We had The Light at the End from the audio format with the Master and the first eight Doctors taking centre stage in a celebration of the Classic era. I'm still yet to listen to the Destiny of the Doctors audios but I will get there one day. Then we had The Night of the Doctor which saw the long awaited regeneration scene of the Eighth Doctor and the incredible The Day of the Doctor which celebrated all things Doctor Who and even introduced us to a brand new Doctor. The War Doctor of course didn't appear here but nothing was contradicted by his lack of appearance. I was kind of hoping that this story was named The Eleven Doctors but sadly that wasn't to be. It did though feature every Doctor that we knew about when the first story was released and even though I've read this over twelve consecutive days, it does seem a long time ago since Unnatural Selection and what has followed in this collection has been nothing short of magnificent. We've seen returns for the Zarbi, Ice Warriors, Judoon, Sontarans, Rutan Host, Autons and even the Dominators and Quarks. The Eleventh Doctor got his battle with the Master and in what was probably the biggest surprise of them all, Adam Mitchell was the main villain! It wasn't a major surprise that he was teaming up with the Master and it was just brilliantly typical that even he had his own agenda when his partner's plan was to get revenge on the Doctor. Surely that's what the Master would want? Well in a way he did but his method meant the end of everything. Not just each incarnation of the Doctor, but the entire universe. The Master was up to his old tricks again and with it the Anthonly Ainley incarnation, I loved it. Adam wasn't so keen though. He wanted his revenge on the Doctor but he didn't want to kill him. He wanted to torture him and cause suffering rather than commit genocide. The main villain of the previous eleven stories would soon become the hero of the concluding comic which was fantastically ironic. Before I get to that though I'd like to mention some of the incredible imagery that was on display in the comic. All eleven Doctors joining together as the TARDISes simultaneously materialised in a merger was magnificent. Not every Doctor got as much dialogue as I would have liked and it really did seem that one part wasn't enough for this epic finale! I still loved it though. I particularly liked Amy questioning who Clara was and I was also rather surprised by the Tenth Doctor not really acknowledging being temporarily reunited with Rose again. It was rather incredible to have a story with every Doctor and nearly every television companion and although not all of the companions that were captured actually featured here, we knew they were somewhere close from glimpses in past stories in this collection. The Eighth Doctor questioning Grace's not wanting to live this life was quite humorous but at the end of the day this final story was all about Adam and that's something I did not expect to be celebrated for the fiftieth anniversary. He's probably more forgettable than Katarina as a companion but he did actually join a very limited club that she's a part of by being one of the very few companions to die. He was heartlessly murdered by the Master but before his wounds became fatal, he ensured the universe would survive. The Ninth Doctor and Rose were at his side for his final breaths which was a nice touch and with a neat reference to Dalek it seemed that the Doctor may have been wrong about him after all and he kindly admitted that. The usual banter between the Doctors wasn't as prevalent as past multi-Doctor stories but it was still very good. Frobisher was extremely humorous with Adam and he even impersonated an Auton! The Master's usual escape was done well but his impact was left with Adam's death. His tombstone was a nice touch but it was actually a sad note to end on despite him being the villain for the eleven stories previous. It's been an incredible adventure but all the Doctors had united to stop their companions from being prisoners of time. Overall, a magnificent end to an epic adventure!

Rating: 10/10