Neuronic Nightmare

"We are not all evil."

Writer: Paul Crompton 

Format: Comic Strip

Released: 1976

Printed in: The Amazing World of Doctor Who

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Sarah, Harry

Synopsis 

The Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry run into some trouble in neurotic space. Something strange is happening on Skarol, and Harry isn't quite what he seems...

Verdict 

Neuronic Nightmare was rather a mixed bag of a comic strip. I'm still not quite sure what to make of it but it did at least continue my reading of The Amazing World of Doctor Who. It's a book of my cousin's that I'm currently reading whilst we're under the same roof but sadly those days are almost at an end. It's been a wonderful week plus here but soon I head back home to South Wales where a novel will be read to take up the time during the journey. But before that, I'm confident of watching at least another one television story as well as reading the final story from this collection of what is mostly reprints. The fact the book contains reprints is absolutely fine by me as, especially with A Fresh Start, I doubt I'd be able to find the magazine in which it was first printed. The other stories are mostly from the 1976 Doctor Who Annual but there are two original text stories that appear in the collection's pages to give the book some sort of appeal to those who may already have the 1976 Annual but not this interesting little item. It would add to any location and I am very envious of my cousin for being so lucky as to find it! However, some of the bargains I have had in the past have been quite incredible so in the grand scheme of purchasing I don't have much at all to complain about. But with this story, the same cannot be said as I have a number of complaints to make. As you can probably tell from the picture above, the artwork for this story was absolutely appalling and I honestly could say I can't remember it ever being worse. Even some of the comic strip stories in Doctor Who Adventures have surpassed this story, which is saying quite a lot considering what I think of the comic that appear in the pages of that magazine. The only recognisable character of the TARDIS trio was the Fourth Doctor but even he was badly drawn. Well that's maybe a tad unfair as it is actually the attire that is so terribly wrong. He looks like he's wearing something more suited to the Sixth Doctor which was just strange. Both of the companions were terribly drawn with neither Sarah Jane or Harry resembling anything close to the actors who played the characters. It really does have an adverse effect on the story and in this instance it was recognisable pretty much at its beginning. The story itself wasn't too bad and although it wasn't amazing, it did have its moments riding for it. The ending with the Harry revelation was the highlight with him dropping the bombshell that he was actually a Lektra Neuroid. I imagine the natives of Skarol were pretty peeved with that. Not an awful lot happened and the Doctor even stated "I'm Dr Who" which is something that really bothers me despite the early years being filled with that intention. Overall though, something that wasn't too bad but could have been a lot better.

Rating: 6/10