The Stockbridge Showdown

"Something's rotten in the state of Stockbridge!"

Writer: Scott Gray

Format: Comic Strip

Released: 26th May 2016

Printed in: DWM 500

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Max, Frobisher, Destrii, Izzy, Majenta, Sharon

Synopsis 

A very special celebratory comic strip adventure from Scott Gray, Dave Gibbons, Martin Geraghty, Roger Langridge and many more! Doctor Who Magazine reaches its 500th issue!

Verdict 

The Stockbridge Showdown was a sensational comic strip adventure and an absolutely beautiful tribute to Doctor Who Magazine's comic stories over the past 500 hundreds. This blog entry is also significant for being my own personal 750th entry, but for a magazine to reach an incredible 500 issues is an incredible feat and I had no problem paying double the usual price because what we got was absolutely worth it! Or, at least I hope it is. With exams and moving back home, I was only able to purchase the magazine yesterday so I haven't read much yet other than the comic strip but I really am looking forward to this issue, which probably sounds very obvious. I read the initial letter from the Doctor which was quite humorous and I did like the bragging that occurred in the editor's column because DWM has every bloody reason to brag! It's an astonishing and record-breaking feat and they should absolutely boast and be proud of what they have achieved. Speaking of pride, I was absolutely delighted to see that my letter got published in Galaxy Forum for this issue and now my name will forever be printed in this historic issue of DWM. It still incredibly kept up my 100% run of having every letter I've sent in being printed. I'm not sure how long that will last but I'm delighted that my name appears in this particular issue. The magazine, or rather magazines, look tremendous and I love the throwback cover to the first issue. Being the longtime fan that he is, I bet Peter Capaldi was absolutely overjoyed to be the current Doctor for this landmark DWM issue. He has so much fun playing the Doctor and I think that's what makes him so enjoyable as the Twelfth Doctor. His characterisation in the extended comic strip story here was done very well by Scott Gray and it was of no surprise to me to see that he was given the honour of penning this celebratory comic strip. That's exactly the word I think best suits this story because it really was just a celebration but instead of just being full of nostalgia, it still managed to tell an excellent story and show the Doctor at his very best. It was quite ironic for myself and I had some good fate occur somewhere with my decision to read The Moderator yesterday. It tied in perfectly with events here and I loved that the Doctor still vented his frustration at what Dogbolter did to Gus. It was wonderful that the Doctor hadn't forgotten about his short-lived companion. I hadn't yet met some of the returning companions in this story and it has made me realise that I should crack on with the numerous graphic novels I don't yet own. I will have to do them all in order at some point but for now I'm going to continue buying at random. I loved the return of Frobisher in the disguise of Chiyoko who I of course know from The Child of Time graphic novel collection. There were also returns for Izzy and Destrii both of whom I know pretty well and even though my experience of Sharon is minimal, I was glad to see her back once again. Majenta is a companion I know a lot less about as I've done barely any Tenth Doctor comics from DWM but I was glad to see Max Edison back again! It's clear that he's made returns following The Stockbridge Horror as he knows the Doctor can change his face so I look forward to those, but for now it was just great to be back in Stockbridge and I loved the little throwback to Stars Fell on Stockbridge. The numerous appearances of aliens from past comic strips was very good and the whole story and magazine just has such a good feel about it. I'm really looking forward to seeing what Jacqueline Rayner has to see in Relative Dimensions which is a favourite feature of mine and I'll be intrigued to read the Fact of Fiction about The Day of the Doctor. I'm expecting a few retro features that I don't know of but I'm sure I'll enjoy them nonetheless. The second magazine giving a pictorial history of the first 500 issues should be wonderful as well and it's just magnificent that the magazine has an outstanding comic strip adventure in its pages. 

Rating: 10/10