Dragon's Claw

"Energy weapons, star-falls, bronze men... there's a mystery here."

Writer: Steve Moore 

Format: Comic Strip

Released: July-October 1980

Printed in: DWM 39-45

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Sharon, K9

Synopsis 

China, 1522 AD and the Doctor and Sharon have been captured by ferocious monks from the Shaolin monastery. Escaped to talk to the hermit, Hsiang the Ancient, they soon find the mystery of the Hall of Eighteen Bronze Men and the Doctor is reunited with some old enemies...

Verdict

Dragon's Claw was a terrific comic strip adventure and kicked off my unexpected reading of the graphic novel of the same name in terrific fashion. After arriving at my grandparents and catching up with my young cousin on all things Doctor Who, he was quick to boast about receiving this graphic novel for his recent eighth birthday. I was quite surprised but also rather happy as whilst I'm up I'll be able to take advantage of having a copy in the house to read. I don't think I'll be able to read and blog it all before leaving as I did with the stories in his copy of The Amazing World of Doctor Who, but I'm sure as hell going to try! I loved the setting of 1522 in China and I must admit I was expecting things to be quite similar to Marco Polo but they really weren't which was positive. That's not to say I don't like the First Doctor serial (that's far from the truth) but I do enjoy differences and deviations between stories. With the amount of Doctor Who content out there things can get repetitive but that was avoided here. The story was rather strange in the way the number of pages varied from each part with some having just three pages whilst others were extended up to eight. I think that was part of the transition of Doctor Who Weekly becoming Doctor Who Monthly but it was strange that they kept to the same story with such a difference in page numbers for each part. There was a noticeable difference when the parts got extended and that was more so down to the fantastic return of the Sontarans! I had totally forgot that they featured in the story and that was just magnificent because I got to be shocked by the cliffhanger in which they were brilliantly revealed to be the occupants of the Hall of Eighteen Bronze Men. Just what they were doing in China at this time begs to be questioned but their presence was just superb. The way they were depicted through the artwork on the opening page of part five was sublime but the only problem I had with the Sontarans was how easily they were defeated at the end by Chang. I get that he went on a frenzy but combat is what the Sontarans cherish so for them to be mowed down like that is where the story fails to get full marks. I thought Sharon was terrific in this comic story and was probably her best showing to date. The reliance on K9's stun feature was very good and I like how you can get more use out of the robot dog in the comics due to no real life restrictions. The characterisation of Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor was once again excellent as has been the case with his stories so far in DWM starting with The Iron Legion graphic novel. I really liked Hsiang the Ancient and the comedy surrounding his enjoyment of jelly babies and demand for breakfast was really great. Him failing not to cross his legs was just magnificent and really did provide some humorous images. Yueh Kuang was a brilliant enemy in the role of the Abbot and I also liked the villainous nature of Brother Li. The pair being in league with the Sontarans was very good and I liked how the brotherhood could be triggered into killers by just one phrase. The Doctor fantastically saw around that though thanks to some help from K9. I liked how Hsiang was restored as the Abbot and the brotherhood were returned from fighting amongst each other. The Sontarans were gone and the Doctor had restored normality. Overall, a superb comic strip story!

Rating: 9/10