The Time Witch

"Such is the boredom of eternal life, that when the sun itself goes nova... there is no-one watching..."

Writer: Steve Moore 

Format: Comic Strip

Released: June-July 1980

Printed in: DWM 35-38

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Sharon

Synopsis 

The fabric of time itself has ruptured within the Tatdis and the Doctor and Sharon have been sucked through into another dimension where the Time Witch has created a world with her own mental powers.

Verdict 

The Time Witch was an excellent comic strip story to conclude my reading of The Iron Legion! This saw me finish the very first graphic novel and I must say the whole collection has been of a very high standard. Considering these are five of the first six comic strip adventures printed in Doctor Who Magazine (Timeslip was a part of the later The Tides of Time collection), I have been pleasantly surprised with what I've read. These early comics have been ambitious, challenging and full of a vast amount of quality. We have been introduced to a brand new companion in the form of Sharon, taking to a parallel universe and we've even seen the return of the Daleks. Considering this collection houses just five stories, things certainly have been eventful! This final story was fantastic and I loved that we got to see Brimo's imprisonment in the eternity capsule. It was the thing she feared most after spending countless lifetimes trapped inside watching her own planet die as well as an infinite amount of stars and suns. She had ventured into what the Doctor called the black dimension and was eventually freed but in this alternate dimension she had a vast amount of power. Through telepathy she could conjure up just about anything she wanted. If I was her, I think after an eternity in a capsule I'd conjure up some people but Brimo seemed pretty contempt living on her own in this dreamed up paradise of hers. The power she was using though was having an adverse effect on the normal universe and the Doctor would soon see to stopping it, not that he had much choice after he, Sharon and the TARDIS were sucked through the gateway. The Meltron was a good character and the scene where it was literally split into two different personalities was terrific. One wanted to kill whilst the other just wanted to make a cup of tea! Talk about a contrast. I thought the characterisation of Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor was absolutely brilliant with his likeness captured seemingly with effortless ease. The appearance of images of the Doctor's past enemies in what was supposed to be a physics lesson was humorous as instead of newtons and earth wires we saw Daleks, Davros, Zygons, Sandminer Robots, Cybermen and Kraals! That wasn't quite what the Doctor intended to show his young companion. I was quite surprised that K9 only featured at the very end as he's been a mainstay in the comics ever since jumping into DWM's pages from the television series. Brimo being defeated by the Doctor making her think of the eternity capsule was superb and I liked how because she was a prisoner, he didn't feel bad about what he had to do. The TARDIS acting as a plug in the gateway between dimensions was good as it prevented Brimo from using up anymore power. The journey back into normality though had quite the taking on the Doctor and Sharon though as they aged four years upon passing through! I wasn't quite sure about the explanation of that but I like how Sharon went from being a girl into a young women. Now she seems more like a companion in my eyes. Overall, it was a very good end to what has been a fantastic graphic novel!

Rating: 9/10