Running to Stay Still

"Answers are in the Time War..."

Writer: Si Spurrier

Format: Comic Strip

Released: 20th October 2016

Printed in: DWC: Tales from the TARDIS 12

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Alice, Squire, Abslom Daak, River

Synopsis 

The attacks on the TARDIS reach fever pitch. The Doctor's only hope for survival is to track down the mysterious 'Cabal' who have been haunting his steps. Were they active in the Time War? Do they still exist? Meanwhile, Alice is forced to make a decision that could wipe her from the timeline forever!

Verdict 

Running to Stay Still was a great little comic strip and a very good continuation of the Eleventh Doctor's comic strip series. Things have been very complicated and perplexed as of late and it's interesting that whilst each comic strip stands alone in name, they're all going in the same direction and that's to clear the Doctor's name of the crimes he was accused of way back in The Then and the Now. The menace of the same name has been following them through time and space and we recently learned that Alice was the reason behind that. I thought she had one of her best stories here as she finally stood up for herself and acted independently. The Doctor's treatment of her continued to be derogatory which has hugely surprised me in this and the last comic strip but judging from the cliffhanger lead in to the next story, I think it's all just been part of his plan. I think he had worked out what Alice revealed in this comic strip quite a while back and with his attitude and comments towards his librarian companion he's just been pushing her in the right direction. It's rather surprising though that he's okay with sending her in the Master's severely tampered with TARDIS, which was screaming, and apparently right back into the Time War. I'm sure that in due course we'll get to learn a lot about the truth behind the Cyclors and the Malignant and get the evidence required to clear the Doctor's name. I still think it'll be quite a lengthy process yet but it'll be very interesting to see how Alice copes. She took matters into her own hands to prevent Abslom Daak from being the one to go back which must have annoyed him greatly as he was so looking forward to being able to kill a Dalek again. His enthusiasm for that is quite staggering and I love the irony behind his sadness that the Daleks are no more. River didn't have an awful lot of print time in this story and that's because she was in a pretty bad way thanks to the Then and the Now and was placed in a similar chamber to Daak's late wife. The maniacal companion wasn't best pleased by that as the Doctor seemed to know where she'd been the whole time. The emergence of the Squire was not a huge surprise but it was still a good moment in the story and the Doctor's reaction to the return of his companion was excellent. I was intrigued by some of the portraits of past companions especially because one of them was Clara. Given that this was set between the fifth and sixth series, that shouldn't really be possible but my own personal explanation would be that it's something to do with the TARDIS knowing the future and the past. I was also intrigued by the images of the Doctor seemingly splitting into his former incarnations. We also saw the Twelfth Doctor's face as part of that which was intriguing because as far as the Doctor is concerned at this point in his timeline, he's used up all of his regenerations. Once that was revealed it place a whole different dynamic on Eleventh Doctor stories and this was no different. The story was exciting and leads us to more answers and the ending was quite a surprise. The Doctor was presumably watching what went down between Alice and Daak and had seemingly got what he wanted with Alice going back into the Time War. His companion was proving her worth and that she belonged and I think the Doctor was secretly happy his plan had worked out. Overall, more intrigue to the story arch and another good comic strip adventure!

Rating: 8/10