First Rule

"Saved... by my companions as ever."

Writer: Rob Williams
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 17th November 2016
Printed in: DWC: Tales from the TARDIS 13

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

Synopsis

Badly wounded by the Then and the Now, the Squire must deal with the fallout of Alice's deadly decision, as Abslom's fury rounds on the Doctor in full force. Death, devastation, and the aftermath of the Time War... this one has it all! Can the Doctor still find the truth and save his friends?

Verdict

First Rule was an incredible comic strip adventure and was one of the best stories to come out of the Eleventh Doctor's segment of Doctor Who Comic for a very long time! I was reading with absolute joy as the power behind some of the emotions that featured was incredible. Each character had a different story to tell and all felt very differently about current events but the journey that this TARDIS team has been on since The Then and the Now really is quite something when I come to think about it. This comic story continued where Running to Stay Still left off and that was incredibly with Alice in the Master's TARDIS. As if that wasn't enough, her destination was the Time War! That is quite the recipe and I liked how we first got to see her nightmare that she suffered at the hands of her migraine. Once again, the words of the Doctor were echoing even in her subconscious and she was really worried about whether she was actually good enough to be a companion. It has taken some time as I wasn't an initial fan of her as companion but now I really like her and the courage she has shown in recent stories has been excellent. The fact that she made light of her situation whilst plummeting into the Time War was really quite commendable. The Doctor seems to have had all this planned out for quite some time which is actually quite horrifying when you think about. But Alice was no longer with him so the Then and the Now wouldn't be showing up anytime soon. At least not for the Doctor. I do wonder if it has access to the Time War though, and if so Alice could be in even more trouble. The characterisation of Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor was outstanding in this story and I think that was achieved with how desperate the Doctor was in the current situation. River was infected by the Malignant and the Squire was dying. We still don't know a great deal about the latter but the Doctor had already seen River Song die once, I'm not sure he would be able to go through it again. The encounter between the Doctor and Abslom Daak was initially a shock when the latter punched the former but the verbal battle that ensued saw the Doctor ridicule his would-be companion. Although he is a part of my 'Featuring' in the story information, I wouldn't necessarily consider him to be a companion. The jury is still out on the Squire but I am sure we'll learn the truth in due course. The Doctor acting as the narrator of the story was brilliant and I really liked how one of his top rules was that the companions do not die. Of course, that hasn't always been adhered to but he does point out that the problem with first rules is that they are the first to be broken. His efforts to save both River and the Squire here really were not going well and I must say I was very shocked to find the Squire pronounced dead at the story's close. Could she really be dead? I'm inclined to say yes as I now think that Alice's venture into the Time War will answer the question of her identity. However, the Doctor seems to have been planning things for a long time when it comes to Alice judging from a picture he has of her, disturbingly with a gun. Her crash landing in the Master's TARDIS and being greeted by the War Doctor was excellent and after the relatively recent audio boxset featuring the lost incarnation, I'm glad these comics can try and boost the number of stories the War Doctor features in and also gives us some more details about the Time War which is something I always welcome. Immediately, the War Doctor and Alice had their problems with the Volatix Tendrils but one thing that struck me was the Doctor threatening to atomise Alice, in the name of peace and sanity of course. That reminded us why this incarnation of the Doctor buried his name. But this story was all about the companions, and whilst one was being very brave in the Time War and another was standing up to the Doctor in the TARDIS, it appeared that we had lost one and were on the way to losing another. Overall, a simply stunning story!

Rating: 10/10