The Jazz Monster

"Someone stole my music."

Writer: Nick Abadzis
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 15th December 2016
Printed in: DWC: Tales from the TARDIS 14

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Gabby, Cindy

Synopsis

The Doctor, Gabby and Cindy land in New Orleans at the dawn of the Jazz Age, tracking down the source of the Nocturnes, twisted memetic creatures who ride music and use it as a weapon. Can the TARDIS team change the Nocturnes' tune before they infect all life on Earth?

Verdict

The Jazz Monster was a very good comic strip that has kicked off my blogging of 2017! I would like to extend a happy new year to anyone and everyone who reads my blog but I must start off by saying that I think 2017 could be a pretty quiet year for Doctor Who Verdict which is a bit of a shame but I have taken the difficult decision to put other things first and see my intake of Doctor Who put on the backburner for the time being. My resolution for this year was simply to live my life more and that means experiencing new things and just enjoying myself. Now in the past, when I've gone on a daily run of blog entries, it has often felt like a burden and with my second year at university now into full swing, I just don't need it. Now, I am and always will remain a huge Doctor Who fan but after an incredible run in 2016 which somehow saw me blog more than ever before, I'm taking a backseat and I'll honestly be surprised if I do more than 10 entries a month now. I will continue to get DWM and DWC and will of course watch the new series but once my few Christmas presents are done and blogged, I'm not sure how often I will do things. University and my personal enjoyment has to come first so here's to a quiet year! Now. to the story itself and I thought it was a pretty good start to a comic strip adventure that clearly will continue in the next issue which is actually out next week. I was swamped with catching up on Series 9 before Christmas and during this issue's release and with a break over Christmas it has taken some time to open the pages. I loved the New Orleans setting of the Jazz Age and it was nice to see that Gabby and Cindy were getting that extended break they so yearned. They had both dressed the part and I liked the references we got to The Singer Not the Song with the musical theme. I didn't expect the theme to be quite so expanded upon come the latter stages but I did like how similarities were drawn. There was also quite a bit of ambiguity surrounding the creature the Doctor labelled as 'the boss' and it did appear that he was related to the Nocturnes in some form. The foreshadowing of The End of Time with the Doctor not being too keen on songs ending was a very nice touch and I liked how it reminded us how close towards the end of the Tenth Doctor's life that these stories are set. It was the obvious gap to place a comic series in his timeline and it's worked wonderfully and I like how it continues to be referenced. The mention of The Weeping Angels of Mons was also excellent and I liked how the Doctor's initial memory of a Jamie was his companion during his second incarnation. This time it was Cindy who had fallen for someone in the form of Roscoe but he had been the subject of some alien meddling as he had forgotten how to play his jazz, and he wasn't the only one that had happened to in the area. The Doctor had sniffed out trouble and now it was revealed. However, it was going to be more troublesome than he had envisaged as the method he believed would make this boss of the Nocturnes weaker was actually making it stronger! That obviously wasn't what was expected and I liked how the Doctor looked worried. The cliffhanger was pretty good with the monster rising and claiming that everyone present would be its servants and I'm looking forward to seeing how things play out in the next part. But for now, a very good comic!