Doorway to Hell Part 1

"Oh, I can tell you everything about the Doctor..."

Writer: Mark Wright
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 12th January 2017
Printed in: DWM 508

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Jess

Synopsis

The Doctor is called in for an unusual case by Hayes as a man who has been turned to glass is discovered. Whilst the Doctor is away, the Collins family are all abducted and a very familiar foe will make his presence felt...

Verdict

Doorway to Hell started off in superb style with this excellent first part of the comic strip! This has been an issue of Doctor Who Magazine I have been looking forward to reading for some time but thanks to a relentless assignment schedule at university, I still haven't been able to read any of it until now and this comic strip was the first part of the issue that I have looked at that is not the contents page. The idea of a 1970s issue is a terrific one and I like that the pages, upon an initial look and flick through, are recognisably different and reminiscent of what I imagine the very first issues of DWM were like back in the 1970s. This is also a good promotion of the Third Doctor Adventures audios released by Big Finish and although I am yet to listen to them I have heard nothing but praise for them so I'm more than happy with the promotion. The issue does look a good one and I'm glad that with the recent price rise, that does have me questioning whether to continue buying the magazine, that we were given a bonus comic strip in the form of a retro Third Doctor comic strip adventure from Countdown for TV Action. I will be blogging that story when I can get around to it but I do hope that we get little bonuses like this for the extra £1 that I'm not at all convinced is justified. There does look to be some good features this month though with a Terrance Dicks interview standing out. I'm also intrigued by the Time Capsule feature and of course the Doctor Who in the 1970s feature which the issue is kind of based upon. It looks to be a good issue. I thought the comic strip itself was actually terrific and I'm not sure if it was planned or not with the whole Twelfth Doctor storyline that has been going on for the past few months, but the comic strip in the 1970s issue of DWM taking place in the 1970s was quite fitting. I'm liking the relationship between the Doctor and Jessica and it's good to see that she has filled the void of a lack of companion whilst the television series is currently off air. But it will soon be back and I would guess that this could be the last story before Bill and Nardole join the pages of DWM. The Doctor and Jess being separated was good and that allowed for two very different directions for the story to go in. We had the Doctor dealing with a man who'd been turned to glass whilst we had Jess get her house raided and her entire family kidnapped and taken aboard what seemed to be a ship. The Doctor dealing with a creature that seemed to be a mix of the Vespiform and a Zarbi was good but the story's highlight absolutely had to be the cliffhanger. The Master is my favourite villain in Doctor Who by quite some way but to see the original incarnation of Roger Delgado return was simply wonderful. I did not expect it and I really am overjoyed to see where this story goes. The prospect of a meeting between the Twelfth Doctor and the first Master makes me very excited. I look forward to the next part and I'll be sure to purchase the latest issue on the weekend!