Old Girl: War of Gods

"Nature created me. She is my power."

Writer: Nick Abadzis
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 24th August 2017
Printed in: DWC: Tales from the TARDIS 19

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Gabby, Cindy

Synopsis

The epic finale of the Tenth Doctor's second year continues! The emergence of the Time Sentinel! The return of an ancient entity long thought dead! Anubis is trapped between this universe and the next! A galaxy of impossible possibilities! Companions locked in mortal combat! Gabby's mysterious powers in full flow! And at the heart of it all, the Doctor, with the lives of billions in his hands... As the universe shatters and time starts to die, can the last son of Gallifrey win the game... by changing the rules? You won't believe his answer! Be back here next issue as Year Two ends... in flames!

Verdict

Old Girl continued in terrific style with War of Gods! This fourth and penultimate part of the story really was excellent and it certainly did something to ease the wound that has been caused by having to wait over three months to read the story's next installment. It really does feel like an eternity now since I have read a story from Doctor Who Comic! I have even been home for summer and back to my university residence between issues and I am rather disappointed and confused to find that the next DWC issue won't be out until the end of November. I am unsure why this hiatus has continued but I guess it's something I'll just have to deal with. It was great to be reunited with the Tenth Doctor, Gabby and Cindy once again and along with Dorothy we had quite the quartet on our hands. They all worked well together but with the return of Sutekh firmly taken place now, I liked how nervous that seemed to make the Doctor. The flashback of sorts to the moment Sutekh was defeated in Pyramids of Mars was magnificent and I really do like that this comic adventure is serving as a sort of sequel. The finale has been built towards ever since the Year One finale with Anubis and I like how useless the son of Sutekh is when it comes to having to deal with his father. He really does seem helpless. Gabby and Cindy were as brilliant as always as the companions and I liked their reactions to the Doctor wanting them to not be around him when he put the plan into fruition. That plan though was one that Sutekh had calculated long before the Doctor enacted it and I liked how we have a returning villain here who can challenge the Doctor perhaps like nobody else we have seen before. It really does go some way to selling just what level of threat Sutekh provides. It's a rather big one! The details of his Alliance were a little sketchy but it became clear in this part that he was merely using them to his own benefit. How he brutally and peacefully murdered the King Nocturne by turning him into nothingness was almost poetic if that is possible. His speech about the only eternal song being silence was beautiful and even in his evil, the remarkability that Sutekh possesses was clearly evident. I thought the characterisation of David Tennant's Tenth Doctor was very good and that's important for the story as I always say. I thought the artwork was really good too and some of the imagery that came from Sutekh being trapped by the Fourth Doctor was quite fantastic. The idea of there being other beings trapped with him was good. I liked Dorothy's position as the Hand of Sutekh and she seems like she is going to be key in the final part of this epic finale. Sutekh has already anticipated the Doctor's move when it comes to her but whether or not he will actually make it remains to be seen and that is exciting. Judging from the cliffhanger though, he may not have to be the one to make that decision. Dorothy has realised that she is the reason Sutekh has been able to manifest himself again and what she does with that information will be crucial! I look very much forward to finding out what happens next, even if I have to wait a couple of months. Overall though, a fantastic fourth part!