Hunger from the Ends of Time!

"The greatest library in the universe stores its archives across time rather than space..."

Writer: Dan Abnett
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 14th-21st October 1989
Printed in: The Incredible Hulk Presents 2-3

Featuring: Seventh Doctor

Synopsis

The Seventh Doctor arrives on the planet Catalog to discover that the greatest library in the universe has reorganised its collection. Now housing books throughout time, something sinister is eating its way through the catalogue and the Doctor is required to put a stop to it...

Verdict

Hunger from the Ends of Time! was a brilliant little comic strip to continue my reading of the Nemesis of the Daleks graphic novel. 2018 kicks off as 2017 ended with my reading of this collection and with an important year ahead, I get the feeling that stories of this length could be a common feature of my blog. I will (hopefully) be graduating this summer and finishing my undergraduate degree and what that will mean for my future in the second half of the year is still to be decided but I am very excited by the unknown at the moment. Maybe this blog will be the only constant in my life by then from my time before university! Who knows. Anyway, I was a little worried when purchasing this graphic novel about the content within due to the majority of the stories not actually coming from Doctor Who Magazine. Now I can't say I know anything about The Incredible Hulk Presents but thus far with Stairway to Heaven and Once in a Lifetime, I am pleasantly surprised by what I am reading. This was a two part story of ten pages and I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought the length worked really well but I do think that I benefited from not having to wait a week in between parts. I did actually think the cliffhanger was decent and there was even some resembling of the Zarbi in the mysterious Chaos Bugs. The concept behind them was very good and I liked how Lumsden and his crew were trying to flush out the bookworms that were eating through the library's collection. The return of the Fire Hazard Duty was an unexpected treat and whilst it has been over three years since I read Echoes of the Mogor, it was great to see some familiarity and continuity across the two different publications of comic strips featuring the Seventh Doctor. The characterisation of Sylvester McCoy's incarnation was good and I liked the opening panels of him losing control inside the TARDIS. The setting of Catalog was very good and it was just the perfect name for a planet containing a library as vast as the one they held. The idea of the collection being held through time, in all of the past, present and future was just wonderful and that really was what made the story for me. It was terrific and whilst the resolution was a little rushed and out of nowhere, it still made sense that the books all had to be returned to the present to ensure that the Chaos Bugs were eradicated. I did though find it rather humorous that the Doctor just left the library to its own devices in sorting and cataloguing the books that were retrieved from the past and future. Overall though, a great little comic strip adventure!

Rating: 8/10