The Enlightenment of Ly-Chee the Wise

"Why did the chicken cross the road?"

Writer: Simon Jowett
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 9th December 1989
Printed in: The Incredible Hulk Presents 10

Featuring: Seventh Doctor

Synopsis

Whilst walking alone on the slopes of Mount Kabuki on the serene planet of Tora, the Seventh Doctor is beset by bandits. A hermit living on the mountain by the name of Ly-Chee swoops in to help. After the vandals are dispatched, Ly-Chee offers the Doctor some soothing nettle tea and a place to rest. The pair will soon begin their path of enlightenment...

Verdict

The Enlightenment of Ly-Chee the Wise was a great comic strip adventure and a very good continuation of the Nemesis of the Daleks graphic novel! It has been a little while since I've read a story from this collection but it appears that I'm on something of a comic strip run at the minute and after finishing the fundamentals of a research project for university this afternoon, a little read was definitely required. I quite liked the only real sign of danger in this story came at its beginnings with the bandits that intended on attacking the Doctor as he exited the TARDIS. However, he would come to no harm as Ly-Chee arrived on the scene and dismantled the group before they had even known what hit them. The Doctor held his own though and resembled his third incarnation with the usage of Venusian Aikido. I really liked that and I was also quite intrigued by the fact that he offered his saviour a jelly baby. That's something usually, but not exclusive, his fourth incarnation so there were plenty of nods to the past in this comic strip and that's something I tend to enjoy. Ly-Chee was a very intriguing character and I loved how he remained sceptical of the Doctor despite saving him from what would presumably have been a beating and robbery. He wanted to know what the Doctor was after and I liked that we got to read some of his thoughts during the adventure. The relationship between the pair was quite interesting and the Doctor solving Ly-Chee's life's work in a matter of moments really was rather Doctor-ish and I loved it. He's just so much more intelligent than pretty much everyone he meets and that can often bring disappointment to those with whom he is acquainted. The Doctor giving Ly-Chee a puzzle to solve put the story in a very interesting direction but I was not expecting it to be something so simple like asking the question of why the chicken crossed the road. Ly-Chee was wrecking his brains for a week trying to discover the answer and the Doctor finally told him and he renounced himself as a wise man because the answer was so obvious. The Doctor offered a lift through the TARDIS which did not seem to go as planned and judging from one panel in the comic, the pair seemed to have quite a few adventures together! I do wonder what that was like but I suspect we'll never get to know. Overall, a very good comic strip story!

Rating: 8/10