The Free-Fall Warriors

"There's not a vehicle in this solar system that can out-perform the TARDIS!"

Writer: Steve Parkhouse
Format: Comic Strip
Released: September-October 1981
Printed in: DWM 56-57

Featuring: Fourth Doctor

Synopsis

The Fourth Doctor is holidaying at the Festival of Five Planets in a distant solar system and has met an alien science-fiction writer by the name of Doctor Asimoff. The pair are invited on a hair-raising flight with one of the Free-Fall Warriors and the entertainment soon turns into danger...

Verdict

The Free-Fall Warriors was another great comic strip adventure in the Dragon's Claw graphic novel! This collection is plodding along very nicely and I have now nearly wrapped up my reading of the Fourth Doctor's initial comic library from the pages of Doctor Who Magazine. It's still a little weird seeing him travelling alone but there is plenty of leeway for that to occur as it did of course happen on television in The Deadly Assassin so I'm going to assume the story's placement is somewhere around that excellent serial. I absolutely loved the first page of this adventure and I have to say it was extremely well done. The Doctor was engaged in a rapid game of Space Invaders but when reading the opening page the reader was unaware and it looked as though the Doctor was actually targeting and shooting down people! Of course, that would never occur but that brought intrigue as to why he would enjoy the video game but I'm probably looking into things way too much there. I could just appreciate the ambiguity and the thought of the Doctor going rogue. I very much liked it. I was happy to see that this was the first story to feature Doctor Asimoff as I have met him before in Polly the Glot and I thought he had a humorous relationship with the Fourth Doctor here. The pair getting embroiled in the lives of the Free-Fall Warriors was quite interesting and I loved how dearly the Doctor was defending his beloved TARDIS. He accepted a gracious challenge from Machine Head to see which vehicle was more exhilarating and there was no contest. The TARDIS certainly came up short which is quite an unusual feat. The Festival of Five Planets was a very good setting and I liked how it ended up serving as a mini battleground in the battling between the Free-Fall Warriors and the Raiders. That little fight was very action-packed and exciting which was great and I loved that once the Raiders were dealt with, the Warriors returned as heroes. Asimoff being a sci-fi writer was the perfect profession for someone to accompany the Doctor and I am looking forward to the unread meetings between the pair. The Warriors were excellent and I loved their names with Big Cat and Cool Breeze being my particular favourites. I was quite surprised to learn that they got their own origin comic strip though - that's quite a feat! Overall, a terrific little adventure!

Rating: 8/10