The Silvering

"We're in the world on the other side of the mirror?."

Writer: George Mann
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 13th January 2016
Printed in: Titan Comics: The Eighth Doctor #3

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Josie

Synopsis

Edinburgh, 1850. The Doctor and Josie Day visit a mysterious magic show, one which is replacing audience members with 'Silvered' duplicates, mirror dimension reflections who jealously watch their real-world counterparts! With the deadly doppelgangers causing chaos, can the Doctor and Josie escape the magician's grasp and avoid being Silvered themselves?

Verdict

The Silvering was a great story and another good continuation of the A Matter of Life and Death graphic novel. Things are really getting into full swing with the Eighth Doctor and Josie now and there appears to be more than just the story arc of some familiar handwriting sending the Doctor on a little investigation through space. The Silversmith was a good enemy but there were clearly some connections with Music of the Spherions here as he was using some of their crystals to power the portal that was part of his magic trick, disguised as merely stepping through a mirror. The Silversmith would demonstrate the trick before inviting some volunteers onto the stage to disprove the idea of it being an illusion. However, something dodgy was up the moment that Agnes revealed to Josie that her tickets had been won in a random lottery. That spelt bad news, the extent of which would soon be revealed. I was intrigued by the Doctor's interest in a magic show and I'd like to think that he was there to just give a scientific explanation to what the human race could only see as magic. But he was worried. The stories of those who stepped through the mirrors was very interesting and the concept of one losing their reflection was fantastic. I thought the whole mirrored theme was great and once the Doctor and Josie sought to seek the truth about the Silversmith's mirrors, they were caught and their only escape was to step through the portal and see the mirror world for themselves. The reference to The Talons of Weng-Chiang was terrific in the theatre and I liked how the Doctor deduced that in a mirror world, the theatre would actually be a prison. That's where the Silversmith was holding the true people and was actually using them to power the city. He had formed his own army of reflected people and the distortion of them was actually a little disturbing. The Doctor worked out the resolution pretty quickly and put his plan into action with little disruption which was good and I thought the image of the Silversmith being trapped behind the cracked mirror was superb. The Doctor seeing his own mirror self in fragment of glass was brilliant too. Josie wasn't the biggest fan of Victorian Edinburgh but they now have another destination awaiting for them. I do hope there's another connection with past stories, I suspect there will be, but for now this was another very good comic strip adventure. Overall, a great story!

Rating: 8/10