Final Genesis

"Visionaries are often mistaken for madmen..."

Writer: Warwick Gray
Format: Comic Strip
Released: August-October 1993
Printed in: DWM 203-206

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Ace, Benny

Synopsis

In a parallel universe where the Third Doctor and the Brigadier were assassinated, the Silurians live peacefully amongst mankind. But something is threatening that peace now, and there's nobody left to stop them. Can URIC trust the strange man calling himself the Doctor? And just why has the Doctor travelled across universes to help maintain this peace?

Verdict

Final Genesis was an excellent comic strip story and a great continuation of the Emperor of the Daleks graphic novel. We've already had encounters with the Sontarans, Davros and the Daleks in this collection but now we get a story featuring both the Silurians and the Sea Devils. As if that wasn't enough, this adventure took place in a parallel universe where the Silurians live in peaceful harmony following an alternative conclusion to the events that took place in Doctor Who and the Silurians. In this reality, the Third Doctor successfully brokered a peace treaty between the Silurians and humanity and the image of both species walking in harmony in the streets was quite extraordinary. Including the Sea Devils was a nice treat and I was quite intrigued to see them looking how they did in Warriors of the Deep. They didn't play too much of a role in the story but they were crucial to it. I was quite surprised to see that Ace accompanied the Doctor and Benny in this story but I do like the idea of the magazine trying to integrate itself with the New Adventures novels. They were the only new form of Doctor Who at this time and as my knowledge on this era is quite limited, it's quite interesting to see how different Ace was here. She was more suspicious of the Doctor and wasn't prone to do as he asked. Her presence seemed to make Benny a little more feisty too which brought quite a dynamic to the TARDIS team. It was different to anything we've seen before. Mortakk was a brilliant enemy and his desire to infect the world with a virus that would evolve them into a species consisting of a mixture of the best characteristics and abilities of human, Silurian and Sea Devil was horrifying. It was just frightening but with the addition that only 20% of the population would survive, the threat was all the more deadly. I thought Captain Paris was a good character and her initial suspicions about the Doctor were very good. The cliffhanger to part two was superb and I loved how it was revealed that she was under Mortakk's control and had been the one to assassinate the Third Doctor and the Brigadier. Thactus was another terrific character and his role in the story's conclusion was fantastic. I thought it was well paced and full of action and emotion and Ace and Benny's pondering of why the Doctor trekked across universes to maintain this peace was great. It was intriguing and got us questioning the motives of the Doctor, something not under more interest than in his seventh incarnation. Overall, a brilliant comic strip!

Rating: 9/10