The Clockwise War Part 5

"I held him in my arms as you watched us both die."

Writer: Scott Gray
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 26th July 2018
Printed in: DWM 528

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Bill

Synopsis

The Twelfth Doctor makes it his mission to find Fey Truscott-Sade and put an end to her vendetta against him. Through Peter Pan, he takes a voyage to the Dreamscape and learns just why she is doing this. And the Absence is revealed...

Verdict

The Clockwise War continued in decent fashion with an intriguing fifth part of the story. It seems to be going on quite a while now and whilst I am enjoying it, I am eager for its conclusion now. Anyway, this month's magazine looks set to be a fantastic one and I thought the textless cover with Jodie Whittaker was stunning when I picked it up after it was posted through my letterbox last week. The inside cover was also quite beautiful with a panoramic shot of Whittaker and a lovely quote about playing the Doctor. I'm beyond excited for her debut as the Thirteenth Doctor now and any news this issue gives about the upcoming series will be a joy to read. I have really liked the Out of the TARDIS feature that was restored with the recent change of editor and seeing that Peter Purves takes his turn this month is fantastic. He's always an interesting character so I look forward to seeing what wacky questions he has to answer. I'm very intrigued to read the American Dreams feature on the IDW comics and as a fan of Titan's current comic strips, seeing the lineage that they have come from talked about will be terrific. It may also prompt me into finding the IDW Archives graphic novels in a library that I have been put off buying because of the hefty price. I'm a bit bored of the Cosplay feature and I really don't merit its position in the magazine. It's surely only for a very select audience of the readership and I hope it's discontinued before long. The Empress of Mars being the Fact of Fiction should be excellent though as that's a wonderful episode. The Production Notes also appear to be extended this month so that should shed a bit more light on the series ahead and Chris Chibnall is always a delightful read so I look forward to him. Now, back to the comic strip and after a superb fourth part with the War Doctor last issue it was always going to be difficult to follow it up. I thought it was good that the Doctor and Fey had an extended encounter but I wasn't expecting it to take place in the Dreamscape. Neither did I think things would revolve around Peter Pan! It didn't make much sense to me. I was also very surprised to see the connection that Alexander Truscott had with the story and it seems he's in league with the Clockwise Men! Politics and aliens? What could go wrong? Fey taking vengeance against the Time Lords and her being responsible for the failed regenerations was a good revelation but I was quite disappointed with how little Bill featured in the story. She just stood in awe at the Doctor's reading skills. Matildus returning was a nice and unexpected feature but as a whole, I felt this was the weakest of the five parts thus far. Overall though, I still look very forward to seeing things conclude.