Slaver's Song

"I stowed away on the Doctor's ship and now I'm being crushed by living water."

Writer: Cavan Scott
Format: Comic Strip
Released: January-March 2017
Printed in: The Ninth Doctor #9-10

Featuring: Ninth Doctor, Rose, Captain Jack

Synopsis

The Iara have long been thought a Brazilian myth, but when these unearthly mer-creatures prove to be aquatic aliens making an unscheduled stop on planet Earth, the TARDIS team must establish their intentions and broker peace across the water barrier...

Verdict

Slaver's Song was a decent continuation of the Ninth Doctor's comic strip run from Titan and a good conclusion to the Official Secrets graphic novel collection. I need to thank Libraries West once again for their incredible service in allowing me to access these stories free of charge and although I was once a big fan and advocate of collecting, I realise with the amount of content out there that the likelihood of me revisiting stories is not great so I will definitely be making the most of the library service here in Bristol. It's sublime. This story wasn't quite up to the standard of that work but I liked the dynamic that Tara brought to the well-established TARDIS team of the Ninth Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack. Rose seemed quite jealous at the smiles that she evoked in the Doctor and she went off with Captain Jack who had quite an intriguing story to say the least. Despite the whole Jack secret base aspect of the plot being the sub-story, it was definitely the most interesting and I found the revelation that he had executed Zloy Volk not much of a surprise to be honest. Jack developed in such a great and groomed character in Torchwood and we learned a lot of his past and the extents he would go to so learning that he'd executed someone on the orders of the Time Agency seemed quite in line with his character. However, I can completely understand why Rose reacted how she did and Jack wasn't the man that she thought he was. I later learned that Zloy Volk was Russian for Bad Wolf which I thought was impressive writing. Yiara was a lovely character and I liked how the Doctor wanted to help when she was hurt and Tara was more than willing. She wasn't much of a fan of Francisco and the Doctor's reaction to learning that he was conversing with a slaver was fantastic. I actually thought the characterisation of the Ninth Doctor was really good in this story which was a big positive! Lpupiara was another interesting character but I felt we needed a bit more background. Intergalactic slavers coming to Earth during a time of slavery, or at least a location where it was present, was a great concept but the enactment, whilst good, definitely could have been improved. I thought the conclusion was a bit abrupt but I loved the irony of the slavers becoming the slaves. That seemed deserved and was nicely done. The cliffhanger ending with the Ninth Doctor being captured at the hands of the Judoon was hugely shocking and I can't wait to see why he's been accused of murdering Tara! I have already placed a reservation for the next volume so I'm very eager to learn what has happened. Overall though, a good story!

Rating: 7/10