Victims

"A smidgen of style never hurt anyone."

Writer: Dan Abnett
Format: Comic Strip
Released: April-June 1994
Printed in: DWM 212-214

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Romana II

Synopsis

Kolpasha is the fashion capital of the Human Empire. The Doctor and Romana have come to enjoy the new season's shows and re-outfit the TARDIS's tired, old wardrobe. However, they soon discover that someone is up to something deadly and they end up as the prime suspects in a murder case...

Verdict

Victims was a decent comic strip adventure and a good start to the Land of the Blind graphic novel! I must, once again, place my thanks to Libraries West for having this terrific collection of comic strip stories in their catalogue and it is a release I have been excited about since its announcement! I wasn't actually aware that DWM had produced comic strips with incarnations of the Doctor other than the Seventh Doctor so learning of this was a real treat. Starting with the Fourth Doctor and Romana II was fantastic and I thought their relationship was pretty well captured on the page. The fashion theme was certainly a unique one and I liked its originality. It definitely suited the Fourth Doctor with his outrageous fashion sense. Well, mostly the scarf is the reason for that. I thought the panels where the Doctor was trying on new clothes was quite humorous and I can clearly imagine how frustrating that must have been for Romana. I loved how the Doctor wasn't aware that he was being difficult though. I was a big fan of that. The Kolpasha setting was very good and I was quite surprised to find that copyright was treated as a more serious crime than murder. The latter was an unfortunate circumstance but copyright theft was just unthinkable! That showed the kind of society the TARDIS had landed in. It was like one great big fashion industry. The Doctor meeting an old friend in the form of Racheem was good and I liked how he ended up working well with Romana. She was investigating the chemical bonds of the new Vitality that was due to hit stories and it was quite extraordinary. The concept of a spray that reversed age was great and it would understandably be quite popular! However, its true intention was a plan of the Quoll. He was a deranged and grotesque alien that was hungry and was attempting to turn the human population into something edible. It was a gross and evil plan but the Doctor wasn't having any of it. I liked his lengthy speech towards the story's conclusion and I thought the resolution with Vitality itself being used on the Quoll to destory it was simply but effective. The final comments about the Doctor wanting and needing a new hat and scarf were terrific and as a whole, this was a pretty good comic strip adventure!

Rating: 7/10