Fooled

"Why can't they remember?"

Writer: George Mann
Format: Comic Strip
Released: August 2017
Printed in: The Eleventh Doctor #3.8

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Alice, Sapling

Synopsis

The Doctor, Alice and the Sapling are fresh from their latest adventure and are now continuing through space and time. The Doctor takes them, intentionally or not, to Earth and to visit a circus. Immediately they notice that something is not quite right. The Sapling has gained memories that are not his, and visitors to the show seem to have lost theirs.

Is the Sapling somehow responsible?

The Doctor and Alice soon discover someone taking photos of the visitors. So the Doctor sets about his work only to get more than he bargained for...

Verdict

Fooled was a decent continuation of the Eleventh Doctor's third year of comic strip adventures! It concluded my loan of The Sapling: Roots graphic novel and I'm now eagerly awaiting the arrival of the third and final graphic novel in the Eleventh Doctor's run which I have requested already. I do hope it won't be too long before it arrives! Whilst the quality of this story was good, as you'd expect from someone like George Mann, I did think some of the artwork was a bit questionable for this story which was most unusual for this ongoing series. What caught my attention was the drawing of Matt Smith and particularly his head - it just wasn't proportionate and didn't do too well in capturing his likeness at all which was a real shame. I liked the Village Green Festival setting and seeing the Doctor continuously fail to hook a duck was perfectly in line with the personality of this incarnation so that was really pleasing. I liked how eager the Sapling was to have its turn and it was rather happy with its surroundings and was enjoying the fun. Its initial confusion over a local referring to it having a costume on was quite humorous and its intent on literal meanings often provides some comedic value which I like. The concept of the Sapling receiving the memories of all those children at the festival was really intriguing and thinking how it could deal with all of those memories at the same time was quite difficult to comprehend. I really liked how it now understood what it had inadvertently done to the Doctor and Alice in taking some of their memories. This understanding was achieved when the Doctor stopped the Krovian from stealing the memories of humans and selling them on because the camera he'd been using actually gave the memories to the Sapling. The Krovian was useless without it and I was a little surprised that the Doctor just left him at the Festival, even if he was useless. The Doctor's defence of how important memories are was wonderful and probably the highlight of the story. He was very offended that the Krovian took them as they were not his. Memories were precious and personal and I loved how that was conveyed. Overall, this was a good comic strip adventure and I look forward to seeing the story continue!

Rating: 7/10