The Culling

"She's you... and she's me."

Writers: John & Carole E. Barrowman
Format: Comic Strip
Released: November 2017 - February 2018
Printed in: Torchwood #3.1-4

Featuring: Captain Jack, Gwen

Synopsis

With the alien Navigators in retreat, Jack and Gwen are menaced by a ticking genetic time bomb they have left behind, in the body of... their daughter?! Discover the past - and future - of the woman known as Sladen...

Verdict

The Culling was a great comic strip adventure and a marked improvement on the Torchwood comic strips from Titan! I was really delighted with this one and I was so glad that the current trilogy of available stories ended on a high. It was more of a sequel to Station Zero than an immediate follow on and I think that approached definitely worked more favourably. I also really liked that Captain Jack and Gwen became the sole focus and there wasn't too much attention on the rest of the Ice Maiden crew. Dana and Shelley were pretty important but that was it, and I think that was a positive move as it left us with more action for the more familiar characters that are associated with Torchwood. I really loved the prospect of the pair having a child together and we got to see a great deal of the life of Sladen. She was born out of the DNA of both Jack and Gwen (no, not from intercourse) so the concept wasn't as shocking as it might sound but I did really love Gwen's reaction. I very much liked the role of Captain John in this story and his being away from the actual events worked really well. He reminded me a bit of the Master which is a big compliment. I thought the writing of both Jack and Gwen was very good and I really liked their relationship. Sladen herself was a hugely intriguing character and seeing her try be the subject of Docilis and his manipulation was excellent. She wasn't so sure about her purpose to destroy life on Earth and become a weapon of mass destruction. She was learning quick though about her abilities and how she was able to eradicate life was horrendous! Docilis wasn't her favourite person in the world though and his death looked excruciating, but it was a terrific moment. I still didn't like some of the narration and I thought it was overdone and made too much effort to be humorous when it really actually wasn't. But that's a small sidetone on what was a great story. Learning of the night spent between Dana and Shelley was unexpected but I was less surprised that the former spent a night with Jack. The subtle link to Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang was magnificent and seeing that Dana had been on Arcadia battling a Blowfish was very good. The use of the TARDIS coral was hugely intriguing and I liked the ambiguous ending with Sladen still having some. How she came about it, I'm not sure but I do wonder whether she has a connection with the original Sladen that was Dana's partner who sadly perished. The Vervoid link was good and I liked the story a lot as it was dealing with numerous effects that had already resulted from the actions of previous adventures. Overall, a very good comic strip story!

Rating: 8/10