Memorial

"The wounds never truly heal."

Writer: Warwick Gray
Format: Comic Strip
Released: September 1992
Printed in: DWM 191

Featuring: Seventh Doctor

Synopsis

Plagued by nightmares, Simon Galway - a World War II veteran - heads for the local cenotaph. There her meets the Doctor and Ace and doesn't hold back in introducing himself. He disagrees with the Doctor's sentiments of war and an unearthly tale will soon have considerable relevance...

Verdict

Memorial was a terrific little comic strip and a great example of how to tell a very good story with a limited page count. I was really impressed with this one and I think a lot of that is down to its simplicity. It had a lot of familiarity as it dealt with real life issues and using something as traumatic and impactful as the Second World War as a basis for a story and the discussion within it provided a lot of power. I think my love of history probably has something to do with why I enjoyed this comic strip so much and even though this didn't deal with the Holocaust specifically, that is a topic I have wrote 10,000 words on in my first term as a Masters student so using its wider context of World War Two and seeing the Doctor somewhat ridicule the whole thing was incredibly powerful. Ace wasn't too keen on the arrival to Westmouth as she found it quite boring but as per usual with the Seventh Doctor, he had a purpose to this destination that he had failed to let his companion know about. The 1995 setting was really good and the fifty year anniversary of the death of Simon's brother, Brian, was a poignant moment. The Doctor and Simon meeting was fantastic and their differing stances on the necessity of war was delightful. The Doctor sold a good story as an outsider and how there was no inevitability to war, despite what politicians say, but I really admired how Simon stood up for his country and what he fought for. He was defending his people from fascism and he would not be told that there was no point to all he lost and suffered. Ace pointing out that the Doctor had done his fair share of fighting was good and despite her not really doing an awful lot in the adventure, I thought Ace had a very strong showing as companion. The story of the Telphin and Chaktra was quite mesmerising but I really didn't expect it to link so heavily with Simon and how he was drawn to the memorial. The Doctor protecting the soul of the Telphin to allow it to carry on living after being decimated by the Chaktra thanks to some misguided messages was lovely. Simon was the carrier they required and he was grateful to have remembered his initial meeting with the Doctor and to help the once-thought extinct race live on. Overall, a very moving story!

Rating: 9/10