Revolving Doors

"Another companion lost... through the revolving door of a life with you..."

Writer: James Peaty
Format: Comic Strip
Released: May 2017
Printed in: The Tenth Doctor #3.5

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Gabby

Synopsis

An untold tale from Gabby's sketchbook! The Doctor and Gabby land in modern-day London, and Gabby can't understand the Doctor's refusal to stay in the city... until they're caught up in a hostile takeover by an alien fugitive!

Verdict

Revolving Doors was a very good little comic strip story! I was quite surprised to see a shift in the ongoing series with Cindy and Anubis and it seems that this adventure took place somewhere soon after Music Man, with Cindy being left behind to recuperate on Earth. However, this story also took place on Earth and I loved that the TARDIS randomiser was used. That's such a nifty little device and for it to bring the Doctor and Gabby to London was good but quite a generic setting. I was very surprised by the Doctor's reaction though and he seemed to have had enough of all the loss he had felt in this city. Gabby's feelings were completely contrasting though as she had been hoping to visit London for a long time during her travels in the TARDIS. The Doctor wanted to leave immediately and his little outburst towards his companion about her not knowing him was rather uncharacteristic of the Tenth Doctor's personality. In saying that, it shows what he was going through at this stage of his life following the loss of Donna. I found the Doctor's attire quite intriguing with the lack of tie and things didn't quite seem normal which was very interesting. The cry for help was something the Doctor could not ignore though and that led them to a very mysterious stockroom. But when was a stockroom not a stockroom? When it was a portal to another dimension of course. The squid-like creature looked very much perfect for a comic strip but I liked how it didn't depart into silliness, something that can be the case with aliens that look like this. Crossland was a good character and the way the Reach was using him as their link to this universe was very good. I quite liked how stern and villainous he appeared and the plan of them to harness the emotional strain of the Doctor's recent experiences was excellent. I really liked that. His reaction to finding Martha after he stepped through the portal to save Gabby was quite surprising as I don't think he'd actually leave her, but I did also like seeing the trauma he associated with Donna and Rose and the loss he felt towards them. I thought the ending was action-packed but I would have liked to know how Gabby managed to reach safety to enable her to aid the Doctor. Crossland fighting from within to severe the link with the Reach was good and his sacrifice by jumping through the portal to break all links the Reach had was extremely noble. I loved Gabby questioning how the Doctor would have coped if she actually was lost but he just wanted to move on. Overall, a very good story!

Rating: 8/10