Tulpa

"The ones who could sculpt dreams."

Writer: James Peaty
Format: Comic Strip
Released:
Printed in: The Road to the Thirteenth Doctor #3

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Bill

Synopsis

The Twelfth Doctor and Bill are summoned to London by Kate Stewart and arrive to find Piccadilly Circus transformed into an empty wasteland. The only population seems to be something reminiscing pterodactyls. Just what has gone wrong?

Verdict

Tulpa was a very good conclusion to this mini-series of The Road to the Thirteenth Doctor! There's still the overlapping story as a whole that I've got to get to but despite their quality and being enjoyable, these comic strip adventures didn't really feel like we were on the road to the Thirteenth Doctor's arrival at all which was quite weird. They were just three one-off stories and that's absolutely fine with me! I thought this was the best of the bunch and the artwork was much improved from the previous two stories. I thought the writing of the Twelfth Doctor and Bill was excellent and I really enjoyed how their relationship was portrayed on the page. It definitely felt like it fitted in with the era of Series 10 and that is always a big bonus for me. Bill getting to meet UNIT and Kate Stewart again following The Lost Dimension was very good and I really enjoyed how Kate sent the Doctor a message through his psychic paper. Their arrival to London was quite unexpected and the idea of the city being the centre for a shift between phases of reality was brilliant. That's a recycled story element but it is one I do really enjoy and find quite fascinating. The unnamed man who was clearly missing or seeking a woman called Karen was another intriguing element of the story and the way he found her through the mysterious book was good. The truth behind Karen and how she was actually the memory of the Kar-yn was terrific! I loved their history and with them being the subject of stories on Gallifrey, it gave them a significant reputation and status in the universe. Their ability to sculpt dream was a brilliant concept and how they hid their own memory in a pot luck message across the stars was quite extraordinary. They found their host in the form of this man and his lack of imagination bringing them into the world was very good. The only slight issue I had with this story was the speed of the conclusion. It just seemed a tad rapid but I can fully appreciate the difficulties that come with there only being one part to work with. The story had considerable depth which was a big plus! The Kar-yn were bringing the memory of dying world back from the ashes and that meant Earth was being ravaged by death. The man stopped believing and searching for his Karen at Bill and the Doctor's hasty request and that meant the Kar-yn were returned to memories. Overall, a very decent comic strip!

Rating: 8/10