As Time Goes By

"The Silurians are going to cause a massive earthquake that somehow wipes out all of mankind."

Writer: Joshua Hale Fialkov
Format: Comic Strip
Released: January-April 2012
Printed in: DW11 #13-16

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Amy, Rory

Synopsis 

1941. Casablanca. Murder. Sound familiar? It does as well to the Doctor, Amy and Rory, who revel in being in the setting for the classic film. That is until they discover a world-domination plot hatched not by Hitler, but the Silurians!

Verdict

As Time Goes By was a very good comic strip story to begin my reading of the second volume of the Eleventh Doctor Archives from IDW! I was very impressed with this beginning and I was delighted to see that the Silurians returned to do battle with the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory. Well, I say they returned but it was quite a different batch to those we saw in The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood as that one was set in South Wales in 2020 where this one had a hugely exciting setting of Casablanca in 1941. The Nazis did make an appearance but their lack of a role in the adventure was something I did hope was extended. I was very much a fan of what did occur but being the History buff that I am, with an incredibly keen interest in Nazi History, the prospect of the Doctor doing battle with the Nazis was very exciting. I hadn't read the synopsis before reading so the Silurians made quite a compromise though! I was very glad to see them return and I liked that Amy and Rory were also familiar with them. I thought the relationship between the TARDIS trio in this comic strip was superb throughout and there was definitely that feeling of Series 6 present with them all having travelled together for quite some time now. They're all obviously affectionate about each other and the humour concerning the Doctor calling them the Ponds rather than the much more difficult Williamses was wonderful. I also thought the comic value in the Doctor hunting for a new fez was brilliant. Tony Lee had been a good, if somewhat inconsistent writer, for IDW's Doctor Who range but I am glad to see that we got a fresh writer here. It definitely had a different kind of feel and that was certainly a positive in my eyes. The plot twist he managed to provide with the Captain actually being a Silurian was excellent, but even better was the fact that he didn't want to kill mankind! I really didn't see either coming but the confidence of the Doctor knowing the truth before it was revealed was terrific. I thought the characterisation of Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor, and Amy and Rory to be frank, was brilliant and that always makes for a much better read. It's just so easy and feels accessible. The Silurian plan of using the air and precipitation to cause an earthquake that would wipe out humanity was very good and I really liked the shaking of an ant's nest analogy. That was neat and helpful for understanding things. One thing that did surprise me in this story was the lack of compassion the Doctor had for the Silurians. Now, I understand that the Silurians were up to something dastardly but he didn't seem to sympathise with them over their planet being overrun by humanity. It wasn't the Silurians' planet anymore. He iterated that on a number of occasion which was really intriguing. The conclusion perhaps needed slightly more clarity when it came to how the Doctor used the TARDIS to prevent all of the Silurians from drowning, but it was very exciting. Overall, a great comic strip!

Rating: 8/10