The Power of the Mobox Part 1

"Terran and Mobox, working hand-in-claw!"

Writer: Scott Gray
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 27th June 2019
Printed in: DWM 540

Featuring: Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Ryan, Graham

Synopsis

The TARDIS team lands on the colony world of Acantha - a planet where no life was spawned but the flora and fauna were in abundance. As were the minerals that attracted so much other life to this planet. A mine collapse has resulted in increased storms, and Ryan is soon lost...

Verdict

The Power of the Mobox started in very good fashion with a great opening part! More of that in a minute, though, as I look ahead to another issue of Doctor Who Magazine! I've really been enjoying the magazine lately an issue celebrating fifty years of Jon Pertwee's casting as the Third Doctor looks like a big positive to me! The subscriber cover was spectacular and I'm very much looking forward to all of the features connected to the great Doctor. I'll admit that when I was younger and delving into the Classic series, I wasn't the biggest fan of the Third Doctor but as I've matured I've come to appreciate Jon Pertwee's portrayal quite a lot. I'm very much looking forward to the Sean Pertwee interview as well as what I presume is either a reprint bundle or lost/unprinted interview with the man himself. It will be great to read the thoughts of the now deceased man. I think the feature I'm most looking forward to in this issue is the Third Doctor World Cup as I'm a sucker for polls and I managed to take part in a couple of them on Twitter, but I just wish I discovered what was going on earlier so I could've voted in each round! The Time Team watching 'A Different Side of Pertwee' is intriguing and whilst I haven't flicked to that feature, I do hope they are watching Doctor Who episodes and not anything else Pertwee starred in. This is DWM after all! I must admit that Time Heist being the subject of the Fact of Fiction doesn't thrill me with excitement but it's nice to get a very recent episode to pick apart. The Five Best Third Doctor... feature sounds fantastic but I am sure I'll disagree with it if there's an order! I'll probably even think some moments should be in the top five when they're not. I look forward to reading! Now, onto the comic strip and I thought this was a very good start. I very much approve of the Mobox returning as, as I mentioned during my recent blogging of Space Oddity, I'm a big fan of different enemies meeting multiple incarnations of the Doctor (on separate occasions). The Mobox have of course done battle with the Eighth and Eleventh Doctors so the timing was good. The Doctor's reaction to seeing them was great and I appreciated the quick explanation for those who may not have been acquainted with old comic strip stories. The setting of Acantha was very good and I loved the idea of a vibrant planet that hadn't evolved any intelligent life. However, the minerals there brought visitors and the collapsed mine luring in the mag storms was good. Ryan taking a big fall and getting detached from the rest of Team TARDIS was good and I did like how the Doctor was able to ensure Yaz and Graham could go back and rescue him when they were taken by the Mobox. I must say that I found the artwork, particularly of the Doctor herself, a little iffy in this one which was a shame. It wasn't a big deal though. I thought the cliffhanger was superb with the Mobox ship getting caught in another storm and losing thrust, they had to lose weight and that meant Yaz and Graham quite literally getting blasted out into oblivion! I look forward to seeing how that is rectified next month. Overall, a very good start!