Sky Jacks

"I know the TARDIS is bigger on the inside, but this is ridiculous!"

Writers: Andy Dingle & Eddie Robson
Format: Comic Strip
Released: May-August 2013
Printed in: DW12 #9-12

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Clara

Synopsis

The TARDIS has recently been on the fritz, but now it has gone completely out of control. And the Doctor is nowhere to be found! Meanwhile, white holes have been forming throughout time and space, sucking in everything around them. What does the Hypothetical Gentleman have to do with it all?

Verdict

Sky Jacks was a very good comic strip to kickstart my reading of the third volume of IDW's Eleventh Doctor Archives! This is sadly the last of the comic strip archives released by Titan that IDW printed as part of their regular series and that's quite a shame as I have really enjoyed reading these comics, especially as they weren't properly available in the UK coming from America. This was the first time Clara arrived in the comic strips and whilst her artwork was actually pretty awful, I thought her characterisation for the most part was positive. In saying that, it wasn't always perfect and I thought one line of her blurting out 'what the bleaking heck', was really bad. I'm not sure if that's word for word but it was so horrendous that I really don't want to go back and have a look! I really hated it. Now, onto the positives of what was a very interesting story and I liked how Clara got the bulk of the first part in exploring the TARDIS with no sign of the Doctor. The use of a time loop in something as small as a corridor was great and it was obvious that Clara was going to press the button with it being labelled 'do not press'. The arrival of the Doctor at the end of part one was very good indeed, but I do wonder how he lost his beard so quickly! The initial setting, of what was apparently just endless sky, was really intriguing and the Doctor having been there for three years from his perspective was scarily foreshadowing of The Time of the Doctor. I thought a little more could have been made of that but it was a good bit to play on. The characters of the Sky Jack crew were really great and I loved how they were intended as part of the fatal attack on Japan that saw World War Two come to an end. Their target was Kyoto, but of course that never came into fruition and the Doctor was keen to make sure that remained the case. His reaction to discovering that a third bomb was intended to follow on from Nagasaki and Hiroshima was excellent. The reveal that the area the setting of the story had been was the TARDIS all along was very much unexpected, but not quite so much so as the Matrix itself being revealed as the enemy and also the Hypothetical Gentleman! There was a lot going on and things did tie in nicely with The Hypothetical Gentleman. The links this story had with The Day of the Doctor was very surprising though given the entirety of this comic strip was released before the anniversary broadcast. The moments where it was stated the Doctor had revoked his name and used the Moment were very intriguing indeed. I thought the ending was a little quick but the Matrix actually being sentient was just incredible. I loved the idea and for the Doctor to defeat it, even when it would know everything he was thinking, meant that Clara was required and she did terrifically. The Matrix ganging sentience at the Moment the Time Lord race was wiped out was incredible and its way of using the Black Hole at the Eye of Harmony was very good. That explained the White Hole as it was the other side but the Matrix ended up stuck halfway. Overall, a very good adventure!

Rating: 8/10