Time Out of Mind

"Someone tried to make sure we'd never want to come back to your world again."

Writer: Jody Houser
Format: Comic Strip
Released: November-December 2019
Printed in: Thirteenth Doctor Holiday Special

Featuring: Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Ryan, Graham

Synopsis

Whirling through time and space, the Doctor and her friends – Yaz, Ryan and Graham – took some time off from thwarting nefarious alien plots to enjoy some well-earned leisure time. But theme parks on distant planets aren't always what they seem, and the gang were soon saving victims of a crooked carnival con. Everything is right in the universe again – or so they think...

The Doctor and friends gain an unexpected ally. Together they must stop Mr. Henderson – but who exactly is he? And what is he really up to?

Verdict

Time Out of Mind was a very good little story to continue the Titan comic strip adventures of the Thirteenth Doctor and her gang. I refuse to accept that the story is simply titled 'Holiday Special' as listed on TARDISWiki, so I'll go with the title of the graphic novel that this adventure comprises because it's just not ridiculous. It does seem awfully strange that a two-part Christmas comic strip wouldn't get a specific name, but that didn't take away from the quality of what was in the pages. I was a big fan of how this story used Meet the Fam! as it was able to incorporate the free comic strip from Free Comic Book Day whilst also making the overall story completely accessible for those readers who may not have been able to get their hands on it. That's always an important aspect when it comes to using previous stories. The idea that the whole comic strip may not actually be true events in Doctor Who becomes quite fascinating and just a lovely and weird anomaly in Doctor Who comic strips. Hearing all of the different memories Team TARDIS had about the events at the theme park were interesting and I liked that it quickly provided them with something to fix. The characterisation of Jodie Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor was excellent throughout and I really loved the panels with no speech towards the end where she sneakily made her way to fix things. Great stuff. The use of Christmas in the story seemed to come a little bit out of nowhere and the reactions of the team when they met Mr Henderson were terrific. He looked an awfully lot like Santa Claus, except that name should not be mentioned in his vicinity! I wasn't too sure of the use of Santa Claus being a myth because surely there are going to be so many young readers for a comic strip and this might have them questioning whether Santa Claus actually is real. They should never be pushed into that question and I felt the same way about Last Christmas. What I did like was how Christmas and the notion of the North Pole with Santa being there with his elves was turned into a scheme of slave labour! I enjoyed that and it was done in a relatively subtle way which worked tremendously well. I was a big fan of that. Baxter was an enjoyable character and I liked how he was quite fearful of Mr Henderson because the Doctor and co had been here before and lost. That was quite powerful to know that they'd tried to stop him before, but somehow he'd got the upper hand and implanted them all with false memories overriding what really happened. Finding out that Mr Henderson was actually Krampus was a good development and seemed right. The true form appearance seemed quite resemblant of a cross between a Minotaur and the Nimon which was good and I was shocked that Henderson was actually a mistress. Baxter turning out to be the reveal of the cliffhanger wasn't quite as good or impactful as it perhaps should have been. I thought the companions also got a little lost in this one with them largely being in a jail cell or the TARDIS, but that didn't have an adverse effect as it let the Doctor shine in a wonderful way. The conclusion was quite strange and quick given that they'd already lost once before, but that didn't take away my enjoyment. Overall, a very good comic strip story!

Rating: 8/10