A Life of Matter and Death

"I died. You died. The TARDIS died."

Writer: Alan Barnes

Format: Comic Strip

Released: March 1997

Printed in: DWM 250

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Izzy

Synopsis

After an explosion in the TARDIS, the Eighth Doctor and Izzy wake to find themselves on trial by Jurors of the Limbo Inbetween to determine whether they will reside up above or burn in torment down below... 

Verdict

A Life of Matter and Death was a very good comic strip story to celebrate the 250th edition of Doctor Who Magazine! I am very confused as to why in my continued reading of the Endgame graphic novel that this didn't come after The Keep in terms of the way the pages fell, but nonetheless I try to read things in the order that they were printed by date and that means skipping ahead quite a few pages in the graphic novel collection to read here! I think it's very strange, especially considering the story literally features the Eighth Doctor and Izzy, to not have the stories in print order, but regardless that has nothing to do with the adventure itself! It started off rather uniquely with the Doctor and Izzy ascending a quarter of a million steps and the calmness with which the latter just simply stated how they were dead and that the TARDIS was gone with it. Well, for a one part story and knowing that going in I thought there was a lot to make up from there! It did so really well in a very entertaining and pacy comic story. I liked the idea of the Doctor being on trial and whilst it is hardly a new one, the differences here were clear as we had some terrific temporary returns to celebrate the comic strip stories printed within the pages of DWM. We had General Ironicus returning from The Iron Legion which was great, alongside Josiah W. Dogbolter and Beep the Meep! The little cameos they got of playing with the stock markets and getting angry respectively were delightful and just tremendous throwbacks to the comic strips of the Fourth Doctor and the beginnings of the beloved DWM. I thought that was very fitting for the 250th issue. The Doctor's attempts to put in a good representation of himself and his meddling was laughable and even Izzy retorted her displeasure and admitted how lacking in credibility the Doctor's defence was. That was a particularly funny moment. Finding out that the entire adventure was taking place in interstitial space was intriguing, but hardly surprising given everything that was unfolding! It worked well and was very fun to play with the idea of the parasite that had infiltrated the TARDIS recreating the memories of the Doctor's from the TARDIS memory banks to against the Doctor's back up of the memories of all of his friends. Sharon getting to stand out there was another nice moment and throwback to the beginnings of the magazine's comic strip adventures. Some of the art work in this one was tremendous with the battle scenes particularly standing out in detail. I really admired the little nuances there and some of the familiar foes and friends from comic strips gone by was just delightful. The TARDIS actually creating a version of the Doctor and Izzy to be rid of the parasite was very good and I was fascinated that they got to see their real selves unconscious and between life and death on the floor of the console room. That was all the Doctor needed really to work out how to defeat the parasite in reality which I thought was good, though I would have liked an answer as to who the Lady Grey was. The Doctor seemed to think it was obvious, but I didn't get that impression. Was it the TARDIS? I would assume so but it was unclear for me. The ending regarding the TARDIS was wonderful though and the idea of the TARDIS sharing adventures with the Doctor rather than the usual occurrence of being the other way around was fantastic and a really joyous thought. Overall, a very solid story for just one part and a lovely celebration of the comic strips for DWM's 250th issue!

Rating: 8/10