Wormwood

"The tyranny of distance has just been abolished."

Writer: Scott Gray
Format: Comic Strip
Released: June-October 1998
Printed in: DWM 266-271

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Izzy, Fey, Shayde

Synopsis

The Doctor has regenerated, or has he?

The TARDIS arrives in Wormwood, an American village, in 1880. However, the Doctor and his companions soon discover they are not on Earth, but the Moon. They have been lured into a final confrontation with the Threshold...

Verdict

Wormwood was a fantastic finale to the Endgame graphic novel! I thought this was a really impressive comic strip to bring an end this run of adventures. It's been a great start to life for the Eighth Doctor in this format and I liked how the arc concluded here, albeit there not being massive linkage between stories which I think actually worked in its favour. Following on from the epic conclusion to The Final Chapter with the apparent regeneration of the Doctor, I can't imagine what it would have been like reading the first four parts back in 1998 with not even an indication that the Eighth Doctor would be returning. It's such a bold idea and it worked really well with the personal chameleon perception and the use of Shayde and a Matrix personal imprint. As if all that wasn't enough, we were taken to a terrific setting of Wormwood which was an amalgamation of twentieth century brilliance and all the sites to see from Earth! I thought the artwork for the panel showing the likes of the Hollywood sign and Empire State Building was outstanding and I was certainly a big fan of the setting. The return of the Threshold wasn't too much of a surprise, but the sudden way in which they were inserted into the adventure at the end of part one was great. I really enjoyed the reactions of Izzy and Fey to the Doctor's apparent regeneration as they couldn't quite believe what had happened! That was really fun and I loved their reactions at the end of part four when the real Doctor emerged. It was certainly weird for the first four parts to have the 'Doctor' with an unfamiliar appearance, but that was part of the charm reading in hindsight and knowing that the regeneration was a fake. The reference to Marco Polo was really nice and I also liked how the Doctor mentioned Ace, albeit not by name, as the previous owner of the baseball bat Izzy wielded towards the end of the story.  I thought the cliffhanger at the end of part three was superb with all of outer space being destroyed! I mean, it doesn't get much more emphatic than that. The plan of the Threshold being to basically use the event as a profit-making scheme was just absurd in a brilliant way. With the universe in perpetual panic, they were quick to send out an information video with the help of the Doctor, unwillingly, providing universal translation. The Pariah and Abraham linking and actually having very different aims was very good and the action of the former to just move Wormwood one second into the future and essentially destroy the Threshold was unexpected but worked very well! The Pariah and Shayde doing battle was terrific and the cliffhanger of part five with the latter crushed was quite something! I enjoyed Shayde being likened to Rassilon's action figure very much. Great line. The pace of part six was very exciting and I admired how Fey provided the willpower required to keep Shayde alive, even if that meant the two had to become one. Of course, I have already read the Oblivion graphic novel so I know a lot of what eventually happens there so it was nice to actually get the origin. The cost of not reading things in order! I thought the conclusion itself was good, but there is definitely a little stretch in how everything was put back to being all well in the universe by blowing up the Moon. Izzy's reaction to that was sublime. Oh, and while I remember the Shayde Doctor's reply after Izzy corrects him on her name as "is he?" was just marvellous. Fey going off as Feyde was good and fitting after it was revealed she had been an unwilling spy all this time and I liked how Izzy also confided in the Doctor at the end. Overall, a brilliant comic strip!

Rating: 9/10