Monstrous Beauty

"All I know about this period are fairy tales – and every single one of them is terrifying!"

Writer: Scott Gray

Format: Comic Strip

Released: September-November 2020

Printed in: DWM 556-558

Featuring: Ninth Doctor, Rose

Synopsis

The Ninth Doctor and Rose find themselves in a place where no TARDIS is ever supposed to go – the Dark Times; an ancient era forbidden to all Time Lords. The universe is young but war has already been born: The Vampire Alliance is swarming across the cosmos, consuming everything in its path. The Doctor discovers that not all the stories surrounding Time Lord history match up with reality – but some of the horrors are actually worse than the myths. Rose becomes the first human in existence – and that's a very dangerous thing to be...

Verdict

Monstrous Beauty was an excellent comic strip story and a really great contribution to the Time Lord Victorious arc from Doctor Who Magazine! I'm hoping to kick into gear now with this overarching story and I'm intrigued to see how the threads are tied together as I didn't really sense too many similarities or a common theme in this one with Defender of the Daleks. I'm super intrigued though and I really liked exploring the Dark Times with the Ninth Doctor and Rose here. Getting any new content with the Ninth Doctor alone is just wonderful and I thought Scott Gray did a decent job with the characterisation. His reaction when he realised when he was really emphasised just how deadly and unknown the period was and he genuinely seemed scared for a moment. However, that didn't last too long as once Rassilon was revealed as the female commander, he seemed to be revelling in where he was and just enjoying himself despite the dangers and the potential interference in his own past. I thought the exploration of very early Gallifreyan history was wonderful and getting a glimpse of war agains the Vampires was terrific. I liked the continuity from Tooth and Claw – the comic strip story – with the Doctor acknowledging the Cucerbites encounter and their appearance really did look impressive and a lot of fun. I also loved the line at the end foreshadowing the Tooth and Claw televised episode with Rose proclaiming if werewolves would be next after encountering vampires, a concept she didn't really believe would be true. The Doctor describing how events in the Dark Times left remnants in the future was fantastic and I thought the whole atmosphere was just great. Androkan was a brilliant character and the way the Doctor's presence gave him hope of a Gallifreyan future was terrific. Friar Grystock made for a superb villain and the calm and sudden nature in which he despised of Androkan was excellent. The proud comment regarding the Space Lords of Gallifrey was so much fun and it's just fascinating to think that the Time Lords may have gone by this name in the past. There was a lot of action in this one which worked well and I liked how Rose was utilised as dinner for the Three Mad Sisters. Their appearance was distorted which seems to be trait of Gray's when it comes to chaotic characters and it worked well again here. Her being the first human in the universe was fun and she was able to overpower the Sisters whilst becoming embroiled and taken over by chaos herself. The Doctor just putting her to sleep was a simple yet very effective way of rescuing her. Centia looking after her was a really nice touch as well. The Doctor having a sense of familiarity about him to Rassilon was a lot of fun and the latter's promise to avenge when they would one day meet again was magnificent. I thought Hugo coming as a late addition in the Vampire onslaught was really good and Grystock's reaction when his pet was dealt with was tremendous. There really was a lot to love about this comic strip story and I'm intrigued by the little verse at the start of the comic strip concerning the Kotturah. I look forward to what they bring to the story and how things might tie together with them. But for now, this was a wonderful little look into the Dark Times and Gallifreyan history that showed us that the history books may not be all they set out to be. The Doctor falling back on his fairytale knowledge was also really good. Overall, a brilliant comic strip!

Rating: 9/10