Metamorphosis

"He's turning into a Dalek!"

Writer: Paul Cornell

Format: Comic Strip

Released: September 1992

Printed in: Doctor Who Yearbook 1993

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Ace

Synopsis

The Doctor and Ace arrive on board a spaceship and find that some of the youngest crew embers have disappeared!

The villains have been exposed, and now the Doctor and Ace must find a way to defeat them!

Verdict

Metamorphosis was an excellent comic strip adventure to continue my reading of The Age of Chaos graphic novel! Unfortunately, I've still been unable to find the time to tackle the titular story in the collection so far, but having a small but still decently long comic strip adventure later in the graphic novel is most welcomed when time is limited! I thought this was excellent from start to finish. I liked how it was clearly within the universe presented by the Virgin New Adventures books and the appearance of Ace was clear to see that it fell in line with those. She was a little different to how she was presented on television and definitely looked a little maturer in taking authority when it came to the Doctor handing her a job. The pace of the comic strip was impressive and quite frantic over the sixteen pages which really provided some excitement. Within a page or two the Doctor and Ace had arrived at a murder scene and were arrested as suspects. The Doctor oozed calmness though and despite the predicament he never felt like he was going to get charged with the murder. That was fun and he seemed to walk into the room at just the right moments to find out vital information. Their ship location housing human embryos was fun and unique but the idea of radiation being shot at the ship to alter their development was brilliant. The Doctor also being susceptible to that with his Time Lords tendencies was terrific and really put him in danger. Ace was less pleased about the smell from the gas exchange! Reading in hindsight this was really intriguing to draw the parallels with Asylum of the Daleks and as my picture shows, hiding the presence of the Daleks in the words eggs and stir as the start of their infamous exterminate catchphrase was excellent. I thought their arrival was a good cliffhanger and I loved the artwork and how colourful it was. They really presented the Daleks so well and considering this was released in 1992 mad it all the more impressive. I'm used to black and white comics from this era so that was a welcomed change as they looked sublime. But for me the highlight was how disturbing the Dalek embryonic toddlers looked! That was freaky on a whole other level and I think it took the human factor effort from The Evil of the Daleks to a completely different level. It really was quite something and was just an incredible image. A Dalek toddler clutching to the back of a full Dalek was sublime. It just felt like it shouldn't happen and that made it great. The embryos being blank following on from the Draconian Wars was nice continuity and a good way for the Daleks to get what they wanted. The way the Doctor and Ace were quickly found not guilty thanks to the angle of the gas breaking was amusing because it's quite common, but it just worked and was a quick fix to the circumstances of their arrival. The Doctor using the Daleks' efforts to turn him into their own kind, an incredible concept, was magnificent and his superior brain power meant he could get a signal out of his own for those already converted to obey and put the Daleks to a stop once again. I thought that was fantastic! Overall, a really strong comic strip!

Rating: 9/10