Rhyme or Reason

"There is nowhere to hide!"

Writer: Dan Slott

Format: Comic Strip

Released: November 2023

Printed in: Once Upon a Time Lord

Featuring: Ninth Doctor, Rose

Synopsis

Following the encounter with the Pyromeths, the Tenth Doctor tells Martha a story of his previous self and Rose encounter the Terileptils and a deadly plot to change the Earth forever.

Verdict

Rhyme or Reason was a very decent little backup comic strip adventure to conclude the Once Upon a Time Lord graphic novel from Titan Comics! That umbrella title really works well with the storytelling theme of the two comic stories and whilst this was firmly a Ninth Doctor and Rose adventure, I thought it was quite fun to basically have an immediate follow on from Firelight with the Tenth Doctor and Martha recalling their recent adventure with the Pyromeths. This time around, it was the turn of the Doctor to do the storytelling after a quick malfunction with the TARDIS translation circuits. That was a good basis for the story to prompt and it was a fun suggestion that the Doctor and Martha weren’t actually speaking the same language. I’m not sure if it makes logical sense that Martha would hear her own words in a jumbled makeup, but it was still fun and that led to the Tenth Doctor telling the tale of an unseen adventure his previous self had with Rose. Martha’s reaction to hearing about the wondrous Rose again was brilliant and it was clear she didn’t want to hear much about her. The reaction was stellar. I think the artwork for this comic strip was very nicely done and including the Terileptils was a magnificent treat! Getting a meeting between them and the Ninth Doctor was a sublime combination and something I’m delighted happened. It’s lovely to mix old and new with this alien menace certainly making a big impression during The Visitation alongside the Fifth Doctor. Their appearance was kept faithful to what we saw on television and the design and colour really was quite excellent. It was really impressive and I was glad they were presented as being quite large too. It added to their threat. The Doctor and Rose didn’t take them massively seriously though but the latter’s attempts of devising an escape plan by using pig Latin was quite funny because the TARDIS translated that to the Terileptils. So much for getting away easily! I thought that was a fun use of a constant we often take for granted. What I was less a fan of was the use of ad homonym. We didn’t even get a full explanation of what that was apart from it being clear to sound things out phonetically. It got annoying very quickly which was a shame but it just made it difficult to read which put me off momentarily and that’s not something you want! The reversal of the polarity of the neutron flow was fun as the aim of the Doctor to turn around the destination of the Terileptil beam and revert them to pre-evolution instead of humanity, and Rose thinking those words were a jumbled mess was fun stuff. It was a simple resolution to a much shorter story than its predecessor, but the epilogue of sorts with the Tenth Doctor and Martha going into the TARDIS and foreshadowing Last of the Time Lords was superb with them playing with the idea of Martha one day telling stories of the Doctor. The famed Vote Saxon posters being on the background as they entered the TARDIS was fantastic. Overall, a good read!

Rating: 7/10