Mancopolis

"A night out so good you never go home."

Writer: Alan Barnes

Format: Comic Strip

Released: January-April 2024

Printed in: DWM 599-603

Featuring: Fifteenth Doctor, Ruby

Synopsis

The Fifteenth Doctor takes new companion Ruby Sunday to her city four hundred years in the future, only to find it completely built over and ran by maniacal Moths. 

What has happened to Manchester?

Verdict

Mancopolis was a really strong start to the comic strip era of the Fifteenth Doctor! After the epic that was Liberation of the Daleks to take up basically the entire run of the Fourteenth Doctor stretching over the course of the year, it feels nice now to be back in a new era. We have only had The Church on Ruby Road for the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby so far, and I like that this story has completed before the broadcast of Space Babies, and this definitely had a feeling of being very near the start of Ruby's run as a companion. She was amazed by travelling to the future and the mention of aliens had her quite shocked. She was very much new to TARDIS travels and I love that this takes place in the comic strips. I really do have high hopes for the comic strip in Doctor Who Magazine moving forward with Russell T Davies at the helm, as I think it's fair to say that it felt a little disconnected in the Thirteenth Doctor era. That's down to a number of mitigating factors like the pandemic, but this felt more like the old stuff. I thought the setting of Mancopolis was strong and a very intriguing insight into the future of four hundred years. I won't pretend to know much about Manchester as it's a city I've never visited, and to be honest as an ardent Liverpool football fan I don't think it's somewhere I will be rushing to! It's clear that Millie Gibson is a Mancunian on screen and I like the idea of the Doctor taking her to her own city in the future. I would personally love to visit Cardiff four hundred years in the future to see what has changed! Having buildings named after famous people from the city was a fun idea and I really liked how the original city was protected in heritage but simply built on top of with a concrete roof. Ruby using her local knowledge was good and I like how she was still getting to grips with things regarding the Doctor. He saw something was wrong here so she simply asked if he was going to fix it as if it was a little strange. That was fun. But babes, the Doctor is magic. Of course he would! I enjoyed the characterisation of Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor and it definitely had a distinct feel. It was positive stuff. Mayor Mulberry made for a strong villain and the concept behind the Moth People was intriguing. I preferred them in their human form but it provided a strong cliffhanger with Ruby being captured and seemingly on the verge of being skinned. It was the silkworms that were more scary in my opinion and their role in the conclusion was tremendous as Mulberry was devoured by her own brethren. The use of the clouds that were controlling the weather based on emotion was a lot of fun and the fact they destroyed their own controlling device was a lot of fun. It was all in a flash by the Doctor and Ruby despite being almost mauled by Mulberry in her natural form! The pace of the story was rapid and I think that's necessary when each part is only six pages long. But a five-part adventure definitely feels like the right length moving forward with this page count. I did read each month but then re-read in its entirety as the final part was released. Overall, a fascinating insight into the future with an independent Mancopolis and the auditors coming to take assets but Ruby having £19.50 in a building society building compound interest into the quadrillions was a little like cheating, especially as she had taken it out, but the threat of crashing the financial network was enough to scare them off. Overall, a really fun and strong start to the Fifteenth Doctor's comic strip era! 

Rating: 8/10