The Outsider

"Enough of this superstitious rubbish."

Writer: Steve Moore

Format: Comic Strip

Released: March-April 1980

Printed in: DWM 25-26

Featuring: Sontarans

Synopsis

Skrant the Sontaran is on a mission that will last seven years, in the hopes of gaining any kind of advantage in the eternal war with the Rutans. Deminon the astrologer foresees, and things don't look good for this particular Sontaran's near future...

Verdict

The Outsider was a good little comic strip story to conclude my reading of The Return of the Daleks graphic novel collection of backup stories! I am well aware that this isn't actually the last story printed in the collection but I have already blogged Star Tigers and don't see any value in rereading it here. I've jumped around the collection and only made sure I've read stories I'm yet to blog because it does contain quite a few stories that have already featured in previous graphic novels. That's no problem and with me getting this graphic novel for just £3 as part of Black Friday, who am I to complain? I really enjoyed this one and it's always good to get more of the Sontarans. It's incredible to think that The Two Doctors hadn't even aired when this story was released so with The Invasion of Time relatively fresh in the reader's mind, this works very well for me. I thought Skrant was a fun character and was very to the point which as a Sontaran is no surprise. He's all duty and the prospect of a mission that would take seven years might seem on paper like a mammoth task, but for him it's all part of the glory of the Sontaran race. The honour! He must see it as a privilege. The idea of Skrant carrying around the genes of numerous other Sontarans was amusing and then here he was when challenged just growing twenty other Sontarans for a battle! That's quite something but shows the advantage of being a cloned race. The message was simple. Conflict! The setting of Braktalis was good and I liked how it was reminiscent of medieval Earth. Having Deminon within a society like that as an astrologer was fascinating and I loved how he made sure to highlight the differences between that practice and astronomy was fantastic. He was a good character and I liked how he seemed to have all the right answers and things to say, but just lacked a little in confidence. He was consulting his star charts to the point that he was almost entirely reliant on them, but given the situation and his position away from everyone else it was more than understandable. I liked how the stars showed him that for the Sontarans, their weakness was at the back. He deduced from Skrant's action in holding the back of his neck when he spoke the words that it meant rather literally and physically for a Sontaran. I thought the cliffhanger was pretty weak and it was clear that this was more so a continuous story over eight pages rather than a two-parter. It was good for the Sontarans to think a physical challenge against medieval-like armies was just an inconvenience rather than a challenge, but Skrant didn't take the astrologer into account! I mean, why would he when it came to physical conflict but there he was wiping him out almost instantaneously with a blow to the back of the neck. That probic vent took a battering in a swift blow. I must admit I didn't see that coming but it was a very sudden and impactful way to end the story. Would the rest of the clone batch really go down fighting? I thought that was a little strange knowing what we know about the Sontarans, but Deminon perishing in the battle and realising at the death that he was regarded as the greatest astrologer of his time gave some solace at the end. He wanted his daughter safe which was nice after she'd been fooling around on the other side, and he could see that she would be looked after now. Overall, a fun look at the Sontarans without the Doctor around and I'm all for more of this kind of thing. A good little story! 

Rating: 7/10