The Prison Paradox

"The Doctor has come to where kindness goes to die."

Writer: Dan Watters

Format: Comic Strip

Released: November 2025 - February 2026

Printed in: DWC: Fifteenth Doctor #2.1-4

Featuring: Fifteenth Doctor, Belinda

Synopsis

A space prison at the end of the most destructive force in the universe... A squad of criminals desperate to escape... And a Time Lord who will unite them in the fight against the sinister Warden...

Incarcerated by the sinister Warden, the Doctor must team up with a squad of aliens, including the cyborg H-8, Methelough the aquatic Tentacular, the pirate Slitheen Felik, and Annie, a tougher than nails Adipose. 

Can they defeat the prison's cruel Warden and help his prize prisoner, Miss Belinda Chandra, escape?

Verdict

The Prison Paradox was a great comic strip adventure from Titan Comics! I have been waiting for the collected version of this story for quite a while now and sees me get up to date on the Fifteenth Doctor's comic strip outings. I'm not far off completing his entire run now and it's a shame the way things ended for his incarnation and seemingly the entire RTD2 era, and if this was still ongoing I definitely would have purchased each issue as it came out to keep up to date with the current era. Now who knows what era we're in as we seemingly enter another Wilderness Years but to me that's exciting too. There's so much to fill the gaps and this was another terrific adventure. I liked how the contents described this as being placed prior to The Interstellar Song Contest and I think that's where a lot of any expanded media with Belinda as companion will have to be placed because from then on, things are pretty monumental with the return of the Rani. But here we still have Belinda wanting to get home even though she has grown to trust the Doctor and knows she is going to save him from the hands of the sinister Warden. I thought the whole Panoptopolis setting was really strong and the idea of a Shadow Proclamation prison for then most dangerous of criminals was exciting. So seeing the Doctor sitting amongst other prisoners was a delight. Later finding out that he had gone voluntarily was pretty excellent and showed how much Belinda meant to him. She'd been taken so hopping aboard a prison orbiting a black hole? Needs must. The little crew he assembled was a lot of fun! Annie the Adipose is just an adorable name and I think the way she was actually utilised as a parasite and taking out the other gaseous creature that inhabited the Doctor and Felix was superb. I was a big fan of that. Felix herself as a pirate of the Slitheen family was really strong too and she found beauty in the almost impossible. She now believed there was always a chance and that was thanks to then Doctor. H-8 was a pretty fun character as almost being formed entirely of guns and other weapons. The commentary at the end of the graphic novel showing an early illustration of him initially being part Dum Robot looked marvellous! It's a shame that idea wasn't continued. I thought Methelough was a decent character too and its species being preyed on by Zygons was fascinating! Their brief appearance within the water was tremendous and the design work was sublime. I must say the artwork for this story was nothing short of brilliant and looked just wonderfully vibrant. It adds so much in this kind of format. I thought the Warden was a strong villain and his appearance was perfect in the creep factor levels in holding Belinda prisoner as his 'favourite'. That was pretty disturbing. Finding out that he was actually hiding out in the cell designated for the most dangerous being alive and that being the Doctor was good stuff, although why a prisoner's cell would open for them as a DNA scan is beyond me! That doesn't seem like the best security. I thought the Doctor breaking the prison free of the black hole by utilising the TARDIS and some historic Time Lord knowledge with them being the ones to create black holes was good stuff and the Warden couldn't believe it. Felik shooting the Warden was impactful and a bit of a surprise as that's not what the Doctor wanted, but it was better than being shot himself! And he would survive. Felik wanting to see and help with any possibility with the rest of the crew surviving was a nice moment and she realised that there was always a chance. Anything was possible with the Doctor. I thought that was a really nice lesson to bring to the forefront. Overall, a great comic strip adventure! 

Rating: 8/10