Challenge of the Piper

"Pay up before I play a tune you will not like!"

Writer: Neville Main

Format: Comic Strip

Released: June-July 1965

Printed in: TV Comic 705-709

Featuring: First Doctor, John, Gillian

Synopsis

Arriving in the town of Hamelin in the late-thirteenth century, the Doctor and his grandchildren find the children prised away by the Pied Piper. He is teaching the Mayor a lesson to honour his deal, but the Doctor must pass three tests to free the children...

Verdict

Challenge of the Piper was a magnificent comic strip adventure to continue my way through the run from TV Comic! I think this was my favourite of the original comic strip run so far and I was fascinated before listening because this was actually one I had heard of prior to reading. I can't pinpoint why that is, but maybe it's the connection with Day of the Clown? I loved so much about this and even though it gets a spectacular rating, there was still so much silliness. But honestly that is part of the charm of reading these comics now six decades later. It really is a privilege and I just adore them. The Middle Ages as a setting works really well and I was quite glad to ground the comic strip in history. That hasn't really happened yet up to this point so it was certainly refreshing. I love seeng the TARDIS interior because it's just so different to what we get on screen with the way John and Gillian are keen to observe their arrival surroundings before exiting the ship. The Pied Piper as a villain is a marvellous concept, but I'll be honest I'm not actually sure if he was in the wrong. He was proving a point in a pretty stubborn way by taking the children from the town of Hamelin after being wronged for ridding the locale of its rat problem. He was promised a payment twenty times that of what he received so he was understandably irked! But to take all of the children into a fantastical land is maybe going a little too far. But this was the Middle Ages and things aren't quite what they are today, or even in the 1960s when this comic strip was published. I thought the Doctor was written brilliantly here and I do enjoy the First Doctor when there's a plan to follow and someone to stop. He would not be leaving until the children were returned to Hamelin and I enjoyed how that was obvious from the word go. He would fix this, no matter what. Quite what he would have done without his haversack is beyond me because that might be the barmiest and most ludicrous accessory the Doctor has ever utilised. When I say you have to read this comic strip to believe how many times and for just how ridiculously they went to the well with that plot device I'm not doing it justice. It was utterly insane and the fact it kept on happening was incredible and made me a fan. It just shouldn't be feasible or believable, but it was so far beyond the realms of possibility that I could let it fly. It was sensational to think that he had a parachute inside that he could deploy in a split second between jumping out of the tower window to reaching the ground, but also having a hot stove and breakfast supplies to cook on there! Oh, and just the small matter of an echo sounder to measure the depth of water in a bog that was blocking the Doctor and his grandchildren's way. Yes, a bog served as a cliffhanger. If 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' wasn't my favourite childhood book then I'm not sure that would have flied with me, but I couldn't help to do anything other than laugh. They had to go through it! The Pied Piper had strong vibes of The Toymaker which was good and I really enjoyed how the three tests felt like they were taken from within The Celestial Toymaker itself. Foreshadowing? The moment the Doctor successfully passed the tests was great and showed the Piper wasn't all that evil as he wasn't disappointed by the fact the children were going to be returned. The Doctor announcing to the Mayor that "I'm Doctor Who and I've brought them back" felt iconic to be honest. It was just sublime. The less said about Gillian referring to the Mayor as pompous and fat the better. This really did have everything for mostly the right reasons. A wonderful read. A superb comic strip! 

Rating: 9/10