Published by Panini
Comic strip by Jason Quinn (script), Russ Leach (art) and coloured by John Burns
Test story by Jason Quinn, illustrated by Russ Leach
The Issue: Summer’s here and the time is right for reading the latest issue of Doctor Who Adventures. Issue 5. In this issue’s strip, “Trust”, the Doctor takes Clara back to the liberation of Paris in World War Two for the biggest party the party capital of the world has ever seen, but things soon go awry when the deadly Darapok Empire try to take over the war weary city. Take a summer trip to Paris in 1944!
• For the full details on the issue’s contents, check out our sneak preview here.
Here’s the inked version of a page from “Trust”, drawn by Russ Leach, before it was coloured by John M. Burns.
Editor Jason Quinn bravely took the decision to blend the modern format on many British news stand comics – dominated by features rather than comic strip and stories – with the elements older downthetubes will happily ascribe to their idea of a comic. DWA not only has a strong comic content which will quickly, I hope, enable re-use of material in softbck collections (because that’s what I’d be doing with it), but also includes well thought out, fun features, capitalising on the show’s rich mythology, along with the bonus of a Paternoster Gang text story every issue.
Have you ever thought someone was talking to you, when there’s nobody there? No? Happens to me all the time…
This issue’s comic strip, “Trust”, set in wartime Paris is a hoot. Written by Jason Quinn, artist Russ Leach has really got into his groove drawing both the Twelfth Doctor and Clara with complete assurance. Without spoiling the story, I have to say I’m not completely convinced by the way the Doctor defeats the aliens threatening Earth – I’m not sure that the means he uses has ever been used that way before – but it’s a lot of fun.
For me, Jason Quinn has also captured both Twelfth Doctor’s character with this daft tale, and the relationship between the Time Lord and companion Clara, both working in sync to beat the bad guys.
A special mention, too, for Russ’s illustrations for this issue’s text story, “The Singular Case of the Time Machine” – the full page of the time machine (and it’s not the one you’re possibly thinking of) is simply marvellous.
Feature wise, I enjoyed “Srax’s Guide to the Galaxy” this issue, along with “Time Lords At War” profiling the Doctor and the Master/Mistress. All these items – as I said, part and parcel of modern British news stand comics – are put together with care and intelligence, which is more than can be said for a lot of other titles with the same format. (I mean, who wouldn’t want to build a “Vortex Manipulator”, courtesy of Clara’s Craft Studio? You don’t see one of those every day!)
The Doctor Who Adventures Offcial Site is back up and running and bang up to date
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Current British Publishers, Doctor Who, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Reviews, Television