Broken Frontier

Jumping from the small screen and into your friendly, neighborhood comic store is nothing compared to the daily terrors that the Doctor faces. From combating the Cybermen and the Daleks, to running from killer Christmas decorations, the Doctor has seen it all. However, he has faced no wretch, nor combated an inhuman monster such as IDW’s Doctor Who #1.

The combined efforts of Doctor Who guru Gary Russell and artist Nick Roche bring us an untold tale of the Doctor and his companion, Martha Jones, as they scour the ends of the universe (and time) in search of… the best milkshake? Yes, that’s right. Along the way, the Doctor finds himself thick in the muck and drags Martha along with him. Action and excitement abound in this issue, and by abound I mean “are not existent.”

Writer Gary Russell has been part of Doctor Who lore for about 18 years. Russell was an editor for Doctor Who Magazine, he was producer for the Doctor Who radio-drama, and he wrote the Doctor Who movie novelization in 1996. With all this background in Doctor Who history, how is it possible that Russell delivers something like this? His story is sloppy and rushed, and the milkshake angle is something you would find in a book for children. If Russell wants to attract the Doctor Who audience, he should stop what he is doing and rethink the angle he is coming from.

Nick Roche is the series artist, and he seems to put more work into his covers than inside the book. Slowly but surely, as the book continues, each character becomes more and more cartoony, which is a horrible turn for a sci-fi book like this. There are times that the Doctor resembles his actor, David Tennant, and there are other points where he looks better suited for a role in Looney Tunes. My advice to Mr. Roche: shape up or ship out!

Now that the new Doctor Who television series is crossing over to America, companies are going to do their best to capitalize on the image, regardless of how empty it seems. IDW is no different, as Doctor Who #1 lacks the flair that the television series has in spades. I can only hope that over time the series improves, or else IDW will lose an entire fan-base that would have made them into an industry front-runner. Until then, I say that someone should call Russell T. Davies and get him in on this thing!