Doctor Who Classics (2007 Series) #4

Doctor Who Classics #4 (IDW Publishing)
By Pat Mills, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Dez Skinn, Paul Neary & Joe Corroney

We get parts of three separate stories this issue. In the conclusion of “City of the Damned,” the Doctor leads the rebels of a city without emotion to war against a deadly alien race that can only be conquered with feelings. “Timeslip” features the Doctor and K-9 in combat with a strange creature with the ability to reverse something’s place in time, and “The Star Beast” shows us a strange, cute little alien in England while a big, green, insectoid alien seeks it out. All three of these stories are good, but this issue really belies the problem with this publishing format — namely, the fact that IDW is simply reprinting the classic UK comics in the order of publication. The problem with this is that the UK strips were published in a weekly, and collecting them monthly makes the collections lose focus. “City of the Damned,” for instance, began back in issue TWO, but this issue features the end of that one, the entire short “Timeslip” story, and the beginning of a third story. This is a series that either needs rearrangement to fit more neatly in the prescribed format, or a format chance to fit the series.
Rating: 6/10

Doctor Who Classics (2007 Series) #2

Doctor Who Classics #2 (IDW)
By Pat Mills, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons & Joe Corroney

While I’m usually incensed at IDW’s $3.99 cover price for a regular-sized issue, somehow it’s a bit easier to take with this series that reprints the four-page serial from the UK Doctor Who Weekly. Perhaps because the installments are so brief, each of these stories are totally packed and feel far more worthy of the price. This issue completes the “Doctor Who and the Iron Legion” story, in which the good Doctor had to save an alternate universe from a Roman Empire still in full power in the 20th century, and begins “City of the Damned,” where he encounters a world where emotions have been banned. The book is interesting on several levels — seeing perhaps to most famous incarnation of the Doctor (at least to American audiences), seeing him in alternate-reality adventures rather than the time travel stories he’s more known for, and especially seeing some early work by the legendary Dave Gibbons. Although his style has evolved over time, these early pages are still very clean and powerful, and look really good. This is a fun book, and a nice way to enjoy the past of a classic franchise.
Rating: 8/10