Hydra's Gate [COMIC/2022.2.3 ~ 4.28]

★★★☆☆

  Jacqueline Rayner is one of those great writers you can always depend on. I can't think of an instance when I outright disliked her work; she always has fun ideas, and seems to grasp the Doctor, whichever she writes for, with effortless ease.

  Hydra's Gate is a fairly short four-parter, but it's brought to life so well by Russ Leach's illustrations and Rayner's aforementioned dependable ideas. This is another case of the comic medium showing what it's best at, with concepts such as time-and-space portal mayhem and a singular Roman hub world full of alien beings explored in such a casual way (whereas the TV budget would've at least tripled trying to make something like this). Note how I used the word "casual"; it almost feels like too short a story to fully enjoy, with noticeable gaps in time and events between parts that really do a number on the overall flow. I don't mind it when multi-part Doctor Who stories have gaps, but the ones in Hydra's Gate hinder me from fully enjoying the concepts on display... not unlike skipping interludes between novel chapters.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ  

  That being said, Hydra's Gate is still pretty darn enjoyable. Great colours, a fun TARDIS trio (in terms of the new series, Thirteen, Yaz and Dan would give Eleven, Amy and Rory a run for their money — I'm serious)... nothing like a short and sweet comic to lighten up the day a bit.