The Way of All Flesh [COMIC/2001.6.28, 8.23 ~ 10.18]

★★★★★

  Very few Doctor Who stories tackle death in the way The Way of All Flesh does. Oh, death itself has always popped up in the mythos (sometimes even in corporeal form), but this comic strip decides to focus on the effects of death, its significance to the people of Mexico and the small, kind gestures that help overcome the darkness. 

  Izzy's tragedy is explored more, allows her to express her own thoughts and become honest about the overwhelming sadness she feels. Frida Kahlo is perhaps one of the most thematically significant historical figures to ever have popped up in Doctor Who; she relates to Izzy's loss of her body with her own tale of disfigurement, her autonomy taken away from her. She never looks down on Izzy's predicament as otherworldly, and even draws her a portrait of her original self when the girl loses her only photograph of herself. Isn't that a beautiful gesture?

  I'm also amazed that the big bad alien story surrounding the character drama also manages to hold the fort with its imagination. The Day of the Dead is host to ghostly aliens brutally murdering the emotionally vulnerable to make themselves whole again, and the mastermind is an artist reveling in death. Macabre is the word — death is on every corner of the comic strip, from the theme to the villainous plot to the brutal and beautiful illustrations. Some of the imagery here can only be described as haunting: an old couple being torn apart by an alien masquerading as their dead son, an art gallery of corpses, and a giant tower of human bones. I don't think I've ever been this overjoyed and terrified by a comic strip.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ  

  In the final strips of The Way of All Flesh, the Doctor confesses to Diego that he simply doesn't know how to help Izzy. Tender moments like this are beyond precious, and build key character moments for the two leads. The parties of the Day of the Dead are a celebration of life and death, a beautiful setting for such an entrancing and stomach-churning adventure. Words of mine cannot justify just how important this story is.