A Matter of Life and Death [COMIC/2016.3.16]

★★★☆☆

  Remember what I said last time about Josie being a bit too eager to approach with sincerity, because her fearlessness and selfless compassion was her only defining trait to an extent (and those admirable traits felt like they were from your standard Doctor Who companion checklists rather than from her own mind)? Well, A Matter of Life and Death explains this somewhat by hittting readers with the big revelation on Josie's backstory: she's a clone made for a heartless aristocrat, except she had too much heart and soul for her own good. If she'd served only to remind me of the purposefully grating android companion from Lies in Ruins (a critique of the Doctor's need for friends and, perhaps, how he shapes them to his own liking) before, now here she was as a fully-fledged character that I fell in love with all over again; I was elated as I read this comic.

  Such is the joy I felt reading for the first time that I almost think its mini-redemption of Josie's character justifies the entire range. I will, again, go on record to say that the Titan Eighth Doctor range has merely been good to pretty good, instead of great or above. It doesn't offend, and yet it doesn't actively set the imagination off the way the best DWM strips did. If I were harsh, I'd say this is a common thing I'm seeing with Titan releases so far... but no, there is still a wealth of creativity to be had in these comics. It's just the Eighth Doctor range's short nature that makes the problem more apparent. This finale, though, is (for better or worse) a fitting and worthy end to that range, an emotional payoff that's satisfying and a story with a wealth of powerful moments for both the Eighth Doctor and Josie. Ccameo appearances from Twelve and Clara don't hurt, either.