Ground Zero [COMIC/1996.4.11 ~ 8.1]

★★★★☆

  My, no wonder this caused up a stir back when it was first published. It's not just the fact that it's a -- SPOILER ALERT (but if you've read any other article on this blog, you'd know every post of mine is spoiler-heavy) -- final showdown of Ace with her rather brutal and heroic death, but also that it's a pretty gruesome comic strip in general. Martin Geraghty and Bambos Georgiou waste no effort in bringing alive Scott Gray's vision of big alien bugs feeding on fear, hatred and paranoia of partygoers, and the physical and psychological torture Ace, Sarah and Peri go through is quite hard to go through. In this case, Peri's predicament -- because it's still 1996 and she's mostly characterised as this frail, whining adolescent companion who needs protection from her peers -- is particularly gruesome because of just how visceral her reactions are to the terror that befalls her.

  Ground Zero is very much a product of the angst-ridden 1990s, but I really can't see it not landing even with those who are averse to that sort of thing... as long as they have a stomach for cruelty. It's a relentless story that goes out of its way to show Ace's strengths and weaknesses, and how the Doctor realises his part in leading her to her premature death. It also shows how changed he is after his loss, defeating the last remaining Lobri by materialising his TARDIS on it and demolishing it; this is very much the Seventh Doctor driven off the edge, and this ruthlessness will go on to signify him in the many extended universe adventures to come. The writing's tight, and the artwork seriously amazes. It's not a pretty journey, but it's perhaps a necessary one in the vein of this particular chronology (it's perhaps implied that this is Seven's final adventure before heading off to his death in the TV movie); this incarnation is very much one that needs to learn how his actions influence and ruin the lives of those around him. Susan's final monologue on her grandfather's change and his destiny is incredibly powerful. I wholeheartedly recommend this comic story to anyone interested.