A Life of Matter and Death [COMIC/1997.3.13]

★★★☆☆

  Sean Longcroft has such a distinct artstyle, and it brings out so much in the Eighth Doctor and Izzy. Just look at the panels where they're shown in close-up -- they have so much expression on their faces, so much individual character. I hope you realise just how fixated I am on artstyles when it comes to comics -- it's the same with prose style in novels and film techniques in television episodes. The medium carries the story, and the comic medium is especially catering towards boundless creativity (I've said this too many times on this blog to count). Long story short, A Life of Matter and Death has great fun with Longcroft's illustrations and Alan Barnes' story about afterlives (spoiler: there's something going on and it's not really the great hereafter that the Doctor and Izzy have found themselves in).

  For a one-part comic strip story (or perhaps because it's a one-parter), there's a lot of fun to be had. Fans of Doctor Who Magazine will find a wealth of references (such as one to The Tides of Time in the picture below) to enjoy, from villains to past companions and friends. A Life of Matter and Death starts out as a court hearing against the Doctor and ends up in an all-out brawl against the Doctor's DWM foes and friends, and the heroic traveller lands the final blow which saves the day. This turned out to be quite the breath of fresh air, a gust of imagination after the rather laid back nature of The Keep -- and I had much fun.