Doctormania [COMIC/2016.4.13 ~ 6.29]

★★★★☆

  Doctormania is a prime example of a story hooking you in with the premise itself. It's the year 2023 now, and the Doctor being a celebrity in-universe is not anything new -- but what helps is that the idea is not the central premise but instead a lovely little Easter egg which doubles as a nice hook to lure readers in.

  The Ninth Doctor, Rose and Jack make a fantastic team, and it's a joy to me that Titan has decided to craft an entire comic run out of them. You can see their wonderful dynamic here, Rose being the resourceful veteran time-and-space traveller with compassion to spare while Jack is the hot-blooded hotshot who's just as adept at solving problems with guns as he is seducing everyone around him. The Doctor is a slightly weather-beaten but nonetheless shining champion of the universe, and we get to see him lose his temper quite a few times at the prospect of being mockingly impersonated and made into a celebrity. Cavan Scott obviously had a fun time writing in all the sneaky references as well as giving each character moments to shine (Rose and the Doctor more than Jack, but at least the latter has a running story arc in this comic series), and I especially love the way this comic adventure is a flip side of Boom Town in that it's a consequence tale of Aliens of London / World War Three on the side of the general Raxacoricofallapatorian populace and related species. The comic isn't satisfied with giving us a straightforward and predictable Slitheen plot, but instead offers a more nuanced picture of how even the most devious of Slitheens deserve a bit of mercy, maybe sometimes. If anything, I got hints of Jubilee with how the story explores the fearmongering and abuse of tragic events for selfish political gain. Doctormania is a fascinating exploration of all of these ideas, and it's a darn entertaining Dr. Who comic to boot. I highly recommend it for Titan Comics newcomers.