The Tides of Time [COMIC/1982.1.14 ~ 7.8]
★★★★★
What is it with Doctor Who Magazine and pulling out all the stops for a debut comic adventure with a new Doctor? With every frame bursting with imagination and ambition, The Tides of Time comes crashing through the door with bold ideas and even bolder executions. I just love, love it when comics toss conventional logic through the window and double down on the wacky, weird and surreal nature of its medium... and if the Doctor entering a twisted dimension of giant bathtubs and carnival games in a race against a machine that dictates the traversal of time isn't just that, I don't know what is.
Seriously, if you get an opportunity to pick up an old DWM comic, go for this one. It's a perfect blend of fantasy (giant demons, knights from medieval times, Merlin banishing evil) and science fiction (white holes, great big stellar engines controlling the flow of time, the Matrix Lords) geared to be absolutely mental. I could begin to list down all the insane things that happen in this comic and it wouldn't be enough; suffice it to say that comic adventures like this make me genuinely excited and happy that the comic medium exists for Dr. Who. Such a show with vast potential for imagination sometimes needs a medium where nothing is limited by budget or time, and here we have Steve Parkhouse and Dave Gibbons at their prime, letting their own imagination and talent loose. Gorgeous illustrations, creative ideas, and an altogether peerless execution make up The Tides of Time; I love it to bits.
Trivial fun fact: Peter Davison was unhappy with the earliest illustrations of him, so he went through a long photoshoot for Gibbons to use as additional reference. I'm happy to say all that extra effort seems to have paid off, as the Fifth Doctor is drawn so well here. It's quite a broad stroke of a characterisation of this incarnation, yes (considering Castrovalva came out only ten days prior), but I can still plausibly take this as the youthful Five of the early Season 19 days. Brilliant stuff, all in all.
What is it with Doctor Who Magazine and pulling out all the stops for a debut comic adventure with a new Doctor? With every frame bursting with imagination and ambition, The Tides of Time comes crashing through the door with bold ideas and even bolder executions. I just love, love it when comics toss conventional logic through the window and double down on the wacky, weird and surreal nature of its medium... and if the Doctor entering a twisted dimension of giant bathtubs and carnival games in a race against a machine that dictates the traversal of time isn't just that, I don't know what is.
Seriously, if you get an opportunity to pick up an old DWM comic, go for this one. It's a perfect blend of fantasy (giant demons, knights from medieval times, Merlin banishing evil) and science fiction (white holes, great big stellar engines controlling the flow of time, the Matrix Lords) geared to be absolutely mental. I could begin to list down all the insane things that happen in this comic and it wouldn't be enough; suffice it to say that comic adventures like this make me genuinely excited and happy that the comic medium exists for Dr. Who. Such a show with vast potential for imagination sometimes needs a medium where nothing is limited by budget or time, and here we have Steve Parkhouse and Dave Gibbons at their prime, letting their own imagination and talent loose. Gorgeous illustrations, creative ideas, and an altogether peerless execution make up The Tides of Time; I love it to bits.
Trivial fun fact: Peter Davison was unhappy with the earliest illustrations of him, so he went through a long photoshoot for Gibbons to use as additional reference. I'm happy to say all that extra effort seems to have paid off, as the Fifth Doctor is drawn so well here. It's quite a broad stroke of a characterisation of this incarnation, yes (considering Castrovalva came out only ten days prior), but I can still plausibly take this as the youthful Five of the early Season 19 days. Brilliant stuff, all in all.
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