Titan's Twelfth Doctor Comic - Advance Review!

A couple months ago, Titan was nice enough to digitally send me preview copies of their 10th and 11th Doctor Who comics which I was more than happy to review (Tenth, Eleventh). I liked them a lot, and with their respective continuities over and done with, the creative teams were able to introduce their own companions and send their respective Doctors into adventures that couldn't be interrupted or contradicted by events on the telly. The Twelfth Doctor's comic book adventures will be in stores TOMORROW, and again Titan sent me a preview copy. Can it do as well with Capaldi-Doc with all the extra constraints? Let's see...

"Terrorformer"
Writers: Robbie Morrison (another 2000 A.D. alumn, known for co-creating the Nikolai Dante strip)
Artist: Dave Taylor (has done work on Force Works, Batman and Judge Dredd)

The big question is: Did the creative team get enough information to give us an on-model 12th Doctor and 12-Clara dynamic, seeing as the series has only been on for six weeks? Well, there's even a reference to Danny Pink, so it seems so (though probably added at the lettering stage). In fact, Doc12 as a quietly threatening, impatient eccentric is pretty well-rendered, right down to the ambiguity of his callousness. The Doctor considers Clara "the Teacher" which follows the thread established in the first half of Series 8. So on that front, I'm happy. The art is rather less "on-model", but that's a matter of taste. To my mind, the characters have such strong features, they should be much easier to render accurately, but I can't draw; what do I know? Still, the TARDIS itself could be a bit better.

Taylor does well enough otherwise, so no real complaints, creating an interesting alien world and its fauna, amazing technology, and the required creepy robot. When he lets his imagination fly, he goes into overdrive. When doing pre-fab characters and things, the energy and consistency are lacking.

The story itself takes its time setting up a terraformed world going wrong - think of the Genesis Planet from The Search for Spock - but gives us a lot of scenes with the Doctor and Clara, showing their characters, and throwing wit into every speech balloon. It's a good use of this multi-parter's first act, acting as an introduction to a Doctor who hasn't had as much play yet as his two previous selves. The strength of the concept shines through immediately. While you might read an 11th Doctor story and think it could have been written for Ten, there's no mistaking the 12th for any other modern iteration. Or any classic one, for that matter. Morrison pitches the script just right. We'll have to see if the plot is as worthy when it runs its course.

Titan has winners in each of its three Doctor series, and I'd be more than willing to see what they do with other Doctors (or spin-offs), perhaps as mini-series.