It really is interesting… A great company like IDW, a fantastically popular property like Doctor Who… and the result is either phenomenal or sucking rocks with an average outcome of “Meh”
Take the Cold-Blooded War one-shot for instance, which ic on one end of the specrum – perhaps one of the most boring Doctor Who stories I have ever read. I expected so much more out of Galifrey veteran Gary Russell In this standalone tale, the Doctor and Donna attempt to broker a peace plan between two very hierarchical and pompous alien races, the Draconians and Ice Warriors. But their best efforts are derailed by someone who stands to gain from the continued conflict This was such a trite take of conflicting culture with a not so subtle context of minority rights that is was no flags of fun. And the uncharming, blocky “coloring book” style of art from Adrian Salmon made it nearly impossible to fight through. If this would have been an episode, I would have switched over to re-runs of “Warehouse 13”, that’s how bad it was!
I felt this way about the first 2-part story arc in the on-going Doctor Who monthly book. But that series picked up tremendously in the 3rd issue. Tony Lee scribes a great tale that is neatly woven into the mythology of the series Following the shocking end of “Silver Scream,” the Doctor now finds himself on trial for his life by the Shadow Proclamation! To survive, he has to prove his innocence… but the prosecution is Mister Finch from “School Reunion. Issue 3 starts a 4-part series entitle “Fugitive” and it looks like a keeper.
To put it bluntly, from the point of view of life-long fan of the Doctor, IDW is certainly making it’s mark with almost an avalanche of new Doctor Who stories a month, I just wish half of them didn’t suck! And that they didn’t cost $3.99 to find out that they suck!