Comic Book Review - Doctor Who: Time Lord Victorious - Defender Of The Daleks #1

*Disclaimer*  The following review was originally written by myself for publishing on Flickering Myth. However, due to reasons that I won't go into, my time contributing to the site was terminated. As such my writer's page was taken down and my credits were scrubbed from the site. The following review is from a draft that I found on my OneDrive and is being posted to the blog for prosperity. Also some of it is now a little out of date. Anyway, enjoy!

Rob Lake reviews Doctor Who: Time Lord Victorious – Defender of the Daleks #1...

 With Jodie Whittiker's Doctor being off our screens for the next year or so, what do you do to keep the ‘Whovians' interested in the meantime? That answer is Time Lord Victorious. A multi-platform story spanning various media from comic strips, audiobooks and live-action experiences. As well as tie-in merchandise. The story is set to feature three Doctors – Paul McGaan’s 8th incarnation, Christopher Eccleston's 9th incarnation and David Tennant’s 10th incarnation. With each Doctor featuring in numerous titles throughout the Time Lord Victorious arc. 

First up it's the Tenth Doctor who kicks proceedings off with Defender of the Daleks #1. After his previous adventure in the Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor Year Three series, Ten awakens inside the TARDIS and finds himself alone inside a time paradox that was caused by his crossover with his future self. Setting the TARDIS down on a relatively unknown planet, the Doctor comes face to face with his worst enemy – The Daleks. Fearing that the Daleks have caused this paradox the Doctor soon heads far away yet the same three Daleks remain ever-present wherever his little blue box lands. Realising that he can’t escape the Doctor allows the Daleks to bring him to the Emperor on Skaro. Upon meeting Emperor Dalek the Doctor is soon alerted to a bigger threat to the Daleks than the Doctor and his long-term nemesis asks for his help. 

Straight from the first page, this story is set out to be much different from previous Who tales. Starting with the Doctor waking alone in the TARDIS to the Daleks pursuit everything alludes to the Doctor being in danger. The story moves at a fast pace and is very much dialogue-driven throughout this opening issue. There are some great slow down bits where we get that signature Doctor monologue as he tries to price together his current predicament. 

Seasoned Doctor Who writer Jody Houser is at the helm for this one and as always her characterisation of Tennant’s Tenth Doctor is spot on. Everything from his voice down to his swashbuckling nature has been expertly captured and draws the reader into the story. As always with this incarnation, there is that darkness bubbling just below the surface, which Emperor Dalek picks upon. He mentions that the Doctor revels in his name of ‘The Oncoming Storm’ by his enemies. Whilst the Doctors nature is to avoid combat and is haunted by war, Jody Houser shows us that he isn’t against using this reputation at times and hints towards the Doctors arrogance. 

The Doctors flying solo in this one and does not have a companion to bounce off of. This adds to the complexity of the character as in return he attempts to joke with the emotionless Daleks. The dialogue between Doctor and Dalek is superb and even with a lack of any emotion, this doesn’t stop the Daleks from becoming the doctor new companion. As expected the banter between the Doctor and his genocidal enemies is intentionally awkward as both sides know a lot about each other and the destruction both of them have and can cause.

Roberta Ingranata is once again on art duties and both the Doctor and the Daleks are expertly drawn. I’ve always admired the way Ingranata draws Ten as she captures all of his mannerisms and quirks perfectly. The Daleks are also fantastic in their designs. Each has thin line detail that wonderfully captures everything from their armoured plates to individual bolts. The Dalek Emperor also has a fantastic design and his giant domed head doesn’t distract from the overall horror that the Daleks are. 

Defender of the Daleks #1 is a great start to Time Lord Victorious. Jody Houser is an expert at crafting a believable Doctor story and it's no different here. The Doctors dialogue is familiar to anyone who watched Ten's adventures on TV and David Tennant’s energy in playing the character has been captured right down to a tee. Roberta Ingranata’s art is also spot on and again captures this energy completely. With the Time Lord Victorious arc set to be with us throughout the next few months, I am very interested to see how the story will go and if the BBC can intact pull off this multimedia without damping expectations. 

Rating 10/10

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Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow Geek Culture Reviews on Twitter and Facebook @GeekCultureRev