Doctor Who #1 (IDW – Russell / Roche)
The legendary Doctor Who is back, with the first-ever stories created exclusively for the US market. The Doctor is the last of the Time Lords, survivors of a Great Time War and, along with his loyal friend and companion Martha Jones from London, they stop oppression, darkness and evil spreading throughout the galaxies. They’re also on the hunt for the best chocolate milkshakes in the cosmos… and while they track that down, someone else has the Doctor in their sights. As the very last Time Lord out there, he’s highly collectible, to the right people… this debut miniseries comes to you courtesy of Doctor Who TV show story editor Gary Russell and artist Nick Roche (The Transformers). Roche and variant artist Joe Corroney provide covers for each issue.
I have been buzzing about this for months, yet another one of my favorite characters brought to my favorite medium. The first issue gave a brief introduction to the Doctor Who concept and had what would be a one episode arc (IDW does a great job detailing it in their blurb above). It is not surprising that Gary Russell provides a story that is both believable and comfortable to Doctor fans, given his background with the show. The only thing missing was one of those very serious “Doctor” moments where he scares the hell out of everyone around him with some incredibly dramatic speech followed by an off-hand light-hearted comment. Even though it felt a bit short, the read was a very enjoyable one. Nick Roche’s art is good but consistent with his style, a bit blocky and heavy-lined. Overall a great book with a great feel to it. It looks like IDW pulls off another well-done sci-fi comic transformation.
Issue Grade: A-
