While investigating a previously primitive planet, the Doctor and Frobisher are sold into slavery and are drawn into a Draconian’s quest to reclaim his daughter.
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I’ve been thinking that with where we are in the 6th Doctor these DWM comics have bad unusually high rankings.
Anyways, this one got a 1.5/5 from me. I don’t remember many specifics but I did remember what I mentioned in my review where “if you’re going to leave anyways, why not just agree to the trade of your daughter for the land? That would seem to be the option that ‘saves lives’”. I think this one’s vibe was less Doctor Who and more comic book (a common critisism of mine for this early stuff)
4 Likes
I also rated this kind of low at 2/5. It is not that it is awful; it is just kind of forgettable, and while I liked Frobisher on audio, I find him to be kind of meh in the comic.
4 Likes
I’ve read a fair few DWM comics, and this is a good if very standard affair. It’s nothing impressive particularly, but there was very strong artwork and 6 & Frobisher are always a compelling duo. The story was fairly thin, yet I found myself enjoying it quite a bit.
It gets a 7/10 for me!
3 Likes
It’s a 6/10 for me. Here’s an extract from my review:
As usual, the worldbuilding is rich and imaginative, but the story races through its opening at breakneck speed. Within a handful of panels, the Doctor and Frobisher have been captured, sold as slaves and recruited into a rescue mission, leaving very little room for any of it to breathe.
War-Game is another comic that hints at a much bigger and richer adventure than the page count allows. The Doctor and Frobisher remain enormously entertaining together, but they’re left carrying a story that simply tries to do too much in too little space.
I was also deeply annoyed by the way the comic depicted the Draconioan speech patterns, which to me seemed closer to the Ice Warrior way of speaking.
4 Likes
I’m with @Tian on this and rated it 2/5. It felt like the 4th Doctor strips where the Doctor is inserted into a different universe to the one Doctor Who inhabits. This is very much a comic book world. What most struck me was the fact that we get an actual shape shift from Frobisher into a muscled barbarian type making his character fit into the comic world in a way that the Doctor and his companions usually don’t. And the shape shift is weird because it happens ‘off screen’ and after Frobisher has refused the Doctor’s suggestion of choosing a more appropriate shape. Suddenly he just changes his mind.
Alongside Frobisher’s muscles are the stereotypical stylings of the strips only female character - the Draconian leader’s daughter. In one panel she is literally chained to a wall in a bikini. It just doesn’t feel like Doctor Who here and the presence of the Draconians seems inserted to make this more Doctor Who than the story actually is. Yes, the cliffhanger of the Draconian’s reveal is good but it is momentary thrill. I found myself questioning why the Doctor was even on the Draconian’s side. We are supposed to, apparently, sympathise with the Draconian but he arrived on the planet and basically usurped the local leaders for no other reason than he felt like it. He is basically an invader and yet, sold into slavery or not, the Doctor happily assists him.
And the ending where the Doctor and Frobisher just walk away from the grieving daughter just left a sour taste in the mouth.
A definite down turn for me from the delightful Voyager arc and a return to what I didn’t like about the 4th and 5th strips.
6 Likes
Verdict after Issue One - This is interesting enough. Feels like quite a vibe shift, but the art is still impressive and I’m intrigued to see where it’s going. Nice to see Frobisher shapeshifting too, although the endless argument of courses arises again that he could have got them both out of the pub and out of the auction very easily…
Verdict - Oh. That was disappointing. Not really sure what the point was of that story? Felt like an odd return to Five’s more filler stories that feel out of place. Felt almost biblical, and not in a great way. Also didn’t love the ‘sexy’ draconian.
2 Likes
To be fair, it’s very heavily implied that Kaon has had a significant change of heart and turned over a new leaf (whether this is true, given the nature of his plan, is debatable, but from where the Doctor’s standing at the point of agreeing to help him, why shouldn’t he trust that?)
@N_Squared makes the point that negates the whole thing though, that he may as well just agree to the bargain and be done with it, if he doesn’t intend to rule any longer…
2 Likes