Twelve and Clara’s adventure continues in this second collection!
The Fractures
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Gangland
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The Body Electric
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Please discuss below - no need to finish it first, discuss as you go along but please add spoiler tags for anything that could be considered a spoiler!
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Feels straight out of season 8, not just in terms of the timeline with the Coal Hill stuff, but also the doctor’s characterisation. The story itself I think is a bit on the worse side but it’s still solid, but the main thing is I feel this could fit very easily into a season 8 rewatch, setting up 12’s involvement with UNIT, hinting towards the actions Clara takes in Dark Water, and the character stuff for 12 is on point for his arc that season trying to figure out what type of man he is.
I’m wondering if there’s some rules against Titan using certian real life figures, first Jones, not Frankie Seneca. Choosing to just believe that they are the figures they’re meant to be instead of strangely renamed versions.
Generally though I really liked this story, A gang story with 12 isn’t something I thought I’d see but I’m glad I did, love the history here, love the general vibes, and some fun and funky worldbuilding (I like the reference to the first of 12’s comics, the new aliens are fun, and the time gun of rassilon is so so stupid I can’t help but love it at least a little).
Read this a month or so back and not gone back to reread it now, but I remember thinking it as fine. The other free comic book day stories were fun in showing some of the downtime for the doctor and doing a story related to free comic book day, this is just a doctor who story but in 20 pages, it’s solid for what it is, but it’s limited by it too.
I completely forgot about this club until this week, so I sped through the volume yesterday and today.
Overall, I’m impressed by how good the 12th Doctor comics are. My favourite Titan range so far. The art style here is gorgeous!
The Fractures: 7-/10
It’s a nice little Earth-bound story with very typical New Who aliens in the underused Fractures. Kate Stewart pops up, Twelve is very familiar, and Clara remains annoying (she gets another cool action scene with the double-decker bus, though). The build-up is slow, and the climax is a bit talky. Some multiverse stuff here and interesting emotional themes.
Gangland: 8/10
Now, this one I like! Great 60s vibes, good setting and a bearable Clara. The time gun is a bit stupid, yeah, and the fake Frank Sinatra is distracting, but the octopus aliens and the Doctor in a suit and hat are nice additions. This story is simultaneously very modern and very traditional.
The Body Electric: 6/10
A short, simple and forgettable FCBD story. Not much to say about it.
The fractures I really liked, I think it fits very well with the emotional tone of the TV show and they’ve got the characters down too. The art is solid throughout these stories, much better than in the comics with the eleventh doctor in my opinion. Both gangland and the body electric are good but not great I think.
I will try to recall how I felt about the stories in this volume. Overall, I think that this volume was pretty enjoyable.
Fractures
I enjoy UNIT stories, and I was intrigued by how the family’s grief served as a catalyst for disaster. The Fractures seem Judoon-like in this story. I wonder if this story raises questions about the nature of public safety, and when it is better to forego justice.
Gangland
I thought that Gangland was interesting and enjoyable. I found the conceit of Rassilon’s Roulette to be entertaining, and it was interesting for the story to draw some parallels between how Rassilon thinks and how the Doctor thinks. Do you think that the Doctor in general is a gambler, or does he just change the rules when it suits him?
The Body Electric
I had some dissatisfaction with The Body Electric. Despite it being billed as a showpiece for Clara, I felt that I didn’t really know her any better after the story. Overall, I enjoyed the last two Free Comic Book Day stories better.
I’ve fallen way behind with reading these but finished The Fractures this week and quite enjoyed it. I didn’t like the art style as much as 12s first two stories - it’s that slightly scratchy style like in Weeping Angel of Mons which just doesn’t appeal to me. The artist just can’t get a handle on Kate Stewart who looks different from panel to panel. Also, the similarity between Clara and the eldest daughter of the family - and the mum - made some of the panels a bit confusing initially.
The story is a sort of variation on Father’s Day with creatures responding to cracks in the universe and a father being at the centre of the problem but there were some fun scenes, particularly Clara driving the bus and the Tower of London being attacked.
Well I really enjoyed this one. It really felt like it could have been a TV episode and the characterisation of the Twelfth Doctor & Clara felt authentic. Loved the bit where Kate found Clara annoying BTW.
I found the fact that they spoilered the contents of #7 in the recap page confusing since I hadn’t picked Paul’s origins & motivations up from #6 and they weren’t fully explained until later in #7.
I liked the ending even if it did mean that even the horrible boss survived - very Moffat - & is the twist at the end foreshadowing that there might be a rematch between the Doctor & the Fractures to come…?
Read The Body Electric last night - short and sweet and I’d say my favourite out of the three in this Comic Day issue. Straightforward mini adventure but an art style I’m more on board with. 5/10 but only because it’s possibly a bit rushed at the end due to its brevity.
To start with I didn’t think I was going to enjoy this story as much as the last one, mainly due to the “fake ratpack” - however I changed my mind during the second part. The resolution was actually very clever and nearly everything got explained. I also loved the portrayal of the Twelfth Doctor.
Minor quibble - once again there was a semi-spoiler in the recap page of #10. Not sure why they keep doing that - it’s meant to be a recap, not a trailer!
Well this was looking like a short & sweet mystery story, until I got to the end - and there was Clara at her most unsufferable! Had to mark it down just for that.
Finished Gangland last night and it was pretty good. I loved the Octopus aliens and the whole 60s Vegas setting.
But what was up with the ‘not the Rat Pack honest guv’. If you can’t call them Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jnr then don’t make them look exactly like Sinatra, Martin and Jnr and give them silly names - Frankie Seneca, Dino Martinelli and ‘Solly Dancer’ (I mean that’s not even a proper sodding name!) that are obvious replacements for the real names!
Just have a group of singers who get involved in the shenanigans - it’s not like the Rat Pack were the only singers in Vegas during the 60s! It just makes it all seem a bit low rent, like Doctor Who can’t afford the real thing. And bearing in mind how many real, historical figures and celebrities have featured in stories I wonder if there was a situation here where they planned to use the real things but had some sort of legal thing that stopped them when it was too late to change the artwork/story.
Finished Fractures. I think that this is my favourite 12 comic this far. I liked the emotional stuff with the family and would have liked more of that. 3.5/5
The Fractures: It felt very much like a Series 8 story, and I think they nailed 12’s characterisation. I don’t have that many faults with this story, other than some annoying characters, and Kate Stewart’s grey hair in one panel?!?
