As I stated above, I agree about the handwriting part. To be honest, I just skim over them and try to get a gist of what is being said. I’ve done it for years with comics that have ‘arty’ sections.
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10th Doctor Issues #4-#5 The Arts In Space
I was worried about this after all the previous comments about the “handwiting” being hard to read, but surprisingly I found I didn’t have any problems reading it at all (possibly due to my long experience of having to decipher some of my work colleagues’ handwriting LOL!).
In fact I felt that the approach gave some real depth and flavour to Gabby’s experiences of her first sight of an alien world and made it seem more genuine than a lot of the TV & book stories which often treat it in a more superficial way.
The story itself was much shorter & hence resolved more quickly than the previous one but it set up some interesting threads for the future, and the appearance of the Ood was an unexpected surprise.
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I have just finished re-reading these! I read them years ago, probably when I first got the Humble Bundle (or perhaps earlier, I seem to remember buying these and the next Weeping Angels one at some point).
I had faint memories of them both, and was pleasantly surprised at how nice the art and the story was.
I agree with most of what has been said above - the first story is better, Tennant looks great in most places but dodgy in others, Gabby is a great new companion with a unique perspective, the handwriting is terrible.
A fun couple of stories, and I remember really enjoying the next one (I love Weeping Angels) and then it’s all new for me after that, exciting, bring on more Comic Club!!
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I just finished these.
I liked Revolutions of Terror pretty well, though I have to agree with the weird looking Tennants.
I liked The Arts in Space a bit more than the first one, but that might be because of familiarity. I do have to agree with the people mentioning the handwriting, I also had problems reading it every now and then. On another note, until I read this I was pretty sure I hadn’t read any Doctor Who Comics yet, but seems like I have read this one before, so that is good to know I guess.
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Revolutions of Terror: 8.9/10 - This was my first ever Doctor Who comic story and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I really enjoy Gabby as a companion and this story fits well into the RTD era with the focus on Gabby’s dynamic with her family. The enemies here are really interesting and the way that the Doctor deals with them is really fun to watch. One of the best scenes was the subway scene due to the great artwork and writing. Speaking of artwork, I think it is really good here. Every now and then there will be some dodgy drawings of the Tenth Doctor but outside of that it’s really well done.
The Arts in Space: 8/10 - The Arts in Space was a pretty good first adventure for Gabby but struggles at times to deliver an experience on par with Revolutions of Terror. The art here is arguably better than the previous story and I really like the different art styles. Gabby’s diary writings give good insight into her character and who she is which is really interesting but sometimes the handwriting was a little bit wonky and hard to read (for example I thought “Zhe” was “2he” for a good chunk of time because of the handwriting). The plot here is a little bit weaker than the previous story but still works as a compelling read. I find the concepts here really cool and inventive but due to its shorter length it is very fast paced at times.
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Summer vacation has started, time for me to catch up with the comic club and actually read all those files that have been sitting in my Humble library!
Comics are kind of the only thing that I feel like I can properly critique/review, so here your warning: i’m REALLY good at being annoying about comics. Wont stop yapping about them. So my long, long reviews will come a little later. For now just thoughts here.
After reading the Titan comics: Empire of the wolf and Weapons of past destruction, I had become a bit concerned about the rest of these. After this first issue of adventures with Ten, I gotta say: IM SO SORRY FOR EVER DOUBTING YOU TITAN COMICS
Because both these comics are great.
Revolutions of terror has a very imaginative plot. Depression demons living on another dimensional plane is such a wonderful idea.
It has a very nice and snappy pacing, but not in a way where it goes too fast. The panel lay-outs really help with that. Gosh, I love the panel lay-outs in this issue. They are so well used. Like when Gabby enters the TARDIS there are 9 mini panels used to capture her reaction to everything and showing her point of view. It makes the typical first TARDIS entrance feel proper, but doesn’t sacrifice any extra space so it can still give us a beautiful almost full page illustration to make it feel bigger on the inside, while still being on the same page, so while we are looking at those previous panels, we already feel the atmosphere of the inside of the TARDIS. Wait, sorry this is what i meant with being annoying about comics and yapping too much. Let me stop myself before it gets even worse. (Still want to mention 2 pages after that the sloped panels showing different scenes which-)
The start is properly intriguing. Scary supernatural stuff that makes you wonder how man of science Doctor Who is gonna solve it. The artist also does a great job at some horrifying imagery. Plus the random people on the street going nuts help with the uneasy vibes.
We also see so much of Gabby’s life which is really nice. We get to understand all the basics of her character in no time, and before I knew it I Ioved her already.
I have a bit of a problem with how everything gets resolved though. Too much unexplainable science fiction nonsense solution. But it also has nice thematic elements and made alright use of the date it established the story to take place on and it’s really sweet so i’ll let it slide.
The art was very good. Especially a fan of the quite serene looking backgrounds. The Doctor also looks perfectly fine to me. I’ve read an unhealthy amount of comics already, I’m long immune to different art styles.
Dang it my ramblings are already quite long. Uhh 8/10 for this one.
Okay let me try to be quick for the next one.
9/10 almost masterpiece. Super creative usage of those hand-written parts. I always like it when they try to do a little bit more with the square text boxes. And the pages in between done by Gabby herself. So so good. Such a smart way to get us to warm up to her character in a short amount of pages. We can literally read what she thinks and finds of everything. Aside from the outside perspective, we also experience the story through her eyes. Definitely an experimental choice that I think worked wonders.
Also lots of nice things to say about art, about the process of it. It has butterflies made out of png mouths! Also
Scherzo moment
Sorry i will stop talking for now. This is getting long enough. Me liek komis. Dotto wu komis gut basically.
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Okay uhhh @handles just told me my post was flagged for being inappropriate immediately after i posted it. What’s up with that?
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Hi! To find out what I can do, say @handles display help.
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Handles thought one of the pictures was nsfw. I restored the post, though if you edit it, it’ll probably flag the picture again.
I guess those hands aren’t wearing anything?
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Ahh ok haha, thank you for making it right.
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No problem. I’ve had several of my own Doctor Who screenshots flagged…
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I’ve just started reading these, excited to finally start some comics!
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Oh wow, these are good! I think the art, especially for the more atmospheric images is really pretty. Gabby is a fun, complex companion with a proper look into her background, family life and dreams.
I thought the villains in the first story were properly creepy.
The second story used the letter/diary as a good framing device, and uses its own medium for the story. This one also gets bonus points for seeing math as art🤩
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“Special snowflakes we all might be, but there really are giants of art,” is a line used so well in the context of The Arts in Space. That was nothing but an exception read. I’ve been putting off reading these comics so this was a great story to return to.
There’s so much I love about this story. Specifically it feels like what Doctor Who should be more often, like when Gabby first sets out on an alien planet and is moved to tears by the experience. Or the way the story is framed around her diary and experiences travelling with the Doctor for the first time. It’s all really good stuff and really showcases what is great about Gabby.
Her identity as an artist is used thoroughly here and comics are such a great medium to explore a character like this. She might be one of my favourite companions I’ve encountered so far, though I’ve really only seen her in a few stories. The way she is able to bond with the artists she meets in this story is so cool, plus I loved the references to Logopolis. It fit with this whole idea of this artist named Zhe who is able to sort of create sculptures entirely through singing math. It’s a concept that works well with Doctor Who and I really enjoyed this comic because of that stuff.
Little things hold this back from a 10/10 from me. Gabby’s initial reaction to her first trip off of Earth is initially very realistic and well paced, but then she kind of just doesn’t react as much when monsters start chasing her and she is isolated from the Doctor. These monsters are pretty scary shapeshifters so it is a little odd she is so unperturbed when she is attacked. Still, I love how they ulitmately resolve that conflict that is drawing on core parts of Gabby’s identity to do so. I think that’s a really good touch in the writing.
The only other downside is that I don’t love this book’s lettering. It felt unnecessarily hard to read for some of the diary parts that had a handwritten feel to them. There are two credited letterers from The Arts in Space which I found weird, so I’m not sure what was going on there. Either way, these minor faults only just barely detract from the overall experience. It’s a 9/10 for me on the cusp of a full 10/10.
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Right. So this post of mine was already a lot. I already warned how much I can yap about comics. I just finished my, euh. Way too in depth reviews of these comics. Most people ain’t reading them, but I hope the few who like long reviews have a good time with these. I even went a little experimental with the second one…
Mostly i just hope my second review motivates people to give Arts in space at least 4 stars because the fact it’s lower than Weapons of past destruction is a literal crime
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Those are really good, I like what you’ve done in the second one!!
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I’m going to give those a proper read later. If you take the time to write them it’s only fair we take the time to read them 
.
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Tyy!!! Really happy to hear you’ve enjoyed reading them! It’s gonna sound cheesy but that genuinely means a lot
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