The Ninth Doctor did not get an ongoing series from the start, but he got this mini-series. What did you think?
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!
If you’ve previously read the book and want to join in the discussion, that’s great too!
Participating in the Comic Club will earn you a badge 
Usually when i don’t like a story i think it’s my own personal taste. Even something i hate as much as Project: Twilight, i know isn’t an objectively bad story. This though? I’m sorry. This one just sucks.
This is my hater phase. I will fight everyone who says this story is good. And i’m only half joking there 
Was i a little bit assuming and overtly negative in this review? Maybe. But also maaan it’s just so bad. And to think i was originally excited to read a Ninth Doctor comic.
Something i didn’t really talk much about in there because i was just so done with it was the horrible exposition. Every single plot point that moves the story along is done by: the characters all stop and do nothing but talk and mention all relevant story beats. Understand what the aliens are about? Our TARDIS team gets captured and conveniently talks with the aliens to tell the reader. How does the Doctor understand the horse people? He gets blasted to a pocket dimension so he can have 4 pages of uninterrupted exposition. How do we get horse people history? Jack arrives and quite literally gets everything just told. And of course the alien in the robot takes the Doctor with him and Rose, and spells his entire history out for him (us).
If anyone needs me, I will be here all day to complain about Weapons of past destruction folks. I would say terrible story, but the story is nonexistent actually.
3/10 because it has some neat ideas though
Also, i really really really want to hear the people who like it. Because it has such a high ranking. Please enlighten me. I genuinely would like to understand what’s so good about it.
To start with: you do have some fair points regarding the story being rather weak from a story-telling perspective. That just didn’t stop me from enjoying this story anyway. I think a big part of that is the characters. The interactions are good, very well fitting for the characters and the art is so that I would even be able to recognize the characters out of context! (Perhaps the most annoying part of the other DW comics I’ve read so far to me is that is a rarity) I liked seeing some of the effects the time war had on Nine, and in general it was nice seeing some more adventures of Nine, Jack and Rose, such a wonderful TARDIS Team. The art was very pretty too in my opinion. Also I think it helped that I read all of these in a volume, and didn’t pay attention where the issues started or ended, so I wouldn’t have really noticed if a particular issue was especially bad.
Fair points from you too! Everyone is written perfectly in character, and if you enjoy their interactions a lot I can see the appeal. And the time war ideas i like as well (though it feels a bit like the writer wrote the story to have a stage for his cool ideas, rather than developing those ideas into something more worthwhile. I went ranting again sorry lol).
In the art I personally find a definite lack of movement making the overwhelming amount of action sequences look more like static paintings. And i thought it was a bit lifeless, but that could also be the chosen locations. Lots of metal, white void and desert. The more abstract flashback-y sequences are pretty good though.
And also the colouring just didn’t click with me. It tries to do this funny yellow glow that was in Eccleston’s TV season, and i do appreciate the idea, but i find it only makes everything look washed out.
(also i just do not get the idea behind the paneling work. It makes no sense to me. But it’s a small thing i can ignore. )
I also read it in a volume, but the structuring was just so grating that i couldn’t help but notice 
I agree with most that you’ve said here too, I especially get the point with the colouring, that struck me as a bit odd at first too, but after I got used to it I thought it was pretty cool.
I also get what you mean with the art feeling rather static, I noticed that in a few places as well, it just didn’t stand out to me that much because to be honest all comics have that feeling to me? Just some a bit more or less.
I’ve seen people here talk about the colouring being a bit weird and off with the yellow bloom, and sure compared to the other Titan comics it definitely is, but for me it just adds to it feeling more like a season 1 story, I mean, compare it to some season 1 screenshots.
As for the plot, I think it’s interesting to see more of the fallout from the time war, we don’t get enough of that in the main show outside dalek stories, there’s a few references to it, but having it be the setup for the full plot here, people trying to take over the power vacuum left by the time lords, is pretty interesting.
I also really like some of the ideas and worldbuilding implications, the black market bazaar on a world under a held back supernova, the nods to the time agency and the idea that while they’re doing good, they’re small fish in a very big pond, the brief looks at the doctor’s past with the time war and Jack’s picking up on some of the doctor’s comments about it, talking about Jack’s future, etc.
The character interactions are also just perfect, I love this trio as a tardis team and I love that expanded material can give us more adventures with them. It’s especially fun seeing Jack clearly early on in his adventures with the team compared to Boom Town when they’ve been traveling together a while.
For all the praise I’m giving it though, I do think the storytelling itself is a bit weird in places, a lot of fakeout deaths that don’t really go anywhere, a lot of exposition, and one thing I’ve found strange with a lot of the comics, the designs for the aliens don’t really feel all that Doctor Who to me.
Overall though, I feel comfortable giving this a 7/10, and I’d definitely consider adding it to a Season 1 rewatch.
I gave this a 7/10 because overall I do enjoy it. I really like the time war aspects and its lovely to have another story with this Tardis Team. The Bazaar was cool too, but I’m not particulaly fond of the aliens designs in this but its also the kind of stuff you can portray easier in a comic book than on screen so it’s cool regardless.
I am so sorry, but here i go again:
I agree that all of these are good things. They are the neat time war ideas that i mention. The problem is that these ideas stay at that. They are introduced, and further implications are maybe suggested, but they aren’t actually used story wise. The story itself goes on random detours to fill up the other pages. This sort of concept would do great being introduced in an in-universe information book, but not like this. It could have worked in a comic, but then you need to actually use it. These concepts are only background for the main narrative our TARDIS team is following. And that narrative is excruciatingly empty.
I’m inclined to agree with @Owen on this one. I’m not quite as critical, but I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the other Titan comics we’ve read (especially the 11th and 12th Doctor ones). My main gripe is that a lot is going on all the time, but there’s no plot. The dialogue is clunky, and I didn’t find the Doctor or Rose very recognisable. Jack felt familiar to me. The aliens are generic and forgettable, and considering that we spend quite a lot of time with them, I didn’t find them the least interesting.
The art style is weird - the character models look off, and the colouring is strange. I like the big panels and all the action.
I agree that the Time War stuff was interesting, but it’s s relatively minor part of this.
So I will give this a 5/10 → LACKLUSTRE!
I reread this comic so that I could form an opinion on it. I found it pretty enjoyable, which is good. I was intrigued by the use of the Time War as a penumbra over the plot: the Doctor has been in this kind of situation before. Although it may have not been the best, I thoroughly appreciate the story as a showpiece for the Ninth Doctor’s particular characterization.
Excited to read these as I haven’t read these before (which I had done with most of the previous Comic Clubs).
Okay, I have mixed feelings about this. While I do like the characters a lot and found that they nailed them. These are some of my favourite characters from the whole history of Who. But I did not find the overarching plot that interesting. This leaves me with 3.5/5 but I am happy that there is more of 9 Doctors comic and that it did not end with one mini-series.
Just read the first part up to the cliffhanger and it’s very ‘meh’ at the moment. I actually read about half of the first part and then re-read it because I realised I wasn’t getting a handle on what on earth was happening. A lot of the panels are very busy and then there are those weird silhouette panels which really took me out of the story.
The plot is also fairly dull - one bunch of robots is being attacked by another bunch of robots and the TARDIS crew are caught in the crossfire.
And Barrowman must have been chuffed to bits with this strip as he’s been made to look about 18 in most of the pictures!
Part two read and it ends on an almost identical cliffhanger to Part One! Liked the weapons bazaar setting more than the ship and enjoyed the alien designs and playing spot the cameo (the Hoix, the Slitheen and I’m pretty sure something based on the heads in jars from Futurama). I did like the Squidward character too.
Okay - was that not a cliffhanger with Rose falling down a hole at the end of Part 2? I was very confused when she was fine at the start of the next part. Enjoyed the next bit - lots of action and banter and this story is definitely improving after a distinctly lacklustre first part.
Part 4 or whatever one I’m on, was good but felt more like Part 1 with lots of things happening but not much actually happening. We find out what’s inside the Lect and they are just generic aliens with an eye patch. The silver centaurs turn out to be sort of good after all and people keep hopping location through various means making for a rather confusing instalment.
I did like the ending though with Rose materialising with a massive gun to take everyone prisoner.
I finished this last night and have ended with a 2.5/5. The middle ‘episodes’ were good but the opening and ending were a muddle of images which never really seemed to make for much of a coherent story. The Lect turn out to be from the planet that was destroyed before the story started but have somehow travelled in time to change it??
I’m not sure I even understood what happened at the end (and what the hell was the joke that Rose and Jack found so funny?)
Nah - not a great one this.
