Pasquale Qualano

This volume seems pretty pointless. Do new incarnations of the Doctor need "roads" to them? What does that even mean? How can you set up a new incarnation of the Doctor? What it turns out to mean here is three standalone stories about the three previous incarnations of the Doctor, the three who had ongoings from Titan for the previous three years. So we get a tenth Doctor, Gabby, and Cindy adventure; an eleventh Doctor and Alice adventure; and a twelfth Doctor and Bill adventure. Each is fine, but I found the reveals in the tenth Doctor one not very convincing (the monsters look cool but that's it) and the story in the eleventh Doctor one confusing. I don't even remember the twelfth Doctor one. Some Titan writers have done impressive single-issue adventures (mostly the writers on the Eleventh Doctor series), but these are not of them.

Each story is followed by a short back-up featuring the same Doctor, but by the creative team of the upcoming Thirteenth Doctor book and set during an episode of the tv show. In each case, the Doctor sees a hand coming through a time portal, and then does nothing about it, continuing about his business. Having already read the first volume of The Thirteenth Doctor as of this writing, it's pretty pointless set-up, and I don't entirely buy that the Doctor would just ignore each of these time portals and go about his business. Sure, we know it has nothing to do with the events of "The Girl in the Fireplace" or "The Power of Three" or whatever, but how does he? But I do like some Rachael Stott art.

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Like Dinnick's previous The Twelfth Doctor: Time Trials volume, this one is an over-egged continuity pudding. Like in that volume, he starts with two things that do kind of go together: the Weeping Angels and the Heavenly Host (from "Voyage of the Damned") are both angelic villains. But also like The Wolves of Winter, it just keeps adding stuff, because then we have the Judoon, and then also Margaret Slitheen, and I'm not really sure why, as nothing really goes together, and everything is done short shrift. I found it all pretty dull.

On top of that, the artists seem to be phoning it in, down to using the bridge of Star Trek's USS Voyager, complete with a prominently displayed Intrepid-class MSD! Slapping a Photoshop filter on it just isn't enough, dudes.

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This contains two stories, the first Titan adventures (other than the 2017 Free Comic Book Day Special) to include Bill after four volumes of one-off companions. The first is pretty over-egged, featuring Vikings, the Ice Warriors, the Flood (from "The Waters of Mars"), and the Haemovores (from The Curse of Fenric). None of the components gets the space it needs to be interesting. I couldn't keep track of the Vikings; the Ice Warriors were similarly dull; the inclusion of the Flood felt pointless; and the Haemovore idea came in so late it did a major disservice to one of my favorite classic series stories.

The second story, "The Great Shopping Bill," seems like it should have been fun, but Pasquale Qualano's art completely fails to communicate the setting. It's supposed to be a delightful intergalactic supermarket, but it looks like a couple of shelves.

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Een verrassend leuke Doctor Who strip deze The Road To The Thirteen Doctor, een stripboek dat op zichzelf gelezen kan worden. Dat is niet het enige dat ik er leuk aan vind, mij spreekt ook heel erg aan dat het bij elkaar drie op zichzelf staande verhalen zijn met ook nog drie miniverhaaltjes. De tiende, elfde en twaalfde Doctor krijgen ieder met hun eigen companions een heel eigen verhaal die allemaal een voorbode zijn op het uiteindelijk ontstaan van de dertiende Doctor.

De hoofdverhalen zijn interessant en spannend en heel Doctor Whos! Misschien wel wat aan de korte kant maar dat kan ook heel goed zijn omdat ik dat niet gewend ben. Alle drie de Doctors zijn ook nog eens prima getekend wat als fan van de televisieserie een plezier is om naar te kijken.

De miniverhaaltjes van vier bladzijden die de drie Doctors op zichzelf ook nog eens meemaken voelde als een kers op de taart. Alsof je even met de Doctor alleen mag zijn tussen de avonturen door. Met het lezen van deze strips krijg ik ook weer zin om oude afleveringen te gaan kijken. Als dat geen compliment is dan weet ik het niet meer.… (mehr)