The Ninth Doctor Mini-Series - Issue Three

Writer - Cavan Scott
Art/Colour Finishes - Blair Shedd, with Rachael Stott
Colours - Anang Setyawan, Letters - Richard Starkings + Comicraft's Jimmy Betancourt, Designer - Rob Farmer 
Assistant Editor - Kirsten Mu rray, Editor - Andrew James
Released July 29, 2015. Titan Comics

With a good amount of set-up and outer world building achieved in previous entries, Weapons of Past Destruction begins to gather focus in this latest must-read comic book from Titan.

The TARDIS crew of the Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack are now forced on the back-foot as not only does the standoff between the heavily armed Unon and the Lect make escape near impossible, but the nearby star which strongly dominates the horizon is on the verge of becoming a supernova.

Through the Doctor rolling the dice for the highest possible stakes, he finds himself confronting the main leader of the Unon. And this a female leader called Arnora, or 'The Mother Empress'. The Doctor's knowledge and wits will certainly be tested against such a keenly aware entity. Most would-be opponents  the Doctor has encountered are not equipped with telepathy, and so he can keep his solutions safely hidden. Not this time though, as Arnora is almost thinking of his responses before he himself is fully aware of them. 

And of course without the Doctor,  Rose and Jack must use their 'fight or flight' instincts to deal with the time bubble that is going to pop and so permit the lethal supernova to proceed with annihilating everything and everyone..

Now at the midpoint of this (hopefully not long-term) one-off series, there is a change of focus in terms of reducing the spectacle and heady travelling and doing some solid character work - especially for the Ninth Doctor himself.Where perhaps other versions of the Time Lord would be a little more careful or calculating, the Ecclestone brand places himself in the path of seeming fatality. Some enemies as we know are more than strong enough to over-ride the power of regeneration, although some of us fans would perhaps pretend the Borad was all talk. Luckily Arnora. who is a key figure at the top of Lect hierarchy, is for the present interested in having a somewhat reasoned debate with her captive.

Rather more disturbingly it appears the Lect see the Time Lords responsible for a corrupt and fatally flawed universe which needs fixing, and they will stop at nothing to achieve their 'vision'. It still remains ambiguous, and quite deliberately saw by the author, what the Lect want and how it ties in with their struggle with the Unon over the ancient Time Lord inventions and such products of their vast time and space knowledge base.

For me anyway this is not a problem and certainly not a procrastination as most readers are coming to this knowing Series One reasonably well, and wanting the focus to be on the Doctor's struggle to cope with the after-effects of the Time War - doubly so with the new wrinkle introduced by The Day of The Doctor.

Dialogue is still effortlessly enjoyable and convincing, with this forthright Doctor showing the right combination of wit and suitably respectful awe for the Mother Superior figure of Arnora. Jack and Rose get involved in their own little story of timey wimey which is neatly illogical if I can allow myself to use that oxymoron. They are rightfully worried if they have truly lost the Doctor, but like the heroes they are proceed to move on anyway. 

I have been impressed for some time with Blair Shedd's work. and this issue sees the introduction of a co-artist in Rachael Stott. Shedd still gets most of the credit for the aesthetically strong barrage of eye candy (and some disturbing images too, given the themes) but having someone clearly in line with the intended end product means their is a seamlessness some comic books decide not to attempt or only half succeed in, and so I give even more credit for this third instalment,

My hopes now are that Cavan Scott and his team will unleash a real powerhouse of suspense, thrills and revelations, and fully realise the obvious potential thus far demonstrated.

BONUS HUMOUR STRIPS:

Both of these are from AJ (who again handles both the story and the visuals), and are focused on the actual dynamic set up by the main story. The first features the headache for Rose of Captain Jack creating myriad versions of himself by crossing his timeline over and over. The second is all about the Doctor somehow rationalising that being stuck in a Void is the perfect way to relax and reflect. An interesting decision really, as these add more to the 'Weapons' story - or suggest a variant in terms of events in a parallel timeline - and still remain faithful to the style we have become used to from AJ's considerable body of prior work for Doctor Who.