Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Year Three #14

Writer: Nick Abadzis  
Artist: Giorgia Sposito 
Colorist: Arianna Florean 
Publisher: Titan Comics 

FC, 32pp, $3.99 

On sale: March 7, 2018 

There are many drawbacks to traveling around with a Madman in a box. Chances are pretty good that an alien, historical figure or something else altogether will attempt, numerous times, to kill you. Various time and space anomalies threaten to erase you from existence. Your personal life is going to be challenged. Any semblance of the person you once were will assuredly be gone fairly quickly (not always for the better). Perhaps the worst aspect to these wondrously dangerous adventures with The Doctor is that...they end.

    Gabby has been through a lot with The Doctor. As has her friend Cindy. The same goes for Anubis (once a terrifying deity, now an adorable, incredibly intelligent puppy-ish figure). Her adventures have not only opened her up to the vast magnitude of the universe but to a profound introspection, revealing to her truths about herself she could hardly fathom. She’s experienced joy, terror, the outrage of a time itself, and with issue 14 of Titan Comics’ Tenth Doctor comic, it all comes to an end.

    One unfortunate element to this series of comics is an overabundance of sci-fi gobbledygook and mind-twisting exposition. The majority of this final issues suffers from the same problem. There are so many characters, such big ideas, with so much going on that it’s difficult to take in. Not to say that the what’s happening isn’t interesting, far from it. It’s simply too much to absorb and appreciate in a single issue. True, this is the culmination of months worth of storytelling, but the pacing really throws off the magnitude of the final magnitude.

    That being said, tying Gabby into The Doctor’s past and future solidifies what works best about this series. The characters are phenomenal. Regardless of any shortcomings, the Tenth Doctor series may have suffered, they are far outweighed by the power of these fantastic characters.

As is true in the majority of Doctor Who comics, these characters come to life in every panel. Nothing about them feels false or contrived. At no point do they pander with out-of-character meta references. Each line of dialogue belongs to each character and would sound out of place coming from anyone else.

    Gabby and Cindy fit in right alongside companions of both modern and classic eras of the Whoniverse. They are every bit as rich and complex, and likable, as anyone that’s come before, and likely yet to arrive in the Tardis. There is a sense of sadness in knowing that we will never see them interact with any Doctor in live action because they are so utterly lively. I’m sorry to see them go.