Written By: Terrance Dicks
Read By: Richard Franklin
Released By: BBC Audio - JUNE 2nd 2016

4 CDS - APPROX TIME: 3 hours 40 minutes

Planet Earth in the late 20th Century is about to have some mysterious and unique visitors that rely on purely organic technology. Britain is the nation that welcome the Axons: beautiful, golden beings from another world that has since ceased to exist. 

Horatio Chinn - a Ministry of Defence official - is absolutely hell-bent on making sure that Britain does not lose a chance to have exclusive rights to the Axonite product 'offered' by the aliens. Despite being a rather foolish and gullible person, he proves to be a handful for UNIT -  headed up by the assured Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.

A man known only as 'the Doctor' is rather more cautious about what the Axons are actually bringing to the bargaining table, but he himself is determined to do a scientific study on Axonite to fully understand its potential attributes. He is able to get some initial assistance from Professor Winser, as they do various tests on this substance at the Nuton Power Complex. But Winser gradually perceives the Doctor as a pretentious chancer, and not a credible scientist, as first assumed.

Before long, matters take a decided turn for the worse. The Axons are in reality looking to exploit Earth for its many rich minerals and energy components, and wish to implement their 'nutrition cycle'. They are not in fact a race of aliens, but a collective gestalt. They have had limited time travel powers up to now, but sense a chance to truly master the fourth dimension. Once the Doctor and his dedicated companion Jo Grant are captured, they fully act to seize upon this opportunity.

Meanwhile the Doctor's old enemy the Master is at large. He is to blame for the Axons visiting Earth in the first place, having been captured by them and divulged how to get to the small blue-green world.  Yet ironically he may turn out to prove as vital an ally to the Brigadier as the Doctor, if in a decidedly more ruthless manner.

The long-well-known saying "Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts", is potentially going to be made into harsh reality. Unless the mercurial Doctor and his allies can once again prove that there is no 'I' in 'Team', and that 'The Whole' is greater than the 'Sum Of Its Parts'.

                                                                                                             *

Claws is a story I can never call a classic, but remains a bit of a personal favourite. I remember back in 1992, when my father passed me a brand new VHS tape with a near manic smile, almost as if all his hard work that day had paid off for it. The cover illustration really was indicative of the psychedelic and unique four part story contained on the tape. At the time, the rediscovery of The Tomb Of the Cybermen was far more significant than an expected release of yet another colour Jon Pertwee story. But I was not yet a dyed-in-the-wool Who fan, and I could simply appreciate the two stories in different ways for what they brought to the table.

In all honesty, since the early Nineties, many of the TV story's flaws become more magnified with each passing decade. DVD is even more ruthless in exposing certain weaknesses, owing to the modest production values the BBC allocated to this Saturday teatime series. The acting was pretty weak as well when it came to the human guest cast. However, the Axons were well done, with the Axon Man, and 'voice of Axos' being malicious antagonists, that still retained a degree of substance and identifiable personality traits.

Also Jo Grant ended up with the 'short straw', in terms of spoken lines and was rather surplus to requirements. This is something of a glaring omission in a story dominated by male speaking roles. I can however excuse original authors Bob Baker and Dave Martin for this flaw, as their original story stretched to nearly double the length.

Once script editor Terrance Dicks was able to harness their ideas and reach consensus, he was able to establish a future role for the 'Bristol Boys', and many more stories from then would later materialise. Still, it can be argued that Baker and Martin's first collaborative effort was the most memorable and distinctive of all, once any gimmicks and milestones are removed from the 'product description'.

In book/audio form the ambitious parameters of the story are markedly better served. The listener's ambition can paper over any of the cracks that the original production displays, and there is some fine use of suspense as scenes play out in a more sustained manner. The TV version is rather fast-paced compared to most of its other Season Eight peers, with Terror of the Autons coming closest to being anywhere near as frenetic. The manner Dicks chooses to generate atmosphere and anticipation is rather more effective, and some chilling concepts fully resonate.

There also is better elaboration for various parties' motives, most notably Chinn, Filer, and even the Brigadier when he is forced to agree with difficult choices. Whilst some characters remain ciphers that just advance the plot - such as the generic Captain Harker who suddenly 'overrules' the Brigadier - it feels rather less of a problem in this version.

Richard Franklin is certainly a better audio narrator than a screen actor, and he never loses his gravitas - managing to relay just how high the stakes are here. His interpretations of the Brigadier and Benton do stand out as very different from the originals. But this is commendable, as it would have been far easier for Franklin to do an auto-pilot mimicry of the efforts of Nicholas Courtney and John Levene from the Seventies.

Music and sound effects continue to be a strength of the BBC audio production team. The haunting Axos theme that recurs through all four discs of this release is very nicely done. The Dudley Simpson score of the original story had its moments, but could be intrusive. By having intermittent music - as per usual for this type of audiobook - the drama and intensity is much better managed.

However I cannot unreservedly praise this book/audio reading. Dicks somehow never resolves a certain plot hole: quite how the Master could be 'absorbed' by Axos, but avoid divulging time travel theory as part of his 'freedom'. Also, some of the comedy that plays out between Chinn and his superior is decidedly unamusing. And when comparing this audio release to its most relevant competition, Death To The Daleks, I must stress that Franklin is inferior in vocal range to Jon Culshaw.

Ultimately this is an audio experience to enjoy for the vast bulk of its running time, and another success from BBC Audio. It is worth employing sufficient power to track this one down, and absorb its many delights.

Writers: Gordon Rennie & Emma Beeby
Artist: Brian Williamson
Colorist: Hi-FiLetterers: Richard Starkings and Comicraft's Jimmy Betancourt
Senior Comics Editor: Andrew James
Assistant Editors: Jessica Burton and Gabriela Houston
Designer: Rob Farmer
Released: May 25th 2016, Titan Comics

Like it or not, it’s inevitable – every winning streak has to come to an end sometime. Just look at how Lost struggled to maintain the tension surrounding its array of long-running mysteries during its final few seasons, or how Doctor Who itself produced a rather divisive run in the form of 2012-13’s controversial Season Seven despite Matt Smith’s first two runs in the titular lead role having gone down a storm in 2010-2011. Perhaps it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to regular followers of Titan Comics’ Fourth Doctor miniseries, then, that after two immensely satisfying opening issues filled with nostalgic call-backs to the hallmarks of the Tom Baker era, visually stunning gothic action, intelligent characterisation and well-timed cliff-hangers guaranteed to draw readers back for me, Issue 3 doesn’t quite hit the same remarkable highs, resulting in a slightly less captivating reading experience than those which came before.

If there’s a root cause to be found here for the marginal drop in quality, then it’s undoubtedly the comparatively simplistic structure of the latest instalment in Emma Beeby and Gordon Rennie’s five-part serial, “Gaze of the Medusa”. One would have hoped that, given the success with which the pair paralleled the Fourth Doctor, Odysseus and Athena’s search for Lady Carstairs with Sarah and Carstairs’ exchanges regarding the latter’s centuries-spanning plot, developing the personalities of each character involved at every opportunity, they’d see fit to continue this strategy here as the Fourth Doctor and Athena hunted for their now-united companions in Earth’s distant past. Unfortunately, though, the two scribes stray worryingly close to the overly set-piece-orientated approach often taken by mainstream comic-book writers at companies like Marvel and DC, with proceedings mostly consisting of predictable chase sequences that don’t so much give us a better insight into the current TARDIS crew – much as their on-screen incarnations are still perfectly adapted onto the page here – or their Victorian allies and adversaries – much as Odysseus and Athena’s endearing paternal dynamic still makes them fun to ‘watch’ – as stall subsequent character progressions for the remaining pair of issues, as if they’ve only just realized that they’ve still got 50 pages’ worth of speech bubbles to fill before their contract’s done.

Indeed, this sense of the series’ traction coming to an abrupt halt with Issue 3 carries through to its plot, which – as an easily foreseeable by-product of the aforementioned decision to structure proceedings around chases through the Carstairs residence and a sinister cave – does little to nothing, barring a frustratingly predictable twist at the last moment, to offer us a sense of exactly where the “Medusa” arc will head between now and its denouement in a few weeks’ time. A little ambiguity’s more than welcome here and there, of course, yet when readers are expected by their publishing overlords to shell out upwards of £10-15 in order to experience the entirety of a five-part arc, it’s hardly unreasonable for them to expect each instalment to come off as an inspired work of fiction in its own right rather than as a cumbersome work of little more than filler material. True, Issue 3 doesn’t scrape the bottom of the creative barrel for new twists to nearly the same extent as is often the case with many of the 22-part dramas dominating the US TV market at present, but knowing that doesn’t make the disappointment of consuming a narratively stagnated chapter such as this any less demoralizing, especially on the basis of the stellar opening duo.

Rest assured that for all its faults in terms of characterisation, structure and overall plot progression, however, Titan’s latest foray into the realms of 1970s / 1980s Doctor Who absolutely retains some of their mini-series’ defining strength in the form of Brian Williamson’s consistently astounding accompanying artwork. It’s a testament to the visual impact of the unashamedly grim but somehow still bold – not least thanks to the inclusions of antagonists playing on the concept of the cyclops of ancient Greek mythology – drawings on show here that although there’s nothing substantial to report in terms of how the “Medusa” tale moves forward at its midway point, a fair number of the readership are bound to find that they couldn’t care less, since they’ll be too preoccupied with immersing themselves in a rendition of the Victorian age so true to the gothic style of the Hinchcliffe histories that one could be forgiven for mistaking this for a printed adaptation of The Talons of Weng-Chiang, albeit featuring fewer monstrous rodents or soon-to-be Big Finish-endorsed detectives. At this rate, even if Rennie and Beeby somehow manage to undo much of the great work they completed over the course of the first two issues of this strip – though the chances of this seem as slim as Michael Gove’s chances of becoming Prime Minister of the UK at the time of writing – there’s little to no doubt that the mini-series as a whole will still be fondly remembered regardless on account of its stellar aesthetic output.

Nevertheless, whereas certain standalone chapters in Titan’s regular Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctor comic-book franchises warrant a purchase on the basis of their own distinct merits regardless of the issues that precede or follow them, it’s safe to say that only those fans who’ve followed this particular five-part arc since its inception back in April will get the most out of what Issue 3 has in store for its owners. Even then, however, none of the material on offer comes particularly close to matching the plethora of memorable moments littered throughout Issues 1 or 2, making this specific edition a tougher one to give a wholehearted recommendation until it’s featured in one of the publisher’s yearly online sales of digital strips. Those craving an action-laden, character-light dose of Hinchcliffe-esque Who to kill the time until the Twelfth Doctor returns to our screens this Christmas could do worse than to head here, but ultimately, those looking for more value from their cash would be far better placed to try Titan’s ongoing sale on their regular Who strips instead.

Written by Joseph Lidster
Directed by Scott Handcock
Starring: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones), Melanie Walters (Mandy Aibiston), Eiry Thomas (Glenda), Ross Ford (The Saviour)
Released by Big Finish Productions - July 2016

They say that all good things must come to an end, and nowhere will that oft-used idiom seem more apt in a month’s time than in the case of Big Finish’s monthly Torchwood range. In the space of just twelve months, producer James Goss and his merry band of audio playwrights have expanded the mythology of the eponymous TV series further than fans could possibly have imagined when this continuation was first envisioned. Together, they’ve introduced enigmatic foes like the Committee, unforgettable supporting characters like telesales operator Zeynep and the reclusive billionaire Neil Redmond, but most of all a plethora of exhilarating new storylines for classic Torchwood Three recruits like Captain Jack, Gwen and Ianto, all while convincing the actors who played them first time around to return for at least one instalment of their year-spanning pair of seasons.

All of those seismic achievements are of course reason enough to bemoan the range’s impending temporary conclusion with August’s Season Two finale, Made You Look, but if one hoped to find a primary means by which to justify imploring Big Finish to commission a third season as soon as possible, then they’ve certainly gotten it with this month’s long-awaited release. Dubbed Torchwood: Broken for reasons that become well apparent as its core plot progresses, the odds of this fifth and penultimate chapter in Season Two matching some of the range’s finest moments – TheConspiracy, UncannyValley as well as the more recent Zone10 foremost among them – seemed slim at best prior to its launch, making its triumphant success in this regard that much more of a remarkable feat on the parts of just about everyone involved.

As with any of the studio’s most critically acclaimed titles, Broken’s status as a captivating, award-worthy work of audio drama comes about thanks to a number of contributory factors, but no more so than thanks to the returns of both John Barrowman and Gareth David-Lloyd – for the first time since October 2015’s Fall to Earth in the latter’s case, no less – to the roles of their somehow ever-increasingly beloved pair of doomed romantics, Jack and Ianto. Not since Friends united Joey and Rachel has a fandom arguably rallied behind a couple as ardently as this immortal swashbuckler and his endearingly faithful butler; nor since James Cameron’s Titanic have viewers shed wetter tears at a relationship’s denouement as we all did in the penultimate chapter of 2007’s Children of Earth. As opposed to giving complacent performances due to assuming that fans would pick Broken up anyway, both esteemed thespians instantly remind listeners why they proved such a dual hit on-screen, with Barrowman perfectly balancing his consistently engaging swagger with a more reserved, empathetic portrayal as and when the script requires it, while David-Lloyd tugs at the heartstrings at every opportunity by rendering his lines with such pathos, such dramatic gravitas that even this reviewer found keeping his eyelids wholly dry a challenge at times.

Of course, without the right narrative material to work with, both players might have been forced to go through the motions, so thank goodness for Joseph Lidster, whose masterful script helps elevate his leads’ turns to unprecedented levels with a level of unmistakable ease that most playwrights would envy immensely. To divulge too much of the precise narrative that the man behind televised episodes like A Day in the Death has concocted here would be to spoil the fun, but suffice to say that in setting Broken just days after the events of the divisive but undoubtedly emotional Season One episode Cyberwoman, wherein Ianto’s original crush, Lisa, became a pseudo-Cyberman before finding herself gunned down by the rest of her boyfriend’s team, Lidster ensures that he’s got plenty of meaty dramatic material to dive headfirst into, exploring in depth the nature of psychological trauma involved with grieving a loved one’s demise, the inevitable self-reflection such a loss can provoke for the widow with regards to their own life choices, as well as how one’s perception of those who seemed to be their ‘allies’ prior to such heartbreaking events can change forevermore as a result. In the wrong hands, the integration of such topical issues – especially in an age where terrorist attacks are tragically taking so many real-world individuals’ loved ones on a daily basis – could have felt contrived or borderline disrespectful, particularly if they’d largely played second fiddle to a by-the-numbers sci-fi tale, yet this month’s scribe evidently knew better than to take that approach, instead only peppering in genre elements when absolutely necessary so as to allow this deeply satisfying investigation into Ianto’s psyche – not to mention the birth of his romantic attachment to the future Face of Boe – to take centre stage throughout.

Whilst Torchwood’s primary genre doesn’t substantially manifest itself here, though, those who followed the original TV programme more for its fantastical action and otherworldly antagonists plucked from the previously untapped regions of the Doctor Who universe will surely find enough to sink their teeth into thanks to the fleeting but memorable contribution of Ross Ford as the disconcertingly benevolent extra-terrestrial known as ‘the Saviour’ and, more importantly, Melanie Walters as Ianto’s resident barmaid, Mandy Aibiston. Again, how these two connect to the show’s wider universe is best left unsaid until more of you have had a chance to give this one a listen, although it’s not a spoiler in the slightest to say that with more airtime than Barrowman as well as just as much stage presence, Walters well and truly makes her mark on the audience over the course of the hour. Not only does she endow her character with just as much of a sympathetic, compassionate voice as is befitting of the woman who finds herself nursing – albeit via alcohol – Ianto out of his grief, but she equally making the infrequent heated exchanges between Mandy and Jack seem just as believable owing to the protective stance her construct takes over her latest regular.

The credits don’t stop there, either – in fact, between Scott Handcock’s exemplary direction of what must have been a rather daunting non-linear play to tackle, the inspired usage of Murray Gold’s “Captain Jack’s Theme” and “The Ballad of Ianto Jones” to aurally rouse the listener and break their heart respectively, and the narrative’s success where its predecessors failed in providing a compelling enough standalone yarn to compensate for the lack of mentions of the Committee, it’s difficult to know precisely where to draw the line with all of the warranted gushing in this instance. For fear of spending as long as Jack’s lifetime singing Broken’s praises, then, let’s end on this – here we have the most satisfying entry in the Torchwood range to date, a true masterpiece that combines nuanced performances with Oscar-worthy scripting to remind the world over what made Torchwood such a riotous success on TV and why it couldn’t have been in safer hands than those of Big Finish. All good things must come to an end, but on the basis of Season Two’s spectacular second-from-last entry, its masterminds would be utter fools to let August’s Made You Look or November’s team-up boxset Outbreak signal the dying days of their latest range; if anything, the story’s only just begun.

Written by John Dorney
Directed by Jamie Anderson

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Geoffrey Beevers (The Old Master), Alex Macqueen (The New Master), Lauren Crace (Jemima), Russ Bain (Blore/Baron Jarvill), Esther Hall (Tazmeena/Bauza/Mum), James Garnon (Sebastian/Gorlan), Neil Edmond (Sarlon/Gorlan/Time Lord)

Big Finish Productions – Released June 2016

There’s always a slight sense of trepidation when approaching a release which has attracted as much interest in advance of its release as TheTwoMasters; inevitably there is a question mark as to whether it will live up to the promise of its central conceit or, like several multi-Doctor audio plays before it, end up feeling like an over-hyped disappointment? Well, this reviewer is pleased to say that overall this play has a lot to recommend it. John Dorney’s script proves to be an enjoyable conclusion to this rather unusual trilogy of adventures, especially when explaining how the events of the two previous plays are connected. To an extent, Dorney was working to a shopping list set up by script editor Alan Barnes and so despite this reviewer’s previous criticism of the opening play of this sequence, AndYouWillObeyMe, the explanations provided in this release offered a certain amount of retrospective appreciation for that play’s plotting by Barnes.

Without wanting to give too much away, unlike some previous releases from the earlier Big Finish years which were sold on the basis that they would bring multiple incarnations of the Doctor together only to renege on their promise, TheTwoMasters contains lots of scenes featuring both incarnations interacting together. Having possibly jumped the gun with my over-favourable assessment of Alex Macqueen’s performance in last month’s VampireoftheMind, it is Geoffrey Beevers’ turn in this release to appear to be having the most fun out of the two rather chalk and cheese personalities of the infamous renegade. Beevers also seems to get a lot of the best lines particularly when criticising his future self in a manner which recalls John Hurt’s wry observations about the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors in The Day of the Doctor. The references to the Master’s continuity are well used and the story is so Master-centric that Sylvester McCoy barely appears in the third episode. There is a nice performance by Lauren Crace as this month’s proto-companion Jemima, another new character with definite potential for future appearances. The only slight disappointment is that the Doctor reappears to save the day very much in the manner of a Deus-ex-machina, even though we all know he’s bound to do so, the ending has a feeling of possibly one too many resets being pressed.

Overall, however this is a very worthwhile listen. Whilst it doesn’t penetrate as deeply into the Master’s character as the 2003 classic Master did, it still shows that after forty-five years, the Doctor’s very own Moriarty still has a lot of mileage left in all of their incarnations.

The Fourth Doctor Adventures - Series 5 Episode 5 -
Written By: Alan Barnes
Directed By: Ken Bentley

Cast

Tom Baker (The Doctor)
Lalla Ward (Romana)
Celia Imrie (Madame Tissot)
Nickolas Grace (Goole)
Stephen Critchlow (Noni)
Helen Goldwyn (Wax Marie)

Released by Big Finish May 2016
(purchase from Amazon UK)

In The Gallery Of Ghouls, we find the Doctor and Romana in Brighton, the year is 1833. They are there to visit the opening of the Brighton Pavilion, but unfortunately, the Randomiser made them materialise eighteen years too early.

From the off, the listener can tell that this story will be a somewhat lighthearted affair. The Doctor believes that seagulls are agents of the Black Guardian, and has issues with deck chairs, while Romana believes that eighteen years is 'the blink of a time tots eye', and is happy to while away the time touring Europe.

However, when they discover that Madam Tissot's Wax Exposition is in town, they both decide to take a look, after all, waxworks are the Doctor's 57th favorite thing.....or is that 58th?

The play on the name Tissot is, of curse quite purposeful. It turns out that Madam Tissot (the rather fantastic Celia Imrie) is a tad jealous of Madam Tussaud's fame, and feels a tad robbed of the limelight.

We join Madam Tissot and her son Noni (yes, Noni) at the Exposition, where Tissot is bemoaning a local rival Mr Goole (Nickolas Grace), who runs a similar attraction, Goole's Gallery of Ghouls on the other side of town. They discover the Doctor trying to put right a waxwork display depicting the death of Nelson. The Doctor insisting that he himself was present at the actual event, along with a Sea Devil. Things start to spiral out of control for the Doctor and Romana though as they discover that the head of Marie Antoinette has been stolen, and the finger of blame is of course pointing straight at the Doctor and Romana.

From here on in things descend into a dark farce. Who is the mysterious Mr Goole, and why does he seem to just melt away? Why are his waxworks so very lifelike? And are we really being invaded by aliens from the planet Slough? I'm sure you can see exactly where all of this is going.

The Tom Baker and Lalla Ward episodes always managed to squeeze in a lot of humour, and Gallery of Ghouls really drives that home. The comic timing between the pair are exquisite here, providing much comic relief after the previous two episodes of pretty hard sci-fi. The feel of this audio reminded me a lot of The Talons Of Weng-Chiang yes, it's dark, but there are a lot of funny moments. 

The cliffhanger to part one is expertly, and tightly constructed, and is also pure Who of the time. Our heroes are separated, The Doctor and Noni are trapped in Goole's Cellar Of Terror, where the lifelike waxworks, are seemingly coming alive. While outside Romana and Noni are trapped by an alien masquerading as a local policeman, welding Dick Turpin's blunderbuss.

Celia Imrie is a joy as the guileful Madam Tissot, whose claims all ring about as true as Walter Mitty. She speaks with a haughty French accent, which she loses in a moment of truthfulness, and is exposed as Mary Barnes, from Wolverhampton. Nickolas Grace is great as her much put upon son Noni. This audio is written by Alan Barnes, and directed by Ken Bentley.

K9/ John Leeson are absent from this audio, but much like the classic era in which this story is set, he is mentioned a lot (this usually happened when the terrain would have been a nightmare for the prop to negotiate).

All in all, there is a lot to recommend Gallery of Ghouls, I promise you that you will find it well worth a listen. Gallery of Ghouls is available from Big Finish now.

Writers: Gordon Rennie & Emma Beeby
Artist: Brian Williamson
Colorist: Hi-Fi
Letterers: Richard Starkings and Comicraft's Jimmy Betancourt
Senior Comics Editor: Andrew James
Assistant Editors: Jessica Burton and Gabriela Houston
Designer: Rob Farmer
Released: April 20th 2016, Titan Comics

If the superb opening instalment of Titan Comics' five-part Fourth Doctor miniseries gave fans of Tom Baker's incarnation the impression that they might be in for something special, then Issue 2 confirms those suspicions wholeheartedly, embracing its predecessor's strengths whilst building upon them so as to further fulfill the "Gaze of the Medusa" storyline's vast potential.

Penned once again by Gordon Rennie and Emma Beeby, this similarly accomplished sophomore instalment doesn't so much centre on Issue 1's fascinating final panel revelation - namely that Sarah Jane appears doomed to be converted into a lifeless statue by the supernatural forces plaguing the TARDIS crew at present - as put it to one side for now. Instead, its focus lies on how the mysterious Lady Emily Carstairs' temporal machinations have forced the ancient Greek and Victorian worlds to abruptly collide, placing Sarah at the heart of the exposition as she converses with Carstairs about her somewhat tragic past while the Doctor tags along with his newfound allies, Professor Odysseus James and Athena, in the hope of rescuing his companion before it's too late.

This somewhat familiar premise might sound like a recipe for mediocrity to those readers still on the fence about picking up Titan's latest Doctor Who strip, but for all Part Two treads water as opposed to making genuine progress towards this one-off serial's endgame, there's plenty of compelling material to keep Fourth Doctor devotees hooked regardless. No more do the strip's merits come to the fore, in fact, than with the scribes' decision to separate their lead players for the majority of the issue, since their depictions of both Baker and Lis Sladen's characters are accurate in their emphasis on how each of the two characters can more than hold their own in the face of seemingly unfavourable odds. Yes, Sarah might remain in Carstairs' clutches here, yet by no means does that make her a passive participant in proceedings - if anything, that she manages to quickly convince Carstairs of how invaluable both she and her waylaid Time Lord can be to their foe if she keeps them alive only goes to demonstrate her endearing charisma, while the Fourth Doctor's constant joke cracking clearly does just as much to earn him the faith of his latest comrades as they plunge headfirst into a wealth of new dangers.

What's more, despite them having only five issues in which to depict the Baker era's most beloved assets and convey a captivating standalone narrative, Beeby and Rennie also show an admirable commitment to rendering their secondary constructs as equally sympathetic individuals to 'watch' develop. Odyesseus, for instance, displays a rather charming passion for the unknown that prompts him to seem believably reckless at times, with his daughter's determination to rein in this enthusiastic fervour for his own safety feeling similarly akin to some of the more memorable parental relationships we've seen on the TV series in recent years - albeit with the parent usually worrying more about their offspring than the other way around. Carstairs' surprisingly heartfelt backstory, meanwhile, endeared her to this reviewer far more than he might ever have expected upon picking up Issue 2, a trait which could bode extremely well for her memorability as a regretful antagonist of sorts in future issues should the capable writing team capitalize on her appeal between now and the "Medusa" arc's conclusion. Nothing's guaranteed, of course, but at the rate Beeby and Rennie are developing their impressive level of layered characterisation from issue to issue, chances are this five-part saga's primary and secondary constructs alike will linger in the memory of the strip's followers long after they've read its final panel.

Speaking of the panels themselves, thanks to Brian Williamson's phenomenal Gothic artwork, they're just as much a thing of beauty as the "Medusa" storyline itself. Whether he's depicting a simple, carraigebound exchange between the Doctor and his Victorian partners-in-crime with photorealistic facial imagery - not to mention authentically chilling mists surrounding the carriage - or the temporally unique, supernatural glare of the lamp of Chronos as it illuminates the room in which Sarah's busy untangling Carstairs' intentions or indeed the horrifyingly morbid cliffhanger moment which will all but guarantee that readers can't help but return for Issue 3 to discover what's next for the character, Williamson doesn't falter on any front whatsoever. Indeed, it's a wonder that he's not called upon more often to accompany the scripts for the Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh or Twelfth Doctors' regular strips, since judging by the work he's produced in the space of two Fourth Doctor-centric issues alone, the man's got just as much to offer Titan Comics' ever-expanding franchise of Doctor Who comics as any other artist who's contributed to the various ranges to date.

Alternatively, though, Titan could take an even more obvious route once Issue 5 brings the "Medusa" arc to its end, commissioning a regular Fourth Doctor strip off the back of this miniature arc just as they did after their five-part Ninth Doctor miniseries, "Weapons of Past Destruction", met with such critical and commercial acclaim upon its debut on the comic-book scene last year. Certainly, based on the immeasurable strength of both Issue 1 and its immediate follow-up, there's no substantial reason to think why a fully-fledged continuation courtesy of Rennie, Beeby and Williamson couldn't continue to develop the pitch-perfect adapted rapport of the Fourth Doctor and Sarah, their era's much-loved supernatural array of adversaries as well as the supporting characters tasked with helping or hindering the pair in their adventures for many issues to come. Perhaps the Fourth Doctor will one day return to the TV series in the form of the Curator as introduced to us in 2013's televised 50th Anniversary Special The Day of the Doctor, but in the meantime, the character's printed incarnation evidently has plenty of life in him yet.