4 parts (DWM 408 - 411) 27th May to 19th August 2009
Writer: Dan McDaid, Art: Martin Geraghty (pencils), David A. Roach (inks), James Offredi (colour), Editors: Tom Spilsbury & Scott Gray
The Doctor and Majenta Pryce arrive in Sydney, Australia, in the wake of a passenger plane being struck by a mysterious energy wave.
Immediately intercepted by UNIT, under Captain Kath Braxton...
...they're taken to UNIT's Underbase beneath the harbour.
They they're introduced to Colonel Tom McCay and the rather shifty Corporal Manning, who has a funny turn when he sees Majenta.
In the sickbay, the Doctor is shown the passengers from the plane, who have all aged hundreds of years. In addition, prehistoric animals have been appearing all over the city.
The Doctor is fascinated by a shard of ice from the plane crash - a shard that doesn't melt, but gives off a signal.
Meanwhile Majenta has gone for a wander amongst UNIT's spoils...
...and spies on the suspicious Manning, who consorts with a hidden alien.
The ice shard reveals to the Doctor that he's facing a familiar foe...
...as another wave of time energy causes a dinosaur invasion!
Manning is in fact a disguised member of Majneta's own race, and her former lackey...
...who has allied himself with none other than the leader of the Skith!
Fanson explains that when Majenta was teleported away from the Hotel Historia to the Thinktwice facility, he was intercepted and brought to Earth by the injured Skith leader, and the two then infiltrated UNIT.
Having accepted Fanson's pleas for Majenta's life...
...the Skith leader goes on a recruitment drive...
...while the Doctor works on revealing a gigantic crystal ship hanging over Sydney.
Majenta appears to betray the Doctor to the Skith, on Fanson's promise of uncovering her hidden memories.
Although the Skith ship was summoned by the revived leader, he hasn't been able to access the Mindcore - until now.
He's about to use the time-sensitive Doctor to unlock the timeshifting around the ship, but before he has a chance to do so...
...the ship finally communicates, and unleashes the Skith army.
Aboard the Skith ship, there's trouble in the ranks, as the Skith General deposes the Leader, throwing him into the ship's core...
...while the Skith scientists scanning Majenta's mind discover that she is a time traveller, and therefore of value.
The General reveals the fate of the Skith Homeworld, seemingly obliterated by a giant Crimson Hand...
...and the Skith have built themselves an icy replica of the TARDIS from the memories they absorbed from the Doctor during their last encounter.
Their next move is to transform Majenta into a Skith Queen to pilot their "Skardis".
Majenta's real memories fleetingly break through...
Sydney begins to freeze...
...and the Doctor is surprised to be rescued by the dying Skith leader, who tasks him with saving the Skith from themselves.
The Doctor tells the Skith Queen that the Skardis won't work and is just going to keep releasing deadly chronal waves until it destroys itself...
...and is able to persuade Majenta, still there in the Queen, to move the ship into real time, where UNIT can attack and destroy it.
Fanson sacrifices himself to save Majenta from a last ditch attack by the General...
...and as he dies, he admits that it was he that wiped her memories - to protect her from a terrible secret.
Majenta destroys the Skith, but is rescued by the Doctor.
He forgives her betrayal, or at least he's too curious about the mystery of Majenta's memories to bear a grudge...
A barnstorming sequel to The First, it probably helps if you've read that earlier strip and the preceding few stories that introduced Majenta, but even without that knowledge this is very accomplished and rewarding in its own right.
It's an all out action thriller that, very much like its' predecessor, evokes both the TV series and the high water mark of the strip's own The Flood.
This came in the so-called "gap year" and is easily a better story than any of the 10th Doctor's on-screen adventures of 2009.
Dan McDaid's writing is top drawer, with the Skith once again very pleasing on the eye due to Martin Geraghty's strong character design, and the Australian setting makes for another unique setting that gives a big budget feel.
A definite page-turner and one that's really deserving of much more acclaim; high quality and high entertainment!
9/10
TTFN! K.
Coming Soon... The Curse of the Scarab
No comments:
Post a Comment