Script: Gareth Roberts & Clayton Hickman; Art: Mike Collins, David Roach, Dylan Teague, James Offredi, Roger Langridge
A Review by Finn Clark 9/8/05
It's not bad, I suppose. It does nothing wrong and it passes the time agreeably enough, but somehow it doesn't feel Ecclestony. I watch the TV episodes and I read the comic strip... not even remotely the same.
For starters, it's slightly shocking for a comic strip to be clearly inferior to what's on TV! Ever since Doctor Who Weekly kicked off in 1979, the comic strip had rarely failed to outclass their contemporary TV episodes. Admittedly the McCoy strips got pretty weak at times, but then again so did the TV stories... and when it comes to Parkhouse's run in the early eighties, there's no comparison.
This however has a script by Gareth Roberts (not my favourite comic strip writer, though this is far from his worst story) and jolly, slightly plastic-looking art from Mike Collins and David A. Roach. Don't get me wrong. It's perfectly good. It looks nice. However compared with the vivid intensity of Eccleston and Piper on TV, it feels throwaway. Mike Collins draws a couple of strong Eccleston headshots where this Doctor means business, but otherwise this is simply a laugh. No more, no less.
The extended episodes are an interesting feature. At 29 pages, this three-parter is longer than most four-parters from the past fifteen years. The colouring is also attractive. We've had a few missteps since DWM's comic strip went into colour in 2001, but by now things seem to have settled down nicely.
Continuity details are present and correct. Someone they meet assumes that the Doctor and Rose are a couple (unheard of in the old series but seemingly a common mistake with Eccleston and Piper) and we see the Doctor using his new-model sonic screwdriver. However there are no overt references to Old Who, either the TV show or the comics. Bye bye, Destrii. You're yesterday's news. Sob.
[The non-overt reference is a throwaway line about the Post Office Tower that seems to be remembering The War Machines. However I think we can assume that new fans picking up DWM for the first time won't be too fussed about nods to stories from 1966.]
However on the upside, The Love Invasion is amusing. I wouldn't call it hilarious or anything (I don't know if it's even really a comedy) but there are some entertainingly daft ideas underpinning the plot and the last episode is just plain wacky. Plus Rose Tyler gets a scurrilous one-liner that made me laugh more than any other joke in a DWM comic strip to date.
In many ways this story is business as usual for DWM, or even a little above average. The writers are clearly having fun, even if they do take a while to get to the point. As always Mike Collins turns in attractive pencils, with portraits of Eccleston and Piper that go from "acceptable" to "perfect". I've made uncharitable noises about the art, which isn't exactly hard-edged or gritty, but arguably that's just what the story demanded. It's a Gareth Roberts strip. What did you expect?
I enjoyed this, I guess. It's only when you compare it with the new TV series (or even the earlier generation of DWM comic strips) that you start feeling that the comic strip might be setting its sights too low. If I had to score it, seven out of ten.