I can see why this is a higher rated story. It’s very epic and represents a significant milestone for the series, tying up the seventh Doctor’s era in comic form. There are a handful of full page visuals which are particularly striking, including the TARDIS materialising inside a creature and obliterating it as a result.

I am not sold that this story needed multiple companions from the past. With the exception of Susan, they do not get a great deal to do. You could swap out Peri and Sarah-Jane for any boiler plate companion, even keeping the dialogue the same, and it would still work.

The baddies are distinctive, but occasionally, because their epic nature is sustained over 5 issues, it varies in impact.

The death of Ace is a wild choice, they are really swinging for the fences with that, setting up The Doctor nicely for the TV Movie. Her death, in this timeline at least, is real. In others, she survives!