I absolutely adored this story.

The art in this comic is spectacular, the style feels realistic enough that The Doctor doesn't look out of place, this is very clearly Capaldi, it's not super stylised like some other runs (not that that's a bad thing to be clear, but it's nice to have this). It's also not too realistic to have the element of uncanny valley though.

The villains too make great use of this art-style. When you get aliens that are too.. 'alien'... for lack of a better way of putting it in a comic with this more realistic art style, they can feel quite out of place. The monsters here however, being humans taken over by dark matter, are just spectacular. The realism of the style adds to the horror when you see the inky black dripping from their eyes.

And then there's the flashback sequences. I love when stories make use of their medium, and having the flashbacks be in this beautiful sepia sketchbook style is just so lovely.

Julie D'Aubigny makes for a delightful companion in this piece. A truly incredible historical figure that I'm surprised hasn't been used in the main show. She's such an incredibly interesting person and I love how she's portrayed here. Seeing her history in a flashback, and seeing both her vocal and dueling talents on display is great. On the one hand I could see it argued that the moment with her singing fending off creatures thanks to the sonic feels a bit of an asspull, but I think it really works for the doctor, 'the pen is mightier than the sword' vibes.

If I did have any criticisms, it'd be that gargoyles are a bit out of place, and the ending is a little Deus Ex Machina, but those definitely don't take away from this story for me at all