Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

"FRACTURES: A MULTIVERSE MYSTERY WITH A SLOW START"

Fractures marks Kate Lethbridge-Stewart’s comic book debut alongside UNIT, bringing an Earth-bound adventure that sees Clara attempting to balance her life at Coal Hill School while dealing with a strange new alien threat. The first issue is mostly setup, introducing the key players and building tension rather than diving straight into action.

THE FRACTURES – STANDARD NEW WHO MONSTERS

The titular Fractures are dimensional entities with a creepy, spectral presence, but they feel like a fairly typical New Who monster—otherworldly beings arriving to “correct” a dimensional anomaly. Their menace is mostly theoretical at first, with the first half spending more time setting up the stakes than allowing them to exert much real influence.

The story leans heavily into multiverse concepts, with a dimensional portal reverse-engineered from UNIT’s work in Army of Ghosts. This provides a solid sci-fi hook, even if the execution is a bit slow-moving.

CHARACTER DYNAMICS AND ACTION HIGHLIGHTS

The Doctor is reliably Doctor-ish, while Clara remains as divisive as ever. The supporting characters, particularly Lisa and her family, serve as emotional anchors, though they don’t stand out much.

There are some fun action beats, particularly Clara driving a double-decker bus through London—because why not? The sequence where the TARDIS gets involved in the bus chase adds a touch of excitement, making it a standout moment in an otherwise slow-burning narrative.

A PROMISING SETUP THAT NEEDS MORE URGENCY

For a comic story, Fractures is intriguing but not especially gripping. The tension builds gradually, but the aliens themselves remain largely in the background. The adventure ends with the Doctor making a characteristically risky decision—allowing an alternate version of Paul to stay, despite the potential consequences.

VERDICT: DECENT START, NEEDS MORE DRIVE

While Fractures introduces some interesting multiversal ideas and UNIT’s comic book presence is a welcome addition, a lot of it feels more like setup than a fully engaging adventure. With a slow pace and a relatively low-stakes feel, it suffers from never truly picking up momentum.

📝7/10