Titan Comics is a world of Doctor Who which, I think, has a limited reach in fandom.  Certainly, the stories are not discussed in any great detail and strip companions such as Gabby, Cindy, Alice and John Jones are rarely mentioned in online discussions.

For me, they are a curiosity rather than an essential part of the world of Doctor Who.  They’re sort of like the old Doctor Who annuals in that respect.  Some of the stories are solid, traditional Doctor Who – particularly the 12th Doctor storylines.  Some are far more left field, and in another similarity with the Doctor Who annuals of yore, border on surrealism and bizarre concepts.  The 10th Doctor ones lean into this, particularly some of the more recent strips, but the 11th Doctor storyline is one of the most confusing, rambling, strange concepts to have the title Doctor Who.

What He Wants is relatively early in proceedings before the whole story delves into the Time War with huge alien companions, young Masters, War Doctors and the strangest Daleks you have ever seen.  At this point, the Doctor and his comic strip companion Alice Obiefune – a library assistant – are having relatively ‘normal’ adventures.

Many of the 11th Doctor adventures span multiple issues and multiple stories.  At this point, the Doctor and Alice have begun to encounter agents of SERVEYOUinc and this story finds them stumbling across the Talent Scout, one such agent, in Mississippi in 1931.  On the way to visit an old jazz musician friend of the Doctor’s, they also pick up an unexpected travelling companion in the form of failing 1960s musician, John Jones.

Jones is clearly based on David Bowie – it’s not even particularly subtle.  As a character, though, he’s not very well established in this story although that’s partly because he is being set up with a ‘chameleonic’ ability to blend in.  There’s a very weird section where the Doctor and Alice don’t notice him aboard the TARDIS despite the fact that he’s standing right next to them.  There’s a mystery in Jones which will play out a little over the following stories – although it’s not one I ever remember having a satisfactory conclusion.

Alice is a solid addition to the pantheon of reliable companions who give as good as they get where the Doctor is concerned.  She’s fun, adventurous and knowledgeable.  There’s even a part where the Doctor admits he’s enjoying travelling with someone who knows some of the answers.

Historically, 1930s Mississippi is a little stereotyped.  We’re in the bayou and the locals are a large number of non-descript black locals who have been taken over by the Talent Scout.  Their zombie-like behaviour has echoes of the Deep South’s oft-portrayed belief in voodoo but overall there isn’t much time spent on establishing them as characters in their own right – and there are the slightly uncomfortable slavery overtones.  Even the Doctor’s jazz friend, Robert Johnson, is a relatively two-dimensional character that functions in the way many of the Doctor’s ‘old friends’ do.  He’s very reminiscient of Omar from A Wing and a Prayer and it does seem that the 11th Doctor has a propensity for making friends throughout time and space (and even more than friends if we’re to believe what happened with Marilyn Munro).  It’s actually quite a nice element of this incarnation of the Doctor and it does seem that the comics have picked up on it from the TV series’s liking for giving him ready-made help – whether it’s Winston Churchill or a young Kazran Sardick.  Robert does help at the climax to the story, but other than that, there was probably more that could be done with him as a character.

The art style of the 11th Doctor comics from Titan is also a problem for me.  It’s a rather indistinct, sloppy style which doesn’t flatter Matt Smith and makes a lot of the other characters quite vague, especially when not in close up.  When contrasted with the style of the 10th and 12th Doctor strips is really stands out as being less appealingly drawn.

A very weird aspect is the reintroduction of Bessie.  Apparently stored inside the TARDIS, for some reason it has now been metamorphosed into a monster truck!  It’s a silly idea and one which doesn’t seem to have much purpose.  Bessie is used at the climax of the story to rescue the Doctor but there is no reason, whatsoever for Bessie not to be the Edwardian roadster we know and love.  It’s just another element which adds to the slightly off-kilter atmosphere of these comic strips.

One silly little titbit is that the story’s title – a very non-descript, uninspiring trio of words – features one of, what I believe, are only two uses of ellipses in a Doctor Who story title – the other one being …ish, a 6th Doctor audio from Big Finish.

All in all, What He Wants… is pretty inconsequential, even though it introduces one of the ongoing strip’s main companions.  Reading these strips is a slightly odd, slightly disconcerting experience and, unlike the DWM strips, or even many of the IDW ones, the 11th Doctor run is not one I can see myself often returning to.