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“CARD CONUNDRUM: THE SECOND DOCTOR GETS DEALT A VERY STRANGE HAND”

Card Conundrum is a surreal, stylish tribute to the Second Doctor’s era—imagine The Mind Robber, The Celestial Toymaker, and a pack of playing cards all got chucked into the TARDIS blender and whirled into a comic. The result? A bonkers short story that’s visually distinctive, deeply weird, and tonally spot-on for the era. The only catch? It feels like we’ve joined the story just as the credits are about to roll.

A GORGEOUS, IF HAZY, NIGHTMARE

The art here leans towards the soft and washed-out, giving the whole strip an ethereal, almost dreamlike quality that suits the off-kilter nature of the story. The visual design of the insectoid playing card creatures is gloriously absurd, and you can easily imagine this as one of the more experimental BBC studio-bound adventures from the late 60s, complete with wobbly sets and moody lighting.

The vibe is pure Season 4 or 5 weirdness, with the Doctor whipping out mathematical brilliance to escape a conceptual trap while Jamie stands loyally by his side, ready to thump something if necessary. It’s the perfect setup for the kind of cerebral nonsense that defined the Second Doctor’s most abstract stories.

BUT WHO SHUFFLED US TO THIS POINT?

As deliciously bizarre as it is, Card Conundrum suffers from a total lack of setup. There’s no explanation of who the creatures are, where we are, or how the TARDIS team ended up in this mess. It genuinely feels like we’ve stumbled into the final ten minutes of Part Four of a long-lost serial. Fun? Absolutely. Confusing? Definitely.

Ben and Polly, despite technically being present, are barely involved—relegated to background duty while the Doctor and Jamie handle everything. Considering how rare it is to see this full TARDIS crew together, it’s a missed opportunity not to give the original companions something meatier.

📝VERDICT: 8/10

Card Conundrum is a trippy, nostalgic dive into the stranger side of Doctor Who’s black-and-white years. Its soft art style and eerie vibe are a perfect fit for the Second Doctor, and the insectoid playing card aliens are classic Who weirdness. But the lack of context and underuse of Ben and Polly make it feel more like a stylish coda than a complete adventure. Still, if you're a fan of the era’s cerebral chaos and theatrical oddities, this will deal you a good hand.

Compared to last time, there is at least a plot, which is an improvement, I guess, but the rest leaves a lot to be desired. The entire ‘story’ is at max the last few anticlimactic minutes/pages of another story. The plot is: aliens have tardis, doc and co must get out of here, they get out of here. And like that’s better than nothing. But also. That’s just barely anything at all. And this is the first one of the comics in this series that falls into the many traps that come with making such incredibly short stories. You can’t properly introduce things, so you’ll end up with stuff happening because the writer said so. How do we get past big card? Ben holds one, and now they are small. There’s no rhyme or reason to anything. Compared to last time, there is at least a flicker of a story, but I still can’t say it’s actually better or seen any kind of improvement. And again, I’m just kinda baffled.

The colouring isn’t as nice as last time, and is a lot harder. Last comic’s colouring actually felt like kinda a substitute for the black and white too, and felt like it fit the era, which this doesn’t have. But of course it isn’t required to, and the colouring is perfectly fine, just not very special, or as atmospheric. The actual drawings are pretty good, but a bit opposite of the last story where the backgrounds and general surroundings are way more lifeless than the characters. To even worse degrees I might say. Like the characters themselves look quite crisp, but they stand around in the most empty looking places. Maybe it was on purpose to reflect classic Doctor Who, I don’t know, I’m thinking of excuses for them, I shouldn’t do that, the artist got paid, I don’t need to defend them. Anyways. No, no anyways, I was done talking, actually.

Short fun sweet story with hijinks

I have to say, so far I am enjoying this comic. It's so creative and fun with each part thus far and really showcases some cool artwork. This part's art was by Giorgia Sposito and their work is outstanding, featuring a lot of detail that really brought the characters to life. The story is framed within the comic of the Doctor looking back on his companions fondly while also remembering with equal reverence how weird their adventures could get. This is quite true of Card Conondrum which is a little bonkers - featuring insects that look like playing cards and when they are grabbed by the TARDIS crew they turn into regular playing cards, and then the aliens want the Doctor to pick a card that will presumably become their Queen. After which, the aliens present the TARDIS out of this sort of cocoon. Yep, that is sufficiently weird which I kind of adored. The world of Doctor Who should be full of weird aliens and strange adventures. There's not exactly a lot of point to this particular comic short but it sure was memorable.