The second story introduces Stacey to a new species for her, and us to the culture and social structure of the Ice Warriors (it's worth noting that they are most likely not relevant in the current ‘official’ canon, but as we know, canon in Doctor Who is like a delicious cake, it's there and then it's gone). Stacey and the Doctor watch a young noble Ice Warrior undergo the Tuburr ritual, which allows a young Ice Warrior to be promoted to a higher caste and become an Ice Lord. Obviously, the Doctor and Stacey are caught, but not punished (although they should have been). And then there is an attack by a hostile feudal family and the young lord is kidnapped, and since he hasn't completed the ritual, he can't take over his feud from his father. As you can imagine, a little Game of Thrones ensues: The Doctor finds out that the boy was stolen by his own uncle and brings the nobleman back; his mother (Luass) turns out to be a traitor, and Stacey and her new Ice Warrior bro, Sarda, are kidnapped by the same evil uncle. And that's actually where the story ends and moves on to the next one.

In general, the strip is okay. The mother of the nobleman has a cool design, but here we see that the head of the family and the owner of the feud is a man who, in fact, plans to pass on power to his son. And as we remember from the newscaster, Martians are dominated by matriarchy, so you can fit this into your hedcanons as you wish. Since we are not told the time of the events, I prefer to assume that the events simply take place before the matriarchy reigns among the Ice Warriors.

This review is a translation of a part of my Ukrainian-language text, the original can be found here: https://www.mzut-podcast.com/post/eighth-doctor-radio-time-comic-strip

RADIO TIMES COMICS: STORY 4 (Eighth Doctor: Story 2)

Oh dear.

Descendance, the second story in the Radio Times Eight Doctor comics, is very, very boring.

Good Doctor Who is not supposed to be boring.

Good comics are not supposed to be boring.

This strip is not boring in the sense of nothing much happening, but boring as in it’s basically just a load of mind-numbing Ice Warrior politics.

I also struggled to actually understand what was happening. This is not one of those stories that are meant to confuse, it is just badly written.

This is all such a shame, as I usually enjoy Alan Barnes’ stories.

Not this one.

It is terrible.

Like the previous installment, Dreadnought, the art is the only thing saving this story.

The comic ends with a cliffhanger, which means I’ll have to read the next strip, Ascendence.

Oh dear.