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"INTO CONTROL – SWORDS, SYCORAX, AND STORY SPLICES"

Into Control by Steve Cole, featured in the Doctor Who Annual 2024, picks up directly where the prose tale Out of Control from 10 Days of Christmas (and earlier in the 2024 annual) left off—giving readers the second half of the Fourteenth Doctor's confrontation with the Sycorax, but this time in comic strip form. It’s a fun publishing experiment, but one that works better in concept than execution. As a standalone, the comic falters, delivering action without much substance or setup, and relying on readers to have read the prose story first.

DUELLING DOCTORS AND SYCORAX SWORDS

The central event of Into Control is a sword fight between the Doctor and the Sycorax Queen—a visual payoff to the buildup in Out of Control. For those who have read the first story, this is a punchy continuation that allows the Queen’s betrayal and the Doctor’s cleverness to play out in full colour. The artwork sells the energy of the duel, even if the choreography never quite leaps off the page the way the best Doctor Who comics do.

It’s a shame, though, that Into Control doesn't bother to recap or re-establish the scenario. Without Out of Control, it reads more like a third act plucked from a story you were never told. The Doctor’s arrival, the Queen’s motivations, and the plight of the prisoners are all barely touched upon—leaving newcomers in the lurch.

GOOD DOCTOR, DODGY SYCORAX

The Fourteenth Doctor is captured well here, both in look and tone. His charm, confidence, and righteous anger come through clearly, and the dialogue rings true to Tennant’s performance—especially his now slightly older, more grounded iteration of the character. Steve Cole gets the voice right, and it’s fun seeing this version of the Doctor back in action, swashbuckling like it’s The Christmas Invasion all over again.

The Sycorax Queen, however, is something of a missed opportunity. While the design is bold—more monstrous and grotesque than what we saw on TV—it lacks the cultural identity and eeriness of the original Sycorax design. She feels like a generic villain in a Sycorax skin. There’s also little time given to develop her as anything more than an antagonist to be defeated.

ART THAT TELLS, BUT DOESN’T SING

The artwork throughout is solid, with clean panel layouts and a good visual representation of the Doctor. The action is easy to follow, and there’s a definite effort made to keep the momentum up. But aside from the Queen’s slightly off-model appearance, the comic doesn’t push any stylistic boundaries. It’s competent, but hardly memorable.

What it does succeed at is giving readers who have read Out of Control a satisfying visual conclusion. Seeing the Doctor free the prisoners and turn the tables on the Queen is enjoyable, if predictable. The script doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it delivers the beats it needs to hit.

A NOVEL EXPERIMENT… WITH LIMITATIONS

The decision to split a story across two media—a prose short story and a comic strip—is an exciting one in theory. It’s refreshing to see a multi-platform narrative told across a Christmas anthology and an annual. But in practice, it highlights how fragile such an approach can be when the individual pieces aren’t allowed to stand on their own. Into Control relies heavily on the reader having read the prose half, and without it, the comic is a blur of context-less action.

For those who have read both, this is a pleasant enough epilogue. For those who haven’t, it’s a curious fragment.

📝THE BOTTOM LINE:

Into Control is a nicely illustrated, briskly paced continuation of a story most readers won’t have immediate access to. As a comic book coda to Out of Control, it works—just barely. But judged on its own merits, it's more of a supplementary visual than a self-sufficient tale. Worth a read for fans of the Fourteenth Doctor and Sycorax lore completists, but not a must-have.

Rating: 6/10

Honestly a bit of an eyeroll that 14 meets the Sycorax so soon, but kinda nice in a sense too. Very much fan service lol. I like how this story spans two different mediums, starting as a short story then concluding in a comic. Not a huge amount of substance, but the design of the Sycorax Queen is very cool!

i loved the art style to this story i loved how its in 2 different mediums too as a whole its quite fun is it perfect no but defo fun if you ever wanted more doctor and sycorax after the christmas invasion