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"Running to Stay Still: A Frustrating Pitstop"

Running to Stay Still sees the Eleventh Doctor and his companions continue their pursuit of the secret Dalek cabal, believed to be responsible for the slaughter tied to the Doctor's accusations and the creation of the Malignant. However, rather than advancing the overarching plot significantly, the story feels like another repetitive stop along the way.

River Song faces the dire consequence of being partially consumed and placed in stasis, sidelining her in a way that feels abrupt and underwhelming. Meanwhile, the Squire reappears only to engage in a valiant but ultimately futile fight against the Then and the Now, succumbing to mortal injuries in the process.

Alice takes a more active role in this chapter, showing a glimmer of agency despite the Doctor’s continuing dismissive and harsh behavior towards his companions. Abslom Daak, who showed some growth in previous issues, frustratingly reverts to his usual complaints about the absence of Daleks—a sentiment that mirrors the reader's own.

Indeed, the glaring lack of Daleks in a story revolving around them is a notable weakness. This feels less like an exciting installment and more like a filler that accomplishes little beyond Alice stealing the Master's TARDIS, a plot device to allow the Doctor to escape the pursuit of the Then and the Now.

📝Verdict: 5/10

While the stakes remain high, Running to Stay Still struggles to justify its place in the larger narrative, with its title reflecting the stagnation of the story. It’s another pitstop that leaves you wishing for a clearer sense of direction.

River continuing to act out of character, and The Doctor doing so too now, they're just being mean to Alice for no reason and it's really weird. Even after River gets put in stasis, Eleven continues to do so. It's sort of implied that it's maybe to convince her to do what she does at the end of the story, but even then I just don't believe that that's how Eleven would act if that even is the intent of that ending, and I don't know if it is.

They also completely gloss over Ablsom's reaction to seeing his wife again here. Sure there's a full page splash of him swearing at Eleven, but that's kinda it? And Eleven doesn't seem to care at all, seemingly telling Abslom to hush, which somehow he then does???

There's some really solid art here, but there's also a lot that almost looks traced, it's a very strange mismatch.

Also Squire's back! I guess she didnt' just vanish in the last issue, weird art choice there then. But regardless, she then almost immediately takes out the main problem of this whole series, and almost immediately almost dies.

I don't know how to put it other than this feeling like an issue where a lot of things just kinda happen.