The Klepton Parasites

All things considered, this isn’t a bad first attempt at a Doctor Who comic strip.  The story is basic but - with a few tweaks - I could imagine it as a televised story from the First Doctor’s era. Indeed, I can see a few similarities with the first Dalek story.

The artwork is also fairly basic - at least compared to what would come later but it has a certain charm to it. The design of the Klepton city and, indeed, of the Kleptons themselves is quite impressive. The more humanoid looking Thain people are somewhat less so.

The dialogue is fairly functional and non-descript so none of the characters really stand out, including the Doctor and his grandchildren. Gillian in particular does nothing of note. John, on the other hand seems quite bloodthirsty. He’s more than willing to punch out a Klepton or gun them down if necessary.

Overall, it’s hardly an auspicious debut for what will become over 60 years worth of Doctor Who comics.  But then the same could probably be said for the first televised story and look at how that turned out. As with the TV series, the best is yet to come.

Looked at objectively, the TV Comic series is dogshit, but to my eyes, it’s very charming. The art is great, and the bare bones of the story work same as something like The Daleks works. The dialogue is where this all falls apart, as every speech bubble is just a character explaining the plot as it happens, and it’s very unexciting and bears absolutely no insight into any of the characters or themes in the strip.