If you see the title as a reference to Dorian Gray, you're right, because it is. In fact, there's a lot of painting involved, because we're introduced to Josie, who is a painter, and her paintings are beginning to come to life and come out into the world. It's a bit like the situation with the ziggons in The Day of the Doctor, but in our case, these are really paintings, not moments frozen in time.
It's these paintings that the Doctor has to deal with, as he's just come to his estate in Wales (yes, the Doctor has an estate in Wales) to pick up his copy of Jane Eyre, which gives rise to my favourite shot in this collection.
And it was at the estate that the Doctor met Josie, because she had just moved in for fun. She needed somewhere to live, and the house was empty. It's a good thing she ended up on the Eighth and not the First.
This encounter with Josie and her paintings is where the story begins, not only in this issue, but partly in the entire series, because the paintings depict Ice Warriors and other aliens that an ordinary person from Wales should not have seen.
Obviously, this will catch the Doctor's interest and provide a hook to pull Josie along. Another hook would be a note with coordinates and a list of places to visit in his copy of Jane Eyre, which they would follow.
In general, this is a very nice start. The Doctor and Josie immediately develop a very interesting and cool character dynamic, the girl is nicely developed as a character, the ‘problem’ of the issue is nicely drawn out, and the intrigue at the end is catchy - what more do you need to be happy in the first issue?
The Doctor's mansion itself is a special treat, because instead of just creating a house, the authors recreate the exterior of the Doctor's mansion from the 1972 Zeron Invasion comic book on British TV Action.
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/stari-doktory-novi-pryhody
