The Stockbridge Showdown

It's amazing to think that not only has Doctor Who Magazine lasted 500 issues, but that by doing so it has broken the Guinness World Record for longest running TV tie-in magazine. One of my favourite features about DWM has always been the comic strip so it's nice that it formed a major part of the magazine's celebrations.

The Stockbridge Showdown sees the 12th Doctor return to Stockbridge, a prominent village in the Doctor's magazine adventures. The TARDIS has 'found' UFO spotter Maxwell Edison who the Doctor needs as 'local knowledge' to find the cause of some temporal distortions. This quite rightly feels like a celebration of Doctor Who Magazine, with popular comic characters from the magazine's past 500 issues returning such as Frobisher, Magenta Price and of course, Maxwell himself. The problem is that some of these character inclusions feel forced and don't really compliment the narrative. The story is good overall for a comic strip although I can't help but think it would have worked better as just a 12th Doctor and Max tale.

My other problem with is that the conclusion feels a bit rushed and somewhat convenient. Don't get me wrong, the twist of who the trap is really for is clever but it feels more than a little forced, especially the way Frobisher is revealed. The comic strip had a few extra pages than usual but with the number of characters featured in the strip it would probably have benefitted from numerous parts. One thing you can't deny though is that it does undeniably feel comic book-y with the numerous characters featured. It wouldn't be a story that would work on TV but as a comic strip it is workable.

The use of different artists from DWM's past didn't quite work in its favour either. It's a great idea to have numerous artists like Dave Gibbons and Adrian Salmon work on one strip but ultimately in execution it didn't pay off. There are too many comic strip styles on display and the whole thing feels disjointed rather than one whole piece. It's like the artists couldn't agree on one style to use so opted for different ones. It can occasionally make for a muddled and confusing read as the sudden change drags you out of the story.

The dialogue by Dave Gibbons and Roger Langridge is brilliant though. They have got the characterisation of the 12th Doctor perfect and clearly know their DWM history. In fact, it feels like a natural progression from the 12th Doctor as seen in The Husbands of River Song (interesting fact: this is actually the first Doctor-only, no Clara comic strip from DWM). The dialogue is completely faultless and probably one of the most authentic 12th Doctor comic strips I have read.

Overall, The Stockbridge Showdown certainly isn't among DWM's best comic strips. The dialogue is strong and the idea of using different artists from the magazine's history is a good one but unfortunately it just doesn't quite gel in execution and a lot of the characters feel somewhat forced into the narrative rather than fitting in naturally.