Hey you know what’s pretty good about this comic? I think what’s pretty cool is how they show what happens after being touched by an angel. It’s like that Johnny Morris book but with a lot of different creative scenario’s, and only some are copy pasted from other stories. I like that. I think it’s cool. 

I also think this is a very impactful story about the horrifying thing that is war. I think that’s very well done. And now I’m going to be mean about the rest of the story. 

For a change, I’ll start talking about the artwork. Because I don’t like it. Not just in a “not my thing kind of not like it”, but in a “genuinely find it distracting kind of not like it”. ESPECIALLY after Casagrande last book, this is total whiplash.

Look like, I get it, I get the war thing. I get that you want to make it look gritty. But the amount of shadows cast on the Doctor’s face every single panel made me burst out in giggles several times just for how ludicrous it is. Like I’m sorry, Indro and Mujiono, but I think it looks really bad. It works alright for me with all the side characters, but the Doctor’s face just feels so out of place. He doesn’t just not look like David Tennant (which I don’t really care about), he doesn’t look like the Doctor to me. He looks like some bloke who stepped out of a 90s superhero comic and was put in Ten’s suit. Because I can handle all your side characters being drawn quite ugly, because it represents that war is ugly, but the Doc? My guy the Doc looking like Frank Castle? Cannot help but laugh.

Generally, all characters look abhorrent, not just in their faces, but an overwhelming amount of panels are incredibly static and convey zero sense of movement, with characters, and especially Gabby, standing about in strange, unnatural poses. Though, this is actually a good thing for one element of the comic; being the weeping angels! They look horrific, unnatural, and static in the best way possible. They’re marvelously, almost ‘beautifully’ drawn. The angels have rarely looked better. Immensely creepy, and the overwhelming detail makes them super unsettling, plus they fit in perfectly with their environments.

That’s another point towards the art too, because all the places look really good. The different timezones, the grey war-torn fields of destruction, all the feelings they want to convey, they do greatly.

Like, the art isn’t technically bad per se, because it’s got a lot of those things right. But it falls into recurring tropes that I really dislike, and find it generally unpleasant to look at.

Right. Now Morrison. I’ve already said the good things, there are good things in this comic book. There are many people who can point out the good things. And I would agree, mostly, there’s some good ideas, lovely ideas even. I just don’t think they’re all executed in a proper way. And I find there’s a lack of care put into the plot, which makes that it doesn’t come together as well as it wants to.

Welp, let’s get some of my pettier complaints out of the way. I don’t like the Tenth Doctor. If you want to, you may take a looksie at my review for Revolutions of Terror, where I talk about this too, but I don’t like Ten. However, I did like how Abadzis wrote Ten. I said that he almost didn’t feel like the Tenth Doctor, more like Fourteen, but I liked that. The friendship he develops with Gabby was sweet as he warmed up to her, and there was a show of him developing emotionally. Big fan of that. This wasn’t here. Morrison characterizes Ten in a way completely inconsistent with the previous two stories, and makes you wonder how Gabby even got into the TARDIS if the Doctor has been acting like this much of a bitch the entire time. And it’s not just the moment where he decides to be a big ol’ bully and vents a rant with his feelings on humanity onto Gabby for no reason at all (which he doesn’t even apologize for, and Gabby takes no issue with for some reason). It’s his attitude of being more important than everyone else that was often a thing in his tv run that irks me. Abadzis seemed to have finally taken the Tenth Doctor in a new direction which showed development, and made the Doctor-Companion dynamic feel equal, which is just thrown out of the window here. Really annoying. I hope there’s still a chance for later issues to continue some kind of character arc for both Gabby and Ten. Really carve out its own era, and have him actually learn something, so it’s less Doctor Who Tv Show Tenth Doctor spinoff comics, and more The Titan Tenth Doctor comic book run, if you get what I mean.

Our other main character, Gabby. Ah. Yes. Loved her previously. She does nothing here. She’s entirely reduced to ‘companion stands around and asks the Doctor questions’ which is made even more insufferable by Ten being, well, Ten, and Gabby’s standing around being drawn like female characters in comic books are drawn way too often. She’s just here to move the plot along at certain points, and have a really contrived love story, yay.

The thing she has with Jamie not McCrimmon really annoys me. It’s not build up well at all, the characters have zero chemistry, like it doesn’t even feel like Morrison is trying to make me believe these two guys like each other naturally. They talk once, then don’t interact at all in the first half of the story, and then Jamie saves her, because of course he does, and then suddenly they’re in love. Robbie even tries to do a bit of teenage romance where they don’t tell each other because they don’t dare, and it borders on caricatural. I’m sure there are going to be people who’ll disagree, but this is just heteronormativity being seen as enough. Boy, girl, find out they’re around the same age, interact for 5 minutes, love at first sight. None of their relationship is naturally created from a situation, none of it is consistent with their characterization, all of it is done to have them kiss at the most dramatic moment Morrison could cook up.

Because that’s my real problem with all this. All the stuff happening just because the writer said so. Everything is so obviously made with the intention to get to ‘the cool scenes’. Why are the Weeping Angels here? Because it’s the perfect place to eat lots of time space stuff! Why are they so aggressive? Because it would look cool in the comic they are hungry and haven’t been able to eat well! Who cares that this doesn’t match up with the internal logic we just established by having the Doctor simply tell the audience! Come on guys, now we’re going to run to our next badass looking set piece!

I think one of the best examples I could give about the lack of plot here is the spoilers. The best I can do is: some of the characters you’re introduced to die/get sent back in time. And maybe I could spoil what happens to them there, which is largely not really significant, but it is what you’ll mostly remember, because the set pieces and melodramatic moments are the only real focus.

There is no actual story present. Outside of the really well done themes surrounding war, there is no greater thematic meaning to what’s happening either. Cynically of me, that’s why I think it’s so popular, because my brain isn’t going to remember the entire story. I just have so much memory, and my blinkus of the thinkus isn’t what it used to be. I’ll just remember the creepy image of someone having sewn their own eyes open so they won’t blink in front of an Angel (brilliant), or the striking images of those Angels, like in the amazing and hugely atmospheric opening sequence. I’ll remember the detailed illustrations, that left a great impact, because they were so striking. I’ll remember the passionate kiss between two characters that happens in the face of death itself, but where they don’t want to face death, but rather each other, where the inevitable end is ignored in favour of the beauty of love and life, while they are being engulfed by an explosion, making their dramatic sacrifice. I won’t remember the story beats. Of course I won’t, they weren’t there. But that doesn’t matter. The important part is what the reader does remember. And cynically of me, I think Robbie Morrison knows that very well. And so who cares if your comic makes no damn sense.

This isn’t even much of a critique on Morrison. It seems he knows really well what he wants and can accomplish it. I just don’t like it. Sometimes it’s as simple as that. But every simple thought has a whole array of complicated, smaller thoughts behind it. And the several smaller thoughts are usually more understandable than ‘I just don’t like it,’ even if it’s as simple as that.

Also the whole thing is derivative asf like wtf do you mean OH I’M soooooo clever hmm aha WINK aha, like stfu. Sorry, comic is good, me just not likey. Okay, like, look, like I like it, I like it enough to give it three stars, there’s that good stuff. I do not regret my time with it. But I also don’t like it. It clashes, like you get the middle, or somewhere like that. Does that, like, make like sense. I’m using subliminal messaging to make you like my review. 

This story is the most in depth exploration of the impact that The Weeping Angel’s power to send people back in time. Throughout this story you see how this power impacts countless young men. It is used as a touching allegory for those who lost their lives in The First World War. To do this tactfully I’m a science fiction comic is a tall order, but Titan comics prove up to the task. I was truly touched.

Gabby continues to delight. She brings a spark and a levity to every interaction. Her journey is essential reading, elevating The Tenth Doctor’s range beyond that of the other Titan comics from around this time. If I was to have one tiny niggle it’s that the voice of The Doctor is not always captured totally faithfully. But then you see a soldier who has sown his eyes open to not blink, and then some ultra romantic kissing, then explosions, and you have to admit that there is a level of shock and awe and delight in these comics. They are painting in the boldest colours.

Yeah Weeping Angels of Mons is just as good as I remember, solid 9/10, I think I’m not as big a fan of this art style generally, but it does really work for this specific story generally just being darker

Don’t have much to say other than yeah, really liked it

✅86% = Superb! = Highly recommended!

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

ANGELS GALORE ON THE TRENCHES!

This is a story that doesn't overcomplicate things. It's exciting and tense, effectively using its setting to build natural tension. It also puts a strain on the Doctor's relationship with Gabby, who is overconfident in her ability to survive on her own and attempts to run off with a dashing Scottish soldier.

The WWI setting is effective, and I love that part of the story is told through the eyes of the soldiers taking part in the war and how there are several pages devoted to showing the horrors they go through. I also appreciate that the story shows us what the Angels do to those that have been touched and how the entire situation affects the already stressed-out soldiers. It's heartbreaking to see the soldiers transported back in time, lead happy lives, and then turn up in 1914 again as old people, only to die in front of the young friends they left behind.

The art is rugged and fits the war story vibe well. The panel where the German soldier reveals his eyes, which he has sewn to always stay open, is a pretty effective image, and every panel with an Angel made me want to not blink!

The Doctor and Gabby aren't involved quite as much here, but Gabby feels like a natural companion already. I enjoyed the Scottish soldier Jamie, who's fearless and funny (and reminds me of another great Scotsman by that name). The sweet little love story between him and Gabby adds a softer tone to this otherwise grim and tense tale.

The Angels are used very well and are surprisingly effective on the page. They appear consistently throughout and are appropriately scary, like in their best TV appearances. You don't want to take your eyes off of the Angels seen here!

The swiftness with which the day is saved and the Angels are defeated is my only regret. It feels like they ran out of time and just made up a quick conclusion.

This one is fast-paced, has loads of explosive moments, and has a constantly tense atmosphere. It is truly much better than I expected a Weeping Angels story to be in comic format.

A poignant and hard hitting third arc in the Tenth Doctor series. This arc doesn't really pull any punches about the darkness of war, while keeping it relatively age appropriate. With a quick pace, but enough room to breath, this story gives you a sense what Angels could reap in a battlefield. The art is beautiful and well done, other than The Doctor, who looks nearly nothing like Tennent. Overall, a well crafted piece that tells a gripping story.

We're in the trenches of World War One as we join the 10th Doctor and his new(ish) companion, Gabby Gonzalez, on an unplanned trip to the Somme. In actuality, this strip has sequences set in many different years, including some set in 1914 as well as quite a few in the 19th Century where some of the Angels victims are sent back to.

The Weeping Angels of Mons is a Titan-published comic strip and, as the title suggests, plays on the World War One legend of the Angel of Mons.  There is another comic strip called Warfreeqz which was published in the Doctor Who Adventures magazine.   In that instance, it was Rose who became the Angel of Mons but here, it is arguably the modern series’s most successful monster – the Lonely Assassins; the Weeping Angels. The legend details the appearance of angels on the battlefield and the disappearance of soldiers…a perfect fit for the Weeping Angels’ modus operandi.

The Weeping Angels are popping up all over the expanded universe of Doctor Who. They are obviously a great monster on TV, as their various episodes have demonstrated. It’s a huge shame that Class seems to be dead in the water after the shock reveal in the final episode of an Angel’s presence. Novels have worked with the Angels and even the audios have managed to include these most visual of monsters (Big Finish’s Fallen Angel works extremely well with a monster which makes no sound). But the comic strips is arguably where, in the expanded universe at least, the Angels work the best. Comic strips are visual like TV and artists can work with the distinctive and striking image of the Angels to create some compelling artwork.

Not that I feel the artwork in The Weeping Angels of Mons is fully successful. It’s a rather messy, scratchy style from artist Daniel Indro. The Weeping Angels are effectively drawn – particular when they have scary faces, but the human characters have features which are incredibly wrinkly and lined. The 10th Doctor’s likeness isn’t great in some of the frames either.

The artwork style does lend itself better to the scenery – the ruined town, filthy trenches and No Man’s Land look horrendous and squalid.

The Angels themselves work well in a historical setting – possibly much better than they do in the present day/future settings of their TV episodes. Soldiers leaning against, or taking cover behind, memorials and statues featuring angels is a relatable sight and the myths, legends and religious teaching surrounding Angels is reflected in the characters of the soldiers who have heard various tales as well as the company’s chaplain, Thomas Monaghan.

This story doesn’t really explore the Angels background or modus operandi in any new ways, but it does suggest that they are attracted to war and battlefields because of all the lost potential (which is, in this story, ultimately their downfall). Of more interest to this script is tying in the fates of those sent back in time, with the contemporary scenes of the story. All of the soldiers sent back in time end up some time in the 19th century. Their fates interweave with each other (the chaplain finds himself at the birth of Jamie Colqhoun, a soldier who is key to helping the Doctor and Gabby defeat the Angels, as well as providing a love interest for Gabby; another soldier grows old and returns to the town as an old man, knowing he can rescue his former comrades; another leads a happy life, married with children, only to die from shock and grief when war breaks out in 1914).

The 10th Doctor and Gabby are thrown into this horrific world and the Doctor is on good form as he lurches from one crisis to the next. He is required to think on his feet quite a lot in this story and it reminded me somewhat of the fast pace of stories like Tooth and Claw. Gabby is a more difficult to get a hold on. She’s a companion exclusive to Titan comics. I have read quite a few of her stories, including her debut, but haven’t quite managed to get a handle on her. Her defining characteristics seem to be her Hispanic heritage and her art-loving background. The latter is often used in the comic strips to create interludes where she writes and draws letters/diaries for her friend Cindy, who is still back in Gabby’s home city, New York (although she will later join the Doctor as a second companion). The parts of the strip which feature Gabby’s artwork are cute, but the writing is often quite tricky to read as the artists try to reflect Gabby’s personal handwriting (I read ‘Cindy’ as ‘Gudy’, for example).

There is a definite Rose vibe around Gabby in that she works in her father’s laundromat and restaurant with no real opportunity to pursue her ambitions in life. She’s a strong, independent woman, with a bantery relationship with the Doctor, very much in the mould of Rose, Martha, Donna, Amy, Clara and Bill and as such doesn’t really stand out as much more than a generic modern series companion. It doesn’t help that for this story, a lot of her plot revolves around her blossoming romance with the soldier, Jamie. I want to like Gabby but I think I need to re-read her run of comic strips to get a better handle on her (later on, for example, she starts to display some special and unusual abilities).

The First World War aspect of this story is highly reminiscent of the scenes in The Family of Blood set during the conflict. This similarity is compounded by the coda to this story which sees the Doctor and Gabby travelling forward in time to a war cemetery where, from a distance, they watch an elderly Jamie Colqhoun and his family visiting the graves of his fallen comrades. It’s very reminiscent of the scene at the end of The Family of the Blood where the Doctor and Martha watch a Remembrance Day ceremony with an elderly Timothy sitting in a wheelchair (just as Jamie does in this strip).

The historical setting, though, is really just a backdrop with the focus being on how horrible it was for the soldiers involved. There are a couple of references to the Christmas Truce and traditions prior to going ‘over the top’ but the lion’s share of the story focuses on the Angels. The final episode takes the Doctor and Gabby into mine tunnels under the trenches which relays a bit of information about how both sides recruited miners with the hope of tunnelling under No Man’s Land to reach the enemy’s line. Unsurprisingly, these tunnels were dangerous and the presence of explosives provides a climactic sequence where Jamie and Gabby attempt to sacrifice themselves to stop the Angels.

Aside from the artwork style, I found a lot to like in this comic strip. It’s a thrilling runaround and demonstrates how effective the Angels are in a historical setting. With more appealing artwork, I think this would rank as one of my favourite strips, although that may be partly because I think the Angels are a great invention of the modern series. If you haven’t already read it, this is one to look out for.