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“THE WOLVES OF WINTER: VIKINGS, ICE WARRIORS, AND A FLOOD OF TROUBLE”

The Time Trials continue as Bill Potts joins the Twelfth Doctor for her first comic adventure, set in the icy North Atlantic during the Viking era. Released just days after Bill’s TV departure, The Wolves of Winter wastes no time throwing her and the Doctor into an action-packed battle with Ice Warriors, Vikings, and a returning foe from The Waters of Mars: the Flood.

The story cleverly blends elements from both classic and modern Doctor Who, bringing the Ice Warriors and the Flood together for the first time. With the Ice Warriors fleeing a deadly virus outbreak on Mars, they seek refuge on Earth—a planet teeming with water, making the Flood an even greater threat. The Viking setting adds a fresh historical backdrop, though the era itself isn’t explored in much depth beyond showcasing the warriors’ bravery and resilience.

A THREE-WAY SHOWDOWN

Most of the story is a relentless, action-heavy battle as Vikings, Ice Warriors, and the Doctor’s team fight to contain the Flood. There’s something inherently satisfying about Vikings wielding Ice Warrior weaponry, and seeing the Doctor and Bill don Sanctuary Base spacesuits is a nice callback to The Waters of Mars. However, while the Flood is the primary threat at first, they soon take a backseat when another classic villain enters the fray: the Haemovores from The Curse of Fenric.

The Haemovores, on the verge of unleashing Fenric himself, shift the story’s focus, leaving the Ice Warriors somewhat redundant by the climax. The narrative intricately ties into The Curse of Fenric, with the Doctor carefully considering how to defeat Fenric while ensuring his WWII-era return still happens. It effectively functions as a prequel to that serial, adding weight to Fenric’s legend.

PACING, DIALOGUE, AND ART STYLE

Despite the excitement of seeing multiple returning threats, the story feels overstuffed. With so many elements vying for attention, neither the Twelfth Doctor nor Bill stand out as much as they should. Bill, in particular, is often overshadowed by the Vikings and monsters. The dialogue also feels a bit stiff at times, particularly in the first half, making it a heavier read than necessary.

The rougher art style suits the rugged setting and characters, giving the comic a gritty atmosphere. However, the panelling and scene transitions can be somewhat jarring, occasionally making it difficult to follow the action.

📝VERDICT: 6/10

An ambitious but slightly overloaded story, Wolves of Winter delivers an exciting clash of classic and modern Doctor Who elements but struggles with pacing and focus. The Viking setting is visually striking, and the links to The Curse of Fenric are well-handled, but the sheer number of threats results in some feeling underutilised. A fun but slightly cluttered entry in The Time Trials.

Wolves of Winter brings a return of The Flood while documenting their origins during the time of Vikings, and then even going on to also be a sort-of prequel to the Wolves of Fenric, essentially marrying that serial with the Waters of Mars episode from the new series. That really could have been cool but then we get to the story - the panel-to-panel dialogue and the execution of the plot - and it is a bit of a mess. This is a rare example of Doctor Who in prose where I just don't think the writer gave us a good sense of the characters and their voices.

Normally, a lot of Doctor Who writing that I've read really does a good job at replicating certain Doctors and the mannerisms each actor brought to their incarnation, but I really didn't get a sense of Capaldi out of this Doctor, more just this more generic, simplified version of the character. A lot of the dialogue and transition between scenes is just clunky. And then we spend too much time with stuff like Bill trying to find some Ice Warriors (cause yeah, they're here too, providing valuable backstory for the Flood and doing little else) only for her to go back to the TARDIS, regroup with the Doctor, and then just try again.

We waste a lot of time in Wolves of Winter even though it is only three issues long and barely has enough time to actually explore it's more interesting ideas. It's a disaster, really. The artwork varies quite a bit too. Brian Williamson and Hi-Fi do most of it, and they do a decent job. Hi-Fi really brings a lot of life to the comics with his colouring and making a lot of characters pop and stand out in a way they aren't serviced by the writing. Williamson is a bit more inconsistent and his work feels a little rushed. Some panels are beautiful images of the TARDIS floating in space, a massive volcanic eruption, or even something simple like the Doctor pulling a lever in a way that was creatively drawn. Others look terrible, especially around facial expression, which, in all three issues, often dip into the uncanny valley territory. By issue three, Williamson doesn't even do all the artwork, and the consistency to the quality of the artwork takes a viscous nosedive with it, leading me to suspect even more this comic was a bit rushed and made on a budget.

The worst of the artwork (I rate this under special effects by the way) is how the Flood is depicted. Gone are the terrifying version of the monsters from Waters of Mars, we just see a couple of Ice Warriors and Vikings drooling and dripping a little bit. You can barely ever see the characteristic black cracks around their bodies or anything intimidating like that. Outside of a pretty cool introduction to them, they are barely used at all in this story as the focus very quickly shifts over to Fenric. The Ice Warriors are basically forgotten, too.