Theatre of the Mind is a ‘one shot’ DWM comic strip which finds the 12th Doctor and Clara meeting Harry Houdini who has been trapped in a virtual prison.

In a clever piece of scripting which takes advantage of the brevity of this comic strip, the plot is basically Houdini escaping from the ultimate ‘trap’. A virtual prison, based on his own mind, where he is acting out his most famous escapes. The Doctor and Clara become trapped there too and experience some of his famous tricks including, inevitably, Clara being caught in a water tank.

The story also begins with Houdini on his mission to expose psychics as frauds, something the real Houdini was passionate about. Caught in a trap whilst doing this, Houdini sends a message to the Doctor as his only hope of aid. It’s interesting that this scene is written/drawn with a clear begrudgement on the part of Houdini that he has to call on the help of the Doctor – which fits in neatly with the strained relationship the pair have been seen to have throughout the previous stories in the marathon. Another clever addition is the fact that Houdini cannot speak to the Doctor and Clara and this adds an extra layer of distance between the them which fits with the difficulties the two characters have experienced in their previous stories together.

Houdini’s investigation of psychics is also interesting in that it taps into the theme of spiritualism which was prevalent in many of the Victorian era set stories that featured earlier in my marathon (such as Hypothetical Gentlemen and the Jago and Litefoot series). I can imagine that spiritualism was something which saw something of a resurgence in the aftermath of WW1 as people mourned the loss of loved ones and lacked the closure that a body and funeral would have provided. Contacting loved ones who had died was probably quite a popular way of dealing with the grief and as something which was so prevalent only 30 years or so prior would be something the grandparents and older generations may have been more inclined towards.

Clara is given some strong material in even this short a story, with her working out a sizeable chunk of what’s going on. The 12th Doctor feels like Capaldi even if both he and Clara are rather caricatured through artist Roger Langridge’s style.

Although it’s short, this does feel like a fitting ‘finale’ to the Doctor and Houdini’s relationship as well as showcasing what Houdini will always be the most famous for. I understand that a further Houdini short story has been written for the recently released ‘Star Tales’ from BBC Books so it will be interesting to see how this ties in with the established Houdini/Doctor relationship.