Warfreekz!

Warfreekz is the best DWA comic so far! (Although that’s not saying much.) 

The story is the magazine’s first foray into historical adventures, as the Doctor and Rose meet WWI soldiers that are being observed by typical Doctor Who Adventures aliens.  

The history element is nice and well-researched, but the main plot looms over the strip’s highlights, causing Warfreekz to be memorable and intersting, but also with a lot of faults. 

Warfreekz is a DWA comic strip featuring the 10th Doctor and Rose. It’s taken me a while to read this, mainly because I couldn’t find where I’d put the copy of Doctor Who Adventures it’s in. Picking it up brought a weird wave of nostalgia. It’s been a while since I flicked properly through an issue of DWA with it’s child-centred focus. The issue containing Warfreekz was released a little bit before the transmission of The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit. The magazine, only the 5th edition, includes articles on Mickey, Paul Kasey, The Girl in the Fireplace and the top five 10th Doctor moments. What struck me the most were the mentions of things like Totally Doctor Who and adverts for the Character Options action figure range with toys of Cassandra and the Moxx of Balhoon. It’s like a different world. It’s amazing how much the landscape of Doctor Who has changed since 2006 when this magazine was released. Doctor Who is ever-changing and that’s what I love about it so much.

Warfreekz fits into this bouncier, more colourful age with it’s slightly odd juxtaposition of World War One soldiers and bizarre aliens watching them on telly. The Doctor and Rose arrive in Belgium in search of chocolate, only to find themselves confronted by three German soldiers. Only the appearance of some strange alien tech prevents them from being shot and soon, the Doctor has realised that they are being observed by a strange alien race, the Warfreekz. These are aliens who like to observe and learn about warfare across the universe. The Doctor isn’t too impressed by this and sends them and their camera packing as well as preventing a company of British soldiers from killing the Germans.

Within the story there are references to the Angel of Mons, a phenomenon which also features in the much darker story involving Doctor Who’s very own scary angels, The Weeping Angel of Mons – but here, in Warfreekz, it is Rose and the sonic screwdriver singing a bit of Robbie Williams (!) which scares of the British troops.

The three German soldiers are not particularly developed, although that is unsurprising in a story as short as the DWA comic strips are. The privates are scared and more trusting of the Doctor and Rose than the Captain who spends the story barking orders and refusing to listen to reason (even in the face of alien technology). At the close of the story, one of the privates gives Rose his chocolate ration as a thank you, which is a lovely touch.

The Warfreekz themselves aren’t really explained either. It’s unclear if Warfreekz is the name of their race or the group that enjoys observing warfare (although the latter is more likely). They tend to be mainly reptilian (like a lot of DWA monsters) and are in a massive auditorium watching events on a large screen. There isn’t really a reason for the Doctor to be as bothered by them as he is. Their equipment is interfering with the soldiers’ compasses causing them to have become lost in the forest, but aside from that they don’t seem to want to influence events in any way, merely observe. Yes, they are voyeurs, but they are not actually causing any harm so I find it a little odd that the Doctor is so disgusted with them. That said, all he does is send a sonic feedback signal down the camera causing them a bit of pain, so it’s unlikely he’s deterred them from seeking our other carnage around the universe.

The Forest of Mormal, where this story takes places, features in the real history of World War One as it is the forest that British troops retreated through during the ‘Great Retreat’ which was from Mons. It seems that this is what both the German and British troops are involved in, in this story.

Initially, Warfreekz looks like it might be a little meatier than other DWA comic strip fare but unfortunately, it doesn’t quite manage it. I think if there was a little more depth to the guest characters it might have felt more consequential but, as it is, I don’t think this manages to add particularly to Doctor Who’s depiction of World War One, despite it’s smattering of historical details.