A slightly confusing opening to Time Lord Victorious, that's very heavy on description (unsure how I feel about that), but it succeeds in leaving you intrigued for the rest of the event!

The Target Storybook continues with a First Doctor story by Simon Guerrier.  

It’s set during The Chase, which, at time of writing, I haven’t watched yet. Thankfully, you don’t need much prior knowledge of the television story, as this is a standalone adventure that just happens to take place at the end of Journey into Terror (hence the short story’s title). 

Journey Out of Terror is told in the first person, with the narrative switching between Barbara and Ian. This works quite well here, and the characterisation is spot on.  

The concept is really well realised, with a beautiful but disturbing ending. 

Wonderful. 

The Target Storybook kicks off in style with Gatecrashers, a Thirteenth Doctor tale by Joy Wilkinson, of The Witchfinders fame. 

This short story is different in many ways to Wilkinson’s television episode, but it is just as good. 

Gatecrashers is a very fun adventure with a very interesting concept.  

The description in the story makes you feel immersed, and when I finished it, it felt like I had read a whole novel. There is a large amount of detail, which works in the story’s favour. 

However, the part of the story that interested me the most, the mystery of Iz’s death, is resolved poorly and underwhelmingly. 

Thankfully, that didn’t let Gatecrashers down. 

A good story has been chosen to kick off the collection. Hopefully, the other stories will continue with this quality, perhaps even be better! 

A Delicate Operation is a really, really bad comic. Nothing about it is good. 

The decision to open halfway through an adventure would be alright, but the adventure in question is the main plot of the story. 

So basically, you’re left confused through the whole comic.  

Absolutely terrible. 

I hate it.

Can You Hear Me is one of those weird, experimental stories, which I absolutely love.  

This episode lived up to my expectations, and more!  

It’s unsettling, fun, scary, confusing, beautiful, and so much more. 

The concept is really cool and brilliantly executed.  

The wonderful direction adds to the great atmosphere, leaving you with an excellent sense of unease. 

But seriously, Ryan’s worst fear is a Dreg?  

Great, thanks for reminding me of Orphan 55. 

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. 

The Germ War is about a war against germs. That’s basically all you need to know. It’s a simple run-around as the Doctor and Rose realise the robots trying to remove the germ creatures are the real villains. 

Yes, it’s an average ‘misunderstood monster’ story, and I don’t have much more to say. 

It’s not very memorable though, which is probably the reason this review is so short. 

When going into Under the Volcano, I thought that this would be in the same vein as The Fires of Pompeii, and to be honest, it is. But it’s worse.  

I don’t recall much about this comic, so I will be using the faint memories I have. Oh, and I only read it a few days ago. 

The story is dull, with a very basic and average plot. 

If there is one thing I like about Doctor Who Adventures comics, it’s the fact that they at least have interesting concepts. This one doesn’t. 

I would not recommend this story, as it is, quite simply, an utter waste of time.  

But if you feel compelled to read it, if you’re trying to complete all of the DWA strips, like me, or you’re just insane, also like me, then I suppose no harm will be done. After all, you won’t remember it! 

Mirror Image is awful. A complete waste of time. 

The plot makes no sense, the characterisation is awful, the jokes aren’t funny, and you’re just left with a sense of confusion and disappointment. 

Would not recommend. 

1/10 

Ah, Doctor Who Adventures. The magazine for young readers that ran from 2006 to 2017, with a special Thirteenth Doctor issue in 2019. The most memorable aspect of these magazines were the regular comic strips, often bizarre, very short, and had little to no consequence on the readers or characters.

The first comic was Which Switch? by Michael Stevens. Of course, for these reviews, I will have to take into account the aspect that these strips were intended for, essentially, children.

But sadly, Which Switch? isn't even a good comic for children. They would want a story that feels more like what they enjoy seeing on television, not comics that feel like a Planet of Giants knock-off, minus a good plot.

Believe it or not, young readers want quality material. This comic fails to deliver.

1/10

Return of the Daleks is important for three reasons. Firstly, it’s a Doctor Who story without the Doctor. It’s also the first Doctor Who Magazine back-up strip. And it was published in the very first issue of the magazine.

So, it has a lot to live up to.

I’d say it isn’t that bad, but it’s nothing special too.

The comic is set on the planet Anhaut, movie director Glax plans to create a new film about mythical creatures from the planet’s past: the Daleks!

Chaos soon breaks out when it turns out that real Daleks are on set...

The concept is fairly interesting, and the art is quite nice, but overall, it’s not the best story.

State of Decay is, like the King Vampire, a strange beast. Beloved by most fans, when watching this story, I felt like I had to enjoy it. And I did. Well, kind of.

Although this serial has many great moments, it has faults. And some of these faults overshadow the highlights of the story.

Speaking of the story, our villains here are the Three Who Rule, who, tying into the E-Space arc, came from our universe but fell into E-Space, and somehow ended up becoming vampires, who want to free the King Vampire. I think. To be honest, I really can’t remember much of the plot of this story, only the set peices.

Aukon, who seems to be the main vampire out of the three, is played by Emrys James. The way he chose to play the character really irritates me, but apart from that, most of the acting is good.

Visually, this story is a real treat, the sets are beautiful, and the costumes are incredibly well designed.

It also has some wonderful sound design, with a stunning soundtrack.

But, a good atmosphere does not make up for an unintersting plot, which sadly, this story has.

Overall, State of Decay has great direction from Peter Grimwade, great acting from the regulars, but very middling writing from Terrance Dicks.

6/10

The main concept of this 2005 novel centres around an alien species, the Quevvils, deciding to use a video game to get the humans to help them defeat their enemies, the Mantodeans.

I wasn’t very excited to read this book and thought it had only a mildly interesting premise. Indeed, I found the first sections of the book incredibly boring.

And then came the revelation that the game’s players were actually controlling real people. This leads into some great scenes, and instantly changed the book for me.

The introduction of some excellent human drama adds to the enjoyability, and the book instantly gripped me. While before I viewed reading it a chore, I ended up being unable to stop, always ready for another chapter.

While the Robert interludes came off as quite annoying, I realised that was because the character was meant to be annoying. Characterisation is something Jacqueline Rayner excels at here.

The climax was thrilling, and I found it incredibly tense, even though I knew Rose would survive.

The character of Darren Pye, and the horrible things he does, are very well written.

The only fault in this novel is that I might have ended up ditching it after the dull opening. Thank Rassilon I didn’t!

8/10

Full Circle is notable for being not only the start of the E-Space trilogy but also the first appearance of Matthew Waterhouse as the Alzarian, Adric, who joins the TARDIS crew.

The story is set on the planet Alzarius, and the location footage definitely helps immerse you in the story.

The story was written by Andrew Smith, who, at the time, was the youngest writer to contribute to the series. While some aspects of the serial can come off a little silly, like the scenes with the Doctor and the Marshmen running around the Starliner, the concept of a whole species having been lied to and stunting their ability to leave the planet is very well executed.

From the outset, I thought this would be quite a boring story. How wrong I was!

While the story has its faults (I thought the Marshmen weren’t the best monsters), it has great moments, such as the emotional death of Adric’s brother, or the horrifying Mistfall scenes.

Overall, the pacing, writing and acting led to an enjoyable story with a great atmosphere.

7/10