Indian Summer - ★★★★★

I love this short trip. It's a tale about Suresh, a Indian boy that just started working in a hotel that has a haunted table at its restaurant. We see his life throughout the decades and many of his meetings with the ghost; as well as a mysterious girl that appears every few years looking for her grandfather, but who doesn't seem to age.

It's a character piece, primarly. It has a lovely protagonist and his relationship with the hotel itself is heartwarming. Suresh loves his life and it's contagious. I also adore the relationship he develops with the ghost, even before they can talk. Every scene is a just a little snipet in his long, wonderful life, but it tells us so much about who he is.

Obviously the ghost is the First Doctor. He and Susan got caught in some time and space shanenigans and now he is lost in the flow of time. He's holding himself to the big events, and that's why he only appears when someone is close to death. I love the atmosphere of the story before we know that's what's happening; it's pretty obvious it's the Doctor from the get go, but what if whatever happened to him is the cause of all these deaths?

Susan has a small role in the story, but this time that doesn't bother me. Even if she doesn't appear much, she has a more active role. She doesn't solve anything, sure. But she tried!

I love the characters. I love the plot. I love the writing. I love the setting. I still have a lot of short trips to go through, but I can't see any beating this one for me.

Bide-a-Wee - ★★½☆☆

It's barely a story, but it had potential to be a great one. We see the Doctor and Susan taking a vacation from their travels on Earth. Susan is out with newly made friends and the Doctor is enjoying his time in a local inn.

We find out, just as the Doctor, that one of the guests have been messing with time and the town is perpetually stuck in the 1933 when a couple from the 1999 arrive, shocking the guests with their marriage (and child), since the man is white and the woman is not. Their little boy seems to be the only member of the family to notice there is something wrong going on.

It has a very small scale though, and the solution is very simple. Not that I wished to overcomplicate this, but there was potentional for this one to be a full fleshed out story focusing on the ill effects of being permanently - or so it seems - out of your time. It seems like hell.

Plus, the antagonist - we can barely call him that - may or may not be the Monk.

The Sleeping Blood - ★★★☆☆

The Sleeping Blood is an atmospheric story with a strong theme but not enough time. The first part is very engaging because it is structured like a horror story. The Doctor fell ill after being infected by an unknown disease by touching a wild plant on a planet he and Susan visited, and now they are traveling in search of a cure. He is taken out of the game very early in the plot when his health worsens and so the focus goes completely to Susan. Caroline Ann Ford's performance is confident and emotional, perfect for the structure of the Companions Chronicles, and the core of the narrative is a moral conflict that arises for the character at the end of the story.

That's part of the problem. For most of its running time, The Sleeping Blood is a good character study for Susan who, for the first time, must stand on her own and save her grandfather, while maintaining a tense atmosphere with horror elements. She spends about twenty minutes alone exploring this abandoned research station where the TARDIS has landed and the entire time you, and the character, have the impression that someone is watching her. The first time I listened to this audio, I thought it was going to unfold into a hunting story following the footsteps of Predator. That's not what happens. At one point, Susan will come across a military team that is there after a local criminal who has threatened the lives of important politicians, the Butcher. The horror elements continue from there but take the form of a more traditional serial killer story, albeit with the twist that he kills remotely.

The sci-fi part is interesting although a little contradictory. There's kind of a medical museum in this building that Susan landed in where she goes into to find antibiotics. It is also established that this planet, called Rua, has long abandoned this traditional model of producing medicines and now most diseases are cured through nanotechnology. And of course, at a certain point it is revealed that the Butcher has been killing his victims by hacking this nanotechnology present in the blood of practically everyone who lives on Rua. This raises the stakes of the story because, as he demonstrates during a scene, he can kill the characters at any time. I think Rua's world-building is very well done and tied together; What's a little weak are Susan's motivations. Nanomedicine was apparently child's play for her on Gallifrey, but she insists on looking for an antibiotic the entire story – shouldn't it be an outdated technology for her? Besides the obvious: there was NOTHING in the TARDIS that could help the Doctor? In the end, this doesn't matter because it's just a justification to isolate Susan from the Doctor for most of the duration of this audio and give her a reason to explore this planet alone, but it's still a small problem I have with the plot.

But as I said, the real argument of the plot only emerges at the end, when she discovers that Butcher, who is actually called Gomery, was doing all that to try to democratize access to medicines, especially those based on nanotechnology, after the death of his grandmother. It's an interesting debate of public health versus capitalism and how even the most well-intentioned of people (one of the soldiers Susan knows) can be co-opted by the system to reinforce it, but I think this discussion is a bit too on the nose – and comes too late. We barely spend time with Gomery, so when a flashback begins showing him talking to his dying grandmother in the hospital it seems like the story is trying to make you emotional – but it's very artificial. Yes, an elderly woman dying because she doesn't have money to take care of her own health is sad, but you only addressed it in the last five minutes. I understand that this is positioned at this point in the plot precisely to end it with a feeling of injustice, that Susan unintentionally perpetuated a cruel system on this planet. It is also to draw a parallel between the antagonist and Susan, both motivated by love for a grandparent, but the key difference here is that I, as a listener, know and care about Susan and the Doctor in a personal level. The story tries to make me care in the same way about Gomery and his grandmother, but it doesn't work in so little time. Therefore: it's an interesting premise that does not have room to breathe.

There are several interesting moments of characterization for Susan and they are the real reason why this story is worth listening. Her guilt at the end, all the questioning whether she should have interfered in that situation, the feeling of injustice that takes over her, the resilience she shows to save her grandfather, even her impressions about their trips and what her stay in the TARDIS has been like – there are moments, she says, when she feels completely suffocated in there. There is even a cute suggestion that it is the TARDIS itself that takes Susan to Rua knowing that she will get the cure for the Doctor there; since the TARDIS lands there without Susan piloting it and she assumes it was her grandfather – it takes place before The Edge of Destruction so they both still don't know that she has a certain level of sentience. The direction is also very good, with impeccable sound work. The plot, unfortunately, does not reach its full potential.

Frayed - ★★★½☆

Frayed é a story that shines through its characters.

Tara Samms, the apparent author, is actually a pseudonym for Stephen Cole, an author with a considerable number of contributions to the Doctor Who universe but with whom I have a complicated relationship - in my experience with his writing, his stories range from fun to total disaster. Frayed landed, for me, in the author's better output.

In half of the chapters, we follow the Doctor's arrival at the Refuge, a research facility on a distant planet occupied by humans, which is being attacked by strange creatures, 'humanoid' foxes that appear to be made of dust. He and Susan are separated at the beginning of the story, and the other half of the book is dedicated to a dream world that bit by bit reveals the true nature of the Refuge.

Readers well versed in Doctor Who will quickly recognize Frayed for what it is: a simple base under siege; one of those stories in which the Doctor and company are trapped with a group of characters being attacked by an external threat that wants to dominate the place they are in and, often, not leave any survivors in their path. Another person might be frustrated with this aspect of the book, after all it's nothing that we haven't seen hundreds of other times in the sixty years of the series - but it's understandable why this trope is recurrent in Doctor Who: it makes for very entertaining and fun stories. I personally love a good base under siege.

Where Frayed deviates greatly from what is expected from Doctor Who, however, is in the rather graphic depictions of violence. From injuries on the "battlefield", to very bloody descriptions of foxes killing Refuge employees - there is a moment, for example, in which one of them rips off a character's arm and blood gushes over another -, to very surrealistic moments that take place in the aforementioned "dream world". But it is in the thematic connections between the characters that the book really comes to life.

In addition to our recurring characters, the First Doctor and Susan, we have a range of Refuge workers - including the facility leader, Moseley; librarian Webber; the medic Juniper; the cook Salih and the retired military woman, Cass. Each of them shows a different aspect of life in the Refuge under attack; what happens when ordinary men and women are put into a war zone. And bit by bit, it investigates and reveals different aspects of human nature based on the decisions of these characters throughout the plot.

Moseley gradually breaks down throughout the book, as more of the employees are killed by the enemy and as it becomes obvious that Earth will not send help. He feels like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders, and he is a very sympathetic character also for his flaws. Cass is that very common 'problem character' archetype in Doctor Who, that despicable figure who you know is in the story make everything worse at the most inopportune moment. But I think it is one of the most effective executions of this archetype, the text very convincingly justifies her excesses through her ego, her almost unhealthy obsession with recognition and the violence encouraged by a thirst for blood closely linked to the military mentality. Webber keeps the First Doctor company for a good part of the story and I thought it built a very good dynamic, with him being the most rational person left in the Refuge and allowing the Doctor to navigate the narrative without unnecessary obstacles.

But the most interesting of these characters is Jill, the central figure of the dreaming chapters. As the Doctor quickly discovers, the Refuge was a genetic research facility. At the time this story takes place, it is possible to easily carry out complete genetic mapping during pregnancy. The Refuge was part of a project to genetically treat children who presented genomes associated with a predisposition to commit crimes - or, what in practice turns out to be, a prison for "future criminals" which is quite cruel - and extremely eugenic - although it tries sell itself as a shelter for broken children. Some of them, like Jill, have different degrees of telepathic abilities. Recent events since the fox attack have caused her to be somewhat distraught while being connected to the dream chamber - where surgeries are performed while children are "awake", in induced dreams - and Jill's imagination has taken over the virtual interface.

One of the Refuge employees to whom Jill was very attached, Olmec, dies before the start of Frayed, and therefore the chapters in which we see the girl's dreams are quite symbolic of her grieving, very painful and very confusing, which mixes with stories - Mayan myths - that Olmec told her. The gods and myths are intertwined with the pains of her past, of the abandonment from her mother - who committed suicide - to the physical and verbal violence she suffered in the Refuge or things that she shouldn't have known about, but that were inevitable due to the his telepathic abilities. She discovers, for example, that the Refuge creates babies without brain activity, just their bodies, to remove organs or parts of interest for surgeries on the children; which disturbs her and manifests itself in her dreams in the form of a strange baby that wanders around.

My favorite scene happens towards the end of the story, when Susan - who ended up trapped in the dream chamber with the children - helps and observes Jill trying to get Olmec - who had been seriously injured, induced into a coma and no longer presents significant brain activity - regain consciousness. What Susan soon realizes is that the Olmec that manifests itself in the interface is nothing more than a manifestation of Jill's desires - for a safe haven, for someone to love her, to protect her, to take care of her. It's a cruel scene, cruel as life often is, and that's why it's very beautiful and got to my heart.

There are other unique aspects to Frayed, the most notable of which is that this story is set up as the Doctor's first encounter with humanity. In what it purports to be, it's quite effective, but it's worth mentioning that I read this story as part of my project, Project: Blue Box, in which I'm going through the releases of the Doctor Who universe in chronological order - from the Doctor's point of view - and that this story necessarily takes place shortly after The Beginning, where the Doctor and Susan already meet humans and hear about Earth. This type of divergence is expected from a universe as large as the expanded universe of Doctor Who and it is the type of inconsistency that I think is healthy to just ignore and enjoy the original intention of each work.

What is really peculiar, though, is that this story also sets itself up as when the Doctor and Susan "earned" their names - which once again conflicts with The Beginning - and although I can see some people disliking this idea, since the way in which this happens can be a little anticlimactic, it works for me. It's very simple, happens by chance, and although there's nothing grand about it, it's precisely the type of choice that falls very much in the mold of the classic series in which the beauty of the narrative is often found in the accidents of life and History, with a capital H, than in epic plots of enormous proportions that sometimes the new series trivializes.

Finally, I want to highlight that the First Doctor is very well characterized, still being a grumpy, selfish old man, without a shred of mercy and who thinks too much kf himself, but without going overboard and risking becoming a caricature. Frayed's most palpable flaw is Susan, because although I really like her scenes - there is in particular a fantastic dialogue between her and her grandfather in the last chapter - she takes on a very secondary role in the plot, which I find intuitive on the part of the authors who usually write pre-An Unearthly Child history, but it's always a shame. I think we all like it when she takes on a more active role and shows sides that aren't very common in her time on TV.

The Exiles - ★★★☆☆ 

This is one of the takes of the first moments in the TARDIS after the Doctor and Susan's departure from Gallifrey; it doesn't really contradict The Beginning but fitting this one there is a little contrieved. You can justify that by Susan's own word in The Beginning though, that everybody remembers things differently.

I like it. It's not a fully fleshed out story, it feels more like a scene you never saw of Susan exploring the TARDIS for the first time and her feelings and thoughts regarding the ship and being an exile. This one is part a terror anthology, and that's tied in this story both by the atmosphere of the narrative - Susan is a little bit afraid of the TARDIS - and her meeting kind of a ghost. It's the coolest moment, I love it.

She is trying some new clothes and sees a man behind her in the mirror; it's implied it's a vampire. When she tells her grandfather later, he responds saying that the TARDIS doesn't exist in a traditional flux of time and there is not exactly a present, past or future for the ship itself; and that Susan must've seen a glimpse of its history (I interpret it as being a ghost from its past). It's creepy, it's mysterious, I love it.

The Longest Story in the World - ★★½☆☆

This is barely a story. It's more a frame story for the rest of the book. It's also really weird. Though we are never explicitly told, we can infer we are being told of the Doctor and Susan's days on Gallifrey. But it's a very different take. Space and time travel is nothing but delusions of Susan's, perhaps a glimpse of the future by implied psychic abilities.

The narrator is not reliable, I assume, since the frame story is a girl telling a Caliph "the longest story in the world", so she is not killed. 1001 Nights, obviously. Because of that, this story doesn't actually have and ending. Perhaps there is some payoff by reading the other short trips in the book, but by itself is is uterly bizarre.

The Beginning - ★★★½☆

The Beginning is an interesting story with a marketing that works against itself. It's not about the Doctor and Susan's departure from Gallifrey, even though we do see a snipt of it in the first few minutes. It's is, in truth, their first travel in the TARDIS. The beginning of what matters. Phrasing it like that reveals my instance on telling much about the Doctor's life in Gallifrey; I'm mostly against it - for me, when you focus on that you miss the point of the series. But I understand who is left frustrated by this. Everybody comes to this story expecting something it isn't. Only the first of a series of weird, weird choices.

For a start, it's the first in a triology in the Companion Chronicles, celebrating the 50th year of Doctor Who. It makes sense to tell us the first adventure ever in a anniversary story, but the element that truly ties the triology is an original character - the man, the legend... Quadriger Stoyn. And I truly can't understand WHY. After their departure from their home planet, the Doctor and Susan are surprised to find a third person on board the TARDIS. You guessed it, it's Stoyn. From the get go, he and the Doctor are on opposite sides, since on of them is a fugitive and the other wants go to back home.

I don't dislike the concept, but I admit it doesn't feel right to have someone else on board before Ian and Barbara enter the picture. It doesn't feel natural. Which is the point, but still. However, his presence in the narrative do bring out interesting facets of the First Doctor. This is an incarnation that it nothing alike the modern public perception of the character in many ways; but especially his moral. This version of the Doctor, even more so before his character development as we see on TV, is marked by bouts of cruelty, selfishness and arrogance. All of that is present here; he doesn't care even a bit about what could happen with Stoyn and sees him as an obstacle in his and Susan's path. That gives us scenes of him sabotaging the TARDIS so Stoyn can't go back to Gallifrey, essentially keeping him a hostage. Much of the clash between them, more so in the second part, revolves around Stoyn trying to get back a piece of the TARDIS the Doctor took with him, which without is impossible to travel, so he can escape. I want to highlight that nothing of this is a problem for me, the opposite actually; it's a very good characterization for the First Doctor and is one of the elements that distinguishes him from his future selves and makes him so interesting for me. There has been some stories in the expanded media that I actually missed his moral ambiguity.

However... Stoyn is an efectivr antagonist, but there in nothing that makes me care about him in a personal level; even though the Doctor is wrong I am never on his side because Stoyn sounds like a jerk all the time; and I don't think the text goes much deeper than him wanting to go back home. There is potential for the future of the character, since the Doctor leaves him in a terrible situation, almost a death sentence, so he has plenty motive to go for revenge. The only moment that gave me any stronger feeling towards him was not for the best; he insinuates himself to Susan and tells the two of them to run away together and leave the Doctor to die. It's nothing very explicit, but his ulterior motives towards her are palpable and it's an element that, for this story, I find out of place and unnecessary.

Susan herself is really good; Caroline Ann Ford's acting obviously matured a lot throughout the years and here she delivers an enthusiastic and emotional performance. The Companion Chronicles are by large narrated in first person by the companions themselves reflecting or remeniscing on a past adventure; and therefore is a format that allows a more psychological and intimate approach to the character than the usual full cast format. This time that is used to its fullest in the first half, since the first twenty minutes are mostly about Susan's feelings about their escape from Gallifrey and her first impressions of the TARDIS. Likewise, when the story picks up where it left off in the second part, the narrative is restructured based on Susan's disorientation due to the sudden change of events. She is also the one who voices the First Doctor and, although I don't think it's as much of a personal or emotionally charged performance, it is done with palpable affection and conveys the character's mannerisms very well.

But I also like the plot itself. The first place they land is actually the Moon, a long, long time ago, at the beginning of the development of life on Earth. One of the twists in the plot is precisely that the Moon is already inhabited by this species called Archaeons. Their meeting with the rest of the cast is friendly at first and marked by the Doctor's sense of adventure and exploration; his and Susan's excitement about discovering new worlds and other people is really cool. In addition to creating some interesting science fiction ideas. Archaeons, apparently, are not carbon-based life forms and therefore their biological and physical functioning is extremely different. Their technologies are also quite weird. There's a scene in the first part that I particularly like in which Susan faces a body of water that behaves strangely and shows distorted reflections of the characters. She is swallowed by water and Ann Ford's performance builds a crescendo of panic and shortness of breath and this sensation of drowning not only literally but also in her feelings. It's perhaps my favorite moment in the entire story.

The narrative takes another turn at the end of the first part when it is revealed that the Archaeons have manipulated the development of life on Earth so that it occurs in an organized way according to their wishes. Their plans are thwarted when they try to enter the TARDIS but inadvertently cause a disturbance that temporally freezes the characters for millions of years; When things return to normal, life on Earth has already developed chaotically, humans already have a colony on the Moon and the Archaeons enter a kind of cultural existential crisis. I like how this plot develops because it deals with one of the central themes of the First Doctor's era, interventionism. Part of the “cruelty” of this phase of Doctor Who is precisely the frequency of addressing fixed points and how History should not be changed; even though this is a contradictory element to the Doctor's own nature because he is, in his own words, a meddler. He even uses this word in this story although I think it is more appropriate a little later in the character's life, when he is already traveling with Vicki. Despite his very strong policy of non-intervention here, he decides to act against the Archeons because they are influencing life in a very extreme way, he does not see this as something natural.

In another story I could talk about this plot from a point of view of determinism or even eugenics. They are valid interpretations but I wouldn't say they are the most relevant this time. The main conflict is order versus chaos. Although they are the interventionist force of the story, the Archaeons serve as agents of order while the Doctor is a chaotic figure. I find it a very interesting approach because normally this role of non-interventionism for the Doctor is associated with maintaining the order of things; and while that still holds true here – he wants to maintain the natural order – the story consciously reverses roles and plays with what is expected of the character.

The Beginning is a very interesting release to discuss and for which I have mainly positive impressions, as is obviously palpable from the text, but it is not on the list of my favorites yet. In the future, who knows.

The Dogs of Doom - ★★☆☆☆

I don't like the aesthetic. The way the werelox look was obviously intentionally disturbing, but it being intentional doesn't make me hate it any less. And I consider it a personal attack because werewolves are one of my favourite horror creatures ever, and almost every time Doctor Who do a take on them I don't like it much. But this one is just... ugh. I also don't appreciate one of them becoming a central character and then being the comic relief because of the contrast of crazyness and violence going on, just not my thing.

I have to admit to that cliffhanger of the Fourth Doctor transforming in one of them is gold. That part of trying to find a cure is the best one too.

It also has this aesthetic my mind insists in calling 90s' (this is actually how I picture VNA's Ace vibe being without having read any of them yet) even though this was written in the 70s' and I logically know, however limited my fashion knowledge may be, it much more representative of the 70's than the 90's... not my cup of tea. I don't like tea at all, actually. It's also one of those that feels a bit 2000 AD, but this one fits Doctor Who a bit better tho.

What I like is Babe. She is a sweetheart, I cared when for a second I thought they were going to kill her. Perhaps they should've, since it ends up being so gutless for what turns out to be a DALEK story. And that's is another problem I have with The Dogs of Doom. Let's actually talk premise.

The worst werewolf-adjacent species in the history of fiction is causing chaos throughout space, going planet by planet infecting innocent humans that suffers through the worst fate anyone can go through: becoming a werelox too. I hate it, but it's a fun "invasion" story that was playing with "zombie tropes but make it the ugliest werewolves ever to exist". Then by the middle of the road all we meet the Daleks, who are of course behind it all.

The story ends up much less fun than it was to that point simply because we know who the Daleks are, and they are a much more serious threat than the werelox. Not only that, but as much as I dislike the creatures themselves the elements of horror and cruelty at the first half coming from them were actually efective, but introducing the Daleks just make them even less serious because now they are just scared (psycho) pawns. There is just a whiplash by the villain swap that I dislike.

Also, Sharon doesn't do anything.

This is the last of the Pat Mills/John Wagner run and given that I enjoyed their other three stories, I wish they ended with a stronger one.

The Star Beast - ★★★½☆

Probably the most iconic story of the Doctor Magazine, but it's a bit overrated. Most whovians must be well acquainted with the premise of The Star Beast now it had a TV adaptation, but here we go: a ship crashes in an English city (in this version what I believe is a fictious town, Blackcastle), and local girl Sharon Davies rescue a defenseless creature being chased by horrible monsters. And of course, wherever is trouble there is the Doctor.

I actually prefer the comic version to the TV one, simply because I think the alien characters are much better utilised and the plot is better structured. The Wrath Warriors in special are both more interesting and terrifying here, and the conflict between them and Beep the Meep is better developed. I can't deny the adaptation has stronger emotional moments though, but it's less because of anything to do with the originals ideas from The Star Beast and more because it's a reunion of the Doctor and Donna that just hit in the feels. I like the visuals in both fairly enough, but I dislike the conclusion to the TV episode.

And then there is Sharon. I actually like her here, it's a really strong introduction and probably the most emotional scene is courtesy of her; when she yells at Beep how horrible he is and that she will never make the mistake of so easily trusting again. It's a bit tragic, actually. Her innocence was just robbed from her. But it frustrates me in retrospect because she's so good here and I just hate the path they took her character. It's not really The Star Beast's fault, of course, but I can't completely dissociate it from the rest anymore as long as Sharon is concerned.

And there is also an actual problem, and it's the Meep. Or rather the reveal that he is evil, which I didn't try to hide at all since everybody probably knows already anyways. I like the character, I like his background, but the comic ruins its own twist by showing the reader way too early that he's evil by telling us so through his thought bubbles and evil faces when nobody is looking. It'd have worked much better is there was just ambiguity to his actions until the climax, when he mind control a bunch of people, Sharon included, and the reader was left to wonder who to trust.

Totally understandable why this is so iconic, but it's a flawed classic.

Timeslip - ★★★☆☆

Timeslip is a short story, not only because it has eight pages but also it's quite simple. The Doctor and K9, in the TARDIS, are taken by surprise by a creature travelling through the cosmos that sees the TARDIS and think - yummy!

I like Timeslip. Sure, it could have been even stronger if it actually had anything to say through the "deregeneration", but the art gorgeous and very evocative. I adore the design of the creature, the page that depicts the "deregeneration", and that page layout of the Doctor pulling the lever is beautiful. I can't say it hasn't high stakes, but the solution being pulling a lever is a bit anticlimatic. But oh well, it's not like you could've done much more within this premise in only eight pages.

City of the Damned - ★★★½☆

It's is an interesting story. It has strong brutal emotional moments that take advantage of the very bleak nature of the scenes to make its point. It works, a lot of pages stuck in my head; the opening scene is a punch to the gut and the ending however optimistic is also very bittersweet. There is a very unique kind of grief that will haunt the people of this city of the damned for the rest of their lives.

City of the Damned is a tale of a city its people let go of their emotions for the greater good. It's a cautionary tale of how hurtful that can be, of how important emotions are to our sense of self - and of how that self itself is something so much valuable. And of course, the Doctor arrives at the heart of the matter, making it his mission to bring back emotion to a souless city.

With a premise like this it's really hard not to think of the Cybermen, since they have already a strong hold in an extremely similar premise and are one of the most iconic recurring villains of the show. So I question a bit if this shouldn't have been an actual Cybermen story, but I also think there is interesting arguments to make about how humanity can perpetuate in very distinct scenarios the worst it has to offer.

I like the characters. The habitants of the city are for the most part very stoic, which is the point and hits HARD. As I just said, the opening scene is powerful. I am not sure I love ZEPO as comic relief characters, but I appreciate that they give a single emotion to each of them - it makes so much sense that after living an entire life without feelings there is something you feel so strong about you'll latch to it. I also love the Brain Trusts design. I really like the slugs But the strongest character is surely the city itself.

I have a bit of a problem with the designs though. I love the city itself and there is nothing wrong with the designs in a vaccum (they are really good, actually), but the aesthetic brings a lot from 2000 AD/Judge Dredd (which is to be expect with a creative team made of John Wagner, Patt Mills and Dave Gibbons). That can be felt in other stories in this run too, but City of the Damned and the later The End of the Line is when it's most noticeable. And besides I not being the biggest fan of it (just not usually my cup of tea), I have mixed feelings if it fits Doctor Who. I like to think that anything can fit in Doctor Who, but I don't know.

But please don't misunderstand me - the art is gorgeous.

The Iron Legion - ★★★½☆

What makes The Iron Legion such a good first story for the Magazine is how full of wonder it is. It has a lot of creative, engaging ideas that come to life quite well with a gorgeous art; it never loses steam and is fun the whole way through. There a quite a lot of colorful characters, my favorite being the old robot Vesuvius.

The Iron Legion starts when the Fourth Doctor encounters the titular characters slaughtering an entire village. The first page alone is very evocative. The Doctor then is caught up in an interdimensional conflict when he finds out the Iron Legion came from an alternative Earth that never saw the fall of the Roman Empire, which is now determined to conquest all things.

The quick pace is both a blessing and a curse. I have come to appreciate it because these comics reminded me how much you can fit in so few pages, but we are still in the early days of the strips - we have only four pages per part, which establishes a weird pace to the story (I much prefer the 8 to 12 pages we get with later Doctors) and don't let all of the wonderful locations we visit be exploited to their fullest. The ending is also a bit rushed. I do think the villains are a cool idea - demon-like aliens influencing time itself by manipulating ancient history is quite fun - but I'm not in love with the execution. They end up just a little bland.

Just a few tweaks and The Iron Legion could be an absolute classic. It kind of is already, to be fair. Weirdly enough, there are quite a lot of ideas not completely realised here that a future DWM story would use wonderfully - how religious devotion can turn out a tragedy and justify horrors, a city made a hellscape by that belief, a "cult" bent in bringing the end of the world, and an even bigger menace behind it all just waiting to take its chance at the Doctor. Still, I like it for what it is. It's worth a read.