Review: ‘Doctor Who: Doom’s Day — A Doctor In The House?’ Amuses
by Benjamin Hall
Summary
Doctor Who is celebrating its 60th Anniversary as a franchise. This collection is a part of a multi-media event centering on the character Doom. She is a time-traveling assassin with 24 hours left to live and she is looking for the Doctor. Yet, why is Missy on her trail?
Overall
7.9/10Artist Roberta Ingranata keeps very consistent with the character designs. There are also various visual references to other Doctor Who characters in this work. Ingranata’s line work is very confident and just the right amount of thin. The characters may be static images, but Ingranata captures the right moments to create a sense of movement. Not to mention that Ingranata is very good with pacing the events of the episode. However, Ingranata arguably does not set-up the positioning characters in one panel correctly.
Writer Jody Houser creates fun events for the characters of Missy and Doom to engage in. There are also some nice jokes and character moments. It is also worth mentioning that Houser does not dawdle with exposition about certain details that aren’t essential to the plot. Houser also does a great job making the dialogue believable. This is due in part to how accurately Houser gets Missy’s personality.
Letterers Richard Starkings and Jimmy Betancourt do well at sizing and placing the text. Though the execution of one panel by Ingranata may make readers think that Starkings and Betancourt are incorrectly positioning two word balloons and their respective anchors.
Colorist Warnia K. Shadewa goes lighter on background elements and characters versus those in the foreground of certain panels. This helps highlight those in the foreground with the heavier application of hues.
The cover art is by artist Pasquale Qualano. It features a tremendous sense of depth. While the inks go nicely with the darker hues. Qualano also does a nice job with suggesting the light sources that create the shadows. Showing Missy’s on various screens while not physically showing her is also a brilliant touch.
Lastly, readers should know that this collection contains hours six through nine of the multi-media Doctor Who event Doom’s Day. Therefore, readers looking for the complete over-arcing story may not get as much joy as those just looking for a fun adventure.
Doctor Who: Doom’s Day: A Doctor In The House? is out on digital on ComiXology. The physical release is due out from Titan Comics on December 26, 2023.
