Brian Williamson (1)

This volume seems pretty pointless. Do new incarnations of the Doctor need "roads" to them? What does that even mean? How can you set up a new incarnation of the Doctor? What it turns out to mean here is three standalone stories about the three previous incarnations of the Doctor, the three who had ongoings from Titan for the previous three years. So we get a tenth Doctor, Gabby, and Cindy adventure; an eleventh Doctor and Alice adventure; and a twelfth Doctor and Bill adventure. Each is fine, but I found the reveals in the tenth Doctor one not very convincing (the monsters look cool but that's it) and the story in the eleventh Doctor one confusing. I don't even remember the twelfth Doctor one. Some Titan writers have done impressive single-issue adventures (mostly the writers on the Eleventh Doctor series), but these are not of them.

Each story is followed by a short back-up featuring the same Doctor, but by the creative team of the upcoming Thirteenth Doctor book and set during an episode of the tv show. In each case, the Doctor sees a hand coming through a time portal, and then does nothing about it, continuing about his business. Having already read the first volume of The Thirteenth Doctor as of this writing, it's pretty pointless set-up, and I don't entirely buy that the Doctor would just ignore each of these time portals and go about his business. Sure, we know it has nothing to do with the events of "The Girl in the Fireplace" or "The Power of Three" or whatever, but how does he? But I do like some Rachael Stott art.

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This contains two stories, the first Titan adventures (other than the 2017 Free Comic Book Day Special) to include Bill after four volumes of one-off companions. The first is pretty over-egged, featuring Vikings, the Ice Warriors, the Flood (from "The Waters of Mars"), and the Haemovores (from The Curse of Fenric). None of the components gets the space it needs to be interesting. I couldn't keep track of the Vikings; the Ice Warriors were similarly dull; the inclusion of the Flood felt pointless; and the Haemovore idea came in so late it did a major disservice to one of my favorite classic series stories.

The second story, "The Great Shopping Bill," seems like it should have been fun, but Pasquale Qualano's art completely fails to communicate the setting. It's supposed to be a delightful intergalactic supermarket, but it looks like a couple of shelves.

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The first and only volume of Titan's Fourth Doctor comic is very much a Hinchcliffe-era pastiche: this is sort of The Talons of Weng-Chiang crossed with Pyramids of Mars. Unfortunately, it feels very plodding: lots of wandering around in caves, and not very interesting guest characters, and the by-now-usual kind of time paradoxes. This pure pastiche might do it for someone else, but it feels like a particularly banal Big Finish fourth Doctor adventure, like one of those Philip Hinchcliffe/Marc Platt collaborations.

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I discovered Doctor Who in middle school. I was a nerd in an age before being nerdy was cool in any way. I always had my nose in a book and took a lot of crap for being a straight A student. Most likely I was one of only 3 kids in my class that realized PBS showed more than Sesame Street and Electric Company. Doctor Who showed on PBS every weekday afternoon at 4:30. In the days before VCRs to tape shows (and definitely way way way before the awesome wonder that is DVR and satellite television), this left me in a rush to get home after school in time to see that day's episode. For whatever reason in the early 80s, PBS only showed episodes with one Doctor -- Tom Baker. #4. I rushed home every day for my dose of the fuzzy haired, scarf wearing awesome doctor and his companion, Sarah Jane.

I adored Tom Baker.

I saw the episode where the third doctor (Jon Pertwee) dramatically fell to the ground and morphed into Doctor #4. Then for months, the daily showings meandered their way through all of Tom Baker's exploits, ending with the episode that left me sad and pissed - the Fourth Doctor's regeneration into number five (Peter Davison). The station would show one or two Peter Davison episodes (which just made me madder....I wanted Tom Baker back. I remember being absolutely livid. I was a kid. At 12, I did not accept change readily. And I had never encountered a show that suddenly changed the main character like that with no warning.) and then bounce back to the first Tom Baker episode again. There were no Jon Pertwee episodes. There were only one or two Peter Davison episodes. Just Tom Baker on repeat.

I didn't mind. I loved Tom Baker.

Doctor Who was my secret nerd time every day. None of my friends watched Doctor Who. My parents didn't watch Doctor Who. My siblings didn't watch Doctor Who. I was a lone nerd, enjoying my little dose of Brit nerdery in secrecy. It was awesome!

I didn't discover all the rest of the Doctor Who Universe until years and years later. In college, I was much more accepting of change. My anger wore off. These days I don't even get upset when I think of the episode where my scarfed, strange, absent-minded doctor turned into a blonde, tall stranger.

I still adore Tom Baker though. I have a replica of his scarf. I own his Funko pop figure. I have a stuffed K9 that talks. I even have a Tom Baker keyring. I like the other incarnations of the Doctor...but #4 will always be my favorite. He was my first doctor.....and that's just a special thing.

When I heard that Titan Comics was doing a 5-comic series featuring The Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane, I knew I had to read it! Unfortunately, I heard about it too late to get the whole 5 comic run...so I waited for the hardback compilation book to be released right before this past Christmas. The book was my Christmas present to me.

I waited until after the holidays were long over and life had calmed down to read it. I wanted nothing to interrupt my Classic Who time.

The story is classic. The doctor and his companion travel back to Victorian London on a lark, where they encounter aliens who want the secret of time travel. Sarah Jane is captured, and the doctor must get her back.

Brian Williamson's artwork is amazing! The cover of the hardback compilation is beautiful! The story line is classic. Gordon Rennie and Emma Beeby did an awesome job of bringing my favorite doctor back in all his absent-minded glory.

I loved it! For a little while it was like being back in the 80s, sitting down in front of the television after school to see what sort of trouble was going to unfold for The Doctor and Sarah Jane.

I highly recommend Gaze of the Medusa to any fan of classic or new Doctor Who!

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