REVIEW: Doctor Who #4 The Fourth Doctor: Gaze of Medusa

Written by Gordon Rennie & Emma Beeby, art by Brian Williamson, published by Titan Comics/BBC

Well it takes a modicum of skill and a soupcon of talent to get both the rambunctious personality of the Fourth Doctor AND the atmosphere of the show at the time right. It takes a bit of work to squeeze in a couple of contemporary references but it all seems to work quite well together in this licensed adaptation.

The story is the usual, Doctor in a pickle he seems distantly fascinated by while those around him are losing their shit. The script is good enough that you cn hear Tom Baker’s voice when reading the Doctor’s dialogue, the other characters stand out as each is given a voice and at least something to do in the plot.

The art is excellent, it utilizes the medium to show the type of story that budgets didn’t allow for back in the day but doesn’t let the design break the feel of the classic episodes. Facial expressions are particularly strong and there’s a pleasant call back to old Eagle comics (in the UK, Google is your friend…) without the starch in the shirt that Dan Dare seemed to use.

On the whole a far better example of a licensed comic than the other Who books I’ve read and I’d recommend this to any fan new or old.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Publisher:Â TITAN COMICS

(W) Gordon Rennie, Emma Beeby (A) Brian Williamson (CA) Mark Wheatley