Once Upon a Time-Lord is written by Steve Parkhouse with art by John
Ridgway and lettering by Annie Halfacree.
It was released in Doctor Who Magazine issues 98-99 (February – March 1985) and is reprinted in its original
form in Doctor Who: Voyager by Panini
Books.
So here we are. The end of Steve Parkhouse’s run of Doctor
Who comics. This is the big one, the
one that ends everything that Parkhouse has been building towards over his five
year run on the strip. After this point
while there would be a year or so where Alan McKenzie took over as writer, there
would be a general shift to avoiding a single writer on the strip which is
where you get contributions from people who would become big names in modern
comics, such as Grant Morrison, Dan Abnett, Richard Starkings, and to a lesser
extent Jamie Delano. John Ridgway would
stay on the strip consistently providing art (though eventually going down to
only pencils) well into the 1990s, though not always being the singular artist
with several breaks. Once Upon a
Time-Lord is an ending and despite being only two installments long, it feels
like it deserves its ending status.
Parkhouse’s ideas just play up the fact that this is a comic book allowing
Ridgway the freedom to play around with page layouts and characters, slipping
in so much more in these two issues that a standard Doctor Who comic
story could ever hope to do. The setting
is essentially a land of make believe with several references to classic fairy tales,
adventure stories, and even pop culture like The Lord of the Rings and Star
Wars. Some of these have serial
numbers carefully filed off, though not so much that you can’t tell just what
it’s supposed to be referencing, and these are just quick references. They add to the atmosphere and ideas that are
being played with.
Ultimately, Once Upon
a Time-Lord is a story all about the Doctor defeating a foe that is bigger
then him not by something like on television with a strong arm, but with
cunning. The cunning of the Sixth Doctor
is something that really comes out here as he immediately searches out
Frobisher, the friend he has made and getting Astrolabus to destroy himself. The story ends with almost a puff of hot air
which is kind of poetic and not nearly as much of a let down as it could have
been. This is one of those foes that
being beaten by a deus ex machina is actually quite fitting since Astrolabus is
a god level threat, something that was done quite a bit in the classic series
but at this point is kind of something that being used in expanded universe to
much greater effect. This is a story where
we move away from a comic style at points, like where Frobisher is presented
with and eats a worm (yes that’s from this issue) and it’s one of those pieces
of absurdity that make it worth it.
Astrolabus is also just a really good villain, essentially being driven
by this madness, the madness that would bring the man into this legendary
status that he just sort of feeds on and starving him of that legend is what ends
everything. It’s implied he is on his
last regeneration, but that may also just be a red herring as Parkhosue has
been playing with the idea of a legend which is disturbingly depicted by
Ridgway.
Overall, Once Upon a
Time-Lord is a near perfect final installment for this era of Doctor Who
Magazine comics and is the story on the precipice of change with the writer
leaving after this. Hats off to Steve
Parkhouse for bringing the strip to a consistent quality from the very
beginning and building several arcs to satisfying conclusions. Parkhosue was unashamed of being a comic
strip and going to whacky places that the television show would be unable to while
the art always works in tandem with the ideas to bring something brilliant. 9/10.
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