War-Game by: Alan McKenzie with art by: John Ridgway and letters by: Annie Halfacree

 

War-Game is written by Alan McKenzie with art by John Ridgway and lettering by Annie Halfacree.  It was released in Doctor Who Magazine issues 100-101 (April – May 1985) and is reprinted in its original form in Doctor Who: Voyager by Panini Books.

 

With Steve Parkhouse’s exit from the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip there is the immediate fear that the transition wouldn’t be something that could go over smoothly.  Editor Alan McKenzie took over as writer and would stay with the strip for about 10 more months before shifting away so different writers could alternate strips and essentially take the pressure off one writer to keep things moving especially as production on the television became more than hectic.  McKenzie’s run begins with War-Game, continuing the trend of shorter stories that ended Parkhouse’s run, without setting up any big story arc but bringing in some interesting ideas and exploration of a Pertwee era villain.  This is a simple story about the Doctor and Frobisher landing on a planet at war where a Draconian who has crash landed has built his own power in an attempt to find his daughter.  It’s a touching little piece, but if it is any indicator as to where the strip is going we have some interesting things.

 

First off, McKenzie really gets the Doctor/Frobisher relationship, perhaps because he had been in the editor on the magazine since Doctor Who and the Dogs of Doom was running.  He would have had a hand in creating the character and here does an interesting move and has Frobisher shape shift into this Conan the Barbarian style slave as this is a story against slavery.  There are also these brilliant moments at the beginning of the story in the TARDIS where the Doctor is attempting to teach Frobisher to play chess.  McKenzie almost wants to use this to tie things back into the War-Game on the planet, but it really doesn’t except for the themes of battles being noble and having territory taken.  Chess, however, isn’t really about territory being taken, but about simulating the battlefield of people being taken.  People are the focus of chess and that aspect is almost brought through in War-Game, despite it not necessarily working.  The two issue length is perhaps to this story’s detriment as it is very self-contained and it doesn’t really give any sense that the story has changed.  John Ridgway’s art, however, is beautiful.  This is perhaps the best the strip has looked and Ridgway’s style really fits the style of the Sixth Doctor as seamlessly as Dave Gibbons’ art had fit the style of the Fourth Doctor.

 

Overall, War-Game is a good, little, self-contained adventure that explores some interesting character dynamics especially with the exploration of the Doctor/companion dynamic when the companion is an atypical one.  It brings in a new writer and a potential new style for the strip before the graphic novel it is in is rounded out.  7/10.