Exodus, Revelation!, and Genesis! by: Alan McKenzie adapted and with art by: John Ridgway and letters by: Annie Halfacree

 

Exodus and Revelation! are written by Alan McKenzie with art by John Ridgway and lettering by Annie Halfacree.  Genesis! is written and drawn by John Ridgway from a story by Alan McKenzie and lettering by Annie Halfacree.  They were released in Doctor Who Magazine issues 108, 109, and 110 (December 1985, January, and February 1986) and are reprinted in their original form in Doctor Who: The World Shapers by Panini Books.

 

The World Shapers starts like Voyager ends, with a multi-part story with individual issue titles but no overall title.  Exodus, Revelation!, and Genesis!, are three issues which end Alan McKenzie’s time with the magazine just before everything changed and several years would be spent alternating writers until Alan Barnes and Scott Gray came in to tell the adventures of the Eighth Doctor in comic form.  This is also a story that involves the writer, Alan McKenzie, leaving partway through so artist John Ridgway has to take over for finishing the third and final installment.  Each of the three installments take their names from the books of the bible beginning with the second book, final, and then ending with the first for some odd reason, however, this really doesn’t have a whole lot of significance to the themes or really anything in the stories.  Exodus is up first and opens with a very good start, mainly being confined to the TARDIS on which the Doctor is working, Peri is looking for somewhere to store some clothes, and Frobisher hates being the Doctor’s assistant as he has to pass him tools.  A familial refugee from Sylvanair phase through the TARDIS wall and are come across by Peri and the Doctor promises (after some convincing) to give them some food and send them on their way.  The idea of a planet whose crops are failing while the ruling and educated classes do nothing for those beneath them is a perfect setup for a small Doctor Who story, the only thing really not working is the Doctor’s mood being much closer to the version seen in The Twin Dilemma than the last story televised, Revelation of the Daleks.  Peri and Frobisher play off each other very well and it works nicely to setup the story with what’s essentially an act one in the three act structure.  8/10.

 

Revelation! fares even better with the Doctor, Peri, and Frobisher travelling to Sylvanair where one Professor Verdeghast is strangled from behind, the TARDIS materializing in the same locked room with the professor just as people are coming to discover the body.  This is an issue set in a castle where a Captain Krogh takes pity on the Doctor, Peri, and Frobisher letting them, mainly the Doctor investigate with the other doctors and professors in the castle.  Sadly there is one thing holding this mystery back, mainly that McKenzie doesn’t actually do anything with Peri and Frobisher in the issue, they’re just kind of there while we follow the Doctor which is something that doesn’t bode well for the strip going forward as having a three person TARDIS team in a small comic strip (page wise) means that there is a good chance that this will become a recurring issue.  Ridgway’s art is perhaps its best in this issue in particular as there is some body horror with a scarred professor used as a red herring for the real villain of the piece and the big reveal that it is the Cybermen behind the death of the professor and other scientists in this castle looks beautiful.  The 1980s Cyberman design really does lend itself well to the style of the comic strip especially with some intricacies that Ridgway’s pencils and inks really come together.  9/10.

 

The story concludes in Genesis! which is sadly the weakest part.  The story shifts focus to a standard Cyberman story where it is revealed that a Cyber-ship crashed on Sylvanair and Dr. Sovak, an old and frail scientist, has been working tirelessly to amass an army of Cybermen, the implication being that the other scientists have been converted as well as peasants who have been disappearing.  The actual Cybermen story is nice for a single issue while Peri and Frobisher get a few good lines but are still absent (though the final twist is Frobisher is stuck as a penguin for the foreseeable future).  The Cybermen are at least better portrayed here than they were in Attack of the Cybermen.  The problem comes with the complete dropping of the plotline of the Doctor helping the regular people of Sylvanair which was the inciting incident, it only getting a throwaway mention at the end.  This really takes away from what could have been the perfect end to a prolific editor/writer’s era but it kind of drags things down from brilliant to just a decent enough outing.  Luckily with Ridgway taking over scripting duties for this issue there aren’t any problems with the art, it is intricate and again plays nicely off the body horror of the Cybermen.  7/10.

 

Overall, Exodus, Revelation!, and Genesis! may be a story of diminishing returns despite starting out brilliantly but it does close an era nicely and manages to continue with the Sixth Doctor’s Doctor Who Magazine comic run’s genuinely great era that deserves the place it holds in fan opinion.  8/10.