Special Extra Review

Doctor Who: Room With A Deja View written by Rich Johnston with art by Eric J and colors by Kris Carter.

I got a lovely PDF preview of this book from Rich, but I've already ordered it from my comic service so I'll have a paper copy for the Doctor Who collection in about two weeks when my next shipment arrives. In the meantime, I've had a chance to read and enjoy this ahead of time.

And time is what this book is all about, even moreso than most Doctor Who stories. As Rich warned me in the e-mail: One little heads up. It's a story that uses time travel in the actual structure of the comic itself, which can make it intentionally hard to read as a comic (I'm trying to get the reader to work a little), but even harder as a digital file, and that's all I've got at the moment. Ok, I'm up for a challenge. But he was right, it was difficult to read as a digital file! One section needs to be read backwards (Manga reading skills come in handy there) and finding the end of that section in the digital version was slightly difficult. But only slightly, thankfully.

The story basically involves a lonely Doctor finding a distress signal from a space station that doesn't want to be found. Pretty standard Doctor Who, until the Doctor is introduced to the being that sent the signal. And that's all the spoilers you're gonna get.

This was a fun read, but there was something BIG missing. There's a great set-up of a huge backstory, but the payoff is personal. I wanted to learn more about the space station and its inhabitants. I wanted to learn how the being that sent that signal dies. I wanted more of the backstory, and we only got a taste of it in this book. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it. I just wanted MORE.

The artwork was ok. I question the choice of using multiple Doctor images to show progress of time/the Doctor's habit of moving around a lot in a story where the Doctor meets himself at least twice. The aliens were nicely alien, although the coloring of the guard's face in the beginning of the book made it seem like he was the same race as his attacker, which was confusing as well.

Overall I'd give it a B+, four out of five starfish, a recommended rating. Doctor Who fans will enjoy it, and fans of unusual methods of exploiting the comic book form will find it interesting as well.

Rich is apparently at San Diego signing copies of this book, so if you are out there and can read this blog, go seek him out and get yourself a signed copy or two.