Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Vol. 4: The Endless Song

enjoyed it

Great

Molto bene.

Having narrowly escaped a timeless monster in the previous volume, the Tenth Doctor and Gabby think they’re headed for a relaxing stop on Wupakti. A planet notorious for its peaceful relations between several species, including Humans, Wupakti offers the opportunity for rest and recuperation. But it turns out the Doctor didn’t really bring them here on vacation. Instead, they’ve been summoned by a scientist who fears for the future of life on her planet.This volume has two stories. The first, shorter story, has themes taken from classic science fiction authors like Stanisław Lem, about whether it’s truly possible for members of different sentient species to communicate. Professor D’Angelo has created a seeming utopia on Wupakti. But the longer humans live among the peaceful, musical Shan’tee, the more our jagged emotions rub off on them. It seems that somebody wants to hasten this friction for their own reasons.In the second story, a mysterious force is rampaging across prehistoric Earth. A lone survivor of a decimated Neanderthal tribe appeals to the local Cro-Magnons for help. The Doctor and Gabby, who came here for a real-time history lesson, find themselves at a crisis point when they realize flying saucers are scouring Earth for trophies. If they can’t stop the process, all human history may be erased before it begins. This story ends on a cliffhanger.As stories, I really enjoyed them. They have the kind of intellectual curiosity that first drew me to Doctor Who in the 1980s, when Americans watched it on PBS. The comic book medium gives these stories more room to breathe, letting them expand to meet the storytellers’ vision, without being beholden to a special effects budget. I really love these artists’ ability to create sweeping vistas and complex scopes that sweep from margin to margin in vibrant color.That said, the two main stories here are awfully talky. There are several of the big, sweeping panels that drive the best of these stories, but they’re offset by several pages broken into tiny panels where the speech bubbles cover more acreage than the images. I realize language needs to drive the actual stories, but we get quite a few pages where the characters seem more interested in explaining the situation to one another, than in doing something to drive the story.I really noticed this because there’s a third story in this book, a very short insert that doesn’t feature the Doctor. Gabby’s friend Cindy, and the surviving characters from the last book, have an encounter with a creature that may be an alien or may be a ghost, it’s hard to tell. And it’s especially hard to tell because the characters don’t explain the situation to one another, they’re too busy being in it. Just the way the best stories always work.This short insert works well because it strikes a careful balance between language and image. Speech bubbles are limited enough to ensure that, in most panels, the largest share of the image belongs to pictures. The artists play with shadow and light in ways that make New York’s Central Park look as mysterious as an alien world. And the story ends with a splash panel so dramatic, you can practically hear Murray Gold’s swelling incidental music from the TV series.There’s a lot I like about this book. The stories have the kind of complexity we’ve come to enjoy from the TV series, but aren’t beholden to the limitations of the BBC’s visual effects budget. And the Doctor’s professorial relationship with Gabby is different enough from the TV companions that it really feels like we’re venturing into new territory. I really wouldn’t mind if, in coming seasons, the TV production staff invited these writers on board to script a few episodes.Perhaps, as only a part-time graphic novel reader, I’m not as accustomed to the conventions as the creative team expects. Maybe the “flaws” I’m seeing reflect my expectations. After all, even when the stories get their absolute talkiest, I still really enjoy what I’m reading. I just wish more panels featured the kind of ambitious physical scope as the best pages do, because sometimes I feel like I’m seeing an entire, fully developed world, and sometimes I don’t.

Book was OK. Storyline played out a little long. Art was good.

This book collects the Tenth Doctor Year 2, Issues 1-5.The titular two issue story is great. It's everything a Doctor Who comic story should be. An adventure the Doctor could believably have, but really couldn't work on TV and hear we have a floating city in the cloud with gaseous tree cows and a conceptual musical being made of cosmic foam. The art brings this to life and drives the whole story.The middle story is not all that great. It has some interesting art with Cindy reading a letter from Gabby, but is essentially a Doctor-lite issue with a plot that goes nowhere in this book but hopefully sets up events for a later book.The final two issue story has the Doctor and Gabby heading back to pre-historic times where they encounter a Neanderthal medicine man. The story wasn't bad and it exceeded my expectations given the general history of Doctor Who and Cave Man stories.Overall, the book is above average and the art remains a delight.