Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor Volume 1--Weapons of Past Destruction TP
Publisher: Titan Comics
Release Date: September 28, 2016
Price: $14.99
Creator(s): Cavan Scott (writer), Blair Shedd (artist)
Format: 128 pgs., Full-Color, Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-7858-5105-6
Age Rating: N/A
ICv2 Rating: 3 Stars out of 5

En route to the planet Excroth, the Tardis is caught in the middle of a conflict between two warring alien races, the Lect and the Unon.  When Rose becomes lost in time and space the Doctor and Captain Jack manage to track her down to a strange planet which is hosting a black market for advanced weapons.  There they find Rose and an incredibly dangerous piece of lost Time Lord technology, something that both factions desperately want to possess.  Because whoever does can use it to dominate the universe.

Weapons of Past Destruction has a pretty standard premise for a Doctor Who story, one that long-term fans of the series have seen time after time, and as drawn by artist Blair Shedd both the Lect (big clompy robot things) and the Unon (silver flying space centaurs) are pretty conventional Who aliens.  But writer Cavan Scott pretty quickly establishes that both races are a lot more than they initially appear.

But the most important thing about a Doctor Who comic, for me anyway, is whether the characters look and behave the way they do on the television series.   Happily Scott crafts smart and funny dialogue in the characters' established voices, and along with providing some incredibly lush art Shedd is particularly good at getting the actors’ likenesses just right.  Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor Volume 1 - Weapons of Past Destruction is a solid Who adventure that should appeal to anyone who likes a story well told.

--Steve Bennett: Writer and retail services consultant.