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A review by saroz162
Doctor Who: Voyager by Steve Parkhouse
4.0
Doctor Who: Voyager sees the end of Steve Parkhouse's five-year run on the DWM comic, and he certainly goes out...well...even weirder than he came in. The Voyager storyline, encompassing four separate stories, abandons the pretense at science fiction seen throughout most of his Davison strips and parades a real science-fantasy sensibility. Thankfully, that works, even if the results are pretty mind-boggling. Parkhouse's interpretation of Colin Baker's Doctor is roughly the same as his Davison - no bad thing, and possibly more appropriate here - and his introduction of the shape-changing companion Frobisher is sheer genius (bringing in some welcome levity to the strip). It's too bad that he chose to leave the strip when he did, but the timing was right and certainly not rushed.
Unfortunately, the second half of the graphic novel is where things start to get - at very least - less good. Editor Alan McKenzie's stab at the writer position is perfectly serviceable, and his Doctor is closer to what we saw on screen, but but his one- and two-part stories barely make any sort of impact with the reader. His attempt at an "epic" storyline spanning the four installments of Kane's Story/Abel's Story/The Warrior's Story/Frobisher's Story is interesting, but it just doesn't go anywhere - there's not enough time before the heroes simply have to get down to the business of fighting the fight and saving the day. And it doesn't seem especially Doctor Who-ish, either. It's more like a transplanted Star Trek storyline, as is McKenzie's earlier "War Game"; both have some strong similarities to Klingon-centric plots that TNG and DS9 would feature in the coming decade.
Fortunately John Ridgway's art is a real high point, bringing consistency to the strip for the first time since Dave Gibbons (and the last time for roughly a full ten years afterward). His work is looser and sketchier than Gibbons', but there's a lot of great detail worked in; you can really see it in stories like "Polly the Glot" and "Once Upon a Time Lord."
This is a great graphic novel for the collection, and I'm pleased to finish off the run of Parkhouse strips. I just wish the other included material didn't feel quite so much like filler.
Unfortunately, the second half of the graphic novel is where things start to get - at very least - less good. Editor Alan McKenzie's stab at the writer position is perfectly serviceable, and his Doctor is closer to what we saw on screen, but but his one- and two-part stories barely make any sort of impact with the reader. His attempt at an "epic" storyline spanning the four installments of Kane's Story/Abel's Story/The Warrior's Story/Frobisher's Story is interesting, but it just doesn't go anywhere - there's not enough time before the heroes simply have to get down to the business of fighting the fight and saving the day. And it doesn't seem especially Doctor Who-ish, either. It's more like a transplanted Star Trek storyline, as is McKenzie's earlier "War Game"; both have some strong similarities to Klingon-centric plots that TNG and DS9 would feature in the coming decade.
Fortunately John Ridgway's art is a real high point, bringing consistency to the strip for the first time since Dave Gibbons (and the last time for roughly a full ten years afterward). His work is looser and sketchier than Gibbons', but there's a lot of great detail worked in; you can really see it in stories like "Polly the Glot" and "Once Upon a Time Lord."
This is a great graphic novel for the collection, and I'm pleased to finish off the run of Parkhouse strips. I just wish the other included material didn't feel quite so much like filler.