Doctor Who Magazine: Time Lord Victorious - Monstrous Beauty Review

The cover for the supplementary issue containing the first part of "Monstrous Beauty", designed by John Ross. 

Written by Scott Gray.

Artwork by John Ross.

Any multi-platform Doctor Who event would have been missing something if Doctor Who Magazine hadn't been involved in some form. After all, the magazine has been going for over forty years, and has become a key platform for fans to get news, read in-depth features and, of course, enjoy a monthly comic strip, featuring the then-current incarnation of the Doctor. So, naturally, Time Lord Victorious has swept up Doctor Who Magazine in its wake, and perhaps even more naturally, they have been handed a rather large part of the story: introducing the Ninth Doctor into proceedings, and providing him with his largest piece of the Time Lord Victorious pie. Combined with the combination of fan-favourite companion Rose Tyler, and the return of the Great Vampires (first introduced in 1980's "State of Decay"), and Doctor Who Magazine should have been onto a winning formula. However, and I'm not quite sure how this has happened, but I found "Monstrous Beauty" not as successful as I was hoping it would be. Despite a good central premise, and some great secondary characters, I found the whole piece a little listless, and lacking in sufficient dramatic momentum to make it as important a part of the overall story as I was hoping for.

A dramatic still of the Ninth Doctor, as he
uncovers some dark truths about the Vampire
War.

The basic plot sees the Doctor and Rose dragged backwards through time to the era of the Great Vampires' war with early Time Lords. While the Doctor becomes a figure of interest to the so-called 'Space Lords', especially their commander, an early incarnation of Rassilon, Rose is kidnapped by the Vampires, who have a horrifying fate in mind for her... This story takes the germs of ideas hinted at in "State of Decay" by its writer, Terrance Dicks, and brings them to life in a story set during the vampire war. I have always found the mythology laid down in "State of Decay" fascinating: after all, we've never (until this year, I suppose) really seen that far back in Time Lord history, and we have never seen their conflicts and battles. A lot has been added to the background of the war down the years, but we've never seen the actual battles themselves. "Monstrous Beauty", therefore, offered up an opportunity to explore the war for the first time, and, while I may have found the main story unsatisfying, a lot of the imagery presented relating to both sides in the conflict is wonderfully vivid. The Coffin Ships, the Cucurbites and the Bowships are wonderfully realised, and the early Time Lords, while looking primitive, offer a fascinating early glimpse at a civilisation that we know very well, but at a very different stage in their history to the one we know about. However, what I will say that these elements are, for the most part, simply window dressing, and this is where, for me at least, this story starts to come apart a little bit. These great concepts aren't what the story is about, and, while I get the need to focus upon the personal in order to make these stories work, I think that this approach may have been to this story's detriment. After all, with imagery like that, you want to explore it to the full, and I don't think this story does that particularly. It presents these great ideas for one or two frames, but then doesn't build or explore them in any great detail. I think the pace of the story inhibits any kind of deeper exploration, because it has to compress a whole lot of story into three short parts. And, despite the first episode being slightly longer than usual (probably due to be being issued as a supplemental magazine), the whole things moves at an incredible pace. I think that's partly the problem: you want to dwell on all the great imagery and ideas this story features, but instead you are dragged into more events, more images, until you're fit to burst. As a result, the whole thing feels disjointed, and you end up losing dramatic momentum. I also found the links between these set pieces dull and uninspired, if I was being brutally honest. Big action set pieces make comic strips, there's no doubt about that. However, what's just as important is all the links between them, and this story really doesn't get these right, as far as I'm concerned. There's a lot of toing and froing, but there doesn't really feel like a reason for it. I would also say that the characterisation is a little shallow as well, and doesn't really offer us any new insights to the Great Vampires. What is a great shame is that the creatures we know as the Great Vampires barely appear, instead communicating through their proxy, Friar Grystok and the Three Mad Sisters, none of which are presented as anything other than raving lunatics. We have no chance to see their point of view, to understand why they are doing the things they are doing. Instead, they are presented as our black-and-white villains, something that seems out of step with the rest of the Time Lord Victorious material we've had thus far. The new incarnation of Rassilon is quite fun, but we don't really spend all that much time with her, so it's hard to offer any definite comment. At least Scott Gray does nail the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler's relationship, to the point where you can believe that Chris Eccleston and Billie Piper are saying the lines in your head. I think it's a little strange that this is the only Time Lord Victorious story to feature Rose, but I can accept that, as, to be honest, this story give her plenty to do - though, of course, doesn't really follow through on that promise.

The new (or old!) female incarnation of Rassilon
threatens the Doctor and Rose, in a panel from
part 1 of the story. 

While the quality of the story itself may be questionable, the artwork is most definitely not. Like "Defender of the Daleks", the A-game has definitely been brought to this strip, and the panels are absolutely stunning. John Ross has done some stunning work to bring the story to life, and the colouring and line work is clean and crisp. While the landscapes themselves aren't as impressive as some in Doctor Who comic history (there's no huge Roman gladiatorial arena here), Ross brings them to life with skill and flair, especially the Gothic interiors of the Coffin Ship. The characters have a pointed look about them, which works at making them look visually distinctive: especially the Vampires, who look incredibly inhuman, which creates a very unsettling effect. When it's the kindly Gallifreyan scientist who helps the Doctor looking like that, it seems a little more strange, but it at least helps to make the story distinctive. Ross does, however, capture the look of the Ninth Doctor and Rose as you would expect, so its not quite as stylised as, say, the work of Adrian Salmon, another of DWM's regular contributors. However, its an approach that works at bringing this untapped period of Doctor Who history to life with style and flair, despite the nature of the story.

The Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler, as played by Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper, in a promotional photo from "The Doctor Dances".

Overall, I have to admit to being disappointed with "Monstrous Beauty", and the comic sections of the Time Lord Victorious event as a whole. While "Defender of the Daleks" felt like Titan had their hands tied with regards to what they could do, "Monstrous Beauty" feels very much like a missed opportunity on the part of the Doctor Who Magazine team. Oh, don't get me wrong, this is perfectly fine as a story in its own right. It's just I feel that, in terms of the wider Time Lord Victorious story, this falls somewhat flat. It's a shame the comic sections of this multi-platform event have been pretty weak, as, while other mediums like books and audios have shown off the virtues of that medium of Doctor Who storytelling, both "Monstrous Beauty" and "Defender of the Daleks" haven't been as impressive as I think they could have been, or stretched the form as much as they could have done. "Monstrous Beauty" is the more impressive of the two, but I don't think that may would say that it was anything more than distinctly average.

"Monstrous Beauty" is available as part of Doctor Who Magazine. You can subscribe here:

https://doctorwhomagazine.com/

All pictures copyright to the BBC and Doctor Who Magazine. Thank you very much for reading. If you wish to keep up to date with the blog, you can subscribe by clicking the link at the top of the page. Keep an eye out for special social medias for Who Time (& Space) coming very soon!