Doctor Who: The Cruel Sea

Coinciding with ninth Doctor's one season reign on television was an equally brief period as the Doctor in Doctor Who Magazine comics. This book collects those stories from Doctor Who Magazine #355-#364 and the 2006 Doctor Who Annual.With the exception of the Annual, all the art is by Mike Collins who does a crackerjack job on the art. Whether drawing 1960s London or a truly menacing Martian landscape, Collins does a superb job. His backgrounds are rich and fully textured and Doctor and Rose are both beautifully drawn. As the Doctor would say, the art is "Fantastic."Now, onto the stories:1) The Love Invasion (Doctor Who Magazine #355-#357): The Doctor and Rose arrive in 1960s London to find an alien force at work. It's building something where Rose's neighborhood should be built and is using then "lend a hand" girls, a group of do-gooding young women as part of its plan. The plan is pretty unique for alien invasion plans and unfolds nicely. Writer Gareth Roberts captures the cadence of the 9th Doctor's voice perfectly while also taking a nice peak at the 1960s. My least favorite part is a very forced "Batman and Robin sleeping together" joke. But otherwise this is sold. Grade: B+2) Art Attack (DWM #358): The Doctor takes Rose to see the Mona Lisa, but why go to the Louvre (which Rose could do on her own) when he could take her to a museum where the painting is exhibited in the future. Collins writes as well as doing the art and this story is probably more okay than brilliant. The alien is probably Collins' weakest creation as an artist in this book. Grade: B-3) The Cruel Seas (DWM #359-362): Rob Shearman, writer of the Season 1 Episode Dalek as well as the audio drama it was based on as well as many author Doctor Who books and radio drama turns in his only comic book story here as the Doctor and Rose land on a cruise ship on an artificial sea on Mars which houses a rich man and his never ending supply of Wives and Ex-Wives. The story is probably the best in the book and lives up to being that type of story which Doctor Who could tell on television if it only had the budget for it. The story is a great mix of sci fi and horror with elements of dream, nightmare, and surrealism. Art and story blend for a fantastic mix. Grade: A-4) Mr. Nobody (Doctor Who Annual 2006): An alien cult that's fanatical about its belief in reincarnation determines that a 26 year old is the reincarnation of someone they believe should have been executed, so they set out to do so. This story features the return of Scott Gray who wrote for the eighth Doctor Comic series. My overall reaction to the story was kind of blah particularly at the average guy's reaction. Grade: C+5) A Groatsworth of Wit (Doctor Who Magazine #363, 364): In the last 9th Doctor comic by Gareth Roberts, Aliens offer Robert Greene, a playwright and contemporary critic of Shakespeare a chance to come to the 21st Century to find out how he's remembered. To his dismay he finds himself all but forgotten but the upstart Shakespeare is remembered which leads Greene to go on a reign of terror in the 21st Century before heading back to his own time to do away with the Bard. This is the most inconsistent story in the book. On one hand, the Doctor poo poos relativism and opines on the existence of absolute evil using the aliens as exhibit A. The story itself is a nice case study in the destructiveness of envy. On the other hand, you have Shakespeare hitting on Rose which is a bit uncomfortable although it produces a few hilarious lines such as when Rose responds to a Shakespearean pick up, "If you want, but it's not going to get you anywhere." On balance, I wish Roberts had left it out. Still, a nice concluding line from Rose to the 9th Doctor brings the Doctor's career in comics to a close.The text story, "What I Did On My Summer Holiday by Sally Sparrow" includes many key elements that writer Stephen Moffat would reuse for Blink but isn't quite the same story without the Weeping Angels. It includes many of the timey wimey elements and none of the horror which makes it fun reading.The book also features 12 pages of commentary that's all pretty interesting stuff and gives good insight into how the comics were produced. Overall, this is a pretty interesting collection that allows fans of the 9th Doctor to enjoy five more adventures with him.

After several years, here at last is a collection of the Ninth Doctor comics published in Doctor Who magazine during the Ninth Doctor's run and just prior to Ten's intro in The Christmas Invasion. I have enjoyed reading a lot of these comics collections, especially with Eight, Ten, and Eleven. (I have read a little of the Four, Five, and Six comics, although they are slightly outdated compared to their modern incarnations.)I may have gotten slightly spoiled with the powerful, sweeping arcs of Eight, Ten, and Eleven that created some really great adventures and stellar moments in the DWM comics with neat side characters and some funny antics. Heck, even Five and Six had some of those grand arcs, although they were a little more psychedelic and outlandish at times with less cohesion. Nine didn't have any of those grand arcs and while there were some excellent, funny moments, I suppose it might have been a little underwhelming at times.Nine's era in Doctor Who Magazine was intended to welcome in first-time readers, some of whom might be younger than the regular crowd of Doctor Who Magazine readers and as new fans to the series, wouldn't know as much about the show or its history. Eventually, with Doctor Who Adventures in Ten's era, they published comics aimed at a younger group of readers and Ten's DWM comics developed some exciting moments that explored stranger worlds and time periods, eventually leading to the Crimson Hand arc near the end of his era.However, Nine's era in Doctor Who Magazine was testing new ground and trying out different things. The Cruel Sea story in particular, which is the name of this collection as well, is one of the most horrifying, monstrous ideas/concepts that I've come across so far with these Doctor Who comics. It really goes into the realm of the surreal, nightmarish experiences of Nine, Rose, and the characters they meet onboard a near-vacant cruise liner in the middle of a red sea on Mars. Makes the Waters of Mars look tame by comparison...Anyway, the Cruel Sea was one of the last stories in Nine's era in these strips, when they were already aware that Nine/Christopher Eccleston would be leaving the show. So while they did try to elevate Nine's adventures into the realm of the surreal and fantastic, it doesn't entirely match what they came up with later, or even before in Eight's era. But I still liked it well enough, entertaining, not classic aside from The Cruel Sea, although there is something interesting here, tidbits of greatness.And the Sally Sparrow illustrated story written by Steven Moffat that was featured in the now famous Doctor Who Annual 2006 is included as well in this collection. That is an interesting short story, written in the perspective of a young ten or twelve year old girl writing a homework essay featuring the Ninth Doctor, although it's not the greatest of Moffat's stories.I do love the commentary sections as well in the collections, as they showcase a lot of the influence, pressure, and ideas that the writers, artists, and editors were under in trying to create a comic dedicated to a BBC prime-time family drama/adventure show. If you pick up this collection, I hope you enjoy it as well.

The quality of the graphic novel is excellent for the price. Like all things Doctor Who, there are some major hits in this collection, and some misses. Overall, I miss Nine and Rose even more after finishing these. The artwork is beautiful; there are some really stunning visuals in this collection. Nice little treat at the end in the form of a short story by Steven Moffat that inspired the beloved episode "Blink". Overall, this is FANTASTIC!

I found this collection highly entertaining! The artwork was very good overall and I felt really captured the spirit of the Doctor and Rose. My favorite story was the cruel sea! It was very creepy and visually stunning! It is too bad there were not more comics for Nine and Rose, but I am glad to have these!

Loved the art work and the stories. So very 9 with his attitude. Also I found it interesting that "Blink" was actually 9's story to start with but they changed it to letting 10 have it. A must read for any Whovian

This is the only graphic novel featuring the ninth doctor that is taken from the pages of Doctor Who Magazine. Originally most of the content appeared in a 'Special' magazine but this book fits well into the expanding collection (25 by December 2017) series of DWM graphic novels.

Over the years I hadn't had a lot of interest in comics to be honest, usually skipping these pages of DWM each month. However after being drawn into this world by the recently released Star Trek graphic novel collection I thought I'd give yet another series of DW products a go...great item, gorgeous artwork and now another medium of the Whoniverse has drawn me in lol! Highly recommended am off to get my next purchase!

Eine tolle Zusammenfassung der Comic's aus der Serie mit Christopher Eccleston , erschienen in den Doctor Who Magazines.Umfasst die Comic's:The Love Invasion (Original printet DWM 355-357)Art Attack (DWM 358)The Cruel Sea (DWM 359-362)Mr Nobody (DW Annual 2006)A Groatsworth of Wit (DWM 363-364)außerdem aus dem DW Annual 2006 die Geschichte What I Did on my Summer Holidays by Sally SparrowEine nette kleine Kurzgeschichte die als Vorgeschichte der Folge mit David Tennant Blinkund einen Kommentar, der das Making-of der Comic's beschreibt und viele Erstentwürfe und Vorzeichnungen enthält.Ich kann's nur Empfehlen, nicht nur für Fans.

Ich lese eigentlich nicht viel Comics, hab' ein Paar von Marvel's Thor im Schrank stehen und gerade Mal Band 1 von The Walking Dead. Doch weil ich die Geschichten rund um den neunten Doctor und Rose unglaublich toll finde und auch riesen Fan der ersten Staffel von *New Who* bin, wollte ich den Sammelband unbedingt haben – schließlich gibt es nur eine Staffel rund um das dynamische Duo, aber mindestens noch mal so viele Ableger in Form von Stripes und Büchern, wie Folgen.Nun, jeden Falls besticht der Sammelband mit einer Handvoll Stripes, die stellenweise sogar – wie im Nachwort von den Autoren erwähnt wird – als Folgen angedacht gewesen waren, aber durch verschiedene Probleme eben nicht im TV umgesetzt werden konnten (mitunter zu aufwendig, oder weil Christopher Eccleston die Serie nach 13 Folgen verließ). Man fällt von einem Abenteuer ins nächste, stößt auf neue Monster und historische Persönlichkeiten wie William Shakespeare und findet sich sowohl in Vergangenheit, als auch der Zukunft wieder.THE LOVE INVASIONEine zweiteilige Geschichte um einen Außerirdischen, der sich in den 60er Jahren einnistet, um den Menschen *Liebe* zu schenken. Natürlich versucht er das mit eher unkonventionellen Mitteln, was den Doctor auf den Plan ruft um die Welt vor einer Katastrophe zu retten.ART ATTACKIst ein kurzer Stripe und steigt mit Nine ein, der Rose die Mona Lisa in einer Ausstellung in der Zukunft zeigen möchte (schließlich ist der Louvre zu offensichtlich und zu einfältig, oder?) Dabei geraten sie an einen Alien, der Besucher kidnapped, damit er ihnen die Energie abzapfen kann.THE CRUEL SEAMit Abstand die gruseligste Geschichte des Buches und auch das Titelbild des Comics und der längste Stripe in vier Teilen. Der Doctor nimmt Rose mit auf eine Kreuzfahrt auf dem Mars, allerdings bemerkt er zu spät, dass etwas auf dem Schiff nicht stimmt und gar keine Gesellschaft an Bord ist, bis auf einen alten Mann der selbst Opfer einer Spezies wird, die in den Untiefen des "marsianischen Meeres" liegt ( Spoiler! (-; )MR. NOBODYEin Mini-Stripe über das Thema Reinkarnation.A GROATSWORTH WITEine Geschichte über Robert Greene und dessen Neid an William Shakespeare. Greene war ein britischer Dichter zu Lebzeiten Shakespeares und nicht so von Erfolg gekrönt, wie er es sich gewünscht hätte; er wird von Aliens aus der Parallelwelt Heim gesucht, die sich einen bösen Spaß mit ihm erlauben und seine Wut nähren, bis er auf die Idee kommt, Shakespeare töten zu müssen.Auf Rund 15 Seiten wird nochmals auf die Autoren und den Zeichenstil eingegangen, so Making-Of-mäßig quasi. Fand ich besonders schön. Generell kann ich den Comic Whovians empfehlen, die es ebenso schade fanden wie ich, dass nur eine Staffel mit Eccleston als Doctor lief.Viel Spaß beim Lesen (-:

Très bon album regroupant toutes les bandes dessinées éditées par le Doctor Who Magazine consacrées au Neuvième Docteur/Christopher Eccleston.Certaines histoires font penser à des épisodes de la série-télé qui ont été réalisés après.Recommandé pour tout fan de cette incarnation du Docteur;