Top Of The Pile: Doctor Who #4

The second story arc - Fugitive - of the superb, Tony Lee-penned ongoing Doctor Who comic from IDW continues apace in issue four.

The Tenth Doctor has been arrested for tampering with Earth's timeline, and sentenced to imprisonment by The Shadow Proclamation, but under the auspices of the krillitanes led by Mr Finch (Anthony Head's character from School Reunion).

The issue opens with him being shipped off to Volag-Noc (the prison planet from the Infinite Quest animation) in a space barge along with a sontaran, a draconian and an ogron.

It turns out these aliens were all diplomats heading for a peace conference, arrested on trumped-up charges - and the transport they are on isn't going to the prison planet, but heading straight into a sun.

Naturally, The Doctor manages to persuade his fellow inmates (who all have strong reasons to dislike him) to try and take control the ship and hopefully keep them away from a fiery grave.

As always, Tony Lee's ear for the language of the Whoniverse is spot-on and the story is peppered with little Easter eggs for those knowledgeable of the show's broad mythology (such as the reasons behind the demoralisation and decline of the ogron people or The Doctor's passing reference to Stockbridge, a town that features prominently in The Doctor Who Monthly serials and is currently subject of a three-play arc in Big Finish's monthly audio range).

Conversely, an in-depth understanding of the ins and outs of Doctor Who certainly isn't a requirement for enjoying this exciting 'prison break' tale.

Matthew Dow Smith's slightly minimal art and Charlie Kirchoff's stark colouring took some adjustment to get used to, but after a couple of issues by this team I appreciate how expressive the artwork is in both the emotional beats and the action scenes.