Eleven

Titan Comics kicks off their second year with the Eleventh Doctor in the appropriately-named “Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor: Year Two” #1 as co-writer Si Spurrier joins Rob Williams, Simon Fraser and Gary Caldwell. Coming off of Titan’s “Four Doctors” event, the creative team has plunged the Doctor and Alice into a story where another piece of the Doctor’s past collides with his present, but right now the story is lacking a little bit of necessary zip. The problem is evident in a matter of pages; after a one-page prologue with the War Doctor, the comic opens with the Eleventh Doctor and Alice in containment cells being lectured at by judges. It’s about as uninspiring a start to a comic as it can be, and the book never really gets up to full speed after this slow opening. It’s a classic case of being told rather than shown; we’re informed the Doctor and Alice are in danger, but — because it starts with them in what look like massive red test tubes — the threat is never present. Tha

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: tackling actor likenesses in a comic book is not an easy task. It’s one thing to get a single image of an actor to be instantly recognizable; it something else to not only draw them over and over again, but do so in a way that brings to mind motion and movement. It’s why an artist can be good to draw a cover image, but is less than idea for sequential art. So while “Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor” #4 continues with another good script from Al Ewing, it’s guest artist Boo Cook who appears to be struggling as he tries to tackle Matt Smith’s likeness. Ewing’s new two-part story continues to please, with Alice starting to question why she’s on board the TARDIS in the first place, and what her working relationship is with the Doctor. It’s the sort of examination of the entire Doctor/companion dynamic that you rarely get on the television screen, much less in the comics. Ewing’s a writer whose profile has been rising in recent times, and this is

Licensed comic books are tough to tackle. Artists often have to subsume their own style in favor of fans demanding photo-realistic images of the stars (to say nothing of the studios’ requests), and writers have to craft stories that are locked into specific “you can or can’t do this” lists because of the fear that it will contradict something within the main property. Tackling a property that’s still running is even more difficult in that regard, because with the show (or film or book or whatever it’s based upon) is still active. That means that you need to slot your stories into something that’s still moving forward, and it also means that you’re secondary because people can just experience the original instead. With all of that in mind, I’m truly impressed with Al Ewing, Rob Williams, and Simon Fraser’s work on “Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor” #1, because it nails the tone and spirit right out of the gate. The trio introduces Alice Obiefune, a woman whose mother just passed away,

In “Smallville Season Eleven” #16, Bryan Q. Miller and Jorge Jimenez continue to expand “Smallville’s” universe with the addition of a wonderful new character who remains an old fan favorite: Princess Diana of Themyscira. The issue craftily blends together conventions from the television show with opportunities more suitable to comic book formatting, ultimately capturing the voice of the characters in this fun and fantastic series. With an updated backstory and mysterious motives, Wonder Woman flourishes under Miller and Jimenez’s tutelage in an effective and effortless way that remains faithful to the show’s atmosphere. As a show, “Smallville” had a tradition of cleverly reinventing characters to break them out of outdated roles; the comic series continuation thankfully maintains this practice with Wonder Woman. Nothing captures this more clearly than her new, Lara Croft-inspired outfit, which gives her character a more modern flavor even while incorporating homages to her origina