4 out of 5

Fully evokes the spirit of the show and the fourth doctor without any of the cute mugging a lot of other DW writers rely on… which is especially impressive given how popular Tom Baker is, and how much of a temptation it must be to write in a sugar baby reference.

In lieu of that, superstar duo Rennie and  Beeby script a purely fun five issue romp that plays by the rules – no plotting cheats, staying focused solely on what The Doctor and features partner Sarah Jane Smith can learn and interact with within the confines of the story, save the DW trope of Doc having some awareness of whatever oddities they’re facing – but also fully takes advantage of the comic “budget” to take our plot to fanciful places.

In Victorian London, our duo runs afoul of some energy-beam shooting cyclopses, from whom The Doctor is saved by a local father/daughter pair of researchers whereas Sarah, alas, is kidnapped.  But she’s not immediately set aside: Her captor is interested in her time-travelin’ experience, so she gets to do a bit of plot research while DW finds out more on his side of the equation, figuring on a (as usual) hasty rescue plan.

Rennie and Beeby keep the tone light and the story continually evolving.  That the subtitle – Gaze of the Medusa – essentially gives a bad guy reveal away, that’s in-line with how the serials were titled; however, I do think the plot was stuffed with maybe one oddball villain to many, requiring us to bounce around between threats a bit.  But it’s all wrapped up succinctly with a viable enough explanation.

On the art side of things, I dont think I’ve seen a better job of making photo-drawing work with comic art than Brian Williamson’s depictions of Baker and Sarah Jane.  The likenesses blend perfectly with Williamson’s original creations as well as the fanciful settings and creepos.  The action isn’t all that convincing, but that’s an overall point, bot directly related to the likenesses.  Thankfully the script is more exploration and exposition focused than action, so it’s not a big deal.  Hi -Fi similarly does an ace job with the colors, nice and muted for London while adding enough spice to make the textures – like Doc’s signature scarf – really work.

And for those who do like their winking, fear not: Rennie / Beeby may not have gone for the obvious, but they kept plenty of Who trivia in there.

Tons of fun.