2 out of 5

Yeesh, what a mess.  Why are crossover specials always a mess?  Why do we keep making them?  Why do we keep buying them?

Make up your answers as you please, but I guess, like, someone out there must be enjoying this stuff.  And sure, a DW event where different Docs are able to meet up due to mysterious dimension-spanning white holes popping up is acceptable, and I just popped in to see what Rennie was up to, so I have no context otherwise, but still: for the heft of these issues, it’s bad art, confusing pacing, and really no sense of intrigue regarding the premise.

Emma Beeby writes a two-part River Song story, split across issues 1 and 2, that features, Beeby’s usually jumpy narrative style that’s unfortunately doubled down by completely inscrutable art from Ivan Rodriguez.  There are worst artists than Rodriguez – his figure work is acceptable – it’s just that his translation of the script is baffling.  I might not be a Beeby fan, but I know she knows how to write a comic; here, it’s completely unclear what’s happening from panel to panel due to a lack of appropriate acting or framing, and since the story also deals with time travel… it’s not a good look.  In issue two, ignoring the INJ Culbard two-page illustrated bit that has no impact on someone not reading this whole series, there’s an interesting split-across-four-artists tale of Jenny, which we can assume quirkily ties into some event at the start of the crossover.  This is also time travel stuff, and the writing is a bit sloppy, honestly, with words repeated in sentences in an amateurish fashion, but Beeby’s quick pace works well and the multiple illustrators are an effective way to sell the purposefully chaotic vibe of the thing.

But of course, my favorite bit is the Rennie stuff in issue 1, which stars Tom Baker, Bakering several dimension-swapped baddies against each other.  The art (Wellington Diaz) is a bit streamlined, but it gets the job done, and we get a nice standalone bit that would feel at home in a classic UK Doctor Who mag.