https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-fountains-of-forever-by-nick-abadzis-et-al/

Starts with a short and breezy story about the Tenth Doctor, Gabby and the Tardis’s washing machines, answering the question my mother always used to ask about how the Doctor and companions keep their clothes clean.

Then we’re into a story marketed under two titles, “The Fountains of Forever” for the first two parts and “Spiral Staircase” for the third and fourth, set in New York where an unexpectedly rejuvenated movie star become the focus of the Osirians attempt to return to Earth after the Pyramids of Mars. There’s a nice little moment where the Tenth Doctor retro-regenerates into the Ninth, and back again. Good atmospherics in general. ( )

In this volume, the Doctor and Gabriella encounter aliens with a distinctly Egyptian-mythology vibe. Because of this, I really liked the story—I am a sucker for a good Egyptian-mythology story, especially one that riffs on Pyramids of Mars too, which is perhaps one of my favourite Fourth Doctor stories. The laundromat story at the beginning was cute too; I like stories that explore hitherto unrevealed rooms in the TARDIS. So overall, I liked this a little bit more than Volume 1, Revolutions of Terror, but not quite as much as Volume 2, The Weeping Angels of Mons. All three volumes are action-packed and fun, and worth reading if you like David Tennant’s Doctor. ( )

Wederom tekeningen waar ik nou niet heel blij van word maar ik heb ook nog wel slechtere Doctor Who-tekenaars meegemaakt dus dan valt dit nog mee. Alleen dat de Tiende Doctor alleen aan zijn kostuum en zijn haardracht te herkennen is, vind ik toch echt wel te mager.

Gelukkig maakt het verhaal heel veel goed. Dit is het derde deel in de reeks waarvan ik de eerste twee delen niet heb gelezen. Ik neem aan dat hierin de huidige companion van de Doctor is voorgesteld. Gabby Gonzalez, een Amerikaanse Latino die kunstzinnige kwaliteiten heeft. Het is duidelijk dat Doctor Who ook met de huidige tijdgeest meegaat en steeds inclusiever aan het worden is. Heel fijn. In dit deel wordt haar relatie met een goede vriendin verder uitgediept, een vriendin die zich verwaarloosd voelt en als een zeurpiet overkomt. Ze irriteerde me soms wel maar aan de andere kant laat ze juist door haar gedrag ook zien hoe het is voor de mensen die achterblijven. Companions leveren door te reizen met de Doctor een deel van hun leven op aarde in met soms grotere gevolgen dan van te voren te voorzien is.

Het verhaal van The Fountains of Forever zit prima in elkaar. Met verwijzingen naar blinde godenverering en de Egyptische mythen. En het voelt aan dat het verhaal nog niet helemaal af is en er een vervolg in zit.

Het blijft toch eeuwig zonde dat ze voor niet betere tekenaars kiezen. ( )

This volume wraps up "Year One" of Titan's ongoing tenth Doctor comic; if the opening volume was a highly effective pastiche of a Russell T Davies new-companion episode, this is a very dismal one of a Russell T Davies season finale. The Doctor and Gabby return to Gabby's home of New York City, and even though Gabby's friend Cindy gets swept up in events, none of it matters. There's no sense of personal investment here-- this story isn't about the Doctor or Gabby or Cindy in the way that "The Parting of the Ways" was about the Doctor and Rose and Jack and Mickey and Jackie, or that "Doomsday" was about the Doctor and Rose and Mickey and Jackie and Pete, or that "The Last of the Time Lords" was about the Doctor and Martha and Jack, and so on. Nothing is at stake here for our main characters, they're just participants. This could at least be a story about Gabby and Cindy's friendship, but mostly Cindy is just an extra person to stand around in scenes where lots of people stand there while the Doctor talks. (Nick Abadzis anticipated the storytelling tics of the Chibnall era, I guess.)

It just feels like a random standalone adventure except for the attempt at scale. The universe is threatened-- but so what? The Osirans from Pyramids of Mars return-- but so what? Your boring bad guy from a boring story being related to an interesting bad guy from an interesting story doesn't make him interesting. I found it very hard to get invested in whether this guy should go through some portal, and without the period trappings, the Osirans are pretty generic super-beings.

Despite all this, and despite involving four different people, the art is pretty consistent and mostly very good. I'm not sure about the occasional manga-esque effect (they're so occasional it jars), but at least Gabby looks like a Hispanic woman again. These artists could be supporting a stronger story is all

I was disappointed because I thought the first volume of The Tenth Doctor had real potential. The second was meh-- but it had a different writer, so I could accept that, and figured that when the original came back, things would be better again. Hopefully "Year Two" gets things back on track.

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