Doctor Who: The Fifteenth Doctor: Everyone Must Go TP Review

 

Writer: Dan Watters

Artist: Kelsey Ramsay

Colorist: Valentina Bianconi

Letterer: Tyler Smith

Cover Artists: Artgerm

Publisher: Titan Comics

Price: $17.99

Release Date: March 19, 2025

 

After causing a scandal in the bohemian town of Bath, the Doctor leaves Earth to pursue a sound. As in Attack Of The Cybermen, the Doctor and Ruby follow the sound to a relay point. Then another. The places they visit form the Greatest Hits of the Doctor's worst nightmares.

 

Finally, they return to England. Not in 1985 or 1813, but to York Castle in 1739. Why did the strange sound bring them to witness the execution of the dreaded highwayman, Dick Turpin? Let’s grab our sonic screwdrivers, leap into Doctor Who: The Fifteenth Doctor: Everyone Must Go TP, and find out!

 

Story

The Doctor befriended Rogue, but now the bounty hunter inhabits an unknown alternate dimension. So, the Doctor throws himself into another mystery. When he meets Dick Turpin, the fastest Human on horseback wields a Cyber-gauntlet. Like Ashildr, the highway robber has an execution in his future. (If only, like Dennis Moore, he had demanded lupins instead of money and jewels!) Still, his god has promised to save him if Dick can make the Doctor scream.

 

In Dan Watter’s story, the Doctor realizes that the sound bouncing across the Space-Time Vortex is a scream. He tracks it to Earth in the 29^th Century. Solar storms are eroding the atmosphere and boiling the oceans. The last residents of Earth inhabit Sanctum Shopping And Dining. The residents have everything they need. Unfortunately, they also have someone they don't.

 

In Doctor Who: The Fifteenth Doctor: Everyone Must Go TP, a new villain wants something from the Doctor. He is a collector, and he loves to scare people. The more he can frighten them, the better. Because then they will give him what he values most: their screams.

 

Art

As Ruby admits to a childhood nightmare about getting lost in a shopping center, a little girl clutches her teddy bear and wanders through dark corridors filled with pipes, conduits, and machinery. When the Doctor finds her in the lower levels of the shopping mall, he discovers that Cybermen lurk in Sanctum Shopping and Dining.

 

As in most Doctor Who stories, the Doctor gets separated from his companion in Doctor Who: The Fifteenth Doctor: Everyone Must Go TP. The Doctor tries to protect the little lost girl from the monsters she fears the most. Ruby discovers that more than Humans, Cybermen and robot security guards inhabit the shopping mall.

 

Valentina Bianconi lavishes a loaded palette on Kelsey Ramsay's whimsical art in Doctor Who: The Fifteenth Doctor: Everyone Must Go TP. Vibrant colors lend a cheery atmosphere to this last homely shopping mall filled with striking architecture, floating plants, and abundant food and drink. The Scream Sommelier keeps his treasures in glowing yellow bottles, and the god tries to trap the Doctor in his yellow realm of fear. When the Doctor studies a Cyberman, he spies a purple nebula filled with whirls of yellow, green, red, pink, orange, and blue.

 

Tyler Smith conjures large black uppercase letters into white dialogue balloons, casts off-camera dialogue into white narrative boxes bordered by character-specific colors, and programs a computerized font into octagonal dialogue balloons. Words embolden for emphasis and italicize for strong emotion, while enlarged colorful dialogue threatens to burst dialogue balloons. Giant rounded Vrooops accompany the TARDIS’ activation. A sign for John & Smith adorns an act of unthinking cruelty, while another welcomes shoppers with the words Everyone Must Go.

 

Extras

Concept sketches enliven a five-page interview with the British author and artist. The fifteen-page cover gallery showcases most full-size without titles, logos, and credits. A guide to more Doctor Who trades rounds out this first volume of the fifteenth Doctor's comic adventures. Thanks to Titan Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Doctor Who: The Fifteenth Doctor: Everyone Must Go TP evokes adventures from earlier eras of the wandering Time Lord's life. Dan Watters' story shows how fear can turn us into monsters. Yet, it also points out that fear expresses hope. When all you can do is scream, that's not all bad.

 

Rating 9.6/10 

 

To look inside see my preview of Doctor Who: The Fifteenth Doctor: Everyone Must Go.