Doctor Who: The Prison Paradox TP Review

 

Doctor Who: The Prison Paradox TP Review

Writer: Dan Watters

Artist: Sami Kivelä

Colorist: Valentina Bianconi

Letterers: Richard Starkings and Tyler Smith

Cover Artist: Nipuni

Editor: Jonathan H Wilkins

Art Director: Oz Browne

Publisher: Titan Comics

Price: $17.99

Release Date: July 21, 2026

 

The Doctor has worn many faces and lived many lives. In his current incarnation, he has loved and lost. Given his abilities to travel through time and his extraordinarily long life, a companion helps him remember all the people who need his help. After Earth’s sun went nova, the Doctor and his companion freed its remaining inhabitants and reunited a little, lost girl with her parents. Where will the Doctor travel next? And who will help him rescue people in need? Let’s grab our sonic screwdrivers, leap into Doctor Who: The Prison Paradox TP, and see!

 

Story

After robots abducted her, the Doctor was trying to help Belinda Chandra return home. But something was shielding the Earth from his TARDIS’ navigational computers. Then, amid their search for Earth, Shadow Proclamation agents abducted the Human nurse. While Earth hides, the Doctor tracks his abducted companion to the Panoptopolis, a space station that orbits a black hole. No one who arrives there ever leaves. Still, that won’t deter the Doctor from rescuing his companion.

 

Yet in Doctor Who: The Prison Paradox TP, Belinda isn’t his companion. The Doctor arrives on a prison shuttle with a cyborg, a Tentaculon, an Adipose, and a member of the Slitheen family. And when Security drags the new arrivals to Interrogation because of an irregular energy reading, H-8 the Living Gun, Methelough, Annie, and Felik decide they’re better off with the Doctor than going it alone in the Prison’s Gen Pop.

 

Dan Watters’ story contrasts the Doctor with the Warden of Panoptopolis. While the Doctor has lived for centuries, the Warden has ruled the maximum-security establishment for 800 years. Due to the Black Hole's gravity, uncrewed shuttles bring new inmates and supplies. The Warden can always shoot troublesome prisoners into the singularity. But the inhabitants, the Gravelyte guards, and the Warden can never leave.

 

As the Doctor and his new companions set off to find the Warden’s office, they must brave inmates who prey on their fellow captives. The Doctor points out that he and H-8 have slightly different life philosophies. But as his new companions aid him in his search for the Human nurse, the Doctor’s words and actions prompt them to reflect on their past. Yet while his new companions ponder how they might live differently, Belinda Chandra sits in the Warden’s office. And the only thing that keeps her breathing is her ability to entertain the bored ruler of his forever home in Doctor Who: The Prison Paradox TP.

 

Art

Sami Kivelä surrounds the ringed space station with inset panels of the arriving shuttle and a view inside. The Doctor sits on a bench, his hands chained to the floor, beside a tooth-like Adipose and gassy, green Sliveen. Seated nearer the hatch, a purple cephalopod and a multi-armed cyborg frame the trio. Rock-creatures with horns direct them inside with their cattle prods. Before mingling with the rest of the prison population in the dining hall, the Doctor gazes up at an eyeball security camera. Then, he demands they release one of their prisoners to him.

 

Valentina Bianconi links the Doctor's orange-brown coat with the orange-tan rocky guards. With a purple Tentaculon and a green Sliveen for company, the fashion-conscious Doctor stands out among the prisoners and guards in Doctor Who: The Prison Paradox TP. Yellow makes its presence felt in this lavishly colored story. The latest visitors enter beneath a yellow-and-black warning line. They pass through a brownish-yellow hall. The rock guards scan a white card adorned with yellow. As they enter a cafeteria filled with inmates wearing yellow coveralls, a yellow-eyed security camera watches them. Yet red will fill the air and make its presence felt, all too soon.

 

Richard Starkings and Tyler Smith fill white dialogue balloons with uppercase black dialogue. The narrator speaks into light-yellow boxes, while the rocky guards use cloudy, light-yellow balloons. The words grow bold for intonation and swell for raised voices. Sound effects enhance battles and put would-be rescuers at ease. Yet a lowly character speaks the loudest, even if it is a squeak. The tightly bound trade paperback features glossy paper and doesn’t obscure the art near the gutter. A cover gallery and pages from Sami Kivelä’s notebook fill out this trade paperback. Thanks to Titan Comics for providing a physical review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

The Panoptopolis holds many dangerous prisoners. But none of them are as dangerous as the guards or as ruthless as the Warden. In this story about the temptations and abuses of power, the Doctor inspires the imprisoned to ignore their fears in Doctor Who: The Prison Paradox TP.

 

Rating 9.8/10