Doctor Who Circuit Breaker: Adversary of the Daleks #1
Review
Writers: Dulce M Montoya & Dan Watters
Artist: Robert Ingranata
Colorist: Valentina Bianconi
Letterer: Richard Starkings & Tyler Smith
Editor: Jonathan H Wilkins
Cover Artists: Jay Anacleto, Photo, Robert Sienicki &
Flops
Publisher: Titan Comics
Price: $6.99
Release Date: July 8, 2026
Time Travel is a tricky business. Forget stepping on a
Butterfly. You can change someone’s life with a harsh word or a smile. And then
there are the things we touch or take with us when we leave. Thankfully, there
is an organization that keeps track of all these ripples in spacetime. The
Unified Intelligence Taskforce safeguards the people of Earth from alien
invasions, scheming mad scientists, and interference in the timestream. But how
is UNIT watching over us? And who helps them prevent reality-shattering
paradoxes? Let’s leap into Doctor Who Circuit Breaker: Adversary of the Daleks
#1 and see!
Story
Osgood and Andrew were looking forward to working with the
Doctor. But they didn't realize that the Fugitive Doctor would assist them.
Unlike the others the Doctors have met, the Fugitive Doctor doesn't know about
her other incarnations. Nor does she care what Osgood and Andrew think of her.
She has a job to do, and she's doing it her way.
UNIT has amassed a storehouse of items from other planets
and time periods. In Doctor Who Circuit Breaker: Adversary of the Daleks #1, the
Fugitive Doctor must assess where they belong. When she takes each item to her
TARDIS, it transports her to the general area where the item belongs. But the
Doctor doesn't know who to return it to.
Dulce M Montoya and Dan Watters' story transports the
Fugitive Doctor to ancient Greece. Instead of arriving amid the Trojan War, she
finds a land at peace. The local town has a bustling marketplace. And the
locals bring their offerings to Zeus' temple, even if it leaves them with little
to eat themselves. Unfortunately, no one there recognizes the item the Fugitive
Doctor is trying to return. And after seeing a man faint with hunger, she
cannot help but hike up to Mount Olympus to discuss the gods' reliance on the
locals' generosity.
The Fugitive Doctor arrived in Greece under a cloud, as
Osgood and Andrew worried that her last mission might initiate a civil war. But
the Doctor can't help their worries. They cannot blame her for other people's
irrational actions. As the Doctor attempts to rectify the problems threatening
peace in ancient Greece, she tries to help people work together to better their
lives. But while an unseen party observes, the Doctor fails to recognize that
not everyone shares her definition of reasonable behavior in Doctor Who Circuit
Breaker: Adversary of the Daleks #1.
Art
After a view from space of other planets, the Doctor,
Osgood, and Andrew walk between tall rows of open shelving. The Doctor plucks a
pair of alien glasses and tries them on. Osgood rips them away from her. The
Doctor frowns and looks away, her body language defensive. Then, the Doctor’s
eyes fix on an item crackling with energy set on a high shelf. She runs
outside, past the trees rising above a fence, and into her blue police box. The
shape of the ceiling and the double-hexagon shadow on the floor evoke the First
Doctor’s TARDIS. Then, as she sets the Dalek gun on the console, the Doctor
sets her coordinates and pulls a lever as the weapon crackles with energy.
As Robert Ingranata portrays the Doctor amid pastoral
splendor, Valentina Bianconi adorns Doctor Who Circuit Breaker: Adversary of
the Daleks #1 with vibrant colors. The surrounding hills and trees recall the
greenery beyond the UNIT base. The white-robed people in the fields seem as
innocent as the grazing sheep. Villagers wear browns and pastels, while some in
the market dress in more vibrant colors. She may be the Fugitive Doctor. Yet
the Time Lord's bright purple hat and suit, accentuated with a multicolored
blouse and hatband, command people's attention.
Richard Starkings and Tyler Smith fill white and green
balloons and boxes with black uppercase dialogue. Raised voices enlarge words
and turn balloons spiky. Giant white letters warn the Doctor of approaching
danger, while giant red letters accompany its arrival. She faced down a red
apple with certainty. But the Fugitive Doctor finds another red menace more
difficult to reason with, even if it speaks in a font befitting the birthplace
of modern philosophy. Thanks to Titan Comics for providing a review copy.
Final Thoughts
The Fugitive Doctor recognizes she needs to work on her
people skills. Yet she doesn’t understand why people can’t get along. As she
goes about her job, trying to prevent world-threatening paradoxes, she
struggles to see things from other people’s perspectives. Still, she tries to
help, even if success seems unlikely, in Doctor Who Circuit Breaker: Adversary
of the Daleks #1.
Rating 9.2/10
To look inside see my preview of Doctor Who Circuit Breaker: Adversaryof the Daleks #1.
