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
