Tony Black reviews Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor – Arena of Fear Vol. 5…
The Tenth Doctor’s star-crossed epic continues, as allies become enemies in an interstellar arena! Plus – the Doctor, Gabby and Cindy face off against the terror of the Wishing Well Witch: Gabby and Cindy’s first trip to the UK turns deadly in a small, superstitious town, as an ancient evil is resurrected! Collects: Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Year Two #6-10
The fifth volume collecting issues from Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor, ‘Arena of Fear’, collects up three distinct stories covering issues six to ten of that run, written by Nick Abadzis alongside a group of talented artists. It revolves around the second year of the Tenth Doctor’s comic book adventures.
The opening story, the titular ‘Arena of Fear’, is actually the continuation of a tale from the previous trade collection ‘The Endless Song’, called ‘Medicine Man’, and picks up very much from the POV of incumbent American companion Cindy Wu. She is stranded on prehistoric Earth with a brace of characters, all of whom can’t quite remember who they are or why they’re here–including Captain Jack Harkness–but Cindy can recall vestiges of the Doctor on the edge of her mind. That’s the set up and the majority of the first issue sees this conundrum roll out until, inevitably, the gang get back together and the Doctor leads the fight against the sinister Mister Ebonite & his alien associates with a nefarious plan for ancient Earth.
While not a standout tale, and very beholden to the previous story to function as its own tale, ‘Arena of Fear’ is well staged, fun, with David Tennant’s Doctor well characterised with all his ticks in place, and builds in the end to a surprising denouement in which you realise the bad guys aren’t quite as… tall… as you may have been led to believe, and the whole tale has been smoke & mirrors to some effect. It’s a neat twist from Abadzis, who captures the tone and fun of Who well, while fully establishing Cindy–who in many respects becomes the main companion here, even with a rather ensemble cast–as a regular companion alongside the Doctor and her best friend, Gabby Gonzalez. Factor in some nice panels from Eleonora Carlini & Elena Casagrande, who especially create some memorable villains for the piece, it makes for an enjoyable to end to a long four-part story.
Wedged between the two major stories is a short published on Free Comic Book Day 2016 called ‘Lady of the Blue Box’, written again by Abadzis and drawn by Carlini, whereby Cindy begins having visions of what appears to be a ghost on the TARDIS – a wispy piece of cloth trailing the halls, her room being tidied up, all of the classic ghostly hallmarks. It’s only a small issue of a few pages but it’s one which continues Cindy’s adjustment to being part of the TARDIS crew as Gabby, now well seasoned, takes her on a tour of the ship and helps her come to grips with the far more mundane, and typically Doctor-y reason for what’s happening. Not pitched as scary, it’s a light and fun little extended scene basically in the TARDIS, played for comedy, and works well sandwiched in given Cindy’s development between the two main stories. Fun and nicely drawn.
The second two-part story in this trade collection is ‘The Wishing Well Witch’, covering issues eight and nine of the Tenth Doctor run. Written again by Abadzis, and drawn again by Carlini with Iolanda Zanfardino, it sees the Doctor with his now two new companions Gabby and Cindy attempt to head for London but arrive in Dewbury, a West Country village about to host a paranormal village fayre attracting people far & wide with interest in the occult. It also happens legends about a witch in a local well, and children affected by OCD who may have come into contact with it, are spreading & while the Doctor begins investigating, Gabby & Cindy start to clash about their roles as companions in the TARDIS.
It’s a nice blend of traditional British gothic horror story to an extent, with a few ongoing character beats and some interesting overarching plot points – the origins of the Witch are quite personal to the Doctor and Cindy receives a fortune telling which connects both back to ‘Spiral Staircase’ earlier in the run and suggests the return of an old Whovian villain to come. It perhaps lacks as strong a story as the previous two-parter, but it’s got a good monster, some strong character moments and some great foreshadowing, plus an ending which lightly leaves a little cliffhanger for what’s to come.
Finally, the final issue is the tenth in the run, called ‘The Infinite Corridor’, written once more by Abadzis and drawn by Casagrande, and it follows on almost directly from ‘The Wishing Well Witch’ as the TARDIS crew are plunged into a very time bending problem; the Doctor is suffering after effects from his encounter with the Witch, and what the ‘Witch’ actually was, and Cindy soon finds herself trapped in the dimension-bending bowels of the TARDIS when reverberations from what the Doctor had to do in the previous story threaten the ship.
It’s a one-shot issue but not only does it manage to blend monsters, mad science, the Doctor in full geek babble mode, things to do for his companions, and some fantastic artwork which really shows the bending and confusion of dimensions well, it also provides some continuing elements of story arc which link back to the fate of Anubis and the events earlier in the run. Abadzis is really helping you feel like you’re watching a ‘season’ of Who on TV and with this solo outing, he could well have delivered my favourite issue of this trade overall.
Though not all of the stories here are classic Doctor Who, and have to an extent a few narrative issues, on the whole ‘Arena of Fear’ is a fun collection of four different, varied, continuing stories with a brace of enjoyable characters and ongoing plot lines revolving around the Tenth Doctor. If you haven’t read the earlier issues of the season, you may need to do some catch up homework, but along the way fans of Who will absolutely find themselves entertained.
Rating: 7/10
Tony Black
