COMIC REVIEW: Doctor Who - Everyone Must Go
Doctor Who as a franchise is magnificent in large part because of the sheer amount of spinoffs. (And I don't just say that because of my personal involvement in some of them!) From whole other worlds in the Whoniverse to tight tie-ins, there's always something new to discover. It's how we kept ourselves fed during the Wilderness Years, and it's not stopped just because it's on the air again.
I am largely new to the comics, though I've enjoyed immersing myself in them more. The latest across my desk, thanks to the lovely people at Titan Comics, is the Fifteenth Doctor tie-in Everyone Must Go. The new story takes the Doctor and Ruby from the times of Dick Turpin to a future shopping mall—introducing a screamworthy new baddie and shades of horrors from Doctor Who eras past.
The Story
As noted toward the beginning of this collection, Everyone Must Go takes place directly after the episode Rogue. We are still in the midst of the mysteries of Ruby Sunday's mother and Susan Triad's identity, and the concept of a pantheon lurking around the edges of the Whoniverse is in play. This new adventure takes the current Team TARDIS from the (relatively) recent past to the far future—from a skewed 1700s to the last shopping center on Earth.
Led (or perhaps lured) to the mall, the Doctor and Ruby discover a lost little girl in its halls. And, it would seem, Cybermen are here as well. But the truth is far more convoluted. At the heart of this adventure is a new villain: the Scream Sommelier, an interdimensional being who bottles and preserves the universe's rarest and most horrified screams. But the Sommelier has one very specific white whale: the scream of a Time Lord.
As the story progresses, subjecting Earth's last shoppers to unspeakable terrors and jumping across dimensions, one question remains: what truly frightens the Doctor?
The Lore
Writing for a Doctor Who character and writing for a Doctor Who era are two very different animals. The new material for Tales of the TARDIS tells us as much. It's quite possible to write a character pitch-perfect while still leaving them detached from their era; or to nail the vibe of an era with characters that sound off. Fortunately, Everyone Must Go masters both.
The Doctor and Ruby are in fine form, striking that bizarre but unmistakable balance between "we're both suffering from childhood trauma" and "we can't go on an adventure without a fashion show first." In addition to characterization, it latches nicely (for the most part) into the Sutekh-centric storyline of "Season 1." The comic's original run began around the time Rogue aired, so any benefit of hindsight would have come from sneak peeks at the episodes to come. Regardless of whether the creative staff were informed in advance or just well-guided by the powers that be, everything fits in beautifully.
Of particular note is the Sommelier's seeming fourth wall break. There comes a point when he tidily folds away some panels of the comic. Once again, the RTD2 era is breaking the boundaries of the medium to reach out to us. Does that make the Sommelier a member of the Pantheon? That's one to think on.
The Rest
Kelsey Ramsay is certainly a talented artist, but the art of Everyone Must Go is definitely "your mileage may vary." The rough, modern style feels appropriate to the era, but it does have one flaw: likenesses fall apart a bit. For the Doctor and Ruby, this isn't that big a deal. Between their iconic accoutrements and the fact that they tend to own whatever scene they're in, we're unlikely to lose them in a crowd.
The problem comes when trying to integrate the Susan Triad subplot. In the final few pages, it's revealed that one of the shoppers was yet another Susan Twist. Falling in line with the events of Rogue, the Doctor and Ruby were to the point of noticing her presence, though they didn't yet know who she was. And yet, for the life of me, I could not see a character that struck me as intentionally a Susan Twist lookalike. Perhaps it was a later addition; perhaps we weren't meant to actually spot her. But it feels a bit odd to call it out without either doing it or making it clear that it's been done.
All that aside, that is one flaw in a broadly fun comic. The many storylines—lost child Maria, the Sommelier's schemes, and Ruby's new bug friends—actually all tie together in a satisfactory way. Considering how heavy with subplots this story seemed, that's really impressive. Revisiting Ruby's very real fears, as well as examining what fear means to a Time Lord, was a great approach. But it does bear mentioning that I'm a Doctor Who fan who prefers the show when it's horror. So this comic is absolutely catering to me personally. Again. Your mileage may vary.
This is a story deeply rooted in the era it expands upon. If you're a fan of Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor, especially paired with Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday, this belongs in your collection.
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