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FEBRUARY 2009
IDW’s third
Doctor Who story is this cracking one-off; a straightforward tale
set during the show’s third series. It’s written by husband and wife team
Leah Moore and John Reppion, both of whom have several well-regarded
comics under their belts, but who will forever be known best for their
relationship to the legendary Alan Moore (Leah’s father). Some people have
been surprised to see them working on Doctor Who given their illustr-ious
connections, but let’s not forget that some of Alan Moore’s earliest work
was writing Cyberman back-up strips for Doctor Who Magazine.
The artwork here
is provided by Ben Templesmith, an increasingly sought after talent in
the
world of comics, best known for another IDW series, 30 Days of Night.
Templesmith’s surreal, idiosyncratic style is immediately recognisable
– nobody else produces images like these. His unique style mixes
photo-realistic faces with highly stylised, cartoony scribblings. While I
understand that this will not be to everyone’s taste, I personally adore his work,
and the jarring oddness of the style fits with the grim, gothic nature of
this tale.
The Doctor and
Martha find themselves on the rainy world of Grått, within the Whispering
Gallery of the title. This is a place where the Gråttites keep the
portraits of their dead – portraits that whisper to their visitors.
The Gråttites are forbidden to show any emotion, and these
portraits allow
them their only chance to express their feelings
and tell their loved ones
how they truly feel. It’s a desperately
sad concept for a world, yet
strangely plausible. The Doctor
had previously travelled with Grayla, an
inhabitant of Grått, one
who was unable
to keep her emotions under control. Now her
portrait hangs
in the Gallery, and so she must have returned to
her world, and
died.
The Doctor would
perhaps have accepted this, mourning but
moving on, as always, were it not
for her final message: “They
were right. They were right all along.
This is no place for emo-
tion. When you come you must remember that.”
The Doctor
absolutely refuses to believe that Grayla
was willingly ‘cured,’
and sets off
into the streets to investigate. He leaves Martha in
the Gallery for
her own good – there’s no way that she could disguise her emotions on this
world.
The tale then
follows both Martha and the
Doctor separately. Martha, left alone, is
devastated by the grief on display in the Gallery, and the
sheer wretchedness of
the
Gråttites’ situation. The Doctor, meanwhile,
draws attention to himself
by the foolish use
of a multicoloured umbrella, staggeringly bright
against the greyness of Grått,
and is soon stopped by the police. He’s no more capable of
controlling his
emotions than Martha, of course, and is soon under attack by a huge, hairy
beast – a wonderfully realised creature, with just a hint of spider and a touch
of grizzly bear about it. This is the Morkon, a creature that feeds on
emotions - the reason for the Gråttites long emotional famine. Emotions
are banned for fear of waking the creature, but then Grayla came back,
preaching her newfound emotional freedom, and it awoke.
The story
continues in a simple fashion, a chase with the monster leading to the
sobbing Martha in the Gallery, before the Doctor allows it to gorge on his
nine hundred years’ worth
of pent-up grief
and anger. The beast is destroyed. Yes; it’s a simple end to a simple
story, but no less effective for it. Altogether, this is a great read; one
worth tracking down.
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