Publisher: Titan Comics
Writer: Paul Cornell
Artist: Neil Edwards
Release Date: 2nd September 2015

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If there’s one complaint I’ve had thus far about the Four Doctors series, it’s that Cornell has rode high on promise, but been slow on delivery. We’ve raced through various locations, the doctors bickering throughout, without much pay-off in terms of the driving force behind the whole saga. Now, however, the Twelfth Doctor has revealed himself as a key orchestrator in the whole affair and in delving deeper into Twelves’ motivations, Cornell finally delivers the punch we’ve been waiting for.

To the horror of our band, the older version of Twelve proclaims himself leader of the Voord, located in a pocket dimension they created to avoid the potential return of the Timelords. After the departure of Clara, his loneliness attracted the Voord’s attention and on joining their group mind, he discovered the companionship he craved so dearly. Now, he acts to re-orchestrate every step that led him to join their race.

To accompany Twelve’s tale, Edwards provides some truly captivating artwork of the Voord’s journey from our dimension to the next. The lines are slick, with gorgeous colouring provided by Ivan Nunes. The pace is slower, with Cornell truly focused on driving the story home. Our doctors have finally found a common enemy against which to unite, which cuts down the frantic chase sequences or quick-fire in-fighting they’ve been fond of thus far. Those moments have allowed Cornell to pepper the prior issues with some brilliant characterisation – I dare you to forget, ‘so tea, do we still like tea’ – yet losing these aspects really seems to give the series the space to spread its wings.

The story is sharp and engaging, with a particularly killer moment in the final third that will catch your breath. We’re heading into the series finale on an absolute high and Cornell has used this fourth issue to sow the seeds of a united front; it’ll be interesting to see how that front explodes to combat this latest threat to the universe.

Rating: 4/5.

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The writer of this piece was: Claire Stevenson
Claire Tweets from @cookie___raider.

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