What they got right: Since the upcoming ongoing will feature original Companions, much like the UK magazine comics, this was probably our last chance to get a Donna comic story. Ever since I heard that IDW was going to have the Doctor Who license in the states, I was curious to see what an American take on the Doctor would be like, but we ended up with British writers anyway. (Although I've loved Tony Lee's stories thus far.) Although John Ostrander treads ground already tread by other sci-fi stories, he does put a fair DW spin on it. He also gets the characters of the Doctor and what I assume is an early Donna right. Also, they brought in Kelly Yates, whose fill-in work for Pia on Doctor Who: The Forgotten I had fair praise for and the work is just as good here. Mostly.
What they got wrong: I wasn't thrilled with her* Donna. It's the facial features that felt..not "off", but I felt was missing something. Her* Doctor is still just as good as in The Forgotten, except for one panel where he looks rather short. She does a better job on the close-ups. Also, John still does use ideas that have been done from Issac Asimov to Star Trek: The Next Generation. The Automatrons are no Ood. Also, how does interacting with ONE human lead to the entire planet accepting Donna's plan? Is Ixtalia the leader of her world or something?
(*Someone posting on the spoilhappy version on my blog just informed me that "Kelly Yates" is in fact male. Ooops. Sorry, Mr. Yates.)
Recommendation: Not the best Who story, but not a bad one, either. Worth at least a read.
