Splitting the Tardis in The Eleventh Doctor #11

Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor #11
Four Dimensions

The comic counterpart on Matt Smith’s portrayal of the Doctor celebrated its eleventh issue entitled Four Dimensions. For Eleven’s eleventh issue, the Doctor, Alice, Jones and Arc traverse space and time to solve the separation of Arc from the body he was attached to.

The Tardis crew runs into problems when they run into a SERVEYOUINC ship, to which the Doctor is Chief Executive of the company. The storyline takes a turn when the Tardis splits into four dimensions like the title suggests, expelling the members in a different section and the Doctor into outer space. Splitting the panels into four concurring storylines is a difficult task. Each individual storyline continues on smoothly and it reads without confusion.

The colors used in this split four panel arc are vibrant, electric yellow, blue, pink, and black and they aid in separating the stories but keeping them intertwined. Each of the Tardis crew members has some problem to deal with, but their stories overlap. When Jones makes it to the control room, he is still blue while Alice remains yellow. Arc joins in still colored pink to take on the antagonist that has been pestering the members, fear. The Doctor wasn’t the one to save the day in this comic, but he remained comical and whimsical, just like the aloof professor counterpart.

One character that calls for criticism is Jones. Jones is always trying to reinvent himself for fame. This time, he picks the wardrobe of a very pathetic-looking clown. Jones is a clown, but not in the cheering others up sense. Even for a Doctor Who-related title he feels absurd, which says a lot in a franchise where anything can literally go. His character feels isn’t underdeveloped rather than conceived poorly, and the motive for him to be aboard the Tardis feels like a front. In this issue, he isn’t an enjoyable companion.

On the other hand, Alice’s intelligence threads the story along, and with Arc channeling Entity kicks the Gremlin King/fear out of the Tardis.

It is nice that the work Matt Smith put in to Doctor Who can be continued in comic form, a long with the other contemporary Doctors. Some of the ending lines, What would I do without you, are right on the money capturing Smith’s Doctor. Four Dimensions was a set up with a clever and entertaining storyline, however, the character Jones brings certain aspects to a slump. Titan Comics helps bring the Doctor to page with the help of writer Al Ewing and artist Bo Cook. Ewing’s overall story was strong and flourished under the art of Book’s.