Issue three of Paul Cornell’s charming evocation of 1970s Doctor Who, starring the flamboyant Jon Pertwee, maintains the charm offensive initiated by its first two issues but with a couple of interesting nods towards the touchy-feely style of modern Who. Still trapped in Jo Grant’s multicoloured mindscape, the Doctor, communing with the micro-machine intelligence which has come to Earth with apparently hostile intent, is forced to confront the reason he remains tied to Earth despite the recent rescinding of his status as ‘exile’ by the Time Lords (the story takes place after the show’s tenth anniversary story The Three Doctors). Jo Grant effectively tells him he should just bugger off if he resents being a part of UNIT so much, but the Doctor has clearly forged some strong relationships during his time on Earth and isn’t in any hurry to break those ties completely. Meanwhile, Mike Yates grumbles to Sergeant Benton about his lack of headway in romancing Jo; “I don’t think she’s very interested… any minute now she’s going to hop into that box with the Doctor.” Poor Mike.
Meanwhile – it’s a busy issue – the Master has infiltrated UNIT with another of his handy face-masks, which leads to a hilarious fist fight between the Doctor and the Master as the pair utilise their Venusian Aikido and Martian kendo! The Second Doctor, we discover, has not been sent to help by the Time Lords, and has raced off on a frolic of his own – leading to another explosive full-panel final page which is as audacious and surprising as its first issue counterpart which threw the Second Doctor into the story’s mix in the first place.
The Heralds of Destruction remains great fun and Cornell is clearly having a great time teasing his story out only as much as necessary and relishing in bringing the Third Doctor and his family of friends and foes back to life for a very welcome victory lap. Silly and unpretentious and yet knowing and just about reverential enough, it’s established itself now as a ride we’re happy to chug along with to the bitter end.
DOCTOR WHO: THE HERALDS OF DESTRUCTION #3 / WRITER: PAUL CORNELL / ARTWORK: CHRIS JONES / PUBLISHER: TITAN COMICS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
