FORMAT: TRADE PAPERBACK, DIGITAL (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 17TH

The latest instalment in the multi-platform epic Time Lord Victorious is the comic story Defender of the Daleks, published by Titan. Previously available as two separate issues, it’s now released in collected format.

The Tenth Doctor finds himself shunted to a timeline where the Daleks weren’t wiped out by the Time War. Instead, they’re asking for his help! The Hond, a monster from the Dark Times of the universe, is coming for them.

There’s a fun tone to this retro Dalek space adventure, especially Roberta Ingranata’s energetic art and Enrica Eren Angiolani’s vibrant colouring. Writer Jody Hauser nails this Doctor’s cheeky but brooding manner of speech, and Ingranata is similarly spot-on with the likenesses; you can almost hear David Tennant saying the lines. There’s particular enjoyment in seeing the Doctor reluctantly teamed up with the scheming Dalek Strategist (the Cummings to the Emperor Dalek’s Johnson).

But ultimately, the story feels inconsequential. It takes all of the first issue for the Hond to appear, and when it does, it hardly seems as threatening as it’s been built up to be.

And it’s an odd choice to have this be a Tenth Doctor story, not only because awkward narrative fudges are always necessary to have him face the Daleks (who are extinct in his time), but also because his appearance here has no connection to his main Time Lord Victorious arc; it seems a missed opportunity to bring Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor into the project.