Doctor Who fans you might recall the last time we spoke I said something along the lines of "i'll review the second issue of the holiday special as soon as I get the chance. Well i've just read both the first and second issues back to back and I have to say there is at least one thing that was kind of underwhelming and one thing that was honestly really cool and so here is my full review of Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor Holiday Special and yes there will be spoilers.
The plot of this two issue miniseries is that The Doctor , Graham , Yaz and Ryan go to investigate someone called Mr. Henderson after their memories have been altered and what they find there will threaten Christmas forever. Plot wise there's not really alot here to fill up two issues of a comic book if anything this story could have been told in one issue but for some reason it was stretched out to two issues but it was still a fairly decent story and given the timing of this release it's an oddly fitting story.
As stated in the my first impressions post the art for this miniseries is being done by Roberta Ingranata whom is also going to be drawing the Thirteenth and Tenth Doctor crossover out at the start of next year. I have to say based of this miniseries i'm actually excited to see what Robeta does with certain character designs and overall I really did like the artwork in this miniseries the best word I can use to describe the art here is it's very simplistic I honestly feel that I could draw these scenes and match the quality shown on the page.
SPOILERS SWEETIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now then boys and girls from this point onwards there will be spoilers so consider yourself warned but yeah the reveal of who The Doctor is talking to at the end of the first issue to me was very underwhelming. It's built up really well you think it's going to be someone from The Doctors past who's been on the show but it turns out it's this character that we haven't seen before and are only just meeting.
The character of Baxter honestly isn't that bad of a character having someone working undercover for Santa spying on in this case freaking Krampus is a cool idea. However the comic doesn't really take full advantage of it how cool would it have been to see that Baxter has a bunch of tiny gadgets if your going to do the whole spy angel then really go all out and because this is Doctor Who you really can go all out and not have it effect the world that the franchise lives in instead all we get is Baxter mentioning he's spying on Krampus a few times and that's it.
The reveal that Mr. Henderson is actually Krampus was such a cool thing and they do say that it's Krampus it's not just an alien creature who happens to look like Krampus. Which I feel is a brave mover because the character of Krampus isn't really kid friendly but at the same time it honestly feels right that this demon would be the villain for a Christmas special of The Thirteenth Doctor comic and they make her look so cool.
Sadly tho like with Baxter they don't go all the way with having Krampus as the main villain like how cool and possibly disturbing would have been to see the creature in the opening panels of the first issue kidnapping and then possibly killing kids. That right there sets up this villain as someone that you don't want to mess with but they do nothing with the character she only shows up for a few pages and then is quickly defeated it's a waste of the character of you ask me.
Shockingly there's quite alot of humour at least in the second issue there is plenty to be found in the first issue but one never expects it to be in the final issue of a miniseries while the story is still playing out. Perhaps tho the funniest exchange comes between The Doctor and lovable Graham as he asks The Doctor if this character called Jeff is really Santa to which the Doctor simply says "What Kind Of Name Is Jeff For Someone Like Santa".
That is honestly a funny little exchange between the two characters and it's not a joke that feels like something the characters wouldn't say that is something that Graham would ask and that's how The Doctor or at least this version would reply. I honestly that this is writer Jody Houser's biggest strength in making sure the character remain true to themselves when delivering humour because it would have been very easy to have both of them act out of character for that joke but nope they remain in character and it really does work.
The Fez comes back in this issue that's really all I need to say it comes back for a few panels and then it's gone. So if you thought that only the eleventh doctor was fond of the hat well now you know that The Thirteenth Doctor also wears and just based of this one image it looks like it would suit Jodie really well so I really do hope that she gets to wear it in the next series even if it's just for one quick scene.
SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There is a really lovely scene near the end of the comic with all of our heroes sitting down to have Christmas diner with a bunch of elves. Which I honestly found to be sweet and adding to that is the fact that The Doctor gives us a nice speech talking about how good things can come out of bad situations which is a message that I don't really see that often in any kind of media or in Doctor Who so it was nice that it was in here.
Overall this was a really nice read it's not a perfect miniseries by any means heck i'm willing to guess that you got that just from my first impressions of the first issue. That doesn't mean that it's not an enjoyable read tho and it does make the wait until the New Years Day episode a little easier since there is a new story with those characters and so this miniseries gets a 7 out of 10 from me. It only seems right for me to say this here but no matter what you do on Christmas Day I hope that you have a good one and that you have nice day surrounded by family or friends.
