Issue #8 came out today. Drawn by Roger Langridge, the eighth Doctor visits Grace Holloway (her first named appearance in a Doctor Who story in over a decade) and takes her on "just one trip."
It was an odd issue.
Langridge's art is great, as always, but the story itself is rather thin.
After a Frobisher apperance in issue #6 drawn by John Ridgway, this doesn't fit with Grace's DWM appearances at all.
The story reminds me of "The Land of Happy Endings" (the anniversary story DWM did a few years ago with the eighth Doctor and his grandchildren, John and Gillian) tossed in a blender with a Vidiian story out of Star Trek: Voyager.
The important thing, though -- we get a really good look at the hooded villain.
It's someone who has been partially Cyber-converted. The possibilities...
- Lytton
- Junior Cyberleader Kroton
- Some minor character from "Army of Ghosts"/"Doomsday"
I think, based on the sixth Doctor issue, that it's Lytton, as the sixth Doctor recognized the villain. For the eighth Doctor, the villain is vaguely familiar but he can't place him. Considering that several decades (and two regenerations) have passed in the Doctor's life since "Attack of the Cybermen," it's possible that the Doctor would have only vague memories of Lytton.
Kroton would be cool, but he would have to be deconverted to some extent (since the villain has human hands and a human face). Also, I'm curious why exactly Kroton would be so implacably hostile to the Doctor after his last appearance.
A minor character from "Army of Ghost"/"Doomsday" would make sense, except that the villain expects the Doctor to know who he is, and his Cyber-conversions are classic Cybermen, not Cybus-Cybermen parts.
I didn't hate the issue, but I also didn't love it. The eighth Doctor dialogue doesn't ring true, and the story is slight. I also don't buy the resolution to the story which portrays the eighth Doctor as something of an anarchist. But, the artwork was lovely and it's always nice to see the eighth Doctor.
Isn't the villain a *lot* more likely to be
Tobias Vaughn