Welcome back to This Week in Comics, my reviews of whichever comics I’ve bought for the week. As always, reviews contain SPOILERS. If you ain’t got no spoilers, take yo broke ass home.

Doctor Who: The Time Machination | Fantastic 4 #566 | Green Arrow and Black Canary #20 | Uncanny X-Men #510

DOCTOR WHO: THE TIME MACHINATION
Writer: Tony Lee
Penciler: Paul Grist
Publisher: IDW

The TARDIS has run out of power, and the Doctor has found himself stranded in London in the year 1889. If he can get the TARDIS brought to Cardiff, it can absorb the energies of the space/time rift under the city, and refuel. However, because of a previous encounter with Queen Victoria, the Doctor is an enemy of the crown, and the Torchwood Institute is hot on his trail. To get to Cardiff undetected, the Doctor has enlisted the aid of a former companion of his: HG Wells. Wells brings along a scientist friend named Jonathan Smith, who seems to know more about the Doctor’s time machine than he lets on. What follows is a complicated series of events involving a human time traveler, a document, a paradox, and a red herring.

I’m not particularly fond on Grist’s art work, but it doesn’t distract from the phenominal writing of Tony Lee, who had previously written IDW’s miniseries Doctor Who: The Forgotten. Lee perfectly captures the voice of David Tennant’s Doctor, and crafts an interesting, if not complicated, short story. Making HG Wells a companion of the Doctor is actually a call back to an episode of the original TV series, in which the 6th Doctor and Peri had an adventure with HG Wells. I really liked this one-shot, and it has me looking forward to IDW’s upcoming Doctor Who ongoing series.

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FANTASTIC 4 #566
Writer: Mark Millar
Penciler: Bryan Hitch
Publisher: Marvel

Things are looking grim when Reed Richards discovers the disemboweled body of Uatu the Watcher. He later discovers that this isn’t the Uatu he knows, but a version of Uatu from a parallel universe. That brings us to Latveria, where Doctor Doom has finally returned to rule his kingdom. There is a roaring applause through the streets, which we soon learn the crowd is doing under duress. Doom is anticipating the return of his master, a man he claims to have taught him everything he knows. In previous issues, we’ve seen this cloaked figure travel between different parallel universes, annihilating the Earth and all of its heroes. Meanwhile, Debbie (aka Not-Alicia)’s ex-boyfriend has gone on national television to claim that Debbie is nothing more than a gold digger, and is only engaged to the Thing because she’s impressed by the Fantastic 4 and their Fantasticar. Ben runs down to the TV station to confront him, but Debbie stops him. Back in Latveria, Doom’s master arrives. It is the Marquis of Death, and his new apprentice. The Marquis tells Doom that he is not satisfied with the progress he has made in forcing the people of Earth to fear him, and appears to punish him for it.

It’s the true beginning of the final arc of Millar & Hitch’s run. They certainly start things off with a bang, by establishing that the Marquis of Death has the power to kill a Watcher. We’ve also seen him easily dispatch of a different Fantastic 4 from another universe, thus establishing him as a threat you wouldn’t expect the team to be able to defeat. In other words, Millar may have written himself into a corner, and the conclusion to this story will either be spectacular or a major let down. Here’s hoping it’s the former.

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GREEN ARROW AND BLACK CANARY #20
Writer: Andrew Kreisberg
Penciler: Mike Norton
Publisher: DC

This issue opens with Green Arrow and Black Canary in marriage counseling. Apparently Dinah wants Ollie to open up to her. The therapist tries to get to the root of their communication issues by asking them about their parents. Dinah is instantly defensive, and considers giving up on marriage counseling. Their session is interrupted when the three of them all go deaf. They look out the window to see that the entire city has gone deaf as well, and it’s causing a silent riot through the streets. They attempt to squash the riot, but this proves to be incredibly difficult. Meanwhile, a familiar figure is lurking on the rooftops, watching in delight as the people panic.

I was very disappointed in this issue. Aside from Ollie being reluctant in admitting he was happy that someone was killing off his foes a few issues back, he and Dinah have shown absolutely no signs of bad communication. They were extremely happy before Kreisberg’s run, and they were even happy at the beginning of his run. This is coming literally out of nowhere, likely because Kreisberg wants to write Green Arrow without Black Canary. His writing of Black Canary has been pretty bad thus far, as he pushed her further and further back into the role of a supporting character. That has made the past few issues of this series very difficult to read for an old Birds of Prey reader. Also, colorist David Baron seems to have no idea how to color Dinah, as it looks like she has a spray-on tan with platinum blonde hair (rather than being slightly paler than Ollie with golden hair). It was fun for a while, but this book has disappointed me one time too many, and has just lost a reader.

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UNCANNY X-MEN #510
Writer: Matt Fraction
Penciler: Greg Land
Publisher: Marvel

The Sisterhood has raided the X-Center, and most of the X-Men are incapacitated. X-23 and Armor are running for their lives before being found by Pixie, and subsequently teleported to safety. Lady Deathstrike and a mind controlled Psylocke are battling with Wolverine in his bedroom while Madelyne watches in amusement. Meanwhile, Lady Mastermind has managed to trap Emma in an illusion by catching her in her sleep. All isn’t lost for Emma, however, as Jean Grey-Summers appears in Emma’s mind to help her. Jean frees Emma from Lady Mastermind’s illusion, then leaves. Emma uses this opportunity to change to her diamond form and physically beat Lady Mastermind. Emma then frees Cyclops and Dazzler. Pixie teleports off to find the Stepford Cuckoos, then brings them to the X-Center to dispose of Chimera. Pixie then goes down to the brig, summons her soul dagger, and places another curse on Empath to stop him from escaping. Back upstairs, the Sisterhood escapes through a portal, but not before taking something from Wolverine’s bedroom. The stolen item? A lock of Jean Grey-Summers’ hair.

This was certainly an action packed issue. The Sisterhood’s assault had only just begun in the previous issue, and this issue covers everything to the end of that particular encounter. Madelyne’s motives are still not entirely clear, however, and Psylocke’s return to her original body has been placed on the backburner. This issue did treat us to a quick cameo from the Phoenix, who we haven’t really seen in a couple of years beyond Cyclops’ memories. As for the negative points, this issue was drawn by Greg Land, and I’ll let that statement speak for itself. I found the fact that Wolverine kept a lock of Jean’s hair all these years a tad creepy, especially since there’s no telling if he got it to remember her after she passed away, or if he got it some time during her’s and Scott’s marriage.

I have one very large complaint, and it’s about Armor. Hisako “Armor” Ichiki was created by Joss Whedon as a token student among the adult X-Men. A short time later, Brubaker and Fraction began giving Pixie that same role. Armor is featured as a main character in Astonishing X-Men, and Pixie is a main character in Uncanny X-Men. The division is fine, but Armor’s cameo in this issue shows a complete lack of understanding about the character. The X-Men’s home is under attack, and her first reaction in this issue is to curl into the fetal position until she can be saved by (of all people) Pixie. Armor is a character who has fought Danger, Ord from Breakworld twice, the armies of Breakworld, the Purifiers, the Acolytes, and the Marauders. She has slightly more experience in combat than Pixie, and has not once been so scared that she felt the need to curl into the fetal position during battle. Until now. Not good, Matt Fraction. Not good at all.