Doctor Who: A Fairytale Life by Matt Sturges
Art: Kelly Yates and Brian Shearer
This was a cute tale; it didn’t push boundaries in a Doctor Who story. In fact, I could easily see this being filmed for television. I always appreciate a story about fairy tales not being everything they are made of. I also like the idea that holiday planets are not always what they appear to be.
As much as I enjoyed Amy as the self-rescuing princess, I thought Sturges perhaps overemphasized this in Amy’s dialog. Once or twice is enough, but Amy vocalized it over and over. However, I am glad that she did some of her own digging around and trying to help the people escape the tower.
I was worried that Aurelia and the others in the tower had been killed. So I was glad to see that they were still all alive. However, I thought the feeling that they were dead helped give foreshadowing that the King let all the adults die and raised all the children (who were immune to the plague) to believe that they lived in a medieval world. Though the whole idea of protectionism through isolationism seemed like a bit of a sloppy add-on. Like a metaphor that didn’t go all the way through.
I thought Sturges’ take on the Doctor was pretty good. I loved the comment about how his bow-tie means he doesn’t have to dress up in medieval garb. (Though I do miss seeing a Doctor who thinks he needs to dress like the inhabitants do. Of course, if it was still a tourist-planet, the Doctor wouldn’t have been the only one not dressed up.)
Amy’s characterization was a bit weak. But I did love her telling Aurelia that the Doctor was her assistant.
It’s a good thing that the Doctor doesn’t have a problem interfering with societies as he basically set up Callum as the next king.
My least favorite part of Doctor Who: A Fairytale Life was the art. Yates and Shearer seemed to have some issues with the Doctor’s face. The art in general seemed rather rushed, which I think is a shame. Because a medieval universe would have a lot to create.
Overall, this was a pretty entertaining tale.