Philip Bond

I'm trying to figure out where this fits in on the Grant Morrison scoring chart. Essentially, it's fine - fairly amusing, some good character interactions (particularly between Ali, his brother and their father) and great visuals. A short, diverting read.

But the plot just feels rushed and half-baked, and that really rankles with me for some reason. It's like Morrison lost interest in it halfway through. Possibly sooner. Lots of cosmic out-thereness to camouflage the lack of coherence. A deus ex machina here (but the actual mechanics of the story were so confused it's not even clear that it was necessary), a Morrisonesque breaking of the fourth wall there (ditto - to be uncharitable Morrison is papering over the obvious cracks with a veneer of his go-to tricks, in an effort to distract us); but you're left scrabbling to find the sum of its parts.

The Indian/Pakistani background quickly becomes superfluous to the story (again to be uncharitable, the main relevance seems to be that the family owns a corner shop), which is fine, except that such a lot is made of the background in the packaging of the book. And there's a very odd blend of Hindu and Muslim cultures used in the book. Its name, the font used in its logo, the poses of the characters on the cover, the demigods (the Ultrahadeen) are all rooted in Hindu culture (i.e., a culture which is predominantly Indian); but the characters are of Pakistani origin and are Muslim. There's no reason why these two different cultures couldn't be utilised in the same book, but there is no reason in this book why they are. They are presented here without distinction, which just seems lazy.

The best thing about the book is Philip Bond's charming art - for that alone the book probably deserves 3 stars. I would like to read a story illustrated by Bond, with the same characters, but without all the mythic, supernatural and superheroic elements. While he does carry off the Demigods, battleships, demons etc. just fine, it's in the smaller things that his art really comes to life.

So on the Morrison scale of things - the book is short (generally a good sign for a Morrison work); it has few pretensions, and is not trying to carry A Bigger Message (again, normally in its favour); unfortunately, through lack of time or interest, Morrison didn't seem to care enough about the story to make it cohere (kinda fatal in the Morrison canon). And that makes it very minor Morrison - a shame, as Philip Bond (not to mention the readers, and Southern Asian culture as a whole) deserved better.
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Despite continuing with the same Doctor and same companions as the last, this volume restarts the numbering, I guess because of the arrival of superstar writer/artist team Andy Diggle and Mark Buckingham. Well, like too many superstar teams on IDW comics, they don't last long-- all of two issues! And to be honest, it's neither's best work. Diggle's writing is not flooded with continuity references like previous Who scripter Tony Lee, but it shares Lee's lack of depth. And Mark Buckingham can do great work, but I find his tie-in work distractingly over-referenced at times.

It's the second story here, "The Doctor and the Nurse," by Brandon Seifert and Philip Bond, that's delightful. Amy forces the Doctor and Rory to undertake some male bonding, but they hate the idea so much they jump into the future to finish early-- only the TARDIS misses its destination. Meanwhile, Amy gets embroiled in the hijinks of the previously-unknown-to-me-but-delightfully-real-except-that-some-people-actually-died-in-it Great London Beer Flood. Seifert's writing nails the characters and humor, and I loved Bond's Dan McDaid-esque art, cartoony but very reflective of the characters' personalities. It's a shame these two didn't take over the title. (I feel like I say that a lot. I guess a lot of the "guest" contributions on IDW's Doctor Who stuff are often better than the "actual" ones!)… (més)