FAITH and the FUTURE FORCE (graphic novel) by Jody Houser

Published in 2017 by Valiant Entertainment, LLC,
Art by Stephen Segovia, Barry Kitson, Diego Bernard and Cary Nord.

Faith Herbert is a superhero (Zephyr) in hiding. She has been accused of a murder she did not commit in another series (she's a member of some sort of Justice League/Avengers type of group). She no longer acts as a superhero and her secret identity now has a secret identity. She is working in an office and trying not to get noticed.

Now, a note about this graphic novel. Before this book, I had never heard of Faith Herbert or this series. But, I was attracted to the front cover because of Faith. Faith is a woman of generous proportions - something I have never seen in any comic book. In fact, I can't think of a single superhero comic that features an overweight superhero without it being a joke (Mr. Incredible's gut doesn't slow him down, but it has been a sight gag from the very first trailer of the first movie). This got my attention because I am a man of generous proportions.

Secondly, when I opened up the book and thumbed through it I found multiple Doctor Who references. On the third page, a superhero in a typical full curve-hugging superhero outfit appears in Faith's office and says, "Come with me if you want to save history." 

Faith answers, "I've been preparing my whole life for this moment."

The hero responds, "Oh God, you're a Doctor Who fan aren't you? Of course."

Well, that was it - I was sold. Guess what? It turns out that Faith is not only a Doctor Who fan - she is also a Star Trek fan. What's not to love?

Back to the story...

Faith has been recruited to help stop a robot from the future that is traveling through time and destroying human history. If I tell any more, I will make spoilers.

The story is a bit confusing for at least the first half of the book, with all of the time traveling and Faith having things explained to her a little bit at a time on the fly . If you are a Doctor Who fan, you are used to this. And, like a great Doctor Who episode, it all comes together and has a clever ending.

The art is top notch in this book. It was quite fun.

I rate this graphic novel 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: FAITH and the FUTURE FORCE.

DOCTOR WHO: SNAKE BITE (audiobook) by Scott Hancock

Published in 2012 by BBC Audiobooks Ltd.
Read by Frances Barber
Duration: 1 hour, 13 minutes
Unabridged

Two physicists are working in a secret lab in a massive space station that literally encircles a planet in Doctor Who: Snake Bite. Their secret project is kept hidden from everyone - even the power to run it is taken siphoned away from dozens of other locations on the space station. Down below, a unique planet is being studied. In the lab, a a stable wormhole is being perfected. As the wormhole stabilizes, the TARDIS arrives right in the middle of it all. The Doctor (Matt Smith's Doctor) doesn't know where they are at first and he certainly doesn't know why he is there. Once they start to figure things out they discover that things are weirder than they even imagined...

Frances Barber

Frances Barber was picked to read this audiobook. The producers tried to tie a little Doctor Who authenticity to the book by picking a Doctor Who alum to read the book. Barber played Madame Kovarian - the Eye Patch Woman who kidnapped Amy Pond's baby. This is a very memorable character and perhaps it would have been better if this character had been in the story because Barber just does not have the rhythms of any of the regular characters. For example, her Amy Pond sounds hesitant and scared. When Amy Pond gets scared, she gets loud and mad, not hesitant. Her portrayal of the Doctor does not have Matt Smith's rapid-fire delivery. 

The plot reads like a middle-of-the-road Doctor Who story (not too good, not too bad) but the performance of the reading just wore on me and made it seem slow. About an hour into the story I checked to see if this was a 2 CD set and was very pleased to see that I had misremembered the number of CDs and this story was nearly over. 

I rate this audiobook 2 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon here: Doctor Who: Snake Bite.

DOCTOR WHO: DESTINY of the DOCTOR #3: VENGEANCE of the STONES (audiobook) by Andrew Smith

Published in 2013 by AudioGo (Blackstone/BBC) 

Read by Richard Franklin and Trevor Littledale

Duration: 1 hour

Unabridged.

As a part of the 50th Anniversary celebration of Doctor Who, the BBC released a series of audiobooks called Destiny of the Doctor. Each of the Doctors has a 1 hour audiobook story.

In Vengeance of the Stones the Doctor and UNIT are called in to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a RAF fighter jet from the skies above Scotland. While the Doctor is poking around he encounters Lt. Mike Yates for the first time (who becomes Captain Mike Yates and a companion in the television series). 

The Doctor soon discovers that the disappearance of the jet is the work of an alien species that has a ancient grudge against humanity and that they are the reason for the prevalence of so many recumbent stone circles in this area. 

A recumbent stone circle in Scotland.
Photo by Bill McKelvie

Also, he discovers that these aliens are more than willing to inflict their revenge upon humanity even though it has been hundreds and hundreds of years since they were wronged. Of course, the Doctor leaps to the defense of humanity but the story is amusing and entertaining and certainly will be of interest to any Doctor Who fan. 

The two readers were very solid, both being veteran audiobook performers in this series. Richard Franklin, of course, played the part of Mike Yates, the character he played in the television show from 1971-1974.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Doctor Who: Destiny of the Doctor #3: Vengeance of the Stones.

Reviewed on October 10, 2014