Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor - Gaze of the Medusa

Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor (Titan Comics) #1-5

by Gordon Rennie, Emma Beeby, Brian Williamson (Illustrator)

The Doctor and Sarah Jane travel back to Victorian times, only to find themselves thrown back even further in time only to face... the Gaze of the Medusa!

Genres: Doctor Who, Graphic Novels, Comics, Science Fiction, Time Travel, Fiction, Media Tie In

128 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2016

About the author

Freelance writer for over 20 years – When he’s not being ungainfully employed as a BAFTA-nominated video games scriptwriter, he keeps himself busy writing comics, novels, screenplays and Doctor Who audio plays. Comics work includes Predator, Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, Missionary Man, Necronauts, Caballistics Inc and Absalom, and Dept. of Monsterology for Renegade.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I discovered Doctor Who in middle school. I was a nerd in an age before being nerdy was cool in any way. I always had my nose in a book and took a lot of crap for being a straight A student. Most likely I was one of only 3 kids in my class that realized PBS showed more than Sesame Street and Electric Company. Doctor Who showed on PBS every weekday afternoon at 4:30. In the days before VCRs to tape shows (and definitely way way way before the awesome wonder that is DVR and satellite television), this left me in a rush to get home after school in time to see that day's episode. For whatever reason in the early 80s, PBS only showed episodes with one Doctor -- Tom Baker. #4. I rushed home every day for my dose of the fuzzy haired, scarf wearing awesome doctor and his companion, Sarah Jane.

I adored Tom Baker.

I saw the episode where the third doctor (Jon Pertwee) dramatically fell to the ground and morphed into Doctor #4. Then for months, the daily showings meandered their way through all of Tom Baker's exploits, ending with the episode that left me sad and pissed - the Fourth Doctor's regeneration into number five (Peter Davison). The station would show one or two Peter Davison episodes (which just made me madder....I wanted Tom Baker back. I remember being absolutely livid. I was a kid. At 12, I did not accept change readily. And I had never encountered a show that suddenly changed the main character like that with no warning.) and then bounce back to the first Tom Baker episode again. There were no Jon Pertwee episodes. There were only one or two Peter Davison episodes. Just Tom Baker on repeat.

I didn't mind. I loved Tom Baker.

Doctor Who was my secret nerd time every day. None of my friends watched Doctor Who. My parents didn't watch Doctor Who. My siblings didn't watch Doctor Who. I was a lone nerd, enjoying my little dose of Brit nerdery in secrecy. It was awesome!

I didn't discover all the rest of the Doctor Who Universe until years and years later. In college, I was much more accepting of change. My anger wore off. These days I don't even get upset when I think of the episode where my scarfed, strange, absent-minded doctor turned into a blonde, tall stranger.

I still adore Tom Baker though. I have a replica of his scarf. I own his Funko pop figure. I have a stuffed K9 that talks. I even have a Tom Baker keyring. I like the other incarnations of the Doctor...but #4 will always be my favorite. He was my first doctor.....and that's just a special thing.

When I heard that Titan Comics was doing a 5-comic series featuring The Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane, I knew I had to read it! Unfortunately, I heard about it too late to get the whole 5 comic run...so I waited for the hardback compilation book to be released right before this past Christmas. The book was my Christmas present to me.

I waited until after the holidays were long over and life had calmed down to read it. I wanted nothing to interrupt my Classic Who time.

The story is classic. The doctor and his companion travel back to Victorian London on a lark, where they encounter aliens who want the secret of time travel. Sarah Jane is captured, and the doctor must get her back.

Brian Williamson's artwork is amazing! The cover of the hardback compilation is beautiful! The story line is classic. Gordon Rennie and Emma Beeby did an awesome job of bringing my favorite doctor back in all his absent-minded glory.

I loved it! For a little while it was like being back in the 80s, sitting down in front of the television after school to see what sort of trouble was going to unfold for The Doctor and Sarah Jane.

I highly recommend Gaze of the Medusa to any fan of classic or new Doctor Who!

[Taaya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I really like Sarah Jane (and miss her, and would've loved seeing more of her adventures with Luke and the others), I couldn't bond with anything in this comic, emotionally. Lady Carstairs was not fleshed out enough - and if she were, her story would have taken a different turn, I assume -, and the villain was just villain for the sake of it? Then the little trans-mat detour that didn't really seem to have any relevance ...

Maybe one needs to have been around during the actual run of the fourth Doctor's adventures to enjoy this comic.

And on top of that, this issue starts with casually reproducing anti-native american slurs and their trauma of exploitation.


(Apart from that, the comic is, technically, well done. Just ... not for me.)

[Adam Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith find themselves in London in 1887 and at the center of a mad plot by Lady Emily Carstairs to re-awaken an ancient entity for her own purposes.

This book is a great piece of nostalgia. Featuring the Doctor and his most beloved companion, Sarah Jane Smith, the story feels like something that could have been aired on Doctor Who during Season 13. Every page has that gothic horror feel that was so characteristic of the Philip Hinchcliffe era on Doctor Who: the settings, the monsters. In that way, it's perfect. The story and the human guest villain are solid, but not particularly great other than in their design.

My main criticism of the book is that Sarah Jane is taken out of the action for nearly two full issues out of five in the book. In a limited series, having Sarah Jane is a big deal and so taking her out of the action seems ill-advised, and the substitute companion is okay but there's no real good substitute for Sarah Jane.

Other than that, the book is worth a read for how brings a long ago era of Doctor Who to life in comic books.

[Jana · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

[Trevor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a lot of fun. It captures the gothic feel of early Fourth Doctor really well.

[Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

wow! my timing for finally reading this was perfect! Season 13 has just been released on BluRay and I'm currently watching all the old hammer films. season 13 is firmly rooted in Hammer Horror homages and this taken inspiration from 1964s "The Gorgon". it's a great little work. I'm not always a fan of photo realistic artwork for comic books based on TV shows/films and several poses here looks just like frames from the show or promo photo poses. but I did like the two main guest characters seems to be based on Andrew Keir and Diana Rigg(?) which really added to the horror film feel. fun and well worth a read if you like doctor who and especially the 4th Doctor/Hinchcliffe Era :)

[Owen Townend · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very serviceable Doctor Who story and a love letter to the Phillip Hinchcliffe era.

Rennie and Beeby capture the personality of the Fourth Doctor perfectly with some lines that I could just imagine Tom Baker bringing to life. The rest of the cast of characters is surprisingly small with an all but side-lined Sarah Jane, the father-daughter 'chrononaut' team Professor Odysseus James and Athena James, and the stony-faced Lady Emily Carstairs. The Medusa makes a formidable monster but I enjoyed the Scryclops duo more. Their limited ability to look forward or backward in time proved quite endearing.

The plot reminded me of the Classic Doctor Who serial Pyramids of Mars, inasmuch as both tales involve intrepid explorers uncovering the truth about ancient Gods. While Pyramids of Mars played with Egyptian mythology, Gaze of the Medusa plays with Greek mythology and with great aplomb too. Professor James has a Homeric quote for every high-stakes situation.

Also Rennie and Beeby include just a dash of fan service in the form of a reference to an iconic villain from modern Doctor Who and a sweet companion ancestor twist right at the end. It was all nicely done and Williamson's picture perfect illustration amplified the quality.

I would have liked Sarah Jane to have had more agency and at least one extra subplot to make it feel like an authentic classic serial but this book remains a great comfort read. I recommend Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor, Volume 1: Gaze of the Medusa to fellow Whovians after a light comic book treat.

[Gav451 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A humble bundle book, if you haven't checked them out and you have access to a tablet you really should, there are bargains to be had.

This was a fine read, very much in the spirit of the Doctor and a tale that was enjoyable. Using TV characters in a story makes the art a more difficult proposition as the artist is trying to get the likeness all of the time. I would have been just as happy with a more abstract and interpretative approach but then perhaps I am not the target audience.

I cannot criticise this book but Im not on fire because of it.

[Stephen Theaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly good story for the fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane, who tangle with some Greek myths and the woman who worships them. Catches the Doctor's character well and the likenesses are good, but far too many panels stretch across two pages, making it quite irritating to read onscreen.

[Rick · Rating 2 out of 5]

It wasn't bad, but it wasn't very good either. Meh.
Although it has decided for me that I'm done with Doctor Who comics.

[James McIntosh Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have not read many Doctor Who comics until recently. I had read a FCBD one that was not very good a while back, so I was unsure if the regular ones would be cheap and poorly written money-makers for the big man. Although I am not entirely familiar with all of the versions of the Doctors, especially the older ones, I have rather enjoyed some of the comics I have read recently, including this one. I found it to be interesting, exciting, and mildly dramatic. It has a unique adventure with typical Doctor Who weirdness and witty/goofy comments. There was, however, a part of the story near the end that didn't make any sense in regards to how a certain object got to where it was by traveling through time and such, but I won't say anything more about that so that I don't spoil the story. Overall, this was a good science fiction adventure with heavy inspiration from Greek legends.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

To me, Tom Baker, the fourth Doctor Who, is always the first Dr. Who I think of when I hear the name. I remember the reruns when I was a kid on public television with the cheesiest special effects ever.

This volume is based on Greek Mythology with Cyclops and Medusa, but since this is Dr. Who of course it's not what you'd think. Overall this is one of the better Dr. Who comics I've read, even though as I've said before I'm not a huge follower of the series so my overall knowledge of the mythos is limited.

I'd like to see more comics based on the Fourth Doctor, but most of the recent comics focus on the newer doctors.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3444689.html

A comic with the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith encountering mosters rooted in Greek mythology in Victorian England (and elsewhere). Well put together and a careful homage to the Hinchcliffe/Holmes years.

[Rob Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun story that largely feels like a story from the era.

[Ashley Beery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though I would have loved to of had K-9 in this, the story line was still great. The artwork was nice, the story flowed rather well and I loved how they tied in mythology as well. A great read!

[Alex Sarll]

A miniseries set very much during the show’s gothic Hinchcliffe era, with monsters of myth stalking the streets of Victorian London and some proper nightmare fuel in the cliffhangers. Williamson’s likenesses are fabulous, and he does a great job of making the story look like the era’s serials were supposed to, rather than how BBC budgets meant they actually did. Alas, the script is not so careful: there are references to quantum locks and fixed points, and most anachronistic of all, the Doctor claiming that he’s never once needed a weapon to face down a monster – a blatant lie, and an affectation the Time Lord has only picked up in much older age than this. And once you start thinking about the modern series, you realise Sarah Jane was perhaps not the best choice for this story, given she’s the only companion to also appear in a televised story about a gorgon, an ancient artefact, and an archaeologist’s widow. Still, for the most part Rennie and Beeby’s script is as one would expect from them; seldom brilliant, but for the most part perfectly serviceable, and often good for moderate thrills.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two years ago, I read the first issue of this and said I really liked the artwork. But it seems that my views have changed. The way Brian Williamson depicts some of the faces -particular the Fourth Doctor's - reminds me too much of how Salvador Larroca did faces of Original Trilogy characters in Marvel's recent Star Wars comics. It seems that the art style changes in the final issue of this, which is pretty jarring. The creatures were fine, but nothing really innovative. And it feels way too coincidental for the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane to meet Harry Sullivan's great-grandparents.

As far as continuity goes, the intro indicates that this is set at least after season 13's "The Pyramids of Mars." The Doctor also says that he is 750 years old. And since the plot involves people being petrified and turned to stone, I suppose there was just no resisting the temptation to mention the Weeping Angels.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I continue to read through the Humble Bundle of Doctor Who comics, another volume, based on a doctor who was before my time in watching the Doctor on television. Despite that, a good story. I am not so fond of weird monsters, but, it was what it was. Fortunately, I think this is the last from my bundle of comics where I don't know that particular incarnation of the Doctor, and I will be dealing with Doctors more familiar to me in future volumes.

[Kai Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was a bit long for me and my attention wondered. I really did like the plot, it just didn't pull me in until close to the end. Odd, but the fourth Doctor looks like a hobbit too. I think the illustrator must draw hobbits regularly. I want to take a minute to compare this to The Stone Rose. It seems becoming a statue is predestined for the Doctor's companions!

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

there is some lovely artwork and I think the way characters are written, you can hear them very well. but...the concept isn't that original, it's sometimes jarringly apparent when the artwork is mimicking a real photo, and athena is seriously underutilised in a way that the story seems to recognise but doesn't bother to do anything about

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely art and a brisk story - the usual Hinchcliffe tone with a more expressive and expansive art budget and some added 'timey wimey' shenanigans. It most definitely captures the feeling of that era, though from the eyes of the twenty-first century.

Tom looks like Tom down to a tee. Short but sweet.

[Timothy Pitkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting set up and I do like it when Doctor Who tries to put a scifi spin on classic monsters in this cause the Cyclops and parts of the Odyssey. But I just do not find the villains to be interesting as the Scryclops just look kind of dumb. The art also looks off a few times and the story gets tad confusing.

[Shaun Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful Fourth Doctor Mini-Series featuring Sarah Jane, the tone and trappings are just right! Good story, fun read. Well done Titan!

[Andy Hickman · Rating 4 out of 5]

DOCTOR WHO, FOURTH DOCTOR “GAZE OF MEDUSA”

Great illustrations, lots of colour, interesting script.

Doctor Who, Fourth Doctor “Gaze of Medusa” #1 (Titan 2016)
“Their lair here is a mansion in Chiswick.” - Athena
“Chiswick! This could be worse than I thought.” - Doctor
- -

Doctor Who, Fourth Doctor “Gaze of Medusa” #2 (Titan 2016)
“You poor young thing. You look like you've seen a ghost.
Although I suppose, in a way, you have. A ghost of yourself, from your own future.”
- -

Doctor Who, Fourth Doctor “Gaze of Medusa” #3 (Titan 2016)
“He was right, all along. Time travel is possible. And you do it all the time, don't you? As easily as jumping on the Stepney Omnibus!”
“Well, it's a little more complicated than that ...”
…..
“People lose things all the time, only for them to turn up in the strangest places.
I only recently realised I seem to have mislaid the TARDIS's art gallery sometime in the last hundred years or so. I'm sure it'll turn up, eventually.” - Doctor
- -

Doctor Who, Fourth Doctor “Gaze of Medusa” #4 (Titan 2016)
“But Doctor, you can't! The creature is down there!”
Good. I think it's high time we met.”
- -

Doctor Who, Fourth Doctor “Gaze of Medusa” #5 (Titan 2016)
“Tricky business, traveling in time. When you're not avoiding bumping into one of your PAST selves, then you're wondering if every oddly-dressed fellow you bump into isn't some FUTURE version of -”

Error on last panel: “Shall we go [omitted 'to'] the wedding.”

[Danny Welch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gordon Rennie and Emma Beeby aren't my favorite writers, I'm not very keen on their Big Finish output despite how interesting some of their ideas are, which is a shame because I'm sure they're a great writing pair, but their work just doesn't click for me. Gaze of the Medusa is a 4th Doctor comic I've been really looking forward to, I didn't pick it up earlier because of who the writers are, and I didn't want to waste money on something I might end up being disappointed by.

Victorian England. A mysterious woman commands a hidden army in a house of the blind. Scryclops stalk the streets.... and something alien and terrible screams from prehistory – with a hunger that cannot be satisfied! The Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith return for an all new adventure: GAZE OF THE MEDUSA!

Gordon Rennie and Emma Beeby have written a terrific comic that acts as both a wonderful love letter to the Philip Hinchcliffe era and Greek mythology. This is a very atmospheric and timey-wimey story with some really creepy imagery, great ideas and a great twist or two. I should have seen the ending coming from a mile away, but I'm glad I didn't.

Overall: It's a terrific comic that I'm glad paid off. Gordon Rennie and Emma Beeby are obviously a great writing duo, but I can't help but think now that their ideas are much better suited to comics than audio. 9/10

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom Baker was my Doctor growing up. I would come home from school and watch the reruns on PBS.
I loved his sense of curiosity (and jelly babies which I finally got to try when we went into HoneyDuke's down in Universal. I'd drive my wife nuts for a month pulling the bag out and asking her "Jelly baby?" She had no idea what I was referring to.). Plus he had the awesome Sarah Jane and K-9 in tow. I didn't care that you could visibly see duct tape in episodes or aliens made of trash bags. When they'd switch back to the Jon Pertwee episodes I'd get so upset because he wasn't Tom Baker.

It was so fantastic to see them do a 4th Doctor miniseries. This was great. I loved how it tied into the Medusa myth and the Victorian cyclops. Great goofy stuff. Rennie and Bibby nail the voices of the Doctor and Sarah Jane. This felt like an episode that never aired in the states. It was even 5 parts just like the show back then. I'd love to see Titan do some more of these with the old Doctors.

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a reason why Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor is much beloved by the fandom, especially when paired with the likes of Sarah Jane Smith as his companion. And this 5-issue adventure really shows a lot of love for the Doctor and nicely captures the feel of his on-screen portrayal while involving a few elements from the more recent incarnations that feel right at home coming from the Fourth Doctor.

It's a great story that has the Doctor and his companions facing a threat that is both mythical and alien and very in line with the original show.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book does a nice job capturing the voice of the fourth doctor and the tone of his adventures. The story is a little slow and confusing early on but by the third chapter it really comes together and wraps up nicely. The art was a little too photo referenced at times for my taste but the backgrounds and layouts were interesting. Overall an enjoyable entry in Titan's line of Doctor Who comic book adventures.

[Chrissy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes you just need a classic Doctor and Sarah Jane story. This one certainly fit the bill - Victorian era, gothic horror, cues from mythology, and the madcap tone of a Tom Baker-era Doctor Who story. The writers and artists captured the feel of those characters perfectly. This certainly felt like I was reading a Doctor Who story that could have aired on TV at that time. The monsters were clever and creative and the side characters were interesting. Great Doctor Who and great sci-fi!

[James Bowman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solidly entertaining adventure, with the correct horror-themed tone for the early Fourth Doctor era. The supporting cast was good as well. The main weakness was the portrayal of the Fourth Doctor himself, which never quite captured Tom Baker's voice, and several times seemed more like a generic New Series Doctor. (B)