Doctor Who: The Only Good Dalek

by Justin Richards, Mike Collins (Artist)

Station 7 is where the Earth Forces send all the equipment captured in their unceasing war against the Daleks. It's where Dalek technology is analyzed and examined. It's where the Doctor and Amy have just arrived. But somehow the Daleks have found out about Station 7 - and there's something there that they want back With the Doctor increasingly worried about the direction the Station's research is taking, the commander of Station 7 knows he has only one possible, desperate defense. Because the last terrible secret of Station 7 is that they don't only store captured Dalek technology - it's also a prison. And the only thing that might stop a Dalek is another Dalek An epic, full-color graphic novel featuring the Doctor and Amy, as played by Matt Smith and Karen Gillan in the spectacular hit series from BBC Television

Genres: Doctor Who, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Comics, Fiction, Fantasy, Time Travel

128 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2010

About the author

Justin Richards is a British writer. He has written many spin off novels based on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, and he is Creative Director for the BBC Books range. He has also written for television, contributing to Five's soap opera Family Affairs. He is also the author of a series of crime novels for children about the Invisible Detective, and novels for older children. His Doctor Who novel The Burning was placed sixth in the Top 10 of SFX magazine's "Best SF/Fantasy novelisation or TV tie-in novel" category of 2000.

Reviews

[Elaina · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75-3 stars
I did enjoy this quick and fun read, but it wasn't anything special...I did like reading about the daleks hehe :p They are my favorite enemy that the Doctor has..(Hopefully that doesn't sound weird lol XD, but I just really like them! They are kinda cute you know? Idk, maybe it's just me that likes them lol)...They always make me laugh when they say "EXTERMINATE!!" hehe anyone who has watched Doctor Who probably understands...at least I hope so XD

Another thing I liked about this book is that I could hear the Eleventh Doctor's accent in my head while he was talking ^_^ It was kind of cool because I love British accents :P This was also my first time ever reading an actual graphic novel before and I definitely liked having awesome pictures to go with the story! There was some mild language that I didn't care for and just wasn't expecting...From what I remember, it was the h-word about 4-5 times so just keep that in mind I guess...

[Emma Giordano · Rating 4 out of 5]

First graphic novel I've ever read recreationally, it was pretty good! I could totally see this as an episode of Doctor Who :)

[Frank · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's an art to writing graphic novels/comics. Unfortunately, this feels more like prose forced into the format. At times the pacing between the words and pictures is off, like a badly dubbed movie. I got lost in more than one scene transition.

As for the more important DW aspect, I don't think this adds much to the universe. Actually, there's not enough Doctor and definitely not enough of his distinct voice (or Amy's). It's an interesting Dalek story, but I'm not sure it's a necessary one. (Then again, maybe any expanded universe story is by definition unnecessary.)

[Gerek Tupy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought overall the book was all right. The illustrations were mostly decent. Though some of the characters faces at times looked hideously weird. They would suddenly have an expression on their face that did not match what they were talking about all. The expressions would look confused, random, constipated, and out of character. Especially for The Doctor and Amy. Most of the time their faces looked nothing like they do in the show. Surprisingly most of the content in this graphic novel was explained. Though there are some key factors that really kind of just came out of nowhere. I felt the war against Daleks and humanity was random. I feel this could’ve made an interesting episode, if nothing was changed. The Matt Smith time of the show is very poorly written. Not much makes sense and everything is very poorly or not even explained it all. I feel if they changed nothing from the graphic novel it could make a half decent episode. Overall I thought the book was okay and would recommend it for a quick read.

[Tatiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not only was this my first Doctor Who graphic novel but also my first graphic novel ever. The art was well-done, vivid and alive, and the characters in good likeness of the Doctor and Amy, as portrayed by Matt Smith and Karen Gillan. The story was classic DW, raising the question: Can something/someone thoroughly evil change? Where the Daleks are concerned, the Doctor will always be dubious. I could see the plot adapted for an episode of the show. It was open-ended, so there’s room for a sequel. Enjoyable and quick to finish.

[Aimee · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn’t bad but it just didn’t wow me either. I guess I’m just looking for a more original dalek story and I feel like they keep rehashing the same one.

[Meg]

DNF at 17%

likely nothing inherently wrong with this comic but it was not grabbing me at all, the plot and the art style both were just a bit dull to me

[Galy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fun! The title intrigued me so I needed to read it.

'The only good Dalek is a dead Dalek.' The Doctor and Amy find themselves in a planet where they keep Dalek technology among other things.

This was quite interesting. There's an episode of Doctor Who with kind of the same premise but also different.

The art style is fantastic, I really liked it. The colors, the characters, everything was great.

The story is a good one and it had its moments where it surprised me but it's a bit slow at the same time.

Anyway it was really good and a fast read so I'm glad I've read it!

[Belynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been on my shelves forever, but finally picked it up for The Bookie Trials. For the prompt a book that's been on your TBR the longest...and I thought it fit.

Real Star Rating: 4!!!


World Building!

I love the world of Dr Who and there just isn't much more I can say about this.

Star: 1/1

Characters!

There were a couple that were annoying but that got explained. And the good dalek? Best character of them all. Of course it had my favorite companion...Pond!!

Star: 1/1

Plot/Story!

It was a really cute story that kept having little twists and turns. I do think that the fake good dalek was used a little much but I can understand why.

Star: .75/1

Writing Style!

There were a lot of sentences that kind of gave me issues when I was reading it. But this is a story that needed some explaining and that can't be done without chunks of dialogue that feels unnecessary.

Star: .75/1

Something Special!

That good Dalek!!! Mad that the very ends was like there is no good dalek...

Star: .5/1

[Just a Girl Fighting Censorship · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this enjoyable but rushed. There wasn’t a whole lot of characterization of Amy or the Doctor, no real emotion to the story. The Doctor and Amy both lacked in personality. The ending was well done, I just wish the entire story had that same feeling and reflection.

[Helen (they or he) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice plot. It was a fun read. But there's nothing very special about this.

[Nina Hijano · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was mediocre as a comic. Not the best I’ve read if I’m honest.
However.
It was Doctor who and I like doctor who so…
All well that ends well.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

An original graphic novel featuring the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) and his companion Amy Pond.
The Doctor and Amy arrive in the far future, where humanity is fighting a desperate war against the Daleks. They stumble upon a secret research facility where human scientists are attempting to co-opt Dalek technology for their own purposes, but betrayal from within leads the Daleks to discover the facility.

There's an interesting core story here of humans being so desperate in their fight against the Daleks that they'll risk using Dalek technology and even attempt to alter Dalek behaviour, whilst their foes are almost always one step ahead of them.
But, it has to be said, that this core story is somewhat spoiled by the fact that 'humans fighting a war against the Daleks seek to create a 'good' Dalek' is exactly the plot of an episode of the TV series itself. Now, to be fair, Richards' story came years before 'Into The Dalek' (featuring Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor and 'Rusty'), but I'd bet that most people who read this book are likely to have seen that version first (such as myself).

On top of the lack of freshness to the story, there are two other downsides to this book.
One of these is simply that the Doctor and Amy are largely incidental to the plot and barely even feel like the main character here, merely being bystanders watching events unfold for most of the story.
The other is the somewhat amateurish feel overall of the presentation of the book. The art isn't great, the narrative structure of the panels is a bit awkward and the cover is just terrible. I suspect that the difference comes from the fact this this was produced by BBC Books (not really known for their graphic novels) rather than the more experienced-seeming Titan Books who do the Doctor Who comics.

* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *

[David T · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was one of the worst comics I have ever read. Have I actually read many graphic novels? No, I generally prefer words and text. Though is the worst Doctor Who story out there? Not by a long shot. Though this story amazes me at how much is unexplained and random. So many random things and unexplained garbage happen in the story that is confusing and rushed. The plot is basic enough, but still manages to make no sense. The drawings especially for Amy and The Doctor. Look very odd and not how they look in the actual show. What I did like is how this story was not afraid to be violent. Much more so than the other 11th Doctor novels I read a few moths back. In this story the violence is much more active and even more realistic than 11th Doctor episodes in fact. So when it comes down to it. This was a cheap story. Though there still much worse out there.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first of two Doctor Who related graphic novels by the BBC, this book explores the possibility of a "good Dalek" with a trove of references to earlier Dalek stories.

Personally, I thought the Abomination (as the good Dalek was called) was underexplored. All we really learn about it is that it's peaceful enough to not pull a person's hand off and that it probably doesn't like Daleks. Seeing as the ending shows that it survived, it would have been nice to have seen more of this Dalek.

As for the rest, the artwork is alright, the Doctor and Amy's characterisation isn't overly remarkable, and the supporting characters are okay. Surprised at how dark it got at points, with the ending being particularly grim.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun little story if you want to see lots of Daleks. It's set in the Dalek Masterplan era with Space Security playing a big part. A research base is set up to try and find something to beat the Daleks with, a good Dalek. Obviously, the Daleks being into racial purity don't like this and invade. I think this will be one of the few times we will ever see this style of Dalek in extended media.

[Andy Hickman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doctor Who: The Only Good Dalek
by Justin Richards, Mike Collins

Not much depth to the story-line.
Massive death toll.
Tranter is an intense and pivotal character.
The best part was the subtle twist at the very end with Jay's rescue.
Terrible cheesy shallow philosophical speech at the conclusion

[Tomato · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice dalek story. A quick read even though some panels are a bit confusing and the faces are a bit off. If you like something akin to classic who *base under siege*, but with a new series doctor. This one's for you.

[Genevieve · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[Caron · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Review to come soon.

[Douglas Fyfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun Doctor Who adventure. Good story writing and story boarding.

[Sassafras · Rating 5 out of 5]

A day spent sick in bed with an abundance of books! The graphic novel preview continues!

Geeky Time Lord followers will avidly turn pages to discover what is up with the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond as they hurtle into a scientific research space community. No spoilers. If there are Daleks there will be death; count on it.

[Miles · Rating 4 out of 5]

With a slight change of pace from the usual crime fiction and horror-thriller reviews, actually not slight at all, this is a huge change of pace and style – I set about reading and gorging over “Doctor Who: The Only Good Dalek”, a sumptuous and beautiful graphic novel from Mike Collins (Artist) and Justin Richards (Author).

A little background on the men behind this project; Mike Collins is the main artist behind the highly successful Doctor Who Magazine comic strip stories. Collins has illustrated every Doctor Who from the seventh (Sylvester McCoy) to the current Eleventh (Matt Smith) and believe me, his talents know no bounds as this graphic novel testifies.

Justin Richards has written numerous Doctor Who stories including The Resurrection Casket, Martha and the mirror and The Deviant Strain to name but a few. Richards is also the creative director of the BBC Books range.

Doctor Who and Amy (played by Karen Gillan in the tv series) have arrived, un-detected, at Station 7. A secret storage facility that houses Varga Plants, Slyther, Robomen and a Solidified Magneton – oh and did I mention the multi coloured Daleks? No? How remiss of me! The deadly Daleks are back in all their colourful glory.

Not only is Station 7 a storage facility but it’s a research station where all captured technology and prisoners from the war between Earth and the Daleks are sent for analysis and interrogation. Unfortunately for the Earth forces, the Daleks have somehow found out about Station 7 and there’s something they want back! The abomination!

Full Review on my blog:- http://www.milorambles.com/2010/10/17...

[Marcus Gipps · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been enjoying the graphic novel collections of Doctor Who comics from the monthly magazine, and have read a few of the American monthly issues, but this is the first full-length GN that I've read (possibly the first that's been done, I think). It works quite well, to be honest - the storytelling is a little more decompressed, which isn't always a good thing but works well here. There's more chance to build up some tension, and not having to recap the plot every eight-to-ten pages makes the read much smoother. The art is nice, although perhaps a little too scratchy in places for some people's taste, and the story trucks along - perhaps not the most ground-breaking or interesting plot ever written in DW, but entertaining enough and with plenty of nice references back to the original series. The main characters are, as in Michael Moorcock's Coming of the Terraphiles, perhaps a little broadly written, but I guess that's inescapable given the lead times of producing 126 pages of full colour art, and the ending is nicely downbeat. It looks as if there's a new plan behind BBC Books' DW publishing schedule, and if this and the Moorcock books are indications of the future, I might go back to reading DW fiction properly for the first time in ten years...

[Kayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

was another good who comic :)

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

My sister bought me this for Christmas and it was perfect sitting around reading on Christmas day. The story wa set in the far future when an earth civilisation and the (new) daleks were at war. What I liked about it was not an episode where the daleks had a plan to destroy the earth/humans/universe and got twarted by the doctor, rather it was just an episode in a greater story we didn't hear the begining or end of. Humans had, rather evilly, been carrying out experiments on daleks, either to control them, or to remove their hatred and turn them "good". It started with quite a big of action on board a space station, and it was a bit horrifying to see the controlled daleks. The secound half of the story was a bit weaker as the doctor and Amy headed down to a planet that consisted of a layer of ice over a layer of molten lava! And yes the lava did not melt the ice!!! A bit of a streatch of the imagination even for a dalek comic book! While no where near the levels of brilliance of the Dalek Empire audio books it was a fun and entertaining read and made me wish they'd do more episodes in space without a focus on the earth!

[Kevin Giebens · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first graphic novel of Doctor Who... And it includes Daleks? This just can't go wrong!


When I read this book, the episode 'Into the Dalek' didn't air yet. So I had no idea what to think about a 'good Dalek'. This story however showed me another emotional side of the killing machines. You could compare this story to the end of the episode 'Dalek', with Amy taking Rose' role.
It was a pleasure to see a lot of references to the origin of the Daleks, when the First Doctor encountered them for the first time ever.
Although, at the end of the story I didn't know if the Doctor was right or not. Is the only good Dalek a dead Dalek?


It was a fun story after all, and the art wasn't bad either! The only thing that bothered me were the Daleks. Yes, those new coloured Daleks aren't the Daleks I learned to fear and love at the same moment. It's better to get rid of them as soon as possible!

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the problems with the current line of "Doctor Who" fiction is that it can't really take too many chances with stories for fear of being contradicted by the television series.

So, what we end up getting are a lot of stories that are enjoyable enough but don't actually do anything new or different with the universe or characters.

"Only Good Dalek" is an example of that. It's got an intriguing idea of what if someone decided to create a Dalek free of the hatred that drives it. Would it then be a "good" Dalek? Or would it even still be a Dalek at all?

Unfortunately, that intriguing idea isn't really all that well developed in this graphic novel. And that's why it's just another standard "Who" release and not the something special it could have been.

[Mikael Kuoppala · Rating 3 out of 5]

A typically pleasant but a bit underwhelming effort from overly prolific Whio scribe Justin Richards, "The Only Good Dalek" takes place during the fifth season of new Doctor Who when the doctor and Amy were traveling alone.

The plot takes us in the middle of an all-out war between humanity and the Daleks, to a research station where Dalek technology is being analyzed for defensive purposes. Historical war allegories ensue, and the Doctor is faced with questions about what is considered "evil," and what is the relationship between conflict and conceptual simplifications.

Overall the feel here is very classic Who, and it's nice to see old and new merge. But this also means that the thing feels just a tiny bit outdated.

[Adam Graham · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Doctor and Amy Pond find themselves on a planet in the midst of a war between the Daleks and humans.

Overall, this story was disappointing. There was some good moments, but the story felt belabored and like there really wasn't enough story for a 128 page graphic novel, and there's also just not enough of a sense of the Doctor and his companion.

I also kind of question who the audience for this is. It's a New Who story with the "Power Ranger" Daleks introduced in "Victory of the Daleks," however it uses the world of the First Doctor Story, the Dalek's Master Plan as its setting.

Beyond that it just lost my interest as the book went on.