The celebration of all things The Doctor continues with Doctor Who: Prisoners Of Time #4. This issue brings the fourth doctor, easily one of the most well known and recognizable Doctor’s of the show’s history. With this in mind, does the title live up to the legacy?

The official description from IDW:

Our yearlong celebration of Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary continues! Put on your scarves and munch on some jelly babies, as the fan-favorite Fourth Doctor takes the spotlight in this issue of a 12-part epic adventure featuring all 11 incarnations of the Doctor!

One of the better things about this issue is that it crosses the old and new. Where as previous issues focused on keeping it old-school, this issue combines the fourth Doctor, a popular fan favorite, with the more recent Judoon. This makes a lot of sense. The TV show often tries to connect to the past with old enemies, so why can’t newer monsters face the old Doctor in the comics? This is definitely something I’d like to see more often.

Part of this is the charm and character expressed through Scott & David Tipton’s script. They capture a lot of the fourth’s essence and appeal. Combined with the newer threat of the Judoon, and a remote setting, this gives an old character a new dynamic. Overall, its very fresh and very fluid. The plot itself is interesting enough, even if these one-shot stories don’t give much room for development. Some parts are predictable, but the adventure over all is a nice piece of fun. The ending, in particular, is more satisfying than some of the other issues of Prisoners Of Time shown thus far.

The artwork, on the other hand, keeps things grounded. There’s a lot of design choice here that tries to bridge the sensibilities of the modern Judoon and the old-school designs such as K-9 the walking toaster. The Judoon style AT-AT is a prime example. This is only something that could be pulled off in doctor who, so I’m glad to see Gary Erskine taking full advantage. The colors from Charlie Kirchoff are of a usual standard, although the issue overall manages to be consistently bright.

In short, this is one of the better issues for Prisoners Of Time. This does, of course, depend on your preferences for each Doctor, but this issue does a good job of capturing everything well.

4/5