Seeing some of the newest in New Who lore folded in with Nine was a lot of fun. Paired with great art, this was the best issue of this series yet. My last review of this series spiraled into a rant about character identity across mediums. Ironically, Nine was far more toned down in this issue. He has an exchange with an Unon that is quintessential Nine without pouring it on too thick. That's a big deal. I really truly believe that Nine was a subtle character--in some ways, even more interesting than Ten--and that means he really benefits, especially on the page, from more nuanced exchanges.

The other problem with this series was the artwork, which improved a lot from issue one to issue two. That improvement continued into issue three. The sequential art really benefited from one particular time travel moment. Overall, the stripped-down realistic style in which the book is drawn will never be my cup of tea; however, it really seems as if Shedd and the entire artistic team (Rachael Stott put in some work on this issue as well) have hit their stride with the type of story they want to tell.

The page layouts worked, the colors were great, and there were no signs of the stylistic identity crises that made the first issue so visually hectic. The third issue of this series has captured the cinematic appeal of the show while still working on the printed page. Despite my problems with the first two issues, there's now a decent chance that I'll be able to recommend this series, when all is said and done.

Score: 4/5

Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor #3 Writer: Cavan Scott Artist: Blair Shedd Publisher: Titan Comics Price: $3.99 Release Date: 7/29/15 Format: Mini-Series, Print/Digital