Book REVIEW: The Only Good Dalek

In attempt to both add something a little new to the blog AND break up the current cluster of figure reviews, here's a new section devoted to manga, novels, comics and all things book. The first thing up for discussion is the brand new Doctor Who graphic novel The Only Good Dalek, by Justin Richards & Mike Collins and starring Matt Smith's 11th Doctor and Amy Pond.

The synopsis reads;

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 analysed 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, defence. 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...

As this synopsis suggests, the story deals with the possibility that there could ever be a good Dalek - a topic that has been brought up in various Doctor Who stories over the years. What this graphic novel has that the other stories don't though is a story complete with twists and turns where the reader is never really sure what side certain Daleks are on. This is the Daleks at their very best once again and something the new series (bar Dalek) has never really captured (although the 10th Doctor novel Prisoner of the Daleks did in spectacular fashion). Not only that, but the

re's plenty of classic references for the more knowledgeable Doctor Who fan. Within the first few pages there's Skaro's landscape, robomen, ogrons, slythers, varga plants and a heap of background cameos of classic Dalek designs. The art even bears similarity to (my much loved) TV21 Dalek comics of the 60s - particularly the spaceship interiors which look fantastic alongside the blue strategist battle computer Daleks.

All in all this is a must have for Dalek fans - great story and great art all around which brings the Daleks out back on top.