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SEPTEMBER 2009

Black Death is the final one-off adventure from IDW Comics, at least for the

time being, and it’s a grim and spooky affair. With a 17th century rural setting, it feels quite unlike the majority of the tenth Doctor’s adventures, instead possessing the feel of an early Hammer movie. Mandrake’s dark, dingy artwork only adds to this feeling.

I have to say, I can’t understand why plague doctors haven’t been used as Doctor Who monsters before. They’re perfect - the creepiest example of a real-life entity I can think of. Their heavy cloaks and hats are spooky enough when skulking in the shadows, but it’s the beaked face-mask that really gives me the willies. In fact, it’s a shame when they rip open their costumes to reveal their true selves - the macroviruses are finely designed monsters, but not nearly as scary as the plague doctors themselves. Also, they were done on Star

Trek: Voyager years ago.

Still, it’s a great idea: drawing a par-

allel between the bubonic plague on

Earth, and an unending war on an alien

world, between glowing humanoids

and the macroviruses. The humanoids

are their world’s equivalent of our anti-

bodies, the entire planet the equivalent

of a diseased body. When one of the antiboides crashes on Earth, he is taken in by a priest,

who views him as an angel with healing powers. But the viruses soon follow, leading to the

outbreak of a new plague. “Viruses reproduce by invading cells,” says the Doctor, “and the

people are those cells!” A fantastic idea, leading to some hideous eruption from the infected

victims. Absolute rubbish, of course, but effective nonetheless. Infecting Martha also ups the

threat, giving the story a real sense of a race against time. A good little chiller.

Copyright © Daniel Tessier 2010

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