This is going to come as a surprise to exactly no one.  I am a big fan of Doctor Who.  A superfan.  A -willing-to-pay-way-too-much-money-to-have-a-picture-taken-with-Captain-Jack-Harkness-at-Comikaze fan. But as geeks, most of us are.

But, until now, I’d never read any of the many Doctor Who comics that have come across my path. I don’t know why…it just seemed like something that I wouldn’t have any interest in it.

I’m glad I was wrong.

There’s a popular Doctor Who meme that has been passed around social media for years…it features the face of David Tennant’s 10th Doctor and a number of his quotes and a last line that says, “I bet you read this in an English accent.”  To me, that is a clever way of saying that a character like the Doctor is so memorable that you remember him, regardless of the context. I read the entire 133-page book of The Fountains of Forever in Tennant’s voice.

Fountains of Forever is a collection of multiple issues that tells the kind of story that would look fantastic on the small screen.  Featuring Tennant’s 10th Doctor and a companion named Gabby, the story is fast paced and well told.

In “today” Manhattan, the Doctor is drawn to an alien relic auction, featuring multiple lots of unique goodies that only the “1%” can afford and, truth be told, only the Doctor understands.  But when a lot that piques his interest sells to a private bidder, he follows it in hopes of retrieving it and – more importantly – keeping it out of the wrong hands.

Without revealing too much, he tracks it down, but that action opens a tremendous can of worms that, as is the norm for the Doctor, threatens all of existence.

The writing and artistic teams of Abadzis, Casagrande, Carlini, Stott, and Romero do a wonderful job of telling a story, both through the words and through the visuals.  A favorite moment – a real highlight – is when the alien tech that the Doctor is chasing is used by the bidder who “won” it, and it temporarily reverses the age of anyone caught in its beam.  While that means the woman who uses it is turned into an infant, it gives Whovians a real start when it reveals an all-too-short return of the 9th Doctor…which is something you can only find in this medium, as Christopher Eccelston has vowed to never don the leather and sonic screwdriver again.

This was honest-to-goodness fun…a new way (new to me) to enjoy characters I love and return to the TARDIS as I await Season 10.  I look forward to reading more of these collections.