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The Tenth Doctor Archives #1
Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Archives Vol. 1
Go back to the beginning with these archive Tenth Doctor adventures! In 'Agent Provacateur', the search for the perfect milkshake tips the Doctor and Martha into a cosmic horror odyssey in the darkest reaches of space. And in 'The Forgotten', an amnesiac Doctor is forced to confront all his past selves!
282 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 17, 2016
37 people are currently reading
136 people want to read
About the author
Gary Russell
198 books172 followersGary Russell is a British freelance writer, producer and former child actor. As a writer, he is best known for his work in connection with the television series Doctor Who and its spin-offs in other media. As an actor, he is best known for playing Dick Kirrin in the British 1978 television series The Famous Five.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
December 24, 2019
This was quite a mixed one for me; I thought the drawings and designs were really good and the characters really came to life but I didn't really enjoy the second story so much and it felt like it dragged on quite a bit.
September 6, 2022
5 stars
Nice to see more stories with the Tenth Doctor.
Nice to see more stories with the Tenth Doctor.
October 19, 2023
This book includes two Tenth Doctor comic stories: "Agent Provocateur" and "The Forgotten".
1) I really enjoyed the second story ("The Forgotten")
-Plot and female roles (feminist-oriented review, no major spoilers): It involves a Tenth Doctor trapped in a museum about him and forgetting all his past regenerations. With the help of Martha Jones (or is she? Spoilers xD) and objects belonging to each of his past reincarnations, he starts having flashbacks of all his past selves and tries to come up with a plan to confront his jailer and escape. Lots of Easter eggs to Classic Who and New Who up to the Ten era, with many companions getting a cameo in flashbacks and other parts of the story. Also very similar in some aspects to the 12th Doctor's episode 'Last Christmas'.
'Martha' has a pretty active role, helping an increasingly weakening Doctor to survive, remember his past and find a way out (isn't that also her rather thankless main role in S3 tho :S). The flashbacks include the appearances of many female companions, such as Susan and Barbara (geeking out about Ancient Egypt), Zoe (a cool active role putting her maths skills to use), Jo Grant (showcasing her field agent skills), Romana II (cool as usual, although she doesn't do much in Four's story), Tegan (one of my faves, but in a more passive role this time), Peri (also in a more passive role here, and sexualized :S), Ace (wicked, as per usual), Rose Tyler (who also doesn't do much more in Nine's story than be an onlooker), and also cameos of Sarah Jane, Nyssa, Mel and Leela (the latter is assertive and proactive as ever, but also as per usual, she is also portrayed in a very sexualized way, sigh).
Overall, this story has an interesting plot which keeps the suspense and adds a lot of background about previous Doctors, including interesting roles for the female characters overall, so giving the story a 4.5/5.
-Portrayal of the Doctor and female characters in the comic: The graphic novel includes a number of different comic artists. I particularly liked the work of Pia Guerra (the only woman) - her Tenth Doctor ressembles Tennant pretty well and her Martha Jones is never depicted in problematic poses or with overly sexualized anatomy. Other artists depict the Tenth Doctor in a way that doesn't ressemble Tennant that much, which personally bugs me xD. The level of sexualization in this graphic novel is way lower than the one we're unfortunately accustomed to seeing in say, Marvel/DC comics, but still, there's a couple of unnecessarily sexualized poses (mainly for Martha, Tegan, Peri and Leela), and also the fact that many of the (male) artists draw Martha with a chest size larger than the one of the character/actress - pretty unnecessary and sexualizing on its own -and/or make the chest area too exaggerated in an unnecessary and unrealistic way (as per usual in these cases, without caring about how breasts (or gravity) work when someone is wearing clothes, either, sigh). Giving the drawing a 3-3.5/5 overall, and a 4.5/5 in Pia Guerra's case.
2) The first story, which I read after the second one ("Agent Provocateur"), I enjoyed less than the second one. The plot was a bit more chaotic for my taste, even though I still quite liked most of it.
-Plot and female roles: It's a bit more difficult to summarize this plot, especially without spoilers, so let's just say that a group of entities are monitoring the Doctor and Martha Jones, chasing them through various adventures, and finally getting them to help stop a creature threatening the Universe. Martha Jones generally shows iniciative, assertiveness and an active role throughout, but apart from her the number of female characters in the graphic novel is pretty low (typically secondary characters without a lot of relevance). There's an unnecessary sexist expression in the first part of the story ('he runs like a girl'). Giving the plot a 3-3.5/5
-Portrayal of the Doctor and female characters in the comic: Once more, there are different comic artists and different styles. I personally didn't like the drawings of this novel as much as the ones in "The Forgotten": In quite a number of these takes the Doctor doesn't ressemble David Tennant a lot. As for the sexualization of the portrayal of female characters (basically Martha Jones, not many more female characters in this story), there are a couple of problematic poses, once again, and, to a greater extent than in "The Forgotten", more than one artist depicts Martha's chest as larger than the one of the character/actress, and it's also often (but not always) exaggerated - to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the artist - in a way that's unrealistic given the clothes she's wearing (jackets which wouldn't show the contours of the chest in that way - this is very usual in male-gazey comic book drawing, alas). Giving the drawing in this story a 2.5-3/5.
1) I really enjoyed the second story ("The Forgotten")
-Plot and female roles (feminist-oriented review, no major spoilers): It involves a Tenth Doctor trapped in a museum about him and forgetting all his past regenerations. With the help of Martha Jones (or is she? Spoilers xD) and objects belonging to each of his past reincarnations, he starts having flashbacks of all his past selves and tries to come up with a plan to confront his jailer and escape. Lots of Easter eggs to Classic Who and New Who up to the Ten era, with many companions getting a cameo in flashbacks and other parts of the story. Also very similar in some aspects to the 12th Doctor's episode 'Last Christmas'.
'Martha' has a pretty active role, helping an increasingly weakening Doctor to survive, remember his past and find a way out (isn't that also her rather thankless main role in S3 tho :S). The flashbacks include the appearances of many female companions, such as Susan and Barbara (geeking out about Ancient Egypt), Zoe (a cool active role putting her maths skills to use), Jo Grant (showcasing her field agent skills), Romana II (cool as usual, although she doesn't do much in Four's story), Tegan (one of my faves, but in a more passive role this time), Peri (also in a more passive role here, and sexualized :S), Ace (wicked, as per usual), Rose Tyler (who also doesn't do much more in Nine's story than be an onlooker), and also cameos of Sarah Jane, Nyssa, Mel and Leela (the latter is assertive and proactive as ever, but also as per usual, she is also portrayed in a very sexualized way, sigh).
Overall, this story has an interesting plot which keeps the suspense and adds a lot of background about previous Doctors, including interesting roles for the female characters overall, so giving the story a 4.5/5.
-Portrayal of the Doctor and female characters in the comic: The graphic novel includes a number of different comic artists. I particularly liked the work of Pia Guerra (the only woman) - her Tenth Doctor ressembles Tennant pretty well and her Martha Jones is never depicted in problematic poses or with overly sexualized anatomy. Other artists depict the Tenth Doctor in a way that doesn't ressemble Tennant that much, which personally bugs me xD. The level of sexualization in this graphic novel is way lower than the one we're unfortunately accustomed to seeing in say, Marvel/DC comics, but still, there's a couple of unnecessarily sexualized poses (mainly for Martha, Tegan, Peri and Leela), and also the fact that many of the (male) artists draw Martha with a chest size larger than the one of the character/actress - pretty unnecessary and sexualizing on its own -and/or make the chest area too exaggerated in an unnecessary and unrealistic way (as per usual in these cases, without caring about how breasts (or gravity) work when someone is wearing clothes, either, sigh). Giving the drawing a 3-3.5/5 overall, and a 4.5/5 in Pia Guerra's case.
2) The first story, which I read after the second one ("Agent Provocateur"), I enjoyed less than the second one. The plot was a bit more chaotic for my taste, even though I still quite liked most of it.
-Plot and female roles: It's a bit more difficult to summarize this plot, especially without spoilers, so let's just say that a group of entities are monitoring the Doctor and Martha Jones, chasing them through various adventures, and finally getting them to help stop a creature threatening the Universe. Martha Jones generally shows iniciative, assertiveness and an active role throughout, but apart from her the number of female characters in the graphic novel is pretty low (typically secondary characters without a lot of relevance). There's an unnecessary sexist expression in the first part of the story ('he runs like a girl'). Giving the plot a 3-3.5/5
-Portrayal of the Doctor and female characters in the comic: Once more, there are different comic artists and different styles. I personally didn't like the drawings of this novel as much as the ones in "The Forgotten": In quite a number of these takes the Doctor doesn't ressemble David Tennant a lot. As for the sexualization of the portrayal of female characters (basically Martha Jones, not many more female characters in this story), there are a couple of problematic poses, once again, and, to a greater extent than in "The Forgotten", more than one artist depicts Martha's chest as larger than the one of the character/actress, and it's also often (but not always) exaggerated - to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the artist - in a way that's unrealistic given the clothes she's wearing (jackets which wouldn't show the contours of the chest in that way - this is very usual in male-gazey comic book drawing, alas). Giving the drawing in this story a 2.5-3/5.
December 1, 2023
First story: 2 stars due to it being a confusing story, not liking the artwork, sexist comments (The Doctor runs like a girl, according to Martha) and the fatphobic comments (Martha being concerned about 'piling on the pounds' after drinking a chocolate milkshake, and then how her mother apparently is always telling her to lose a few pounds).
Second story: 4 stars - I loved the flashbacks through the Doctor's life, and the references to all the previous incarnations/companions. The villain was a bit confusing, but overall, a great read, especially around the 60th anniversary of the show!
TW for fatphobic comments, sexist comments, death, murder, hunting people for sport, violence, mentions of war, imprisonment, kidnapping, grief.
Second story: 4 stars - I loved the flashbacks through the Doctor's life, and the references to all the previous incarnations/companions. The villain was a bit confusing, but overall, a great read, especially around the 60th anniversary of the show!
TW for fatphobic comments, sexist comments, death, murder, hunting people for sport, violence, mentions of war, imprisonment, kidnapping, grief.
November 19, 2023
Collects two stories, Agent Provocateur and The Forgotten. The first story has the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones having a lot of fun as the Shadow Proclamation tries to box them into helping their plans. In the second story, the Doctor and Martha wake up in a museum devoted to the Doctor. He's lost his memories and uses objects from his past to remind himself of past adventures with each era. It was nice to get a little story featuring each of the ten Doctors with some of their companions along the way.
July 15, 2020
Decided to shelve this for now. The story didn't grab me and I felt there was a bit of an overuse of Martha saying how many times she really did love travelling with the Doctor. The artwork was nice in parts but the drawing of the two main characters was rather off. Wouldn't have recognized them out of context. Kept rejoining the story, but struggled to retain interest to the point I needed to reread some pages. Maybe I'll go back to it but not sure if it's worth it.
August 22, 2021
Made up of two serials this is an interesting mix.
agent provocateur is a confusing but fun 3⭐️read
the forgotten was an absolutely brilliant 5⭐️ trip down memory lane featuring cameos from lots of past companions and short trips with each past doctor. well worth it.
agent provocateur is a confusing but fun 3⭐️read
the forgotten was an absolutely brilliant 5⭐️ trip down memory lane featuring cameos from lots of past companions and short trips with each past doctor. well worth it.
December 14, 2025
This collection contains two stories which are pretty decent, though I think the second one was stronger (and who doesn't love it when the Doctor gets to revisit old faces?). The changes in art styles were a bit jarring at times. They were very different for each other.
Read
January 31, 2026Ok if we take this as canon then both One, Twelve, AND Nine were at the Christmas Truce football match in 1916…British people are gonna need to get some new historical events to moon over because it’s getting crowded here
September 26, 2017
Funny and witty, with that traditional David Tennant Doctor charm written throughout each story.
December 23, 2017
3.5 stars
June 24, 2019
I wanted to love this. The concept of pulling a bit from every Doctor was so promising, but the writing was subpar. Just frustrating to read.
March 15, 2022
nice
A nice job of working in all the Doctors 1-10 and the companions and many villains. I recommend it to the loyal
A nice job of working in all the Doctors 1-10 and the companions and many villains. I recommend it to the loyal
November 7, 2022
A lot of fun, art could be a little crisper in places, but very enjoyable.
October 17, 2023
Good fun
Loved this story where fun had some great twist I must read for all doctor who fans won't regret the journey
Loved this story where fun had some great twist I must read for all doctor who fans won't regret the journey
December 27, 2023
I feel like this is something I would find on ao3 not that that makes it bad I also never thought I would’ve read
SYCORAX
STRONG.
HUMANS WEAK.
THAT IS WHY WE ROCK!
But i did
SYCORAX
STRONG.
HUMANS WEAK.
THAT IS WHY WE ROCK!
But i did
December 26, 2024
3.5 stars
May 20, 2025
First story was a two, maybe a one. Second was a weak three.
May 31, 2025
A very enjoyable read if you love this Doctor like I do 😊
November 26, 2025
So this book has two story arcs in it, the first one is about The Doctor & Martha facing The Pantheon and the second story arc called: The Forgotten where the Doctor finds himself in a museum dedicated to him.
The first story arc was decent, but the second story arc was brilliant
The first story arc was decent, but the second story arc was brilliant
January 22, 2018
I enjoyed this more than I expected to, considering its form. This is the first full blown comic book that I've read and I loved it!
There were two stories in this volume and I definitely enjoyed the second story much more. It was a five star read! The first story however was a little on the 'it didn't really grab my attention as much' side and was about a three star read.
The illustrations were fantastic and vibrant and wonderful. Quite a lot of artists were featured in both stories and I loved to see the alternating styles.
The personalities of the characters were down pat, with The Doctor having the same quirks and sayings and manner it was lovely. And I couldnt help but imagine all the dialogue spoken in the real Doctor and Martha Jones' voices, it was a great time.
I just really loved going on yet another adventure with the tenth doctor (who is my favourite doctor) and it has given me a newfound love for comic books! so yayy!!
There were two stories in this volume and I definitely enjoyed the second story much more. It was a five star read! The first story however was a little on the 'it didn't really grab my attention as much' side and was about a three star read.
The illustrations were fantastic and vibrant and wonderful. Quite a lot of artists were featured in both stories and I loved to see the alternating styles.
The personalities of the characters were down pat, with The Doctor having the same quirks and sayings and manner it was lovely. And I couldnt help but imagine all the dialogue spoken in the real Doctor and Martha Jones' voices, it was a great time.
I just really loved going on yet another adventure with the tenth doctor (who is my favourite doctor) and it has given me a newfound love for comic books! so yayy!!
February 10, 2019
The Two Stories found in this collection are both enjoyable and capture the tone and mannerisms of the Tenth Doctor as played on screen by David Tennant. The writing should be commend highly for this aspect, the plots of the individual stories varied more in quality than the consistency of the great characterisation. Agent Provacture the first story is more of a standard Doctor Who story that contains a polite moral but struggled to really connect with me on an emotional level. The Second story The Forgotten was much better and made better use of the medium of comics better; building suspense between pages and paying off that with more varied and exciting splash pages. Also this story pulled all the right nostalgic strings for me and got me invested in the story. I found the artwork good but nothing to really blow me away.
As individual stories for me Agent Provacture would get 3 out of 5 with The Forgotten taking 5 out of 5.
As individual stories for me Agent Provacture would get 3 out of 5 with The Forgotten taking 5 out of 5.
April 18, 2016
I hadn't dipped into either IDW or Titan's Doctor Who comic strips, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that the stories in this collection are highly enjoyable. Rather than try to be missing episodes of the TV show, they play more to the strengths of the comic format with vivid images and a vast scope. The Agent Provocateur series recalls the classic Davison epics from DWM but with a more modern sensibility.
The artwork varies but is always bold and confident, even if the caricatures of the Doctor and his companions have various levels of success.
Well worth a look!
The artwork varies but is always bold and confident, even if the caricatures of the Doctor and his companions have various levels of success.
Well worth a look!
July 18, 2019
A surprise trip to London in the 70s (and seeing the Bay City Rollers) really set the tone for this collection. I mainly wanted to read it because I loved Martha so I was thrilled to see her just having so much fun in sections of this. I also loved the final story, where we get to see a quick story from each of the Doctor's regenerations. It was rather touching. All in all, sometimes the artwork got him right. Sometimes the story was really compelling. I liked it, but didn't fall in love with it. And that's ok.
December 28, 2016
Two stories in one- first we follow the 10th Doctor and Martha as they are forced to save the universe through manipulation and misdirection. What will the oncoming storm do? The second story follow the 10th Doctor as he must reminisce through his past regeneration to recall his full memory and find who is behind his current state of confusion. Who is behind his memory loss and how can he get out of this vortex. Awesome story with very cool insight on all his regenerations.
November 29, 2018
This collection contains two story arcs. One, The Forgotten, I had read back in 2013 and it was a nice story to read in anticipation of the 50th Anniversary special. It was a nice tribute to all the previous Doctors. The other arc that's included is Agent Provocateur. This was started out strong, but really got out of control by the end. So it was a little disappointing. Overall this is a good collection. Worth checking out for any Whovians or fans of the Tenth Doctor.
November 18, 2018
Agent Provacateur - 3/5 Stars
The Forgotten - 4.5/5 stars
I've read these stories before and my ratings are pretty much the same. The first one was fine, and the second one was a good multi-Doctor story with some issues here and there. Some of the art also isn't really for me.
The Forgotten - 4.5/5 stars
I've read these stories before and my ratings are pretty much the same. The first one was fine, and the second one was a good multi-Doctor story with some issues here and there. Some of the art also isn't really for me.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews