The 60th Anniversary of Doctor Who is almost upon us, so it occurred to me that it’d be a great idea to travel back in time to 2013 – and revisit the incredibly ambitious project that the then-license holders of the comic book series, IDW, published for the Doctor’s 50th Anniversary.

Can it really be ten years since then? Unfortunately, it most definitely is.

Time, as they say, waits for no one.

IDW’s year long celebration for the Doctor’s half century anniversary was ingenious and perfect for the comic book medium, given that it mattered not which actors were still with us or still even resembled the characters they played decades prior: a 12 issue storyline, featuring all of the numbered Doctors that had appeared until that point.

That meant publishing an issue a month, each of which focused on a different Doctor – from the First to the Eleventh, in order – with a final issue tying up the overarching storyline.

The first issue was, therefore, a First Doctor (played in the TV series by William Hartnell) story, with a framing story featuring a shadowy villain whose plan was to entirely isolate the Doctor by removing his companions – with every version of the Doctor falling prey to this nefarious scheme.

The second issue featured Patrick Troughton’s Doctor thwarting a slavery operation on a planet renowned for its commerce.

Naturally, by the issue’s end, his companions were mysteriously and suddenly whisked away.

In issue three, we were on an Earthbound adventure with Third Doctor Jon Pertwee, who had one of the most unique runs of any Doctor (Pertwee’s Third Doctor spent most of his time exiled to Earth, without a TARDIS).

Issue 4, then, whisked us away on a trip with Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor.

And here we have the Fifth Doctor, played by Peter Davison.

You always hear fans referring to specific eras as featuring their Doctor; generally this will be either the first you remember or the Doctor you grew up with.

Peter Davison is my Doctor, having been the first regeneration I saw happen on its first broadcast, as well as being the first ‘new’ Doctor I can remember there being as a kid.

So I was very excited to reach this stage of the series.

Though I’ve familiarised myself with the exploits of earlier Doctors and their personalities to a certain extent, way after their respective eras, Davison’s tenure marked the first that I was able to keep up with as it was broadcast.

The story here sees the Doctor and his companions arriving in – and unable to escape – the midst of a fierce war between the Rutan Host and the Sontarans.

Ever the eager pacifist, the Doctor does his best to avoid the outnumbered Sontarans from making one last kamikaze run towards the enemy.

In the meantime, the shadowy villain who’s been stealing the Doctor’s companions throughout time and space is finally coming into focus; he certainly makes his presence felt a lot more strongly in this issue.

This is another great example of the writers having a keen handle on the idiosyncrasies of each Doctor; writing a story that offers an excellent opportunity to differentiate the Fifth Doctor from his other incarnations thus far.

It’s also stronger for having the overarching villain properly interact with the Doctor and even give himself a bit of a monologue at the beginning too.

The art felt a little too cartoony at first, but it grew on me and felt nicely stylised by the end of the issue.

I’m really enjoying taking a trip down memory lane with Prisoners of Time.

I’m especially looking forward to checking out how more recent Doctors, including the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth in that – as each of them are from eras that are much more familiar to me.

You can buy the full collected edition of Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time from Amazon here.