The 60th Anniversary of Doctor Who has been dominating my thoughts over the past several months, 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.

As the Latin saying goes, Tempus Fugit.

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.

Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor is, of course, the focus of this issue – and it’s a bit messy and overstuffed, unfortunately.

Shapeshifting companion Frobisher – who originated in classic Sixth Doctor comics – makes a big impression here, alongside companion Peri (from the TV series), but the plot just feels quite disjointed and full of too many disparate elements. Autons and The Master both feature, as well as the shadowy figure who’s stealing all of the companions from each of the Doctor’s incarnations in turn.

The one element of the issue that works brilliantly is a development relating to the ongoing storyline – it does feels as if things are finally getting interesting on that side of things, rather than it just being an afterthought tacked onto the end of a single ‘episode’.

I wasn’t a fan of the art either, which seems to be heavily photo referenced when it comes to Colin Baker’s likeness, then pretty awkward outside of that (which makes the photo referencing even more obvious!).

So we’re halfway through – and, though it’s still a little shaky, there’s some nice elements here with the crossover storyline – which hopefully we’ll see paying off over the next set of issues.

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