Doctor Who Volume II: Issue #11
Written by Tony Lee
Art by Matthew Dow Smith
Colors by Charlie Kirchoff
Lettering by Shawn Lee
Covers by Mark Buckingham, Charlie Kirchoff, and Matthew Dow Smith
IDW Publishing
Release Date: November 9, 2011
Cover Price: $3.99

“I’m a woman now: women are cool…”

Many decades ago, the concept of swapping the minds of two characters became a very clichéd plot device. Used across the genres of horror and science fiction, the device eventually found its way into more family friendly media such as Freaky Friday, and has even been used in a few of our favorite Looney Tunes cartoons in years gone by. Doctor Who Volume II #11 (and its predecessor, #10) takes on this plot device, and though clichéd as it is, it fits nicely into the Whoniverse.

Doctor Who Volume II: Issue #9
Written by Tony Lee
Art by Josh Adams
Colors by Rachelle Rosenberg
Letters by Neil Uyetake
Covers by Mark Buckingham, Charlie Kirchoff, and Ben Templesmith
IDW Publishing
Release Date: October 05, 2011
Cover Price: $3.99

The major point you need to know about this issue of IDW’s Doctor Who, is that while the Doctor is with Rory and Amy, he has a new companion.

An intelligent robot dinosaur called Kevin the Tyrannosaurus.

This concept is as ridiculous as it is brilliant! The writers obviously leave it unexplained how Kevin enters and exits the TARDIS, but his sheer presence in this issue is marvelous. For all intents and purposes, Kevin becomes the celebrity of this Doctor Who comic, playing a pivotal role as the story reaches its conclusion.

Key of Z #1
Written by Claudio Sanchez, Chondra Echert
Art by Aaron Kuder
Colors by Charlie Kirchoff
Letters by Johnny Lowe
Covers by Nathan Fox, Tony Moore (Variant), Declan Shalvey (NYCC Exclusive Variant)
Evil Ink! Comics/BOOM! Studios
Release Date: October 19, 2011
Cover Price: $3.99

It’s always a little difficult for me to write a review on something where I feel a little emotionally attached. For those who haven’t been paying attention to this site, we’ve covered Key of Z pretty much since its inception when we interviewed both Claudio Sanchez and Chondra Echert at last year’s New York Comic-Con when it was still known as Subway Seriez up to this past month when we interviewed the writers again to revisit the series and see what else was coming up. They’ve always been super generous, kind, and open to me. So, that makes viewing the comic objectively extremely hard. It’s because of this, and the fact that Sanchez’s band Coheed and Cambria is my favorite band of all time, that I am extremely hard on their books when I read them. That said, I adored the team’s previous work Kill Audio and I love Key of Z #1.

Hellraiser #1
Written by Clive Barker and Christopher Monfette
Art by Leonardo Manco
Colors by Charlie Kirchoff
Lettering by Travis Lanham
Cover A: Tim Bradstreet
Cover B: Nick Percival
Cover C: Clive Barker
Price $3.99
Release date: March 23, 2011

It’s always funny to hear that with all the Hellraiser movies out there, Clive Barker has only been involved in the first movie, and the novella that movie was based on. And that’s it. And this is the name most often connected with the series. So I’m sure it’s exciting for horror fans to learn that Barker has returned to the series that made him famous, as he has with the new comic series from BOOM! Studios. It’s been almost 25 years since he last worked on the series, so now it’s time to see if he has picked up where he left off.

Anyone familiar with the movies will be right at home with this comic. It quickly sets up the familiar elements of the series: the puzzle box, the Cenobites, lots and lots of bodies without any skin — they’re all here within the first 10 pages. Hellraiser #1 sees Pinhead, the most famous of the Hellraiser characters, as he tries to make some kind of deal with a powerful force. It also brings back a character that will be known to people that know the series, but others will need to check the Hellraiser Wikipedia entry.