In this review of Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #1, the Doctor ventures to ancient Greece and encounters a deadly foe from the past.
Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #1
Writers: Dan Watters and Dulce Montoya
Artists: Sami Kivelä and Roberta Ingranata
Main Cover: Jay Anacleto
Variant Covers: Robert Sienicki, Flops, Jay Anacleto
Page Count: 48 pages
Release Date: July 8, 2026
This review contains spoilers
As part of a Black Archive mission, the Fugitive Doctor is tasked with returning various artifacts to their proper place in time and space. She grabs a Dalek weapon artifact from the storage shelves and heads off to the TARDIS.
The Doctor arrives in ancient Greece, asking various people if the weapon belongs to them, as she’s not aware of what a Dalek is. While roaming around town, she notices people carrying large amounts of food to the Temple of Zeus. She’s informed they must do so or else their gods will dry up the crops.
Not liking this situation, the Doctor heads up to Mount Olympus to talk with the gods, but discovers they’re actually alien refugees called the Metiki who only pretend to be gods with the help of technology.
The Metiki were driven from their planet by the Daleks. Now, because the Doctor broke their perception filter that was hiding them from the Daleks, the murderous aliens will come to Earth to finish the extermination job.
The Doctor unites the Greeks and the Metiki to prepare for the coming of the Daleks. They build a large wooden replica of a Dalek and everyone climbs inside to hide. With the perception filter somewhat repaired, it gives the illusion of an actual Dalek.
When a lone Dalek arrives, the Doctor pretends to be a friend of the wooden replica. She claims to have been watching over it while it recovers from damage. She questions the Dalek as to its reason for wanting to exterminate life, but the Dalek grows agitated, powering up its weapon.
When one of the Greeks inside the wooden structure sees this, he runs out to attack the Dalek, causing it to go into extermination mode. It blasts indiscriminately, killing many of the humans and all of the Metiki. The Doctor uses the artifact weapon to destroy the Dalek.
Before she leaves, she chastises the remaining Greeks for not allowing her to handle the situation. The Doctor then returns to the Black Archive for the next mission.
Analysis
As part of the massive Circuit Breaker story event, writers Dulce Montoya and Dan Watters tell the tale of the Fugitive Doctor, a character introduced in series 12 of the television show. While I watched the David Tennant and Matt Smith runs (the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors), I haven’t followed the other Doctors since then too closely, so I was not familiar with this fugitive version of the Doctor.
After reading this issue and doing a little research, it’s easy to see that she’s a Doctor who doesn’t play around. She has no problem with telling people about themselves and doesn’t mince words. From the little exposure I’ve had of the Fugitive Doctor, I like her and wouldn’t mind seeing more stories with her at the helm.
Being the earliest known regeneration of the Doctor, she’s not aware of who or what the Daleks are, which makes her approach in this story all the more interesting. For fans of the series who know that the Daleks just want to exterminate, you get a feeling of dread when you see her wanting to reason with the Dalek. You know what’s about to happen, given the nature of the murder hungry creature.
We get a glimpse of an unknown hooded figure watching the Doctor while all of this is going on, but it’s only for a couple panels. This comic is part of a much larger story that spans a variety of media such as the UNIT website, a magazine, a book, and audio programs, just to name a few. While the story in this issue is self-contained enough to enjoy, readers will likely want to check out the other entries to discover the identity of the mystery person.
The artwork by Roberta Ingranata and the colors by Valentina Bianconi effectively express the feelings and actions of the story, telling the story when no dialog is needed, as in the Dalek attack later in the issue. The illustrations are not filled with gore, but clearly relate the demise of the Greeks and Metiki. Coming in at 48 pages, the artists had a lot of panels to fill and they did so in excellent fashion.
Final Thoughts
Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #1 is one part of a wide ranging event featuring the little known Fugitive Doctor. For those fans wanting to explore this version of the Doctor in various ways, this event (and comic book) is for you! Have fun, comic lovers!
