Lady Christina is one of Doctor Who's better "one-off companions," which maybe says more about Michelle Ryan's appearance and performance than anything else. The Eye of Ashaya reunites her with the Eleventh Doctor, along with an Amy and Rory who clearly hail from during Series 7A, when he was always picking them up and dropping them off-- this story actually begins with them in an airport! The way Christina is involved in a space heist is a bit contrived, and Andy Diggle's decent script is let down by Josh Adams plasticky, posed artwork, which fails to make any of the characters look remotely attractive.

The second tale here, "Space Oddity," pits the Doctor and a lone cosmonaut against the Vashta Nerada on an orbital station. It's not scary-- I don't think Richard Dinnick or the artists really exploit the way the comics medium can be used for horror-- but it is fun. The last story is "Time Fraud," which really undersells the potential return of the Time Lords, and features a weird tie-in to Torchwood: Children of Earth for some reason.

The Eye of Ashaya: The Doctor picks up Rory and Amy and takes them on a luxury space cruise, only to encounter professional thief Lady Christina de Souza, who may or may not be on the side of the "goodies. Very nice Who-story with all the usual bits in it. My favorite part is that Lady Christina is more likable here than she is in Planet of the Dead. Space Oddity: Nice to see the Vashta Nerada back, but they're not quite as scary as they should be. The cosmonaut has very nice reactions to the lunacy that is the Doctor. Time Fraud: This is a rather odd story and I'm not sure I buy the Doctor's reaction to meeting characters that turn out to masquerade as Gallifreyans. ( )

Series 3, Volume 2