*Spoilers.*
It was tricky to pick a Top Five for Eleven when it comes to his Titan comics. While all the Doctors have ongoing arcs in their Titan runs, those arcs include plenty of multi-part stories that tell a full narrative over the course of three to five issues. But Eleven has lots of one- to two-part stories that are interconnected and highly serialized. I did the best I could to pick out my favorites, but the individual stories I chose are mostly representative of their arcs as a whole.
“Whodunnit” / “The Sound of Our Voices” (2014)
Okay, so I am putting two stories together for some of these entries, because that’s how the TARDIS wiki lists them. The SERVEYOUinc storyline leads the Doctor, Alice, and Jones to meet ARC. Billed as an escaped experiment from a SERVEYOUinc research facility, ARC roams the halls and induces comas in everyone it touches. I enjoy a good “unfeeling scientists are menaced by their own subject” storyline, along with a good “the monster is not what it seems” storyline. A neat introduction to a very interesting character.
“The Eternal Dogfight” / “The Infinite Astronaut” (2015)
Another great two-parter. The space above Earth becomes the latest battleground for an endless war between the Amstrons and the J’arrodic Federation. In their attempts to prevent bloodshed—for everyone, including the bystanders on Earth—the Doctor, Alice, Jones, and ARC are drawn into the source of the conflict between the warring races. It culminates in a dangerous space flight that’s sacred to both cultures. The artwork here is fantastic!
“The Rise and Fall” / “The Other Doctor” (2015)
This two-parter takes us back to SERVEYOUinc in a big way. After trying all the usual methods to defeat the evil corporation, the Doctor tries to beat them at their own game, in the boardroom, but things go terribly wrong. The Doctor is corrupted by SERVEYOUinc’s power, and his attempts to bring peace only achieve control. I like seeing Alice and Jones try to save the Doctor from himself (along with everyone else!), using the power of storytelling to fight back against a dystopian police state. Side note: on the whole, using Jones as a narrative stand-in for a companion David Bowie doesn’t work as well as I’d hoped it would, but I do like seeing him in his Xavi Moonblast persona in this story.
“The Then and the Now” (2015)
This story kicks off an intense, complex arc featuring returning characters, new mysteries, and an exploration of some of the secrets of the Time War. The Doctor is accused of a horrific crime against a race called the Overcast, and while he doesn’t think he could have done such a thing, his memories of his past encounters with them have been taken. With a dangerous bounty-hunting entity now dogging them through space and time, the Doctor and Alice meet another potential foe in the form of Abslom Daak, Dalek Killer (Daak is a comics character from Doctor Who Magazine going back to the Seven era.) They also gain an ally in the Squire, an old woman who says she’s a former companion. The only trouble is, the Doctor doesn’t remember her either! I get that that’s a lot of information, but this story is the opening chapter of a year-long arc that only gets more involved from there! It goes to some fascinating places, as well as some dark ones, and offers up a great exploration of the major characters.
“Hungry Thirsty Roots” (2017-2018)
I couldn't find any pictures online from the story itself, which is a bummer. This is the end of the Scream arc. The Scream is a Silent who’s obsessed with being remembered, and it’s stolen some of the Doctor and Alice’s memories in aid of its goal. Now, it stalks the Doctor and Alice through a world composed of the Doctor’s memories, with the Sapling at the heart of it. I appreciate getting a return of the Silence in this arc, and this conclusion is full of callbacks and visual references to the Doctor’s long history, which is always fun.
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