Review: Inferno: The World Dies Screaming
- cepmurphywrites
- 3 hours ago
- 4 min read
In May and June 1970, viewers of the BBC’s Doctor Who were treated to an apocalyptic vision of a fascist Britain as Jon Pertwee’s Doctor crossed over in a parallel world. One where Britain was a fascist state that was risking its own destruction with an ill-conceived project unleashing energies from deep within the Earth with the power to transform men into monsters.
Inferno fascinated viewers for more than a half-century and inspired speculation about what led that world to come apart. Offering an answer is Inferno: The World Dies Screaming, a comic prequel from the folks at Cutaway Comics.
Written by veteran Doctor Who spin-off writer and one-time editor of Doctor Who Magazine Gary Russell, the comic makes the most out of expanding the world writer Don Houghton created for Inferno, as well as his 1971 story Mind of Evil. All of the supporting characters of Inferno are present here, with Russell filling in much of their backstories from 1940 through to mere hours before the Doctor’s arrival. If you’ve wondered about the background of Director Stahlmann, what Greg Sutton had done to earn his place at the scientific labor camp attached to the project, how the Sir Keith Gold of the Inferno universe ended up on Stahlmann’s bad side, or just who the leader of the British Republic was, Russell has answers for you here. There’s also a sidestep or two over to China where Russell brings in Chin Lee from Mind of Evil along with a cheeky appearance-but-not-an-appearance of another familiar Doctor Who character. While IP rights mean that at least one character from Inferno is missing, there’s a lot to enjoy here for fans of Houghton’s two Doctor Who serials.
How does it fair as an alternate history explaining the rise of a fascist Britain? It depends on how one defines “plausible”. Russell starts the comic off in the summer of 1940 in the aftermath of Operation Dynamo as Britain faces the prospect of a Nazi invasion. A situation that has, surprisingly, created odd bedfellows with Sir Oswald Mosley meeting with Churchill and setting in motion events that alter the course of the Second World War dramatically. In doing so, Russell evokes many of the tropes (if not cliches) of the idea of the Axis winning the war, though with Britain’s move toward fascism sparing it from the wrath of Hitler as new spheres of influence are drawn up.
Which is where things get, from the point of view of both a history nerd and alternate history author, downright odd in places. Nazi Germany moves into Asia, annexing China and North Korea (at a time when it was still just Korea) for at least a time, while the Japanese invade the United States following the attacking on Pearl Harbor. Nor is that the oddest bit given how the situation between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union ultimately resolves which had this reviewer offering an incredulous “Huh?!” while reading.
In Russell’s defense, he might not have been seeking to create a scenario that those well-versed in alternate history would consider plausible. Instead, Russell was picking up on the clues that Houghton left in scripts written more than a half-century ago that amount to little more than throwaway lines of dialogue. Like so many writers of Doctor Who spin-offs, Russell builds a story and an entire world out of such things. Whether it works in a historical context or even as an in-story explanation of Britain ended up as a fascist republic in the aftermath of the 1930s and 1940s is entirely up to the reader.
What isn’t in question is the quality of John Ridgway’s artwork. There are some superb likenesses produced here that makes all of the familiar TV characters instantly recognizable. This is also true of various historical figures who pop up, especially in the first half. What Ridgway does superbly is capture the tense, grim atmosphere of the serial as events bring it ever closer to fruition. The results are stark, sometimes violent and bloody, but with an air of oppression and increasing desperation. Building on the visuals and design work from 1970, Ridgway’s artwork sells this as a proper prequel to the fan favorite serial.
Of course, this is not the first time that someone has expanded on Inferno. Candy Jar's Lethbridge-Stewart range did so with Robert Mammone's 2020 novel I, Alistair (which we’ve previously reviewed) and the differences between that novel and Russell's comic are stark. Mammone's point of divergence went further back in time seemingly involving alternate outcomes to the American Civil War and the Russian Revolution (and possibly the French Revolution) well before Britain became a fascist state. Which makes it all the more interesting that the two do share one common aspect of their alternate histories: Mosley rising to political power. The Inferno comic presents that rise directly while I, Alistair presented it as but one of its chapter epigraphs, but both feature Mosley meeting similar fates with his martyrdom allowing his successors to push the Republic further down the autocratic path. The exact details vary, of course, nor are Russell and Mammone the only ones to imagine Mosley rising to rule a fascist Britain, but it's an interesting detail to consider that the two major works to expand on Inferno would each chart similar paths and fates for Mosley in particular.
This comic is not the end, with plans for a sequel series mentioned in the afterword. Time will tell if readers will have that to look forward to, but what’s here is a solid prequel. One that, though readers may differ on how plausible the turn history takes is, offers at its best moments insights into the world behind a Doctor Who classic with a Britain, cut off from Europe as its domestic politics drift ever rightward and increasingly desperate to solve its problems, unleashing forces it could never hope to contain. Something which could never happen in our world.
Could it?
Matthew Kresal is, among other things, the author of the SLP book Our Man on the Hill and short stories in the anthologies AlloAmericana, The Emerald Isles, and The Scottish Anthology.
Comments