What to make of The Keep. I'm certainly glad they didn't start the eighth Doctor's era with this story simply because it feels more like a prologue to a larger, more involving story...and then after taking a quick glance at Alan Barnes' notes I discovered that it was! It's a odd little segment which has a number of lovely ideas - an artificial sun, humanity's last breath - but fails to go anywhere remotely interesting with them. The ending is so abrupt I thought I had skipped a few pages - the Doctor and Izzy head off and so does the human race and none of the characters are given any real depth or consideration. The most interesting moment comes as Izzy cries for the Doctor at the begining of the second part, trapped away from home and having lost the only man who could take her back.
However the artwork is as good as Endgame, even if it is no where near as imaginative (due to the darker nature of the story). There is another terrific high angle shot looking over the shoulders of the mercinaries as they stare down at the chained Doctor and Izzy. The Doctor ecstatic in the void of an artificial sun is really vivid too. Look at how angry those shadows make the Doctor on page 48. And the last five frames are astonishingly graphic for a comic strip.
Its not so much a narrative as a quick glance at period in Earth's history before we return to it in a later story. You couls snip one part and have this as a one part tasty teaser: 5/10
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