Torchwood Volume 3 The Culling

In the aftermath of a long-running plan enacted by the aliens known as Navigators, the heroic agents of Torchwood — the brilliant, capable Gwen Cooper and the dashing, immortal Captain Jack Harkness — find themselves trying to stop a creature who could end all life on Earth. Only one problem: this creature is Sladen, the daughter Gwen and Jack never knew they had, and she’s toting one hell of a grudge.

The Culling follows right on the heels of the previous two installments in the graphic novel series, and if you haven’t read them, you’re going to spend more time playing catch-up than you will enjoying the humor, well-scripted character interactions, and storyline drama as intended. (And the story in this one is more fast-paced than most. There’s not a lot of downtime to get your bearings before the next big action setpiece unfolds.)

Sladen is an intriguing and engaging character, one who instantly leaves her mark on the Torchwood universe, and the authors sympathize with her nearly as much as they do with the series’ protagonists. Her sections are the absolute highlights of the comic, offering a bleak and intriguing look at what it means to be an orphan unlike any other.