A Wing and a Prayer is another in the grand modern tradition of a celebrity historical.  The 11th Doctor and Clara pitch up in 1930s Iraq and almost immediately meet Amy Johnson, famed pilot.  Clara is extremely excited to meet such an impressive woman and they take the stranded Johnson back to Baghdad so she can sort her damaged plane.
During these events, they hear a strange buzzing sound which eventually turns out to be alien insects with the ability to turn sand into solid form.  One of the aliens, the Vessalak, has formed a relationship with an embittered human, Arnold Bradshaw and it transpires that other Vessalak are pursuing the first as it is a criminal from their planet. 

However, if humans die in the process of his capture, they care little for the insignificant bipedal lifeforms.
The Vessalak have the ability to manipulate sand and form copies of people which allows for some excellent images such as when they copy Amy and Clara and their alien form is well-depicted, even if insectoid aliens are a bit too commonplace in Doctor Who comic fiction.  The giant one – the Prime Mother – who appears at the climax may be a step too far though.


A charming element of this story is the Doctor’s friendship with local fez-seller, Omar and his wife Nadia.  Omar is one of those characters which tend to be more common in the spin-off stories than the TV series itself – old friends of the Doctor with whom he has a long term friendship with.  They are friends that often open their homes to the Doctor and whom often trust him implicitly and fully accept his strange origins and lifestyle (although the extent to which they have a concept of this often varies).  Omar and Nadia seem fully aware and Nadia extols her husband to accompany the Doctor to defeat the Vessalak.  Omar, for his part, ends up flying through space to certain doom were it not for the rescue affected by Amy in her plane.


Taking the 11th Doctor’s fondness for fezzes and extrapolating a friendship from it is a rather lovely addition to the story.  Added to the fun portrayal of Amy Johnson it makes for an entertaining story.


Having Amy transported off to an alien planet at the close of the story is a bit of a twist on the usual ending for celebrity historicals, though.  Dickens, Christie and Shakespeare are all left to their fates whereas here, Amy is rescued from drowning by the Doctor and the TARDIS.  It works in this story as Amy is given an infectious sense of adventure and wonder and for that to be lost through such a tragedy would have been a sad ending – particularly as Clara is such a fan and yet fully aware of her eventual death.  I don’t think it would work every time and would start to get silly if the Doctor was transporting every major historical celebrity off to an alien planet moments before their recorded death.
Visually this is an impressive comic strip and the characters are endearing.  Historically, I don’t think I got a firm grounding of either the era or the people – there’s a modern edge to both Amy and Omar that doesn’t quite fit with the historical era of 1930.  


An enjoyable adventure.