 | | | ATTACK OF THE SPACE LEECHES! |
| | | | SCRIPT: Oli Smith
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUES: 160-161
COVER DATES: 1-7 April 2010 - 8-14 April 2010
ON TV: The Eleventh Hour - The Beast Below
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Crimson Hand
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Don’t Step On the Grass
REPRINTS: None A boy named Stephen is wandering the streets of London with a cold in April 2010 when an alien spaceship plummets from the sky. Giant Space Leeches fly out and attach themselves to people’s heads. The leeches swarm, but Stephen manages to escape as everyone around him is taken over. He runs to the top of Primrose Hill and decides he needs help. Then the TARDIS materialises around him… Inside the TARDIS, Stephen tells Amy and the Doctor about the space leeches getting everyone in London. Amy realises that the reason Stephen has been spared is because he has a cold. The Doctor uses his sonic to tweak the virus and make it super infectious and, as it spreads across the city, it weakens the leeches and they detach themselves from people. The space leeches are drawn to the Doctor, the one person whose biology is strong enough to withstand any cold. Assuring Stephen that he will take them somewhere safe, the Doctor and Amy lead the space leeches into the TARDIS and away from Earth. |
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| | | MADNESS ON THE M1! |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
This is remarkably thin and basic stuff. The TARDIS flying through the air over the motorway recalls the same sequence from The Runaway Bride. The sonic screwdriver saves the day for the second story in a row. The Doctor gets to shout ‘Geronimo!’
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| | | SCRIPT: Oli Smith
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 162
COVER DATE: 15-21 April 2010
ON TV: Victory of the Daleks
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Crimson Hand
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Don’t Step On the Grass
REPRINTS: None The Doctor and Amy arrive at the Blue Boar service station on the newly opened M1 motorway in 1959, but the flow of traffic is soon interrupted by teenage Petrolions – alien joyriders on bikes. Intent on stopping them, the Doctor flies the TARDIS through the air a few miles down the road to a petrol station. With the attendant distracted, the Doctor and Amy await the Petrolions to arrive and refuel. The Petrolions, the Doctor explains, use petrol to power not only their bikes but also their space suits and their ships. When they arrive, the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to reverse the flow of the pumps, draining the Petrolions of vital petrol. Their bikes and suits begin to fall apart. The Doctor orders them to go home and leave in peace. Leaving their wrecked bikes and suits behind them, the Petrolions teleport away. |
| | | WINNING HAND |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
As such brief stories go, this one is quite decent and solidly plotted. Hubert Crimp looks uncannily like the Blowfish from Torchwood...
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| | | | SCRIPT: Oli Smith
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 163
COVER DATE: 22-28 April 2010
ON TV: The Time of Angels
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Crimson Hand
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Don’t Step On the Grass
REPRINTS: None At the Trans-Vegas casino, the universe’s most exclusive place and a popular criminal haunt, the Doctor joins notorious slave-dealer Hubert Crimp at the card table, but it is a distraction while Amy, armed with the sonic screwdriver, frees the slaves aboard Crimp’s ship. Crimp pulls a gun on the Doctor, but the Doctor reveals he has also beaten him at cards. As Crimp is now broke, the Doctor asks for him to be escorted from the casino. The winnings will be paid out to the enslaved creatures as compensation. |
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| | | BOOKED UP |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Ignoring the absurd premise, at the heart of this story is a parable about the joys of reading, or perhaps about the value of Doctor Who itself feeding young minds. As such it just about gets away with it, despite some slightly scrappy artwork.
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| | | | SCRIPT: Simon Guerrier
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 164
COVER DATE: 29 April - 5 May 2010
ON TV: Flesh and Stone
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE Supernature
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Don’t Step On the Grass
REPRINTS: None Whilst returning some late books to a now apparently abandoned library, the Eleventh Doctor and Amy inadvertently wake a creature made of book. The creature is hungry and as books are thrown around, more Book Monsters begin to form. Asking himself what books would eat, the Doctor decides to offer them a story. He starts telling of his and Amy’s visit to the planet of Sky-Sheep, and the monsters stop and listen as Amy continues the story, detailing how a pack of armed Space Wolves started to attack the peaceful sheep. Amy then passes the story to the Book Monsters to continue, who do so in superhero style, with the rescue of the Doctor, Amy and the Sky-Sheep. Leaving the Book Monsters to continue feeding their own minds, the Doctor and Amy return to the TARDIS. |
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| | | BAD VIBRATIONS |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Amy works out the solution for the third time, though the Doctor would be well advised to leave the cleaning up operation to the inhabitants, or the TARDIS’s departure will set off the destructive vibration all over again.
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| | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 165
COVER DATE: 6 - 12 May 2010
ON TV: The Vampires of Venice
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE Supernature
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Don’t Step On the Grass
REPRINTS: None The Doctor is putting out another fire on the TARDIS console. He’s impressing Amy with his fire extinguisher invention, which generates eighty times more foam than normal extinguishers. When the TARDIS arrives in Echo Sphere (a self contained protective shell for the inhabitants sealed within their planet), the sound of the TARDIS arriving reverberates around the Sphere. Its ever-increasing volume distresses the inhabitants – peaceful, green, bird-like creatures known for their occasional, very quiet, gentle songs. As the noise becomes too loud and threatens to weaken the Echo Sphere's structure, Amy races to the TARDIS and fetches the Doctor’s fire extinguisher. Setting it to maximum, the Doctor sets it off and covers everything in foam – including the inhabitants. The echoes are muffled by the foam. The Doctor and Amy apologise and offer to clean up the mess with mops from the TARDIS. |
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| | | ABOUT FACE |
| | | | SCRIPT: Steve Lyons
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 166
COVER DATE: 13 - 19 May 2010
ON TV: Amy’s Choice
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE Supernature
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Don’t Step On the Grass
REPRINTS: None Arriving onboard a spaceship, the Doctor and Amy are attacked by a creature referred to as ‘the Charonid’ by the ship's only conscious crewmember, Cormac, who fires a stun pistol. The Charonid runs off. Cormac explains it knocked out all the other crew, but when the Doctor and Amy find the unmarked body of the pilot they are suspicious. The Doctor recalls the |
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| Charonid being body swappers and with the pilot having been stunned, the Doctor guesses that Cormac is the Charonid. Cormac is about to fire when the real Cormac (in the Charonid’s body), arrives but is caught in the Doctor’s force-field trap. Cormac is returned to his own body, but the Charonid may have escaped into another body. When Amy goes to pull the lever that will destroy the Charonid, there is a discharge of energy that swaps Amy and the Charonid back to their own bodies. The Doctor rightly guessed that Amy would never have pulled the lever and taken a life. Furthermore her eye colour had changed to red. | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Cramming a lot in to its short length, this strip is actually quite good fun. It’s like Terror of the Zygons/Invasion of the Body Snatchers after fifty cups of strong black coffee. It doesn’t play entirely fair in its opening reveal of the Charonid, but it entertains nonetheless.
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| | | TRACK ATTACK |
| | | It's June 1885, and somewhere on the Northampton to Euston rail line, the Doctor and Amy have made their way to the front of a steam train speeding out of control at impossible speeds. The driver is unable to stop or even slow the train, so the Doctor climbs out and releases all the steam by undoing a valve with his sonic screwdriver. Once the train had slowed to a stop, the Doctor discovers that the train had been taken over by a Shift Agent (a creature without a solid body that takes controls of machines). The Shift Agent needs to recover ‘Dark Matter' that has been leaking and could very soon rip the planet apart. Tracing the Dark matter to Euston Station, the steam train was the fastest means of travel the Shift Agent could find. Releasing the carriages, the Doctor helps the Shift agent by heating up the water molecules with his sonic. With the Shift Agent's help, the engine soon reaches Euston Station. After jumping the queue, the Doctor locates the Dark Matter amongst the luggage. It is handed over to the Shift Agent, who takes it away safely. |
| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
This is quite a neat little bit of breathless adventure, and the period setting does help to give it some sense of time and place (indeed, it’s the first properly historical setting since Highway Robbery some six months before). The sonic screwdriver even gets to do some sensible things like excite molecules and unscrew nuts and bolts. Unusually, this is the second strip in a row to not feature the TARDIS interior or exterior in any frames.
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| | | NOWHERE MAN |
| | | | SCRIPT: Oli Smith
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 168
COVER DATE: 27 May - 2 June 2010
ON TV: Cold Blood
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE Supernature
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Don’t Step On the Grass
REPRINTS: None For a hundred years, Brox has travelled space alone. His mission to find alien life has failed, his ship is coming to the end of its life, the engines are failing. A trillion light years away on the other side of the galaxy, the Doctor and Amy gaze in awe at a number of mini-wormholes appearing in space. The Doctor believes them to be caused by the breakdown of an engine-core and steers the TARDIS through one of the wormholes where a delighted Brox finally gets to meet aliens. The Doctor explains to Brox that, for a hundred years, he has been travelling the outer rim of the universe, light years from anyone. Amy takes over the steering stick and, looping the loop, creates a wormhole big enough for the ship to fly through. Brox’s mission to find new life is over but his adventures are only just beginning. |
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| | | MONEY TROUBLES |
| | | | SCRIPT: Steve Lyons
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 169
COVER DATE: 3 - 9 June 2010
ON TV: Vincent and the Doctor
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE Supernature
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Don’t Step On the Grass
REPRINTS: None Arriving inside the vaults of a Ratlings bank holding mounds of precious coins, the Doctor and Amy are soon apprehended as bank robbers. The bank manager and the security guard are distracted by gunfire from the main lobby where a raid by the angry Sidewinder Syndicate is in progress. They are demanding their stolen money back from the Ratlings. The Doctor and Amy |
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| watch the Syndicate empty the vaults. The Ratlings explain that the money wasn’t stolen but lost on the stock market. When the Syndicate realise the coins are faked, the Ratlings try to blame the Doctor and Amy. As the Doctor and Amy are about to be taken away, Amy realises where the real coins are. Scraping one of the fakes, she reveals that the coins have only been made to look fake - a cunning plan by the Ratlings to con the Sidewinder Syndicate. Leaving the Syndicate and the Ratlings to settle their own accounts, the Doctor and Amy return to the TARDIS and leave. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
A double dose of Tenth Doctor comic strip continuity as the Doctor previously met Ratlings in Trevor Baxendale’s Waste Not, and the Sidewinder Syndicate in Lyons’ own Snakes Alive!. Again, it’s Amy who solves the problem. This girl is becoming indispensable! The story has a clever resolution, though how the Ratlings think this will get them off the hook is anyone’s guess, but the strip is worth it just for the line ‘You dirty rats!’ |
| | | FASHION VICTIMS |
| | | |  | | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 170
COVER DATE: 10 - 16 June 2010
ON TV: The Lodger
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE Supernature
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Don’t Step On the Grass
REPRINTS: None In London sometime in the 21st Century, the Doctor and Amy notice the latest fashion seems to be jackets with shades. Accessing the local Wi-Fi network, the Doctor using his sonic screwdriver detects a massive surge of data that triggers a bio-molecular transmogrification of the jackets, engulfing and trapping the people inside them. Ripping a label from the clothing alerts those behind the scheme to the Doctor’s non-human presence. The Doctor and Amy escape to a deserted shop and begin to analyse the fragment. It identifies itself as ICE (Interconnected Clothing Experience), but the Doctor identifies it as a symbiotic life form disguised as clothing. Following the Wi-Fi signal to a warehouse near Spitalfields Market, he discovers a large blob-like alien controlling the symbiotic Fliis. When Amy catches her jumper and pulls a thread, the Doctor has an idea to stop the invasion. The Doctor hacks into the Fliis programming to ‘pull a loose programming thread’ which gives the humans a new fashion icon to follow - himself, an image pumped directly into their brains through the shades. With control lost, the Fliis symbiotes engage emergency teleport and leave. Some time later the streets are full of bow-tie-wearing people – bow ties really are cool! |
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| | | THE COLLECTOR |
| | | | SCRIPT: Oli Smith
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 171
COVER DATE: 17 - 23 June 2010
ON TV: The Pandorica Opens
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE Supernature
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Don’t Step On the Grass
REPRINTS: None The Nebulon Colony, in 3415, is suddenly overshadowed by a giant creature. Declaring it beautiful, the giant freezes the colony in ice. It is one hundred years later that the Doctor and Amy arrive with a patio heater and begin to thaw the people out. However the giant appears and tries to stop them ruining everything. The giant explains that as a traveller long ago, he found the colony and its peaceful harmony so perfect he didn’t want it to change, and so froze it in time. The Doctor explains that by freezing it, the giant took away what made it special. The giant, a polar-creature, is convinced and expels the heat from its lungs to thaw the colony. Everything and everyone resumes their lives once again, believing they have had a strange dream. |
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| | | THE STRAY |
| | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 172
COVER DATE: 24 - 30 June 2010
ON TV: The Big Bang
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE Supernature
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Don’t Step On the Grass
REPRINTS: None Betty, an old lady who hasn’t been feeling very well recently, and who lives alone with her new stray dog Pookie, ventures to the shops on her way to the hairdressers. Here she is stopped by the Doctor posing as a RSPCA inspector. He tells her that Pookie isn’t in fact a Yorkshire terrier, buta large parasitic Kera-Bera Beast stranded on Earth and feeding off of Betty’s life energy, projecting the illusion that he is dog. Betty doesn’t believe him and goes off to her hairdresser’s appointment where Amy is waiting. While the Doctor distracts Pookie, Amy turns on a hairdryer which the Doctor has adapted to reverse the psychic link between Betty and Pookie. The result, besides Betty being left with a pink, punky hairstyle, is to recharge her energies and leave the Kera-Bera beast transformed into what Betty believed it was – a cute - albeit purple - dog! |
| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Even your gran could end up in an exciting adventure with the Doctor and the formidable Amy Pond! It’s quite difficult to tell the difference between Ross’ Eleventh Doctor and his Tenth when the character is stripped of his usual attire, but this is a neatly plotted and tidily resolved tale.
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| | | MISTAKEN IDENTITY |
| | | SCRIPT: Cavan Scott
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 173
COVER DATE: 1 - 7 July 2010
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE Supernature
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Final Sacrifice
REPRINTS: None Arriving in a dense alien forest, the Doctor and Amy disturb fungi that smells like rotten cabbage. They are arrested by law-enforcement mechanoid DRC-1000. The enforcer believes Amy to be a shape-shifting fugitive known as Egron the Flesh-Eater. As the enforcer prepares to fire, Amy is dragged through a cloud of the fungi gas by the Doctor and both make their escape. Amy heads straight into the TARDIS, but the Doctor is suspicious as the ship appears to have changed location. The ‘TARDIS’ reveals itself to be the shape-shifting fugitive, and now it has eaten Amy. Unless the enforcer lets Egron go, he threatens to swallow Amy. However the Doctor throws a rock at the fungus and a huge cloud of gas engulfs Ergon, causing him to choke and spew up Amy. The enforcer is able to capture the fugitive. |
| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Slim by any standards, though the set up and payoff of the fungi is neatly done and a rare reference to the television series (in this case The Beast Below) makes it vaguely notable.
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| | | FOUL PLAY |
| | | | SCRIPT: Steve Lyons
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 174
COVER DATE: 8 - 14 July 2010
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE Supernature
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Final Sacrifice
REPRINTS: None The Doctor and Amy are at the New Wembley Space Stadium in 2050 where guest billing goes to the England 2010 World Cup Squad. The Doctor sees from the match programme that the England team was borrowed from the past by a company called the ‘Chronos Corporation’. Behind the scenes, the Doctor uses his psychic paper to gain access to the England changing room. The Doctor soon recognises a perception field generator. |
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| Without hesitation he turns it off and the players on the pitch are revealed to be tentacled purple alien players. With an angry crowd outside in the stadium the Doctor and Amy make a sharp exit as the Doctor explains that he knew the England team were impostors when he spotted one of them had a tentacle. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Okay, so this strip was clearly written to tie in with the then imminent World Cup (England were beaten by Spain, apparently). It’s thin stuff, most notable for the fact that the psychic paper puts in a rare appearance. At least the tentacle is there for the eagle-eyed reader to spot alongside the Doctor.
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| | | ATTACK OF THE GATEBOTS! |
| | | | | | | | |  | | | |  | | | | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 175
COVER DATE: 15 - 21 July 2010
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE Supernature
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Final Sacrifice
REPRINTS: None | | | | | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Tightly plotted, with every detail being relevant to the conclusion, but this is really just a bit of breathless, clever fun with explosions and robots. The artwork seems marginally better than is sometimes the case with much sharper likenesses of, particularly the Doctor.
| | | After an exciting adventure on the planet Ekthelios which Amy resolved with nail varnish, she and the Doctor are in a spaceport departure lounge. Whilst the Doctor is distracted by a shop selling gadgets, Amy is apprehended by GateBots, robot ticket inspectors. Found not to be on any flight lists, an Execution Pod is activated and she is held in a soundproof holding pod and expected to answer a Customer Questionnaire requiring a 100% correct answer rate in order to survive execution. The Doctor intervenes but is unable to secure her release even by invoking ancient Ekthelios Identity laws – because he is unable to verify his own identity. Pursued around the departure area, the Doctor realises that he and Amy are national heroes, having just saved the planet, and, with some nimble rewiring of one the gadgets from the gadget shop, he tricks the Gatebots into viewing the local news channel on all the departure screens. This transmits the heroic proof of their identity around the spaceport in time to save Amy and secure their pardon with an apology from the Central Governors of Ekthelios, who announce a special freedom of the planet ceremony in their honour. Offering to make their own way, the Doctor and Amy return to the TARDIS and escape. | | |
| | | BLUE SKIES THINKING |
| | | | |  | | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 176
COVER DATE: 22 - 28 July 2010
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE Planet Bollywood
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Final Sacrifice
REPRINTS: None The Doctor suspects something is wrong when they land on the planet Thelka in the year 2495 to find it populated. Leaving the TARDIS, they find the ship being painted orange and their blue clothes (Amy’s jacket and the Doctor’s tie) removed, burnt and called illegal items. Taking a pen from his pocket, the Doctor squirts blue ink |
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| over one of the inhabitants which draws an entity from the colonist’s body. As the Doctor and Amy escape in a ‘borrowed’ buggy, he explains that the entity that came out of the chest was cyanophobic (afraid of blue) and it has somehow possessed the leaders of the colony. As they head towards a weather-control mast, pursued by the colony, the Doctor hurriedly changes the mast’s settings. It had previously been set to absorb far too much red and green spectrum light, but the Doctor redresses the balance causing blue skies to reappear above the planet. Exposure to the colour blue sees the Aranjia (creatures from another galaxy who arrived through a wormhole), forced to leave their host bodies as their energies are weakened. The advance party of Aranjia retreat through a wormhole, which the Doctor then blocks. The colony is grateful and unusually the Doctor asks for their help – by repainting the TARDIS blue. |
| | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
The initial question posed in this strip - why is a planet that the Doctor believes is never inhabited now inhabited - is never addressed or answered, making this a weak entry in a moderately strong run. Also, as the Doctor points out, a race of aliens weakened by the colour blue make for a pretty useless threat. Children armed with blue crayons could defeat them!
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| | | SAMURAI’S SECRET |
| | | | SCRIPT: Oli Smith
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 177
COVER DATE: 29 July - 4 August 2010
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE Planet Bollywood
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Final Sacrifice
REPRINTS: None In 13th Century Japan, the Doctor and Amy arrive in a small boat in time to save some villagers from flood waters sweeping through their village, waters created by a dragon which vanish as quickly as they struck. The Doctor offers his help but the villagers already have help from the worst Samurai in all Japan, Shoju. In return for protecting the village, Shoju is allowed to stay – but his efforts are ineffective. He joins the Doctor and Amy on a trip to the lake and here explains that all he wants is a simple life. He has travelled the stars, and finally found a place of honour and honesty, and that all he wants now is acceptance by the villagers. The Doctor and Amy watch as Shoju transforms into the dragon he is supposed to be ridding the village of. In his true form, he scares the villagers and used his chameleon-like technology to disguise himself as a samurai. However the effect is short lived and the transformation back condenses the water from the air around him causing the floods. Using his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor does what he knows best – he breaks Shoju’s chameleon circuit. From the safety of the shore, the villages see the dragon vanquished and Shoju returns to the village, now fully accepted as a hero. |
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| | | A MESS OF TROUBLE |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Every so often, I read a strip that reminds me (usually with a shudder) of annual strips of old, and this strip, which verges on the twee, reminds me more than most. Littering is bad, people. Do not litter!
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| | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 178
COVER DATE: 5 - 11 August 2010
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE Planet Bollywood
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Final Sacrifice
REPRINTS: None From space, Posadise is a beautiful world. But the Posadians are an untidy race. They leave the planet's huge sandstorms to collect up the discarded rubbish and sweep it into the upper atmosphere to form twin rings and several fairly large asteroids. The Doctor and Amy arrive during an emergency. From nowhere, small blue furry aliens have ‘invaded’ with an assortment of weapons. As the Posadians prepare to attack the invaders with missiles, the Doctor, having managed to translate a few words of the creatures’ rudimentary speech, bundles the Posadians’ First Minister and a creature into the TARDIS and takes them to one of the ‘invaded’ cities. The Posadian leader is stunned to find that the new arrivals are not invading but cleaning! Their guns are cleaning products – they come from one of the asteroids and are tired of all the planet's rubbish being dumped in space. The Posadians, realising the error of their ways, call off the attack and agree to clean up their act. |
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| | | IN THE STARS |
| | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 179
COVER DATE: 12 - 18 August 2010
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE Planet Bollywood
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Final Sacrifice
REPRINTS: None Babylon in the year 905 BC and the Doctor is curious when he spots the town's astronomer, Urtaki, updating his charts to include new stars. A new constellation has appeared in the sky – the locals have named it the Gryphon. The Doctor, Amy and Urtaki watch as the stars suddenly come alive and a huge Gryphon appears. The Doctor suggests the stars are alien technology that has been observing, drawing on people’s thoughts to form a new form for itself. Soldiers' blades are unable to harm it because it is composed of light. But Amy notices that the flat side of the sword holds the Gryphon back. Realising that the reflection is enough to repel it, the city quickly gathers together its mirrors and moves in on the creature. Trapping it on all sides, the Doctor and Amy put the final mirror panel into position on top, |
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| making sure that the creature can’t escape. After several hours the sun rises and when the mirrors are removed, the creature fades away. Just as stars are blotted out by the sun, so the creature's body (made from fake stars) is blotted out, leaving behind a collection of silver alien disks. With contact broken overnight from its operator, it has been abandoned. Gathering the disks, the Doctor and Amy take them away with them. |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Hoorah! After two weeks of benevolent aliens, we get a nasty one again. And another historical setting, which adds a little colour and sense of place. The Gryphon’s defeat by mirrors vaguely recalls the defeat of the Mara in Kinda, though here makes more scientific sense. Good thinking, Amy Pond (again).
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| | | MOST HAUNTED |
| | | SCRIPT: Steve Lyons
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 180
COVER DATE: 19 - 25 August 2010
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Golden Ones
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Final Sacrifice
REPRINTS: None School children Kerri and Joe explore a moonlit Harcourt Manor, reputedly a haunted house. They see a ghostly apparition in the drawing room, but as they try to escape, they are spooked even more by a strange wheezing, groaning sound and two figures at the top of the stairs. The figures are the Doctor and Amy. The Doctor dismisses any talk of ghosts, explaining it away as psychic energy. Kerri says, according to rumour, a monster was seen in the house a hundred years ago. The locals were scared and killed it, but its spirit still haunts the house. The children take the Doctor and Amy to the drawing room, where the Doctor identifies the ghostly figure as a psycho-ectoplasmic form that seems to be pointing to a portrait over the fireplace. Realising the ghostly figure means them no harm, the Doctor takes the painting down to reveal the ‘monster’ bricked up in the chimney, really an alien in suspended animation. The Doctor revives it with a nice cup of tea and the alien explains that when the frightened locals entombed him, he survived by putting himself into a deep sleep, reaching out with his subconscious mind, trying to get help. The Doctor leads the alien into the TARDIS and takes it home. |
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| | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
The curious one-time DWA obsession of the TARDIS as an intergalactic rehousing-service (see Shipwreck, The Lavender Hill Blob, The Aquarius Condition, The Rising Tide, Photo Finish, City of Light and Mudshock for just a few examples) makes a long overdue reappearance. The mention in dialogue of a ‘wheezing, groaning sound’ is a cheeky nod to the writings of Terrance Dicks, and a nice touch for older readers. On the first page, Joe looks suspiciously like former travelling companion Wolfgang Ryter, but not on subsequent pages. This is a well thought out strip with good artwork and strong colour work.
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| | | THE LIVING STORM |
| | | | SCRIPT: Steve Lyons
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 181
COVER DATE: 26 August - 1 September 2010
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Golden Ones
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Final Sacrifice
REPRINTS: None The Doctor and Amy climb a hill to explore the ruins of an alien city. There is no sign of who built the city and the walls are eroded by the elements, it seems, in record time. Suddenly, the weather changes as clouds gather and the rain becomes heavier. The travellers are shielded from lightning bolts by a metal archway, but are soon confronted by creatures condensing from the rain and the mist. The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to excite their molecules and force the creatures to evaporate, but there are too many and they are soon bombarded by hailstones the size of tennis balls. The Doctor suggests bringing an umbrella next time (“Umbrellas are cool!”). It is Amy who listens to the thunder and hears a voice. The storm has been telling them to flee from this world. As the Doctor and Amy beat a retreat back to the TARDIS, the storm subsides and by the time they reach the ship, the blue skies have returned and a rainbow fills the sky, marking a beautiful day on a beautiful world that whatever lives in the sky doesn’t want to share with others. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
A pleasing little strip as all the clues that Amy picks up on (yep, she saves the day again) are there in the panels for the reader to pick up on too. When she realises that the storm has been talking to them, it inevitably causes the reader to flip back through the pages to see what they’ve missed. Clever stuff.
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| | | THE SCARECROW |
| | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 182
COVER DATE: 2 - 8 September 2010
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Golden Ones
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Final Sacrifice
REPRINTS: None Inside an atmosphere bubble on the other side of the universe is Major Luisa Suarez. In darkness she is supplied with food, drink and clean clothes by her captors. When the lights are on she is left alone, not knowing how she arrived or why she is there. But one day the |
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| Doctor and Amy also arrive with the same questions, having previously been exploring a planet. The Doctor recognises the Wormhole of Calibri outside, site of one of the nastiest and shortest wars in galactic history. The Tulokon used the wormhole to attack the planet Hazri and the Hazrians only just defeated them. Realising whatever has captured them wants to keep them alive, the Doctor sabotages the life support system. As the Doctor expects, the bubble is plunged into darkness, but, using a match, they see the reptilian face of their captor – a Hazrian. However, instead of being a fearsome creature, the Hazrian is afraid of its captives. The humans are the most fearsome looking creatures that the Hazrians have ever seen and are being kept to scare away any more Tulokons that dare cross the wormhole and attack again. The Doctor manages to persuade the Hazrian that the Tulokons have long gone and it agrees to fetch the Doctor’s TARDIS so he can return Luisa to Earth. To set the Hazrians’ minds at rest, the Doctor rigs up a look-a-like scarecrow. |
| |
| | | SKY SCRAPER |
| | | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 183
COVER DATE: 9 - 15 September 2010
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Golden Ones
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Final Sacrifice
REPRINTS: None Arriving in present day Manchester, the Doctor and Amy find the city evacuated. Tentacles are ripping up the streets. Hiding in the sewer as the worm-like tentacles lash about, they escape before being |
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| discovered by the military who have evacuated everyone from the area. Using his psychic paper to pass them off as ‘Pest Control, Ministry of Agriculture and Fish’, the Doctor and Amy discover a tower block overrun by a giant worm-like creature. As the military prepare an air strike, the Doctor senses something is wrong and races to the creature's head on one of the top floors. The Doctor recognises the creature as an Alifabe, a race that lives in the matter-lining of hyperspace. The creature is unwell and has fallen to Earth. Its empathic nodule has been bruised and the creature is unable to send a strong enough signal to be rescued. Amy is sent to turn all the satellite dishes on the tower block to point upwards while the Doctor uses Manchester’s power to build history’s biggest interspatial telephone. The Alifabe is able to teleport home in just enough time for the air strike to be aborted and, as the Alifabe leaves, the sky is lit up with a dazzling array of colour. |
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| | | THE PURRFECT CRIME |
| | | | SCRIPT: Mark Wright
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 184
COVER DATE: 16 - 22 September 2010
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Golden Ones
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Final Sacrifice
REPRINTS: None The Doctor and Amy are chased by a boot-wearing mummy up the side of a pyramid. The mummy is unbound and revealed to be a security guard for the pyramids called Oliver. They haven’t arrived in Egypt, but a giant museum. The blue sky is the ceiling and the pyramids nothing but replicas. Oliver was attacked by cat-like aliens, the Sehkmets, and tied up while they stole a priceless crystal scarab which they plan to sell to buy a battle fleet. The Sekhmets make their way to the apex of a pyramid where a spaceship crashes through the ceiling to aid their escape. The Doctor uses Oliver’s bandages to lasso the scarab from one of the Sekhmets' hands. They leave empty handed and the scarab is returned to its podium for others to enjoy. |
| |
| | | THE STEEL WEB |
| | | SCRIPT: Steve Lyons
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 185
COVER DATE: 23 - 29 September 2010
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Golden Ones
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Final Sacrifice
REPRINTS: None En route to see the beautiful orchards of Pomarius, the TARDIS gets trapped in a giant metal spider web. The Doctor arms himself and begins cutting through the web. Amy notices someone trapped in the web. The Doctor frees the captive and they retreat into the TARDIS. The newcomer is called Heldan, a farmer on Pomarius. His people created the cyborg spiders to help deal with an attack by fruit flies. However the spiders got out of control and spun their web across the whole planet. The spiders are programmed to hunt fruit flies, so the Doctor makes up a foul smelling purple mixture and ‘pours it into the engines’, making the TARDIS smell like fruit flies. When the TARDIS takes off, the spiders are drawn out into space, heading for an uninhabited world where they can spin their web without harming anyone. |
| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
The Doctor Who Wiki for this strip suggests that the logic is suspect and that the legend ‘What has the Doctor noticed?’ at the bottom of the third page is irrelevant. This is wrong. Although it’s not immediately clear from the artwork, the Doctor has spotted that the spider would rather chase a fruit fly than chase humanoids. This is just an extension of a recent trend for planting visual clues in the strip for readers to pick up on ahead of/alongside the characters. Except here it’s never stated explicitly and the problem is that we’ve never seen one of these fruit flies before so it isn’t apparent that this is what is happening, especially as the fruit fly also appears to be robotic for some reason. That the spiders have extended their programming is no less believable than the Mechanoids doing the same, though Heldan seems convinced the spiders intend to eat them, so must presumably have seen evidence of this in the past. The TARDIS in this strip must land and take off like a conventional spaceship, or it wouldn’t have been caught in the web in the first place and the spiders wouldn’t be able to follow it into space at the end. It isn’t a great strip, but it does make much more sense than the Wiki suggests. |
| | | IN THE CAN |
| | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 186
COVER DATE: 30 September - 6 October 2010
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Golden Ones
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Final Sacrifice
REPRINTS: None Prime Soup is being advertised on Television across the country. Kids love it. Just as Katy and her Dad are about to |
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| open a tin, the Doctor and Amy burst in through a window. They are too late to stop the can being opened and a huge soup creature erupts. The Doctor manages to stop it in its tracks by thickening it with flour. A batch of the cans have been recalled by the company, which the Doctor has been investigating because of its use of subliminal messages in the adverts. The Doctor and Amy leave - taking the soup can with them. Shortly afterwards, back at the factory, all fifty-seven cans from the missing batch have been returned, to the relief of two aliens called Hebex and Eizcam, who are planning an invasion. When they open the cans to find out how their creatures have responded to high compression, they discover that one of the cans has been booby-trapped by the Doctor. The aliens are knocked out long enough to be tied up and the incubation tank for their creatures (which should have been released at a later stage of their plan) is disabled. The aliens will be taken to the galactic authorities, but not before the Doctor has made a soup-related pun... |
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| | | SNOW GLOBE |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Solid action adventure with a sense of mystery and a surprisingly strong sense of place. Why it’s called Snow Globe though is anyone’s guess...
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| | | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 187
COVER DATE: 7 - 13 October 2010
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Golden Ones
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Final Sacrifice
REPRINTS: None The TARDIS arrives somewhere near Birmingham during the Ice Age, but as Amy opens the door, a Neanderthal falls inside narrowly escaping a sabre-toothed tiger. Believing he has been rescued by a snow god, the Neanderthal talks of his disappeared tribe who were hunting demons at ‘the edge of the world’. The Doctor realises that the snow storm is not natural and, investigating further, finds a mirrored wall |
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| in the snow behind which are three-eyed aliens. The Doctor finds a laboratory where human strengths are being tested prior to an invasion. The rest of the Neanderthal’s missing tribe are suspended in ice. The Doctor is furious and, while the Neanderthal smashes the containment crystals, the Doctor deactivates the force walls setting everyone free and opening the doors. As the Neanderthals make their escape, the sabre-toothed tigers enter through another entrance leaving the aliens no choice but to cancel their experiment and evacuate. With everything back to normal, the Doctor promises to take Amy somewhere warmer with no ice creams. |
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| | | WAVE MACHINE |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
IOh good grief, it’s like a TV Comic Holiday Special strip risen from the grave... with a giant robot crab.
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| | | | SCRIPT: Trevor Baxendale
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 188
COVER DATE: 14 - 20 October 2010
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Golden Ones
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Final Sacrifice
REPRINTS: None On the planet Smilonda the top holiday destination in the 423rd century, a disgruntled holiday-maker, Grone, plans his revenge |
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| on all the tourists who have spoilt the place. Grone has been visiting regularly since childhood and remembers the planet in the old days, when it was peaceful. To scare away the visitors, he activates a remote controlled, giant, metal crab, which rises out of the sea. While the Doctor is busy buying ice creams, the tourists flee the beach and Amy is tossed around by the giant claws. The Doctor returns and although impressed by the magnificent crab, uses his sonic screwdriver to override Grone’s remote control box and turn it against him. After digging a hole and burying Grone in the sand up to his neck, the Doctor points out that Grone doesn’t own the universe and he would be better off trying to be a bit friendlier and having some fun. Soon Grone is using the crab again, but this time as an attraction to entertain the children. |
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| | | CELL SHOCK |
| | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 189
COVER DATE: 21 - 27 October 2010
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Golden Ones
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Final Sacrifice
REPRINTS: None The Doctor and Amy are exploring an artificial mountain on a mysterious planet when the ground gives way and they fall through a crack to land in a cell. Here they meet a creature called Elpha and her cubs. Captured by aliens that could not understand her, Elpha was captured from her homeworld and imprisoned here. The regular meals they received at first have stopped. Beside robot guards who respond to any disturbance with a pacifying stick, no one else has been seen. Using his sonic screwdriver to open the cell, the Doctor discovers that Elpha and many more are exhibits at a zoo that has been closed down and left on automatic. Finding a way to the control tower, the Doctor shuts the zoo down properly, and deactivating the security robots, releases all the caged species so they can take advantage of the planet's rich natural habitats. The Doctor gives Elpha the choice to stay or return home, but she decides she wants her cubs to taste the air on their homeworld and accepts the Doctor offer to leave. |
| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
This is solid and moderately exciting, but lacking in any genuine surprise, right down to the attacking monster at the bottom of one page that turns out to be perfectly friendly at the top of the next. The Doctor’s relocation programme continues as he offers to take Elpha and her cubs back home.
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| | | THE TRICK |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Delightfully tongue-in-cheek, my favourite detail being that there are just four aliens. How old-school Doctor Who!
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| | | | SCRIPT: Oli Smith
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 190
COVER DATE: 28 October - 3 November 2010
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Golden Ones
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Final Sacrifice
REPRINTS: None On a farm in Texan farm at Halloween, an old man and his son witness the arrival of an alien space ship whose passengers start firing as soon as they arrive. As the man and his son Johnny flee, they bump into the TARDIS and the Doctor and Amy dressed up, ready to go trick or treating. Taking shelter in the farmhouse, the Doctor remembers a recent encounter on the planet Thursday where the natives shrink the heads of their enemies and display them as a warning. Gathering up the harvested pumpkins, the Doctor gets them all carving. As the small invasion force of four remarkably timid aliens led by Zargofyl and Zarkon approach the farmhouse expecting to find easy targets, they see the pumpkin heads alight in the windows. Believing the humans to hollow out the heads of their enemies, the aliens panic and flee. |
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| | | THE LUNAR TYK |
| | | | SCRIPT: Richard Dinnick
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 191
COVER DATE: 4 - 10 November 2010
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Golden Ones
IN DOCTOR WHO US: None
REPRINTS: None Arriving at the Shackleton Crater on the Moon in 2039, two Earth astronauts in search of water find instead the Doctor and Amy. The crater, always on the dark side of the moon, has been probed to reveal a good source of ice. A torch is shone into the crater. There is no reflection of light from any ice, but the torches pick out something else in the dark, something that races out towards them. The Doctor holds off the creature long enough with his sonic screwdriver for the group to return to the spacecraft. Back at the ship the Doctor explains the creature is a Tyk, absorbing all light to grow. Using a solar panel from the ship, the Tyk is tricked into a trap by Amy, who attracts its attention. She gets it to knock itself out by charging at a wall reflecting her image. Stunned, the Tyk is loaded into a rocket and fired into a permanent orbit around the sun, where it can feast and be happy. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Well, it’s not much of a story, but at least it uses the latest scientific data about water on the moon. It’s just a shame it doesn’t tie this into the story of the Tyk, or explain why the Tyk, which feeds on light, is hiding in a dark hole. Is it on a diet or something?
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| | | PENCIL PUSHER |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
There’s a nice joke with the Doctor complimenting the teacher who’s wearing the same jacket, the Shadow Proclamation gets a name check and we have an intergalatic criminal disguised as... er... a pencil. That would surely have ended messily when Janie stuck him in the pencil sharpener. Utterly barking, but not without its charms.
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| | | |  | | | SCRIPT: Trevor Baxendale
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 192
COVER DATE: 11 - 17 November 2010
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Golden Ones
IN DOCTOR WHO US: None
REPRINTS: None The night before school, Janie manages to complete her homework on the solar system in record time, despite arguing with her brother over a cool pencil she has found. The following day at school, her teacher is impressed with her detailed homework, in spite of references to the planet Speldron and it being done in pencil. However class is interrupted by the Doctor and Amy, passing themselves off as school inspectors with the psychic paper. When Amy takes Janie’s pencil, she goes wild but is pacified by the Doctor's sonic screwdriver. Using the pencil on the psychic paper, the sign of the Shape Thieves from the planet Speldron is revealed and the pencil identified as Graphon Narmolis, a shape shifter specialising in taking the form of inanimate objects to take control over other life forms. The Doctor's mind, however, is too powerful, and in the Doctor's hands Graphon Narmolis is powerless. With the influence over her broken, Janie returns to her normal self as if waking from a dream. |
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| | | THE CLEVEREST KING |
| | | | SCRIPT: Trevor Baxendale
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 193
COVER DATE: 18 - 24 November 2010
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Golden Ones
IN DOCTOR WHO US: None
REPRINTS: None Having forgotten that the planet Usunru in Galaxy 57 is home to the Kreech, the Doctor and Amy are soon captured. The Kreech carry their prisoners back to their nest in a hollowed-out tree. They are received by Rangorr, Brainleader of the Kreech. Only once in every ten generations is a Kreech born with a highly developed brain. Rangorr is a lonely ruler, fair and just, but lacking intelligent company. Rangorr wants to travel but is unwilling to leave his kind without a Brainleader, so he nominates the Doctor to take his place. The Doctor declines on the grounds that even he isn’t a clever as Rangorr and suggests a crossword contest. While Rangorr is busy concentrating on the puzzle, the Doctor and Amy sneak out and past the Kreech, back to the TARDIS, leaving Rangorr to remain as Brainleader. |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
The Kreech are a genuinely good alien design, but we’re still in the Land of Barking here with a battle of wits involving crossword puzzles.
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| | | SEEING THINGS |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
The idea of a man being actively stalked by what he believes to be a mirage is a good one, but the resolution doesn’t build on this, just suddenly throwing in the force-nets and then the fact that they would have been incapable of capturing an undivided Mirrorite. A cleverer ending, perhaps exploiting the Mirrorite’s qualities against it, would have made it a sharper and more memorable tale.
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| | | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 194
COVER DATE: 25 November - 1 December 2010
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Golden Ones
IN DOCTOR WHO US: None
REPRINTS: None For two days in 1943, Sgt Brett Cooper has been walking the Australian outback. Hungry and thirsty, he begins to see things like a pool of water and the Doctor, whom he believes is another hallucination. The Doctor suggests he drinks from a nearby pool, but Brett believes it to be a mirage. The Doctor pushes him out of the way as the ‘pool’ flies off. The creature, a Mirrorite, stalks its prey until it is too weak to put up a fight. Amy is lying on the ground nearby, pretending to be an easy target while the Doctor encourages Brett to lie down and pretend to be exhausted. Split between feasting on Amy or the Doctor and Brett, the Mirrorite divides itself into two halves, each an independent hunter. As each of the creatures approaches its prey, the Doctor gives the command and both halves of the Mirrorite are captured in force-nets. The nets would not have been able to hold a full Mirrorite, but divided, the Mirrorite is weakened. The Doctor and Amy agree to return the Mirrorite to its home planet of Shinnus, but not before they’ve given Brett a lift home. | | |  |
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| | | PIRATES OF THE SEVEN SEEDS |
| | | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 195
COVER DATE: 2 - 8 December 2010
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Golden Ones
IN DOCTOR WHO US: None
REPRINTS: None Discovering bananas on the market planet Feltzmodo 12, a fruit that should not be growing anywhere in the universe at this time, the Doctor takes Amy to the Earth of the future, an Earth ravaged by centuries-long solar storms. Norway has become a desert after the flares atomised the oceans and |
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| boiled the glaciers to steam within minutes. Protected from the heat, half buried, is the Terran Seed Vault, a store for the seed bank of plant life on Earth, but the Doctor and Army discover it is being raided by Purzithroan Vagabonds, pirates from the Ambient Expanse, who are selling the seeds to the highest bidder. Finding their way undetected to the climate control centre, the Doctor and Amy create a number of holographic projections that frighten the Purzithroan Vagabonds back to their ships. |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
An interesting set up deteriorates into the Doctor and Amy taking the traditional villain role in a Scooby Doo scenario. It’s... er... bananas...
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| | | ROUGH WATERS |
| | | | SCRIPT: Trevor Baxendale
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 196
COVER DATE: 9 - 15 December 2010
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Golden Ones
IN DOCTOR WHO US: None
REPRINTS: None Onboard a sailing ship in the midsts of the Battle of Trafalgar, the crew explain to the Doctor and Amy that they are on the run from a sea monster that came out of the fog, a giant metal beast, but the Doctor and Amy recognise it as a modern-day aircraft carrier. |
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| The Doctor abandons Amy while he nips off in the TARDIS to the flight deck of the aircraft carrier. A quick examination of the controls reveals an infestation of Time Roaches, creatures that, attracted by radiation leaks into the Space-Time continuum, have got into the engines and caused trouble by dropping the carrier two hundred years in the past. The Doctor reverses the neutron flow and the Time Roaches are sent back into the Vortex. The Doctor leaves the carrier with little time to spare before it goes back to its own time. He returns to collect Amy who has made friends with some of the sailors aboard the ship. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
The set up is so atmospheric and the juxtaposition of the old and the modern so striking, that the explanation for why it’s happening seems just a touch mundane. Add to this that the discovery and elimination of the Time Roaches takes just five frames and is all solved with a wave of the Doctor’s magic wand/sonic screwdriver, and a very promising story falls a little flat. Amy does appear to be getting on terribly well with two of the sailors in the last panel though...
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| | | RED CHRISTMAS |
| | | | SCRIPT: Oli Smith
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 197
COVER DATE: 16 - 29 December 2010
ON TV: A Christmas Carol
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Professor, the Queen and the Bookshop
IN DOCTOR WHO US: None
REPRINTS: None The Doctor takes Amy to Hollograd, Christmas Day, 1873, expecting it to be like a fairy-tale Christmas scene. The village is instead covered in red mist, a psychic fog that separates the parents from their children. The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to clear away the fog with a bright light. In the light, those responsible for the fog are revealed as Krampus - creatures of folklore who use the fog to create fear and sadness on which they feed. The sonic doesn’t give enough light to keep the fog away and it creeps back, but the Doctor returns to the TARDIS and switches on the roof light. The fog is dispersed, the parents are reunited with their children and the Krampus, unable to exist without sadness, fade away. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
The Krampus is indeed a creature of Alpine folklore said to visit naughty children at Christmas to punish them. If it found a particularly naughty one it would stuff it in its sack and take it to its lair to devour. What festive fun they used to have in the olden days!
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| | | FIRST FOOT FIRST |
| | | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 198
COVER DATE: 30 December 2010 - 5 January 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Professor, the Queen and the Bookshop
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Spam Filtered
REPRINTS: None The crowds around Edinburgh Castle on New Year's Eve see a robot crash to Earth. The robot claims the planet as the property of the Robot Amalgamation because he is the first victorious visitor to set foot on the world as a New Year dawns… Twenty four hours earlier, the Doctor, Amy and Rory are captured by robots of the Robot Amalgamation and have their minds read by a neural |
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| digitiser. The Doctor instructs Amy and Rory to think of their happiest memories, unfortunately the Robots learns about the Scottish New Year tradition of ‘First Footing’ whereby the first visitor of the year to your home can claim a welcome gift – and the gift the Robot plans to claim is the planet itself. However, when the Doctor offers the robot all his knowledge if the robot can make it to Earth before him, the robot accepts the challenge. Back on Earth, on New Year's Eve, as the Robot stakes his claim to the planet, the Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive having been experiencing New Year parties on Earth for the last twelve hours – Hakepa Hill, Sydney, Moscow, Paris, chasing the time zones. The robot’s home world, Robotica, has only one digital change of time across the planet. The robot concedes defeat. In consolation, the Doctor offers the gift of fireworks. |
| |
| | | RANDOM HISTORY |
| | | SCRIPT: Trevor Baxendale
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 199
COVER DATE: 6 - 12 January 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Professor, the Queen and the Bookshop
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Spam Filtered
REPRINTS: None Amy is infected with a Chronic Spasm Virus. The virus causes her to jump randomly through time and space. The Eleventh Doctor and Rory track her by following her time trail, but are unable to reach her before she arrives in the trenches of France in 1917, Ancient Rome, the court of Queen Elizabeth the First and prehistoric Earth, where she is pursued by a Tyrannosaurus Rex and a predator bulge in the vortex that threatens to swallow her. The Doctor and Rory catch up with Amy just as the Vortex Predator Bulge swallows the dinosaur, but Rory also gets infected. Amy and Rory vanish into the vortex. The Doctor has had enough and races to the TARDIS to arrive in Medieval England before Amy and Rory. The TARDIS draws the energy from the Bulge and discharges it before Amy and Rory arrive. With a wave of the sonic screwdriver, the Doctor cures them of the Chronic Spasm Virus. While they are there, they decide to visit the Doctor's old friend, King Arthur. | | |  |
| |
| | | THE SALT SOLUTION |
| | | | |  | | | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 200
COVER DATE: 13 - 19 January 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Screams of Death
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Spam Filtered
REPRINTS: None On the desert world of Bruvoldaveer, the Doctor, Amy and Rory befriend one of the last tribes trading at the outpost of the ancient Salt Trail. Only the bravest warriors remain to collect the salt and risk death at the hands of a monster in the dunes, a Natrium Worm – a creature that lives and thrives on pure salt. The worm has detected the tribe’s salt supplies. Realising the tribe are no match for the strength and persistence of the Worm, the Doctor, Amy and Rory, hijack the salt cargo on the backs of Andromedaries (robot camels), and ride them to a nearby oasis. In spite of the tribe’s protests, the salt is poured into the watering hole. Driven by its urge to consume salt, the Worm dives into the water and, unable to cope with the absorption of minerals other than pure sodium chloride, explodes. |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Okay, so in one panel the Doctor tells us that the Natrium Worm can only feed on pure salt (which would be fairly impossible anyway if you think about it), then we get told that the time travellers will be scoffed as pudding because the worm is greedy. Makes you wonder how these Natrium Worms ever survived. Within a few weeks they’d have all exploded. End of species. They take their name, by the way, from the Latin for Sodium, which has the chemical symbol Na.
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| | | RORY’S STORY |
| | | | SCRIPT: Oli Smith
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 201
COVER DATE: 20 - 26 January 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Screams of Death
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Spam Filtered
REPRINTS: None Whilst out to buy milk so that the Doctor and Amy can make ice cream, Rory discovers a monster rampaging through a supermarket. He passes himself off as the Doctor and the monster flees in fear. |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Rory and especially the Doctor are well characterised in this slight but enjoyable tale.
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| | | SUB-SPECIES |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Packing in a surprising amount of story and a historical setting, this story’s main problem is its lack of drama, not to mention the Doctor once again offering to act like an intergalactic taxi service/relocation programme for any stranded aliens.
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| | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 202
COVER DATE: 27 -January - 2 February 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Screams of Death
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Spam Filtered - Ripper’s Curse
REPRINTS: None Deep in the North Sea in March 1942, a submarine has been hijacked by unknown forces, and the crew locked out of the control room. While they attempt to gain entry, the TARDIS lands on the bridge. The Doctor flashes psychic paper and identifies himself as Commander Bond from naval intelligence. The sub is being steered towards an alien craft on the sea bed. The alien craft is a Class lll Bandragian freighter – an organic craft left on the sea bed to repair itself. The hijacker changes his form then identifies himself as Gein. His craft crashed and, while waiting for it to repair itself, disguised himself as human and has now returned for it to make his way home before the humans find it and possibly change the course of history. The Doctor offers to give Gein a lift in the TARDIS to his ship, but when they arrive, they find the ship hasn’t finished its repairs. The Doctor offers to take Gein home, but not wanting to leave the craft behind where it might be discovered by the Nazis, uses the functioning controls to adjust the ships biocomposition, turning the organic ship into a delicious and nutritious snack for fish. The TARDIS leaves around the same time the submarine crew re-enter the now empty bridge. They turn the sub around and away from the already decomposing alien wreck on the sea bed. |
| |
| | | QUITE INTERESTING |
| | | | SCRIPT: Simon Guerrier
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Moray Laing ISSUE: 203
COVER DATE: 3 - 9 February 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Screams of Death
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Ripper’s Curse
REPRINTS: None Being chased by a damaged robot, the Doctor, Amy and Rory bombard it with trivia until the robot is so confused it ceases pursuit and also starts spouting trivia. | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
As a story, Quite Interesting isn’t particularly interesting. As a fun way to string together some random facts, it is considerably more fun.
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| | | EARWORM |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
It’s simple, somewhat formulaic and easily resolved, but there is some fun to be had in this strip, not least the opening page where Amy as the receptionist takes Danny through to see the Doctor.
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| | | | SCRIPT: Jason Arnopp
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 204
COVER DATE: 10 - 16 February 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Screams of Death
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Ripper’s Curse
REPRINTS: None Leeds, 2011. Young Danny’s earache is hurting and he keeps hearing weird music. His dad is worried enough to take him to hospital – where the Doctor is waiting to examine Danny’s ear with his sonic screwdriver. The sonic device causes a tiny alien worm called a Harmonelid to burst from Danny’s ear in a rush of green slime. It falls to the floor, where its growth is accelerated and it escapes by hurling itself through a window. Waiting outside the window with a small fishing net, Rory fails to catch the worm. It zooms off and conceals itself in a busy waiting room. Believing the worm to have found a new home in somebody else’s ear, the Doctor finds Mr Richards - a deaf, elderly patient in a wheelchair, smiling and tapping away to himself. Another quick examination with the sonic screwdriver reveals that the Harmonelid has shrunk and re-settled itself. As the gentleman seems quite happy and the Harmonelid only presents a danger to young ears, the Doctor and his friends take their leave. |
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| | | IF YOU GO DOWN TO THE WOODS TODAY |
| | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 205
COVER DATE: 17 - 23 February 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Screams of Death
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Ripper’s Curse
REPRINTS: None A trip for the Doctor, Amy and Rory to the Picnic Planet of Floriosophon Fidestra, a planet known throughout the galaxy for its flora and fauna, leads them to a discarded communicator sending out a distress call. Even though the signal is weak, the Doctor believes he can trace it and off the three rush to the rescue. Rory is first to spot koala-like creatures playing in a clearing. As the creatures scatter, they find more evidence of off-worlders – but it is a trap. Captured in a net and bundled into a cage, they are carried deeper into the forest and thrown into a huge pot, where they find the other off-worlders. The pot has been shielding the rescue signal but the Doctor has the idea of tipping the pot to bounce the signal around thus hopefully transmitting a strong enough signal for their ship. As the pot starts to get hotter, they topple it and it rolls to safety out of the forest, where the off-worlders await their rescue ship. | | |  |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
An oblique reference to K9 is frankly and unfortunately just about the highlight of this fairly pedestrian strip, which could have been played exactly the same in the pages of TV Comic forty years before. Amy and Rory as the latterday Gillian and John. Now there’s a scary thought.
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| | | GHOST WORLD |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
The premise is quite good and fairly ingenious and the story fairly well told, given the target audience. Of course, it’s all resolved with a wave of the sonic screwdriver, but at least in this instance that makes sense.
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| | | |  | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 206
COVER DATE: 24 February - 2 March 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Screams of Death
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Ripper’s Curse
REPRINTS: None Four ‘teenage’ aliens are camped out in the ruins on the third moon of the planet Callicial for a dare. They are excited and fearful as they wait out the night in the hope of seeing the ghosts believed to haunt the moon - the reason for it not being properly colonised. They are spooked by the arrival of the Doctor, Amy and Rory in the TARDIS, but all soon witness the floating apparition of a nightclub singer. The Doctor wonders why the ghost looks human, as humans have never been to this system before. Soon the moon is full of dancers, footballers, singers, floating heads and a knight in armour. Rory recognises the knight - Alex Redman who played Sir Winterhill in The Black Castle, a TV show he watched as a child. Amy also recognises someone and the Doctor realises that the ‘ghosts’ are all TV characters: TV signals that have travelled all the way from Earth. The moon's unusual atmosphere is making the signals visible. Amongst the ruins, the Doctor finds an old transmission station. Using his sonic screwdriver to generate white noise, he blocks the ghostly signals, leaving the sky filled with amazing lights. As the TARDIS crew prepare to leave, the alien teenagers talk about setting up a new tourist attraction. |
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| | | POWER OF THE MYKUOOTNI |
| | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 207
COVER DATE: 3 - 9 March 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Screams of Death
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Ripper’s Curse
REPRINTS: None In the north west of England, the Skelsdale nuclear power station is having problems. A loud buzzingseems to be moving around the station. By the time the Doctor, Rory and Amy arrive some hours later, it is deserted, though still plagued by the buzzing. The Doctor identifies it as an electrical discharge with something organic about it. As the sound grows closer, flying aliens appear out of thin air. Before they can attack and sting the Doctor and Rory, Amy uses a loading crane to swat them like giant flies. The Doctor recognises them as Mykuootni (hyper-advanced insects) who are gathering, ready to swarm across the Earth. The Mykuootni have been feeding on the energy released by nuclear fission, their bodies absorbing and converting the energy into firepower. Taking Amy’s suggestion about needing a repellent, the Doctor makes some modifications to the power station and reverses the polarity of the neutron flow, converting the reactor to fusion instead of fission. When Amy presses the big red button, the Mykuootni are given indigestion by the fusion energy and break away from the energy core. Believing the humans more powerful than they imagined, the Mykuootni gather their swarm and retreat. Earth isn’t ready for nuclear fusion yet, so the Doctor undoes the modifications before they leave. |
| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
This may be the first Doctor Who Adventures strip starring the Eleventh Doctor where it is implied that humans die (given that the station staff are never recovered). That aside, it’s fairly standard fare, the resolution involving the Doctor tinkering with some technology and the alien menace evacuating.
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| | | MINE, ALL MINE! |
| | | | SCRIPT: Steve Lyons
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 208
COVER DATE: 10 - 16 March 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Screams of Death
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Ripper’s Curse
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory are in a gold mine in California in the 19th Century some months after the gold rush. In spite of a monster in the mines, a miner named Ike, desperate to find gold to support his family, has stayed when all the other prospectors have fled. The Doctor |
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| uses his sonic screwdriver like a dog whistle to bring the creature out of hiding. When an enormous, five mouthed, one eyed, green creature arrives, the Doctor recognises it as a Skaratid, presumably left behind by a passing spaceship. The torchlight blinds the creature long enough to attempt an escape but the Skaratid pursues them along the rail tracks. Borrowing some sticks of dynamite, the Doctor offers them to the Skaratid. A five mouthed creature is always hungry and looking for food. It swallows the dynamite, which explodes, blowing the creature into goo and making the tunnel collapse. The new rockfall reveals a previously untapped seam of gold for Ike to mine and he doesn’t mind helping clear a safe passage out of the mine. |
| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Doctor Who Adventures’ comic strip usually ends with this week’s alien menace withdrawing with its limbs - if not its dignity - intact, so it’s quite a surprise when the Skaratid meets a grisly end and the Doctor actually blows it up. The mine cart recalls Indiana Jones, but I promise you nothing else does.
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| | | GOLDEN SLUMBERS |
| | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 209
COVER DATE: 17 - 23 March 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Screams of Death
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Ripper’s Curse
REPRINTS: None To prevent a statue being delivered to Cleopatra, the Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive aboard a sailing ship in the Mediterranean in 39 BC. The |
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| Roman crew are intent on delivering their cargo from Marcus Antonius – a golden figure in the shape of a man. They are about to throw the stowaways overboard when the statue, really a Gold Assassin from the court of Xones, re-awakens. Having crashed on Earth, the Assassin mistakenly believes Cleopatra the Empress of Altari, whom it has been programmed to kill. The Roman crew are swatted away by the powerful assassin. Amy and Rory find a casket of mercury used by Cleopatra for her make-up. They get close enough to the Assassin to empty its contents. The mercury dissolves the gold. With its circuitry exposed, the Assassin is slowly dissolved. Worried about not having a gift to deliver to Cleopatra, the Doctor offers to make a trip to the planet Voga and pick something up for them – along with some more mercury. |
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| | | SOUND BYTES |
| | | SCRIPT: Steve Lyons
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 210
COVER DATE: 24 - 30 March 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Screams of Death
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Ripper’s Curse
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory pursue a miniature spaceship flying down a contemporary street. Suddenly it falls to the ground. A quick inspection with the sonic screwdriver confirms that its occupants, Virtuals, digital beings from a different dimension, have escaped and uploaded themselves to the internet. They hide in a music download (‘Alien Infiltration’). The news channels report strange behaviour all over London. Mostly young people go into trances and take to the streets.
Amy is the first to spot the connection; everyone in a trance is wearing headphones. As they turn on the Doctor and his friends, Rory is thrown the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver. He presses the second button and turns the twisty bit clockwise; the sonic feedback buys them time. Using Amy’s phone to identify the track, the Doctor does some jiggery-pokery. With the sonic, he deletes the Virtuals from the internet server, pastes them into Amy’s phone and sends them back home. The signals ended, the trance state is broken and all returns to normal. |
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| | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Some five months before the London riots when youths took to the streets, this strip feels oddly prescient. Of course, it’s purely coincidental, but I can’t see that this strip would have been published after the riots.
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| | | CHASING RAINBOWS |
| | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 211
COVER DATE: 31 March - 6 April 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Screams of Death - Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Ripper’s Curse/A Fairytale Life
REPRINTS: None The Doctor and Amy are chasing a Heyvaaley through the streets of San Francisco in 1985 towards Rory. The Heyvaalay is an intelligent life form which, appearing as a rainbow, bounces down the street making a trail of holes in the road before disappearing into an |
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| arcade. Rory follows, armed with a solar panel, with the intention of catching it in the battery, but the Heyvaaley is intelligent. It splits into two separate arcade machines, then emerges from the machines like a giant character from an old games console. It bursts out of the arcade. Rory, who is an experienced games player having played the older games on his phone, realises the creature is following the same pattern of repeated behaviour as the old games. Anticipating the creature's moves, Rory strikes it with a metal pole. This allows the Doctor to collect the pieces and trap them in the solar panels so the Heyvaaley can be taken back to its own dimension. |
| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
San Francisco seems a slightly arbitrary setting, though it may be a nod to the TV Movie, but this is breathless fun with just enough logic underpinning it to get a few kiddie brain cells working and make the resolution feel satisfying.
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| | | PIER HEAD FROM SPACE |
| | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 212
COVER DATE: 7 -13 April 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Ripper’s Curse/A Fairytale Life
REPRINTS: None The Doctor takes Amy and Rory to Hoolak’s Pier, the longest pier in the galaxy on the planet Arriman B. The pier stretches above the planet some ten thousand kilometres, with its own gravity, heat bubble and space swimming. As the Doctor is about to buy ice creams, the Pier is ripped apart. A giant, tentacled monster demands one million credits from the Pier supervisor. As the creature spells out its demands, the Doctor recognises the voice and names the creature as Ellis the Illusionist. At first the creature denies the Doctor’s accusation, then gives in and turns off the illusionary disguise. It's not just Ellis’ appearance that was an illusion, so too was the destruction of the pier. Ellis explains his illusionary act was cut by the pier supervisor for being dull. This left him jobless and down on his luck. However, so impressed is the supervisor by Ellis’s stunt that, with a little persuasion from the Doctor, he is rehired. Having been assured by the Doctor that ‘kids like a little scare every now and then,’ Ellis the Illusionist's act becomes a roaring success. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Okay, so story-wise this is really just more standard Scoobie Doo shenanigans, but if we’re handing out prizes for the most punning title for a Doctor Who story ever, then this one - riffing on the 1970 TV story Spearhead from Space - will surely be showered in trophies. As a wink to its audience, I’m also very fond of the Doctor’s observation that kids like a little scare every now and then.
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| | | THE EVERGREEN DEATH |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
And second prize for most punning title, this time riffing on The Green Death, goes to this story, though in terms of plot this is vastly superior; establishing a world, setting up a threat, establishing the true nature of the threat and delivering an ecological message all in the space of just
four pages. That it also manages to be quite exciting along the way is really quite impressive. The artwork is better than usual too. |
| | | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 213
COVER DATE: 14 - 20 April 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Ripper’s Curse/A Fairytale Life
REPRINTS: None The Doctor takes Amy and Rory to an idyllic colony. It is built in a single giant tree that sustains all life on the planet. It's not long, however, before the colony is attacked by a swarm of Pulpavores, large, flying creatures, who have never attacked so close to the colony before. As the colonists take cover, the Pulpavores dive down and through the ground like termites. They break off a sizable branch from the tree. Rory is on the other side of the branch when it falls to the ground, but the Pulpavores are prepared and catch him in a net of vines and land him safely. Grabbing a giant leaf, which he uses as a parachute, the Doctor and Amy float down to meet him. At the base of the tree they find a village of Pulpavores built amidst the rotting vegetation. The Doctor rightly guesses that the Pulpavores are natural gardeners, tending the tree, pruning the dead wood, turning it into compost and feeding the tree itself. Returning to the colonists above, they find them attacking the Pulpavores, fearing they will overrun the settlement. The Doctor points out that the colonists, when they arrived, upset the ecosystem. Working with the Pulpavores, the colonists may even eventually reseed the forest. He leaves the two sides talking. |
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| | | THE RAGE |
| | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 214
COVER DATE: 21 - 27 April 2011
ON TV: The Impossible Astronaut
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Ripper’s Curse/A Fairytale Life
REPRINTS: None On the planet Senecca B, Venghu, the self-styled King of the Swamps, returns home having captured Rory and armfuls of much smaller and cuter creatures with big, round eyes. Reunited with Amy, who is already a captive, Rory and his wife taunt Venghu, even as he threatens to eat them. They aren’t afraid because they have the Doctor on their side. On cue, the Doctor appears and fires a beam at the creature from a hand-held contraption. It leaves Venghu’s skin hard and frozen like a statue. The Doctor releases Amy, Rory and the others and explains that that these creatures usually get rid of their negative emotions, allowing them to develop, but for some reason Venghu couldn’t. The anger built up over the years. The Doctor’s device sucked up all that rage, leaving Venghu ready to hatch into a creature just like the others. It is a natural part of their development. Harmony restored, the travellers head back to the TARDIS for probably more deadly danger. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
The artwork steps up another gear and becomes genuinely good with an impressively gruesome monster made all the better by sympathetic colour work. It’s a trifle odd that Venghu lives in a house with a chimney (perhaps he feels the cold), but, that aside, this story has an unusual tone and structure that works extremely well. It’s essentially just the last act of the drama, but it fits the page count perfectly and still gives us enough time to unravel a mystery. One of the best Doctor Who Adventure strips. |
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| | | THE PEACE STRIKE |
| | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 215
COVER DATE: 28 April - 4 May 2011
ON TV: Day of the Moon
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night - Forever Dreaming
IN DOCTOR WHO US: They Think It’s All Over/A Fairytale Life
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive in the TARDIS in the belly of a missile packed with explosives. The missile's automatic defence computer identifies itself and detects the intruders are not Nabrili. The Doctor realises the missile is on its way to its neighbours, the Jells, with whom the Nabrili regularly have pointless disputes and there is only about six and a half minutes to impact. The Doctor sends Amy to flood the explosives with water from the TARDIS while Rory assists the Doctor in modifying the computer. With an electronic conscience fitted (a spare part from K9), the computer realises that billions of people will die when the missile hits Jelledge, and agrees to help the Doctor stop it. When the missile explodes it spells out in fireworks ‘give peace a chance’. Having removed the computer from the missile and made it into a mobile unit, it is left safely on the planet Jelledge, programmed with the peace agreement suggested by the Doctor but credited as the Nabrili’s idea. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Lasting probably little more than eight minutes in total, this must be one of the shortest adventures the Doctor has ever had in any medium. It’s okay, but perhaps suffers slightly from following two strong strips. |
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| | | EXTINCTION EVENT |
| | | SCRIPT: Steve Lyons
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 216
COVER DATE: 5 - 11 May 2011
ON TV: The Curse of the Black Spot
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Forever Dreaming
IN DOCTOR WHO US: They Think It’s All Over/A Fairytale Life
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory are being chased by a Tyrannosaurus Rex with a plane flying overhead. Taking shelter in a cave, they find a hidden door leading to a secret base built into the base of a volcano. Rory is separated from the others and watches as two Raptors escort them to a science lab, where they find a reptilian scientist at work. The creature introduces himself as Professor Saurian. He is from a planet like Earth, where evolution took a different path. As the Doctor keeps Saurian talking, he explains how his world is approaching an Ice Age which will kill his people, while the Earth is getting warmer. Saurian believes the Earth is ready to be taken but the Doctor has other ideas. Rory has been listening, found the thermostat controls and turned the temperature down, making the raptors and Saurian sluggish. As they try to escape, Saurian presses a button which will make all of Earth’s volcanoes erupt at once. Saurian escapes to his spaceship while the Doctor quickly goes to work with his sonic screwdriver. He contains the explosion to just this volcano. Praying that the Tyranosaurus has left and isn’t waiting for them, the Doctor, Amy and Rory get back to the TARDIS in time to watch the volcano erupt. They wonder if Saurian escaped and if he did, when they will see him again. |
| | | HOT STUFF! |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
The first three pages of this story feel like televised Doctor Who (perhaps specifically something like 42), which is not something DWA often aspires to, and if the friendly monster at the end doesn’t quite ramp up the tension, it does at least provide a twist.
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| | | | SCRIPT: Trevor Baxendale
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 217
COVER DATE: 12 - 18 May 2011
ON TV: The Doctor’s Wife
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Forever Dreaming
IN DOCTOR WHO US: They Think It’s All Over/A Fairytale Life
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive aboard a mobile mining rig on the planet Mercury in the 367th century. A hyperceramic umbrella protects the rig from the sun’s rays and temperatures of about 427 degrees. They find the last surviving crew member, Karan Marshall, |
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| who warns them that everybody else has been killed by a monster. Suddenly the lava alarm sounds, warning that a lava geyser is about to erupt – right below the rig. Emergency measures are put into place including the automatic closure of doors. which cuts them off from the TARDIS. Karan drives the rig out of the way of the geyser just in time, but this means the rig has moved out of the path of direct sunlight to power the shields. As heat, light and life support systems shut down, the ‘monster’ appears, but the Doctor is pleased to see it is a Mercurian energy beast. It has led the other humans to safety but couldn’t find Karen. Karen is relieved to rejoin the others, and the beast is glad to provide the energy to get the rig fully functional again. The beast even offers to show the humans where the best mineral deposits are located, safely away from the lava fields. |
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| | | THE VERY COOL BOW TIE! |
| | | | SCRIPT: Simon Gurrier
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes
BOW TIE CREATED BY: Lucy Sutton ISSUE: 218
COVER DATE: 19- 25 May 2011
ON TV: The Rebel Flesh
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Forever Dreaming
IN DOCTOR WHO US: They Think It’s All Over/A Fairytale Life
REPRINTS: None The Doctor’s new bow tie sports a perception filter that makes people believe it is cool. However, when they land on an alien world, the |
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| locals are so captivated by the tie that they chase after the Doctor. He is rescued by Amy and Rory. The bow tie is torn apart by the locals in their desire to possess it, which breaks the perception filter and returns things to normal. |
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| | | REALITY CHEQUE |
| | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 219
COVER DATE: 26 May - 1 June 2011
ON TV: The Almost People
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Forever Dreaming
IN DOCTOR WHO US: They Think It’s All Over/A Fairytale Life/When Worlds Collide
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory land in a smoggy London, 1885, on Threadneedle Street. Hearing a powerful explosion, they rush to the Bank of England but everyone seems oblivious to the damage. Traces of carbonite in the air reveal an alien presence at work. Another explosion from the vault and the travellers run to investigate, but there appears to be no sign of damage and no-one around except an old flower seller. Amy is tries to lead the old lady back up the stairs, but the Doctor suddenly turns on the old woman. He throws the flowers aside, uncovering a traffic-calming device from the Aldebaran Astrobahn, used to pacify space pilots so they can fly safely. The device is being used to cover up the raid on the bank. The old woman changes into an armed alien bank robber, who grabs Rory. Before the robber can fire his gun, the Doctor reactivates the device and points it at the robber, persuading him to release Rory and that all the happiness he will ever need can be found in a single flower. The alien robber leaves the bank dancing. With the reality check no longer influencing the bank’s staff and customers, there is a sudden panic as the full extent of the damage is seen, along with a big green alien dancing along holding a flower. |
| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
The period setting is pleasing, as is telling children the location of the Bank of England, but the story is remarkably unremarkable with a weak ending.
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| | | ROAD RAGE |
| | | | SCRIPT: Trevor Baxendale
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 220
COVER DATE: 2 - 8 June 2011
ON TV: A Good Man Goes to War
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Forever Dreaming
IN DOCTOR WHO US: A Fairytale Life/When Worlds Collide
REPRINTS: None In a taxi in the city of Metrolos in the 41st century, the Doctor explains to Amy and Rory that this is the safest place in the galaxy to drive. All vehicles are driven by robots connected to Travel Control through a hyperlink. However, there is a collision. This has a domino effect on all the other cars. The Doctor takes control of the taxi. Avoiding the increasing pile-ups, he heads to Travel Control and there finds Devela holding the city to ransom with a computer virus. The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to disable the virus and Devela is led away by the Metrolos Police. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Another story wrapped with a wave of the sonic. The artwork also feels quite perfunctory this time around with John Ross not given much of interest to draw.
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| | | THE KING AND THE TRIPEBERRY |
| | | | SCRIPT: Craig Donaghy
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 221
COVER DATE: 9 - 15 June 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Forever Dreaming
IN DOCTOR WHO US: A Fairytale Life/When Worlds Collide
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive at the Royal Court on Hussuloof Quatrine with a tripeberry – a Hussuloofian delicacy fit for a King. Trubbs, the King’s aide, announces the visitors to the King but the Doctor is horrified to find the plump King demanding gifts – that is the rule – and being tended by chained subjects. One of the subjects is distracted by the tripeberry and punished for not paying the King attention – as is the rule. Not accepting the bullying King’s explanation that his subjects love to serve him, the Doctor uses his sonic to free them. Yet the subjects are scared and the King orders the Doctor’s party to be taken to the static dungeons. Amy grabs the tripeberry and throws it to the ground. The Hussuloofians scramble to eat the shattered fruit – all except the King, who rages at the distracted Hussuloofians. The Doctor leaps forward. His sonic screwdriver exposes the King as a Trit – a social parasite that assumes the body of people in power so they can be pampered and served without question. The guards turn on the Trit and take him away, leaving a royal vacancy. The Doctor suggests it should be taken up by the King’s aide Trubbs with one rule – no more rules! |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Tripeberry... hmm. I wonder why the writer was thinking of tripe when he wrote this. We are deep into TV Comic Country here and clearly heading towards TV Comic Annual Land.
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| | | DANGER FLIGHT |
| | | | SCRIPT: Trevor Baxendale
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 222
COVER DATE: 16 - 22 June 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Forever Dreaming
IN DOCTOR WHO US: A Fairytale Life/When Worlds Collide
REPRINTS: None On Kandalath, the Doctor, Amy and Rory enjoy a beautiful world of amazing creatures whilst riding Halohawks – flying equine creatures. Willing beasts of burden, they offer transportation for the Kandalath in return for having their young fed. When they return the Halohawks to Jando, their keeper, they find him sad. Offworld poachers have been stealing the eggs making it harder to raise new halohawks. The Doctor, Amy and Rory find a nest and lie in wait to catch the poachers, but are attacked by the Halohawks. The sonic screwdriver puts the Halohawks off, but when they return to the nest they find the eggs have gone. The Doctor thinks he saw something, and turning on the sonic screwdriver again, he finds two poachers, hidden by a perception filter, making off with the eggs. Catching a lift with the Halohawks, the Doctor recovers the eggs and drop the poachers in the sea near their spaceship. The Doctor has scrambled the memory on their spaceship's satnav. |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Although the sonic screwdriver once again saves the day, this strip at least shows some imagination and teaches children the meaning of symbiosis. Not to mention the folly of stealing horses’ eggs...
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| | | DINOSAURS IN NEW YORK! |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
A returning villain is exactly what the DWA strip needs, and Saurian is a good one as he looks good, promises dinosaurs on every visit, and has an actual motive. This tale is a little like Invasion of the Dinosaurs told at breakneck speed. It’s fun and memorable and packs a lot into its four pages.
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| | | | SCRIPT: Steve Lyons
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 223
COVER DATE: 23 - 29 June 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Forever Dreaming - Apotheosis
IN DOCTOR WHO US: A Fairytale Life/When Worlds Collide
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory, answering a call from the White House, arrive on Manhattan Island, New York to find it |
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| evacuated and overrun by dinosaurs. Escaping from a Tyrannosaurus Rex in an abandoned cab, they collide with a fire hydrant and Rory receives a blow to the head. Amy takes him to safety in the Empire State Building only to find ‘Raptor’ tracks down the corridors. The Doctor meanwhile realises that the dinosaurs are concentrated around Times Square, and it is here he encounters Professor Saurian, riding a brontosaurus. Having escaped the volcano in Hawaii, Saurian has built a rollback machine and intends to roll-back time to the Jurassic Age to make Earth perfect for his people to colonise. Using his telepathic links with the other dinosaurs, Saurian warns the Doctor that his friends are already doomed as the raptors move in. Angry, the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to ‘reverse the polarity of the neutron flow’ on the roll-back machine. The dinosaurs are sent back to the Jurassic Age. The Doctor warns Saurian to step away from his machine but, refusing to be beaten, Saurian stays with his machine and, like the dinosaurs, gets caught in the time field and fades away. Soon the Doctor rejoins Amy and a bandaged Rory back at the TARDIS, wondering what Saurian will try next. |
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| | | SCREAMERS! |
| | | | SCRIPT: Steve Lyons
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 224
COVER DATE: 30 June - 6 July 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Apotheosis
IN DOCTOR WHO US: A Fairytale Life/When Worlds Collide
REPRINTS: None Inside a castle prison on the planet Argone, Professor Piritus Eglon‘s genetic experiments finally succeed. He splices together human and alien cells. As he declares his genius, the Professor is shocked to see a hand burst out of one of the tanks in his laboratory. Instead of Blackpool, the TARDIS arrives in the laboratory. The Doctor, Amy and Rory find the Professor's body surrounded by glass tanks of head-and-arm combos in fluid. As Amy gets close, one of the tanks shatters and a creature breaks out with a scream that renders Rory unconscious. The Doctor gives chase as the ‘Screamer’ takes off. Catching up with it, the Doctor finds a room of Screamers. He locks the door with his sonic screwdriver. Amy and Rory have found the Professor's notes. The Doctor learns Eglon was imprisoned for scientific crimes. He continued his work and found a way to combine human and Argonian DNA to form quolonic DNA. As the Doctor studies the equipment, the Screamers break out of their room and attack. The Doctor acts swiftly and ‘reversing the frequency’ of the Screamers’ scream so they knock themselves out. While the Screamers are unconscious, the Doctor calls the planet’s authorities, asking them to seal the Screamers in the castle forever. |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
The comic strip takes a turn for the grisly with a murder and some of the most unsettling-looking creatures DWA has ever spawned. Okay, so the adventure is wrapped up with a wave of the sonic screwdriver (again), but this has unusual depth for a DWA strip and is surprisingly effective.
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| | | GROW YOUR OWN |
| | | THE GOLESTERKOL COLLECTION |
| | | | SCRIPT: Craig Donaghy
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 226
COVER DATE: 14 - 20 July 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Apotheosis
IN DOCTOR WHO US: A Fairytale Life/When Worlds Collide
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory are in hiding in a Sentork Science Hanger. They are watching crates of Golesterkol weapons (the worst weapons ever) being moved around, but they are discovered. At cannon-point they are taken to the ‘Professor’, a collector of Golesterkol weapons. As agreed, the Professor pays six thousand Ohgs for the delivery of the last two remaining Golesterkol weapons that complete his collection. The Doctor rages at the Professor when he talks of collecting them only to improve them further. Suddenly the aliens delivering the consignment pull a double-cross. Turning the weapons on the Professor, they intend to take the payment AND the entire collection. However, when they fire the weapons, the aliens are horrified to find that the weapons work against them, transforming them into something with spots, plant-like fronds and extended ears and antennae. In a panic, the aliens run away. The Doctor admits to not having interfered because he knew the only person capable of re-engineering the weapons is ‘Professor’ Golesterko. The discovery of Golesterkol energy was intended for use as a farming tool but was misused, Golesterko explains. It has taken years to collect all the weapons and make them fit for their original purpose. The Doctor praises him for the effort and with the weapons no more use and their intended purpose restored, the Professor has made the universe a better place – twice over. |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Now this is unusual - a story in which the Doctor, Amy and Rory do nothing at all apart from observe and which would have unfolded exactly the same had they not been there. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily work in the story’s favour, robbing it of a certain energy, but it still has a twist and some excitement along the way.
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| | | MISSING IN ACTION |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Although its never explained where the prisoner transport comes from or even why prisoners are being taken, this is a surprisingly intricate and detailed story that works very well and even manages to give Georges some depth in just a few pages.
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| | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 227
COVER DATE: 21 - 27 July 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Apotheosis
IN DOCTOR WHO US: A Fairytale Life/When Worlds Collide/Convention Special
REPRINTS: None In the skies of the planet Clahow, the native bird-people are fighting off a mysterious warship with the help of Georges Guynemer and his First World War fighter plane. Word reaches Georges that a prisoner transport of bird-people and humans has been captured. Georges is introduced to the Doctor, Amy and Rory. Georges explains how he was fleeing Germans by climbing higher in his plane above Belgium when he suddenly found himself amongst French-speaking birds whose song can be more destructive than a cannon - if they choose. He joined sides with the birds to fight off their enemy, a huge warship that had also appeared |
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| in the skies. The Doctor explains that both crafts have come through a space-time rift. The warship is a rogue Rezyar robot warship and the birds are using some sort of universal translator. Back safely at the bird-people's home, the Doctor replaces Georges' bullets with disruptor pellets. Taking to the skies with Georges and wearing special goggles, the fighter plane draws the warship towards the space-time rift. Firing the disruptor pellets into the rift, the warship is drawn into it as it expands. The rift is unstable and closes trapping the warship in the void. The Doctor offers to take Georges home. Georges is torn between his duty to France and his exciting new life on Clahow. The Doctor assures him that France wins the war and he has done more than his duty. Georges decides to stay. |
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| | | PERIL ON THE SEA |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
A solid enough tale with an ecological message and surprising depth (if you’ll forgive the pun), though Amy and Rory are sidelined for the third story in a row
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| | | | SCRIPT: Steve Lyons
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 228
COVER DATE: 28 July - 3 August 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Apotheosis
IN DOCTOR WHO US: When Worlds Collide
REPRINTS: None Flashing his psychic paper, the Doctor passes off Amy, Rory and himself as passengers aboard a cruise ship on the planet Ockora. Marvelling at the aquatic life that rises above the sea waves, the Doctor is horrified to find the ‘passengers’ suddenly firing stun-harpoons, with the ship's owner, Arix, offering a hundred-credit bonus to whoever gets the biggest catch. Arix explains this is a |
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| hunting expedition, but is shocked when the cruiser is rocked by an attack from beneath. The Ockorans, usually a docile race, have begun to fight back, To sink the ship, they puncture the hold. Rory guides the passenger to the TARDIS, but the Doctor and Arix are thrown overboard. The Doctor is captured by the protector of this world, a huge sea creature determined to avenge the persecution of his kind. While the Doctor pleads with the creature, Arix shoots it from behind. The Doctor swears to make sure this never happens again. Rising to the surface, he rejoins Amy and Rory aboard a floating TARDIS. With Arix and the other ‘passengers’ on board, the Doctor keeps his word and takes them to the local branch office of ‘Galactic Security’, where justice will be done. |
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| | | ROCK QUASAR AND THE MUDSLUGS OF GURRN |
| | | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 229
COVER DATE: 4 - 10 August 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Apotheosis
IN DOCTOR WHO US: When Worlds Collide
REPRINTS: None Rock Quasar prepares to go hand-to-hand in combat against the giant slugs. The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive only to discover it is Hollywood in 1932, and they are on the set of a film. Rory is excited. He has long been a fan of the successful Rock Quasar films and the actor who plays him, Rick 'Crusty' Cobbe. Following the ‘slug’ off-set, Amy discovers it is a cover for aliens. Amy grabs a prop sink plunger to defend herself and returns to the Doctor and Rory. The aliens reveal themselves as the creative force behind the Rock Quasar films. Their films flopped on the Tri-D Holomovie circuit, so they came to Hollywood, where their films were appreciated. Rory tells the Doctor there are only six episodes left of this, the last Rock Quasar serial. In return for giving Rory a starring role, the Doctor allows the aliens to stay and finish the episodes before asking them to leave Earth. |
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| | | DINO WORLD |
| | | | SCRIPT: Steve Lyons
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 230
COVER DATE: 11 - 17 August 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Apotheosis
IN DOCTOR WHO US: When Worlds Collide
REPRINTS: None The Doctor takes Amy and Rory back to Leadworth, but find the village populated by humanoid dinosaurs living ‘normal’ human lives. The new arrivals cause panic at a picnic. While Rory is detained by uniformed police, the Doctor whisks Amy away in the TARDIS back to the Jurassic Age. Here the Doctor finds his old enemy Professor Saurian, whom he left stranded on their last encounter. Saurian has built an asteroid shield to protect the planet Earth. Without the collision, the dinosaurs were never wiped out and followed an evolutionary path to sapience. Saurian has rewritten Earth’s history. Waving a watch in front of Saurian, the Doctor hypnotises him enough to break the telepathic control he has over the dinosaurs. The dinosaurs run amok and destroy the asteroid shield. Saurian is too late to regain control and the Doctor races Amy back to the TARDIS. When they return to present-day Leadworth, they find everything has returned to normal. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
The plot of Saurian’s third encounter with the Doctor could be fairly easily predicted from the conclusion of his previous encounter, but it still makes for an engaging story, even if it strains credulity that humanoid dinosaurs would build exactly the same village in exactly the same spot and wear exactly the same clothes despite them all having tails! Mind you, Saurian himself boasts a sensible shirt and pullover combo, so perhaps he’s had an influence in the fashion industry throughout history too.
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| | | THE UPPER DECK |
| | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 231
COVER DATE: 18 - 24 August 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Apotheosis
IN DOCTOR WHO US: When Worlds Collide
REPRINTS: None The Doctor takes Amy and Rory to a recording of the Goon Show in London 1959, much to Rory’s delight. Atop a double-decker bus, they find frightened and alarmed passengers. The Doctor leads them up to a ‘third’ deck. Whichever way they go they end up in the same place. Through a window the Doctor sees a giant eye. He realises the bus is actually a shapeshifter, creatures which often hide on developed worlds. They take on unassuming shapes, lure creatures inside and consume them. The Doctor explains that shapeshifters often takes on qualities they don’t want. Checking for traffic behind, the Doctor points his sonic screwdriver at the stop button, directly connected to the creature's nervous system. The blast stuns it. The relieved passengers leave the bus while the Doctor considers taking the creature to the Elliptical Zoo on Vatrama lll. |
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| | | THE MOON OF LOST HOPE |
| | | | SCRIPT: Trevor Baxendale
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 232
COVER DATE: 25 - 31 August 2011
ON TV: Let’s Kill Hitler
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Child of Time
IN DOCTOR WHO US: When Worlds Collide
REPRINTS: None It’s 3287, and Space Rescue Service Shuttle Alpha Seven approaches the landing zone on Thosis, the infamous Moon of Lost Hope. The planet reaches out and drags it down into the boggy terrain. The rescue party of three emerge from the wreck and are met by the Doctor, Amy and Rory, who take them to the other wreck’s survivors. They watch as the alien mud feeds on anything inorganic, including the rescue ship and one of the crew's spacesuits. Taking shelter aboard the crashed star freighter, the Doctor begins repairs to get the ship ready to leave the moon before the mud reaches them. While looking through the ship's computer, the Doctor comes across classified files detailing Koth-Kulaar (whom the Doctor knows was condemned to a dimension-warp in the Bad Old Days) and a reference to Agent 99. The freighter was on a secret mission now deemed a failure. The survivors blast off in the repaired freighter. The Doctor, Amy and Rory get back to the TARDIS, just beating the mud. The Doctor decides to find out more about Agent 99. |
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| | | VACUUM PACKED |
| | | | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 233
COVER DATE: 1 - 7 September 2011
ON TV: Night Terrors
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Child of Time
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Space Squid
REPRINTS: None Deep in Antarctica, a 1950s ambulance trapped in the ice is about to be recovered. The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive too late to stop the scientific expedition opening the back doors. From the ambulance emerges a huge fire creature, a Shard determined to destroy the world and then exact revenge on the Doctor who imprisoned him. While Rory tries to explain to the expedition that they are time travellers, the Doctor leads the expedition back to the research base, where he knows they have a decompression chamber. With just enough time to get suited up, the creature arrives and is lured into the tank by a gloating Doctor. Amy and Rory close the doors. The Doctor escapes and uses his sonic screwdriver to start maximum decompression. With the oxygen vented to zero, the Shard creature cannot burn and is extinguished forever. |
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| | | FUNNY PHONE CALL! |
| | | | SCRIPT: Trevor Baxendale
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 234
COVER DATE: 8 - 14 September 2011
ON TV: The Girl Who Waited
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Child of Time
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Space Squid
REPRINTS: None While the TARDIS is travelling in the Vortex and the Doctor is busy, Amy and Rory hear the phone ring in the console room. Amy answers it, but all she hears is static. She stops in mid-speech to play with the TARDIS console, moving the ship into a vortex storm. As the TARDIS is buffeted, the Doctor runs in, dressed only in a towel. He was having a swim and water has gone everywhere. Amy is moved away from the console. She is under neuronic control. The doors fly open and Rory is only just saved from drifting out into space by the Doctor, who grabs his leg and pulls him back in, but not before a Chugra appears and tries to get aboard. The Doctor believed the Chugra extinct. Waking Amy from the control, the Doctor uses the neural feedback to travel to the source of the control – a Chugra Warship trapped in the vortex by the Shadow Proclamation for crimes against temporal physics. Deciding not to help, the Doctor takes the TARDIS out of the vortex and back into normal space. The Doctor comments on the shocked look on Rory’s face, but it’s not because of the Chugra. It’s because the Doctor has dropped his towel. |
| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
This strip certainly packs in the continuity references and nods to the parent series, with the TARDIS telephone, the Doctor clad only in a towel, and mentions of Winston, the TARDIS swimming pool and the Shadow Proclamation. It possibly references The War Machines too, with Amy being hypnotised over the phone just as Dodo was. Better yet is that the dialogue is extremely in character for all the regulars which makes this feel much more authentic than many Doctor Who Adventures strips. It does, however, have an extremely bad title.
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| | | THE DEADLY MUTANT |
| | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
The Doctor continues his search for Agent 99 and the truth behind the Koth-Kulaar which began here. The story itself is fairly slim, no better and no worse than the vast majority of DWA strips. However, it is given a sense of increased depth simply by being part of something bigger, an approach that helps to give this comic strip a unity and sense of direction (the other solution is, of course, a returning character, like Professor Saurian). The moody colours are in marked contrast to most of the strips. The Doctor’s search continues here.
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| | | SCRIPT: Trevor Baxendale
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 235
COVER DATE: 15 - 21 September 2011
ON TV: The God Complex
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Child of Time
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Space Squid
REPRINTS: None The TARDIS has materialised on an asteroid – the last known location of the Koth-Kulaar, a planet eating alien from the Seventh Spiral Galaxy. A team from Space Service led by Commander Dalton search for Agent 99. They are alerted to the presence of two alien Xragoni (a usually peaceful race of artists and poets) entangled in the tentacles of a giant mutant creature which they are hunting because it terrorised their planet. The Xragoni are rescued; the Doctor insists the weapons be set to stun, not kill. When the creature comes round, the Doctor tracks the tentacles back to a cave. They find a giant mutagenic protobioform. Having survived without the usual travel machine, the creature is near death. Appealing for compassion as they witness the final moments of a unique life form, they watch the mutant creature die and respectfully bury it on the asteroid. As a sign of their appreciation for the Doctor’s help, the Xragoni tell him the last known location of Agent 99. |
| | | THE MUTANT TURNIP |
| | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 236
COVER DATE: 22 - 28 September 2011
ON TV: Closing Time
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Child of Time
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Space Squid
REPRINTS: None Northern France 1898, and Alain and Simone fret over their non-existent wheat crop. They had a fine crop the previous year which had even poorer weather. The Doctor is investigating underground and bursts to the surface. He has been using his sonic screwdriver to trick what is below the soil into rising to the surface, but all that happens is large roots break through and drag the Doctor underground. Amy and Rory race to the commotion. They explain that the Doctor has been trying to shrink an alien bulb draining the nutrients from the soil. Simone runs back to the house to fetch bottles of wine from her brother Michel’s vineyard. It is horrible to drink and seems to kill any plant it touches. The wine works instantly. The roots retreat and the bulb shrinks to a more portable size – not dead but poorly, the Doctor takes the bulb away to somewhere out of the way. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Mutant turnips defeated by bad red wine... Hmm. I think we’ve slipped into the TV Comic-scented land of Crazy. Utterly bonkers.
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| | | THE SECRET STAR TRAIL/AGENT 99/DIMENSION WARP |
| | | | SCRIPT: Trevor Baxendale
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUES: 237 - 239
COVER DATE: 29 September - 19 October 2011
ON TV: The Wedding of River Song
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Child of Time
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Space Squid - Body Snatched
REPRINTS: None Using his psychic paper at a hypernet telepathic kiosk on space station Psilon in the 33rd Century, the Doctor enlists the Psilons and their powerful telepathy to learn Agent 99’s telepathic signature. The Doctor goes to the planet Lossk. From there he uses the Tryptic Thought Crystals of Lossk to locate Agent 99. With Amy and Rory, he travels to Quiox, the deadliest planet in the galaxy. Back on Earth, a secret council discuss their plans to use Agent 99 in their quest for universal domination with, it appears, plans afoot to bring him back. The Doctor, Amy and Rory find out why the planet is so dangerous when they are captured and strung up for food by the Giant Night Butterfly’s larvae, only to be saved by their leader – Agent 99. Having tasted a life of peace, Agent 99 agrees to return to Earth with the Doctor, to resume his neglected duties. He is unaware a tracking device has been attached to the TARDIS… The Doctor, Amy and Rory return Agent 99 to Earth, but it soon becomes apparent that they are being watched. Inspector Gleave presents a warrant for Agent 99’s arrest. Amy and Rory are captured and the Doctor demands answers from Agent 99. Agent 99 explains that he is the last of the Warp Agents, and it |
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| is now time for him to complete his mission. Both present themselves to the secret council who are planning galactic domination. The council leader explains how the Doctor was ‘allowed’ to track down Agent 99 and return him to Earth; that the agent has a live dimension warp concealed in the tattoo on his chest. Suddenly Agent 99’s chest glows. From it erupts the Lord of Destruction – the Koth-Kulaar Horde! Having broken free at last of its long exile the Kuth-Kulaar declares the Earth is his… Council leader Cabal has the Doctor, Amy and Rory captive. However, the Doctor is one step ahead. Having anticipated these events, he left his sonic screwdriver with Amy who frees Rory and herself and then the Doctor. The Koth-Kulaar begins to destroy every living being, starting with Cabal. The Doctor remotely summons the TARDIS, having adapted the tracking device fitted to the TARDIS by Cabal. Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor, Amy, Rory and a weakened Agent 99 are safe from the Koth-Kulaar’s devastation. Agent 99 has enough life left to use the dimension warp one more time to trap the Koth-Kulaar, but it will mean his death. Linking Agent 99 into the TARDIS systems, the Koth-Kulaar is dragged back into oblivion. The Doctor leaves Agent 99’s body is left hanging in a remote part of space. So long as his body stays offline, the warp will stay closed and the universe will be safe. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
This strip has visited four planets by the end of the second page, so you can be sure that Doctor Who Adventures is going for that big end of season epic feel. It succeeds too, presenting something the likes of which we have never seen in DWA’s pages before. We have death and mayhem, self-sacrifice and a tone completely at odds with any strip previously published in this weekly comic, but capturing with great accuracy the flavour of the television series at this time. This strip is a tour de force, and an experiment Doctor Who Adventures really should repeat with greater frequency.
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| | | THE KCHRUSIVOUR GAMBIT |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
This is a fairly solid strip, though it’s ultimately the sonic screwdriver that saves the day once more. It feels thinner than it is because of what it follows.
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| | | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes
KCHRUSIVOUR CREATED BY: Sean Worley ISSUE: 240
COVER DATE: 20 - 26 October 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Child of Time
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Body Snatched
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory are rescuing survivors of an alien spacecraft that has crashed into a beach on 23rd century |
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| Earth. Feeling sorry for the poor little things, the Doctor leaves them in the hands of the emergency services and offers to pop by their homeland and let their nearest and dearest know that they are okay. Reluctantly the aliens give their home world as Pirius Voon in the Grizellda Quadrant and the TARDIS departs. Relieved, the aliens disengage their perception filters and reveal themselves as Kchrusivours – savage alien giants who claim the Earth as their new home world. Pirius Voon is a lifeless planet stripped of all its resources. The Doctor begins to sense he has been tricked. Returning to find the Earth surrounded by a force field, the TARDIS is only able to land by using the power generated by jettisoning its adventure playground. The Kchrusivours have been busy, but overhearing them moaning about something in the air giving them a nasty rash the Doctor has an idea and, using some itching powder from his pocket, he distracts the Kchrusivours long enough to use his sonic screwdriver on their perception filters, trapping them in the form of the small and harmless looking Zonians until the authorities arrive to deal with them. |
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| | | TRAPPED IN THE PAGES OF HISTORY |
| | | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 241
COVER DATE: 27 October - 2 November 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Child of Time
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Body Snatched
REPRINTS: None Journalist Ken Froggit is researching late in Oxford’s Bodleian Library. The book he is |
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| reading starts talking to him. From within its pages, the voice of the Doctor tells him to run as a many tentacled creature appears in the room with him. Meanwhile, the Doctor, Amy and Rory are trying to escape from the American Civil War in Gettysburg 1863. ‘Calling’ Ken on the Index-Jump, a device he has rigged up, the Doctor warns Ken he has to keep moving; the creature is a Buukvirm which now has his scent. The Doctor needs Ken to find a book called ‘Rise of the Tudors’ and place the talking book he has on top of it. Once the two books come into contact, the Doctor, Amy and Rory escape the Civil War and find themselves instead at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. They have been trapped inside a virtual reality inside a book, by the Buukvirm, and Ken unwittingly moved a book just as the Doctor and his friends were passing through, leaving them stuck. The Doctor’s next jump takes him to Olympia, London in 1936 where a mock-up of a police box is close enough to the TARDIS to make the link back to reality. As the TARDIS returns to the real world, the Buukvirm is about to snack on Ken, but the Doctor lassoes it and uses the Index-Jump to trap it inside ‘Padget’s History of the Tea Bag’ – a new addition to the TARDIS library. Ken is left to clean himself up and get on with writing his bestseller. |
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| | | DAWN OF THE LIVING BREAD |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Punning title and a setting out of Romero’s Dawn of the Dead are in this strip’s favour, but it only amounts to a runaround in a shopping centre with a silly resolution.
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| | | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 242
COVER DATE: 3 - 9 November 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Child of Time
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Body Snatched
REPRINTS: None After closing hours in a shopping mall, Dawn, a cleaner, is running for her life, chased by creatures that look like the Doctor, Amy and Rory, but with green skin and crazed red eyes. Heading for the panic room in Bleachers Pharmacy, Dawn is rescued by the real Doctor, Amy and Rory. The Doctor explains that an invasion is under way by the PoriPhylum, ‘Space Yeast’ that adopts the form of its enemies. Dawn guides them through the mall to the food |
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| court. With the PoriPhylum in pursuit, they flood the floor with as much sugary pop as possible. The PoriPhlums are drawn to the alternative fluid source and start to gorge, but the sugar, reacting with the yeast bacteria, turns them into giant cake shapes. Dawn is left to clear up the mess as the PoriPhylum are loaded into the TARDIS. The Doctor knows of a lovely planet where the ground is spongy and the frost is made of icing sugar, somewhere where the PoriPhylum will feel at home. |
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| | | AIR FORCE GONE |
| | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 243
COVER DATE: 10 - 16 November 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Child of Time
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Body Snatched
REPRINTS: None Earth's President is returning to Earth in a sub-orbital jet when it is hit by a 'lightning bolt'. It renders everyone unconscious. The President is teleported from the jet onto a mock-up jet in space, where the Doctor is waiting for her having disabled the scanners with a bucket. He wins the President's trust when he takes her aboard the TARDIS, which she recognises from reports in the Nixon Files. The Doctor explains she has been 'borrowed' by the Daemervoids, who are planning to invade Earth. Before they invade they plan to use a mind-probe on the her to steal Earth's space defence codes. However, the Doctor has a plan. He fits a Tri-D Holomovie disc around the President's neck, sends her back to her seat and tells her to play along and not to resist the probe. The unsuspecting Daemervoids scan the President's brain for knowledge of Earth's defences and are shown that the Earth is defended by an army of four million K-1 Robo-Warriors and a thousand Devil Wing starfighter squadrons. The Daemervoids decide on a hasty retreat, returning the President to her jet before Earth retaliates. Onboard the jet the crew wake to find the TARDIS onboard and the President with a surprise guest who asks about the chance of tea and Jammie Dodgers. |
| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
This is a neat enough little story; on the surface your fairly standard ‘Doctor outwits aliens’ strip that Doctor Who Adventures churns out with great regularity, but this is actually establishing a relationship between the Doctor and the President of Earth that will have a pay off in a few issues’ time. It is also enlivened by a mention of Nixon that isn’t gratuitous and that recalls TV’s The Impossible Astronaut.
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| | | THE FRANKENSTEIN PARTICLE |
| | | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 244
COVER DATE: 17 - 23 November 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Child of Time
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Body Snatched
REPRINTS: None On a colonial supply base on Figaro Xll, Doctor Trudo's experiment goes wrong when the base's particle accelerator shows an energy spike and looks like exploding. Before Trudo can shut it down, a new atomic particle breaks free from the machine and forces Trudo to do its bidding. Something in the time/space vortex upsets the TARDIS. The Doctor, Amy and Rory make an emergency landing. They arrive at the supply base to find it overrun by low-level intelligence Dronebots who are damaging certain power lines to channel all the |
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| energy to one location. The Dronebots turned on the human staff. Tracking the energy flow back to the laboratory, a stunned Trudo warns them that a lone Dronebot is absorbing all the energy, using the particle accelerator to feed and grow, but the Doctor realises it is actually the glowing particle in its head that is absorbing energy and controlling the Dronebots. Racing to the controls, he boosts the energy. By overloading the system, he blows a fuse on the accelerator. With a pop, the Dronebots are rendered inactive and the base avoids a big bang. The particle in the Dronebots head has gone, possibly sent back to wherever it came from, but the Doctor notices a small hole in the roof and isn’t so sure. On a hillside away from the base, a Dronebot (with the particle in its head) looks on, marking the day the Time Lords waged war against the Atomon. |
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| | | DOG OF WAR |
| | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 245
COVER DATE: 24 - 30 November 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Child of Time
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Body Snatched
REPRINTS: None The TARDIS arrives on 26 July 1643 in the middle of the English Civil War. As the soldiers surround the Doctor, Amy and Rory, Prince Rupert of the Rhine rides up, declares the battle lost and demands their immediate surrender. He unleashes his ‘Dog of War’, a giant poodle. The Doctor is quick to warn Rory |
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| and Amy to block their ears. The dog emits a bark that freezes the higher brain functions, leaving the soldiers unable to move or speak. As Prince Rupert boasts about his remarkable dog, Boye, his soldiers collect the other side's weapons. Suddenly Boye lunges at the Doctor. Using his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor deflects the bark back on the dog, leaving it stunned. The stunned dog reveals on his back a previously invisible rider, itself a dog-like creature. Awakening, the creature identified itself as Parzival of the Vegracandis. When challenged to explain its behaviour, it reveals it sought to gain influence over the planet by getting close to the King. Its plan thwarted, the Doctor takes Parzival home in the TARDIS. |
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| | | HARVEST OF DOOM |
| | | |  | | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 246
COVER DATE: 1 - 7 December 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Child of Time
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Silent Knight
REPRINTS: None |
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| | | The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive on the planet Velgris, a planet forty percent covered in fruit trees which produce a different fruit every week. The native Velgors are singing to the trees in praise of that week’s harvest. Suddenly their song is interrupted and the sound becomes distorted. The Doctor finds a remote-controlled device. The distortion causes the trees to bear mutated fruit that creates something new. The ‘fruit’ calls itself the Berrus and says the planet has been selected for clearance and reseeding - the natives for consumption. The Doctor, Amy, Rory and the Velgors retreat to the safety of a barn while the Doctor tries to decode the signal and re-programme the device causing the distortion. Seven and a half minutes later a new broadcast sees the orchard overrun with new fruits, these ones designed by the Doctor to drop down over each of the Berrus and trap them. Unable to identify who left the device in the first place, the Doctor, Amy and Rory leave with the hope that one failed invasion attempt will be enough. |
| | | THE ATOMON INVASION |
| | | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 247
COVER DATE: 8 - 14 December 2011
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Child of Time
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Silent Knight
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory answer a distress call from Elpha, whom, with her cubs, he previously saved and returned home (see here). Taken to the tribe’s queen, she explains that mechanical men |
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| are destroying the forest's Hoojib trees and their fruit, which the tribe need to survive. The Doctor discovers the mechanical men are Dronebots. Taking advantage of his experience as a Roman Centurion, Rory organises an attack on the Dronebots’ base, a spaceship on the planet's surface. The Doctor and Amy, meanwhile, sneak round the back. Inside they discover attempts to fuse the living matter of the Hoojib tree with the metal and plastic Dronebots. In the control room, Atomon, who is fused with the plant form, prepares to wipe out the entire tribe. However, Elpha smashes the controls and puts the Dronebots offline. The Doctor faces Atomon. His own people fought and defeated Atomon in the Dark Times. Astonished at a Time Lord’s survival, Atomon uses a teleport to escape, but not before promising to meet the Doctor again… |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
The mysterious Atomon (whose adventures started here) returns, as does - somewhat surprisingly - Elpha and her cubs, who last appeared just over a year ago (which is to say, an eternity for younger readers). It’s nice to see Doctor Who Adventures building on its own history, just as DWM continues to do. It makes the individual strips more vibrant without ever alienating newer readers. As an appetiser for a showdown between the Doctor and Atomon this is exciting stuff and, with mention of the Dark Times, paints Atomon as a powerful adversary.
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| | | WAIT UNTIL MORNING |
| | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 248
COVER DATE: 15 - 28 December 2011
ON TV: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Chains of Olympus
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Silent Knight
REPRINTS: None Christmas Day 2011 and Gabriel is waiting to open his main present. Meanwhile, inside the TARDIS, the Doctor, Amy and Rory are attempting to land inside a time bubble that centres around Gabriel. Using his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor traces the source of the bubble, which has been responsible for what Gabriel believes are minutes but are actually weeks. Sensing Gabriel’s excitement about his present, the Doctor persuades him to open it. Inside is a Stromini, a creature which has been feeding on Gabriel's anticipation. Keeping the link between the Stromini and Gabriel open with his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor uses Gabriel’s disappointment at not getting what he was expecting to drain the creature of its energy. The weakened Stromini is taken aboard the TARDIS and a replacement present is left in exchange, though Gabriel must wait until his mum and dad are awake before he unwraps it. |
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| | | HUMANS AREN’T JUST FOR CHRISTMAS |
| | | | SCRIPT: Trevor Baxendale
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 249
COVER DATE: 29 December 2011 - 4 January 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Chains of Olympus
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Silent Knight- As Time Goes By
REPRINTS: None Having wandered off in an unknown spaceport, Rory finds himself bagged up by the wealthy Fatkat Tygro Lix and handed over to this son as a present. Delighted that he has his very own human, the boy plays with his new pet, whom he renames Kuddles and tucks up in his own bed. Avoiding the human-catchers patrolling outside the house, who can destroy on sight any unlicensed human, the Doctor and Amy break in. The household is awoken and the Doctor explains to Mr Lix that there has been a terrible misunderstanding. He points out that Rory would be killed if he was caught because he doesn’t have a license. Lix agrees to help them escape by keeping the patrol busy at the front door while they escape out of the back. As a thank you, a life-size soft toy version of the Doctor is left behind to be played with. |
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| | | VENGEANCE OF THE ATOMON |
| | | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 250 - 251
COVER DATE: 5 - 18 January 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Chains of Olympus
IN DOCTOR WHO US: As Time Goes By
REPRINTS: None Earth President Madam Vera Fusek is kidnapped from the Earth Parliament Building by Atomon (see here for previous appearance). The news soon reaches the |
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| Doctor, Amy and Rory who track the Atomon to the headquarters of the company that invented the Dronebots and half the robots used in the Earth Empire. The Doctor has a feeling that everything is too easy and his suspicion is proven correct as Amy and Rory are captured by the Atomon. It warns the Doctor that without his cooperation, they will suffer. Madam President was bait in the trap. The Atomon is determined to have his revenge on the Time Lords by taking over the Doctor's mind and body as a new vessel for the Atomon. Atomon’s attempt to take over the Doctor's body and mind is stopped when Madam President Vera activates a Dronebot safety override. This weakens the robotic half of Atomon and the Doctor and his friends return to the TARDIS. While building a Vortex Canon, the Doctor explains that the Atomon ("a whole species living as one, within a sphere of neutronic energy"), tried before to take over the universe and was stopped by his people. The Time Lords split up the energy and scattered it in the time vortex. Having completed the Vortex Canon, the Doctor confronts Atomon. Instead of destroying the Atomon, he offers it what it really wants. He promises to use the canon to bring the atoms together into a single individual being. Atomon agrees and is transformed into a tall, green humanoid. The war with the Time Lords is ended. The Doctor leaves Atomon enjoying the sunlight on his skin under the care of Vera, who says she may one day take up the Doctor's invitation to travel with him. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
So we have the dronebots from The Frankenstein Particle and The Atomon Invasion, Madam President Vera Fusek from Air Force Gone and a conclusion to the Atomon storyline which gives this story a much greater sense of scale and a feeling of being the comic strip equivalent of a season finale. And whilst the ‘Let’s all be friends’ ending isn’t perhaps as satisfying as it might be (Atomon simply and rather conveniently gives up all ideas of conquest), the Doctor does at least come up with a neat solution to the Atomon’s unique condition.
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| | | PICTURE IMPERFECT |
| | | | SCRIPT: Steve Lyons
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 252
COVER DATE: 19- 25 January 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Chains of Olympus
IN DOCTOR WHO US: As Time Goes By
REPRINTS: None Famed artist Zigma is displaying his latest painting at a gallery in the future. The Doctor is unimpressed by Zigma's latest work, a portrait of a red-eyed, white creature in a woods. When he scans the picture with his sonic screwdriver, the creature emerges from the painting. The two-dimensional being runs amok, attacking with its sharp edges before making itself almost invisible with a side view. Getting the visitors safely out of the gallery, Zigma recounts how he escaped the figure before by trapping it in a wall of spilled paint. Armed with spray paint, the Doctor, Amy and Rory trap the creature in an empty gallery, forcing it back against the wall. It will stay there until the Doctor contacts some ‘friends’ who will work out a way of returning it to its own dimension. In the meantime, the creature draws attention as a unique new attraction – perhaps the Doctor’s finest work yet. |
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| | | THE STAR SERPENT |
| | | SCRIPT: Trevor Baxendale
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 253
COVER DATE: 26 January - 1 February 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Chains of Olympus
IN DOCTOR WHO US: As Time Goes By
REPRINTS: None The TARDIS is swallowed by a Star Serpent. Venturing outside into the serpent's stomach, the Doctor, Amy and Rory explore. They are forced down through the throat by the creature's giant cilia, part of the swallow reflex, and moved down to the stomach. In a sea of juices, they are attacked by stomach parasites which swamp them to break them down and digest them. The Doctor repels them with the sonic screwdriver, but soon realises they offer a way out. Given a head start to the TARDIS, the Doctor changes the sonic’s settings, attracting all the parasites. As the travellers shut the TARDIS door behind them, the mass of parasites expels the TARDIS from the digestive system. |
| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
As the Doctor mentions, this is surprisingly educational and - as Amy mentions - also vaguely reminiscent of The Beast Below. Breathless, light and frothy, but probably the most painless way to learn about peristalsis movement.
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| | | THE HOME STORE |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
The premise is fairly bonkers even by the standards of Doctor Who Adventures, and the Doctor’s suggestion that there is a large market for abducted humans means he’ll presumably be busy sonicing tills for quite some time to come.
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| | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 254
COVER DATE: 2 - 8 February 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Chains of Olympus
IN DOCTOR WHO US: As Time Goes By
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory emerge from the cupboard under the stairs of the Harvey household. Bella opens the door to let their cat in, only to discover her house and others from her street have been moved to the shelves of a store on an alien planet called Burnusta. They are being sold as collectables. The Doctor, having nipped out and changed the price of the house, ensures it is soon taken to the tills. While Luke and Bella create a distraction in the garden with a game of swingball, the Doctor puts his sonic screwdriver to good use on the till by accessing the stock records and marking all the houses down as defective. The defective stock is returned to where it came from. Back on Earth, the Doctor leaves the Harvey family assured that the company stealing the houses has been hit by their lack of stock and will be bankrupt in hours. |
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| | | COLD COMFORT |
| | | | SCRIPT: Steve Lyons
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 255
COVER DATE: 9 - 15 February 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Chains of Olympus
IN DOCTOR WHO US: As Time Goes By
REPRINTS: None At the Cauldron Clinic in Los Angeles, 2012, Doctor Cauldron is about to administer his cure for the common cold. Among the test group is Rory, who befriends undercover reporter Harmony. She is investigating because people leave cold-free but changed. An hour later the Doctor and Amy greet Rory. Amy is suspicious when Rory tells her that his cold (which he didn’t have) has gone. The Doctor sonics ‘Rory’, who is revealed as an alien shapeshifter. Locking the alien in the TARDIS, the Doctor and Amy break into |
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| the clinic. In the treatment rooms, they find rows of bodies stored in individual hibernation pods. As the Doctor attempts to release the real Doctor Cauldron, the fake Cauldron arrives and pulls a gun. While the Doctor keeps the alien busy, Amy pulls a plug and the alien Doctor Cauldron’s true form is revealed. One by one, the hibernation pods are emptied and the shapeshifters are rounded up, returned to their ship and sent by the Doctor far away from Earth. Rory however seems to have picked up a real cold from one of the patients. |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Solidly plotted and with a surprising amount of incident. I could imagine this story done with the Zygons.
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| | | FASTER THAN LIGHT! |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
The reveal at the end that Parsek and Sorben are Silurians lifts a fairly routine tale.
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| | | | SCRIPT: Trevor Baxendale
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 256
COVER DATE: 16 - 22 February 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Chains of Olympus
IN DOCTOR WHO US: As Time Goes By
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive onboard the star ship Solaros 10 as the Professor Parsek and pilot Sorben prepare to travel faster than light for the first time. The Doctor's warning comes too late. As the solar stack redlines, the Professor is caught in a condensed solar energy flare with the unfortunate side effect of transforming him into some kind of reptilian mutant. A second blast knocks Sorben unconscious. As the ship's energy drives go into meltdown, the Doctor reverses the polarity of the energy dischargers. The mutation field is drained and Professor Parsek is returned to normal. As the TARDIS leaves, Parsek and Sorben are revealed to be Silurians, grateful to the strangers for their lives. |
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| | | THE FAIREST OF THEM ALL |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
The art on this uninspired tale has a hurried, sketchy look to it and the colour seems more lurid than usual. There’s not really much else to say.
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| | | | SCRIPT: Craig Donaghy
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 257
COVER DATE: 23 - 29 February 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Chains of Olympus
IN DOCTOR WHO US: As Time Goes By
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory witness a meteor shower above a ghost town on Earth in 1908. From one fallen meteorite emerges a 'glamourous', female creature blinded by her own beauty. She finds it too hot and plans to ship down a continent-sized air-con convoy, cooling the place so it will be ideal for a dressing room. Appalled by the creature's vanity, Rory and the Doctor take large mirrors and tilt them to reflect the sun at her. The creature overheats and, as her make-up runs in the heat, she panics, runs sobbing back to her ship and leaves. |
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| | | NEW AND IMPROVED |
| | | | | | | | | SCRIPT: Craig Donaghy
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 258
COVER DATE: 1 - 7 March 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE The Chains of Olympus
IN DOCTOR WHO US: As Time Goes By
REPRINTS: None On a supposedly relaxing forest planet, the Doctor, Amy and Rory find themselves surrounded by the Propheetis, a war-hungry and ruthless species believed destroyed in the battle of the Cran Movement. These survivors, however, are welcoming and take them to their castle as guests. The Doctor and his friends are shown the laboratories. With their new peaceful outlook, the Propheetis have been using the latest technology to rebuild themselves, but the technology is | |  | |  | | | | | | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
It is actually extremely impressive that a story a mere four pages long can manage three reversals in the course of its telling, plus another twist at its conclusion. That takes some skill. The artwork is an awful lot better than last week too.
| | unreliable and doesn’t always do as required. Scanning the artificial limbs with his sonic screwdriver the Doctor realises they have an intelligence of their own. The Propheetis plan to rebuild themselves and return to war, but the limbs are resisting. The Propheetis demand the Doctor help them persuade the limbs to fight. The Doctor obliges and gives power to the artificial limbs. They turn on the bodies they are already attached to. The Doctor reckons that a few hours of beating themselves up before the limbs go offline should be long enough for the Proheteetis to change their ways and see sense. | | |
| | | MALTHILL WAY |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
It’s good to see the Doctor, Amy and Rory in period outfits. Unfortunately it isn’t so good to see them in a Scooby Doo plot that is resolved with a wave of the sonic screwdriver before they come to the aid of yet another stranded alien with their door-to-door TARDIS taxi service.
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| | | | SCRIPT: Craig Donaghy
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 259
COVER DATE: 8 - 14 March 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Chains of Olympus
IN DOCTOR WHO US: As Time Goes By
REPRINTS: None Malthill Woods, York, 1745, and the Doctor, Amy and Rory are travelling by stagecoach. The driver halts and refuses to go any further because of the ghost of Carole Rose, a highwaywoman known for robbing travellers. As a ghost appears and demands money or food, the stagecoach and its driver speed off. Investigating, the Doctor is curious why a ghost would be interested in food. A scan with his sonic screwdriver reveals the ghost of Carole Rose is actually a shield-o-gram guarding a crashed spaceship. Its purpose to keep others away (by, for example, creating a fear drawn from local tales) and also to gather food and medical supplies. The sonic screwdriver leads the Doctor to the alien ship, a football-sized sphere that houses Fenfoff Fonfeffian. The creature is small, timid and very apologetic. The image of Carole Rose grew so powerful that it lost control. Reassuring the Fenfoff Fonfeffian that he means it no harm, the Doctor and friends carry it the long walk back to the TARDIS to return it home. |
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| | | THE DEMONS OF REPTON ABBEY |
| | | | | | | | |  | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 260
COVER DATE: 15 - 21 March 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Chains of Olympus
IN DOCTOR WHO US: As Time Goes By
REPRINTS: None | |  | | | | | England, 1912. The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive late for dinner at Repton Abbey, the home of Lord Cranarch. Servants and dinner guests alike have been taken over by invading reptilian aliens. Using devices called dullifiers, the aliens, led by Lord Ryzt, are collecting the thoughts and memories of the household. The bodies are being kept alive, linked to a stasis generator to store the memories, which are being fed to the aliens. Central to their plans for Earth’s conquest are the national defence plans known to Lord Cranarch, who held a position high in British intelligence. The Doctor uses his sonic cane to flood the aliens with too many memories at once, releasing control over the guests. Turning their own technology against them, the Doctor uses the hypno-ray setting on the dullifiers to implant the suggestion that ‘Earth is not worth bothering about’ and that ‘they should go home’. They do so, leaving dinner to be served again after the Doctor's favourite cheesy nibbles. | | | | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
This story manages to create a very nice period atmosphere with plenty of character - and plenty of character names too. We get Daniel, Carter the butler, Sir Hugh Cranarch, and Lord Ryzt and K’Tang of the alien species that ironically remains nameless. We also get what is probably a sly and someone belated dig at Margaret Thatcher, ‘the Countess of Grantham’ who is described as ‘a fearsome old dragon’.
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| | | THE PUNCH AND JUDY TRAP |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Quite simply insane, yet it follows its own puppet-based logic both plot-wise and thematically and gives us strong, vibrant characters in Punch and Judy and some quite good jokes.
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| | | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 261
COVER DATE: 22 - 28 March 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Chains of Olympus
IN DOCTOR WHO US: As Time Goes By
REPRINTS: None A punch and judy show at a children’s birthday party takes a turn for the sinister when Punch and Judy hypnotise the audience and harvest their mental energy to charge their psyche batteries. The ‘puppets’ are alien Punchellion. However, they take on too much energy and their ship’s neuron drive explodes ripping a hole in space and time - a hole that causes the TARDIS to crash land in a duck pond. An angry Doctor races off to find out who is responsible as the hole is letting in savage space crocodiles from another dimension to terrorise the streets. Locating the community centre, they find the children entranced, a rift above the puppet booth and the terrified crew of a Punchellion entertainment cruiser (Punch and Judy). The only way to close the rift is to pilot the small craft into it and implode the warp core. Punch blames himself and offers to do it but Judy says it was her repairs that were responsible and she should do it. The Doctor, seeing they meant no harm, refuses to let either of them do it. Instead he uses a ball of string to rig the handling of the craft like a puppet and flies it into the rift, where it implodes and closes the gap. |
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| | | BUY, BUY, BABY! |
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| | | | | | | | |  | | SCRIPT: Steve Lyons
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 262
COVER DATE: 29 March - 4 April 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Chains of Olympus
IN DOCTOR WHO US: As Time Goes By
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory are in an alien market in the year 12002. The crowds are stampeding, trampling each other in a frenzy to buy. Even Amy and Rory are affected by the urge to buy stuff. Rory wants a new holo disk and Amy a refreshing drink. A scan with the sonic screwdriver reveals all the | |  | | | | | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
A satirical swipe at our consumer society and manufactured pop bands (4Profit - ‘They can’t sing! They can’t dance! And they don’t play their own instruments either.’). Rory and Amy get something significant to do for the first time in a very long while (in fact probably since Funny Phone Call back in September last year), and there’s a reference to Zarbi, but this is still fairly thin stuff.
| | | | | advertising posters are made of psychic paper. Passing himself off as Doctor John Smith from Pest Control, the Doctor gains an audience with the head of Sluggman Advertising Agency. Mr Sluggman is a giant slug surrounded by treasures and wearing a thought-projecting helmet controlling the psychic posters. He uses his influence to turn Rory and Amy against the Doctor. The Doctor snatches Amy's can of fizzy Hyper Cola and threatens to spray it all over the treasures. While Sluggman is distracted, Rory snatches the helmet from Sluggman's head and passes it to Amy. She changes all the posters in the city, turning them into rip-off warnings. Sluggman is ruined! With consumers queuing to get their money back, Sluggman faces being sent to debtors’ prison. He panics and flees in his craft, empty-handed. Amy looks forward to a nice cup of tea to get rid of the taste of Hyper Cola. | |
| | | GHOSTS OF THE NEVER-WERE |
| | | | SCRIPT: Steve Lyons
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 263
COVER DATE: 5 - 11 April 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Chains of Olympus
IN DOCTOR WHO US: As Time Goes By
REPRINTS: None As the TARDIS travels through the vortex, Amy’s dreams are invaded by the Never-were, an alien race that shows her their advanced and peaceful homeworld. However, the aliens also show her the world laid waste by a race of insects. They plead with Amy to help them. Amy wakes in a trance and, leaving Rory asleep, heads to the console room and lands the ship on an |
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| alien world. Rory discovers Amy gone and alerts the Doctor; they follow Amy out onto a barren world full of bizarre insects. Guided by the voices in her head, Amy finds the insect queen. She raises a large rock above her head and is about to destroy the Queen when the Doctor and Rory break the alien influence. Amy recovers and defies the ghosts in her head. They disappear, swearing to take revenge on her and her friends for denying their existence, but the Doctor explains that they were just a trick of the vortex, an echo of a race that was never meant to be. |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
At the heart of this story is an unusually sophisticated idea that has great power and atmosphere. It is essentially the ‘kill Hitler whilst he’s an infant’ scenario but replayed in an interesting and compelling way. With news of Amy and Rory’s departure from the series, the ghosts threatening to have their revenge also carries extra weight. A great title too!
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| | | THE PARASITES |
| | | | SCRIPT: Steve Lyons
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 264
COVER DATE: 12 - 18 April 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Chains of Olympus
IN DOCTOR WHO US: As Time Goes By
REPRINTS: None On a strange alien world, the Doctor, Amy and Rory are soon attacked by stocky angry creatures armed with sticks. Believing the new arrivals have angered the “Great Sky Goblins” that are causing earthquakes, Rory is captured to be offered as a sacrifice at the Temple at the Edge of the World. Fleeing to a refinery that is pumping up a fatty white substance from the ground which the locals use for buildings and for food, the Doctor and Amy come across one of the creatures who explains they are just frightened that their world is ending. The Doctor, curious about the Edge of the World, takes Amy and the creature aboard the TARDIS and takes it straight up into orbit so he can take a picture of the creature’s world – a giant Space Turtle known as a Terrapratch. Returning to the ‘planet’ to rescue Rory, the creatures see magic pictures taken by the Doctor which reveals them to be parasites living on the back of the Terrapratch - a creature that has been weakened by the excessive drilling and which is in great pain. The parasites agree to be less greedy and the Terrapratch is able to recover. |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
The sort of eco-warning story we’ve not seen for a while, with a thumping great Terry Pratchett joke at its heart. Or maybe it’s a story about Pratchett copyists. Anyway, it’s reasonably entertaining and nicely drawn and coloured.
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| | | DOOMLAND |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Doctor Who Adventures’ general squeamishness for dispatching its villains here provides us with a completely unsatisfactory conclusion to a story that more properly should have seen the Fuegolem destroyed by rain. At the very least they should have thrown in a line at the end about the Doctor intending to relocate her to somewhere where she can do no further harm. Instead it looks like she will simply dry out and continue her reign of terror, barbecuing anyone who speaks against her.
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| | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
DOOMINATOR CREATED BY: Lucy Robinson
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 265
COVER DATE: 19 - 25 April 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Chains of Olympus
IN DOCTOR WHO US: As Time Goes By
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive on the planet Vamisash where, caught in a heavy storm, they shelter inside a large house. However, inside they find more houses. The buildings house the people of Vamisash who explain that inside the house is called Doomland. The mistress who owns it wanted to take over their world but was afraid to leave the house so instead simply extended it, making it ever bigger until the entire planet was Doomworld. The Mistress sees and hears everything and when Rory speaks out, the hand of the Mistress (the Doominator), reaches through a wall and abducts him, taking him to her chamber where she will punish him with fire. The Doctor knows what the Mistress is and sets a trap. Threatening to stop her evil plan, the Doctor and Amy wait for the Mistress to arrive. When she tries to abduct the Doctor and Amy she instead finds herself pulled into the room because |
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| the Doctor and Amy have glued their shoes to the floor! The Mistress is angry and, as the Doctor and Amy free themselves, she fires bolts of flame at them. Soon the room is ablaze. The Doctor and Amy escape as the Doctor explains that the Mistress is a Fuegolem, born of fire and unable to be hurt by it. The flames burn through the roof of Doomland. The rain outside pours down and dampens the flames and the Fuegolem just as Rory rejoins the Doctor and Amy. The Doctor says the Fuegolem will be okay, they’ve just dampened her spirits. |
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| | | BUYING TIME |
| | | | SCRIPT: Trevor Baxendale
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 266
COVER DATE: 26 April - 2 May 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Chains of Olympus - Sticks and Stones
IN DOCTOR WHO US: As Time Goes By
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive on Primo Temp, a trading world at the centre of the Amron Ho galaxy. The Doctor is on a quest to buy some Time. Two Gnaa traders, Jakrit and Praal, are trying to sell a tachyon-drive unit from a Horologic-class history cruiser – the last one in existence, found in a time pocket |
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| on the edge of the Skrawn Inheritance. The Doctor dismisses their claim that it has been fitted with a brand new Zeiton-7 crystal. When Praal offers to demonstrate with a trip twenty minutes back in time, they discover that the Zeiton 7 crystal is cracked: a crack that appears to be centuries old! The Doctor suddenly appears, his absence only just being noticed and explains that when the machine was being demonstrated he used it to go back further in time. Returning to the point when the ship first crashed, the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to shatter the crystal then return to the present failed demonstration, finding the last tachyon-drive unit now properly decommissioned. On the way back to the TARDIS, Amy asks how the Doctor could have taken the TARDIS back with him in order to return when he used the travel unit to which the Doctor replies that he doesn’t intend revealing all his secrets. |
| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
The strip goes proper Moffat timey-whimey, and even has the cheek to highlight its own logic problem at the end. It feels quite detailed and even has room to characterise the Gnaa traders and throw in a bunch of continuity references to classic Who, such that we get mention of the Taran Woodbeast, the blue crystals of Metebelis III, apples from Eden and Zeiton 7, not to mention Tenth Doctor comic strip The Skrawn Inheritance.
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| | | ISLAND OF THE CYCLOPES |
| | | SCRIPT: Steve Lyons
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 267
COVER DATE: 3 - 9 May 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Sticks and Stones
IN DOCTOR WHO US: As Time Goes By/Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive on Earth on a Mediterranean island, some two and a half millennia ago – the Golden Age of epic poetry and tales of heroes, gods and monsters. They are soon spotted by a Cyclops, who attempts to stop them. The Doctor sprains his ankle. Amy carries him away while Rory creates a distraction. Shelter for the Doctor and Amy turns out to be a cave that is plugged by more Cyclops (or as the Doctor tells Amy, the correct plural is “Cyclopes”). Having outrun his pursuers, Rory tries to release the Doctor and Amy from the Cyclopes’ larder, but the stone plug is too big. Insulting a passing Cyclops, Rory throws mud in its eye and teases it into throwing a rock that he narrowly avoids, but that smashes the rock plugging the cave. His ankle having healed enough, the Doctor leads them back to the safety of the TARDIS – leaving the heroes of ancient Greece to sort out the Cyclopes. |
| | | TROUBLE ON THE ORION EXPRESS |
| | | | SCRIPT: Luke Paton
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 268
COVER DATE: 10 - 16 May 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Sticks and Stones
IN DOCTOR WHO US: As Time Goes By/Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None Travelling aboard the Orion Express, the Doctor realises that his sonic screwdriver has been stolen. Sending Amy and Rory to each end of the carriage to ensure no-one leaves, he announces the theft to the passengers. The passengers believe that some form of mystery play is being enacted as the Doctor warns that in the wrong hands his sonic screwdriver could do astronomical damage. The Doctor correctly deduces that the thief is a member of staff and exposes a Daxzian waiter. As the Daxzian tries to escape with the screwdriver, which he intends to sell to the Doctor’s enemies, he is floored by Amy, who hurls plates at him as the other passengers cheer and applaud. Amy mistakes the Doctor’s affectionate words of ‘I don’t know what I’d do without you!’ as thanks but he was talking about his sonic. |
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| | | DUMMY RUN |
| | | | SCRIPT: Glenn Dakin
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 269
COVER DATE: 17 - 23 May 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Sticks and Stones
IN DOCTOR WHO US: As Time Goes By/Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive aboard a spaceship heading for total destruction in an impact with a planet. However, the robot crew does not want to be saved; they are Crashbots, the crash test dummies of space. The Doctor uses the ship’s safety features against the Crashbots (quick setting foam, airbags), until he finally makes them realise that they have been built too well and now have feelings. This means they deserve to live as people. With the spaceship saved from crashing, the Crashbots begin to see a new way of living – travelling the universe and seeking out new dangers and disasters - just like the Doctor and his friends. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
There’s (largely comedic) mileage to be had from a story where the Doctor tries to save a race that doesn’t want saving, but this surprisingly serious strip barely begins to explore it, which is a shame.
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| | | FINDERS KEEPERS |
| | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 270
COVER DATE: 24 - 30 May 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Sticks and Stones
IN DOCTOR WHO US: As Time Goes By/Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None Young student Schef is ridiculed when he opens his compression-sack and presents the TARDIS to his fellow students as part of a class show-and-tell. While he is in detention, the school is invaded by cybernetic Yeamorg |
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| Warriors. The Warriors have been hunting the Doctor by following sightings of the TARDIS across the planet. While the Warriors wait for the Doctor to emerge from the TARDIS, the Doctor gets Schef’s attention. He explains that the TARDIS’ HADS settings have let him distract the Warriors with a number of short hops while Amy and Rory disarmed their warship. All the while, the Doctor has been busy making a gadget to use against the Warriors. Having adapted parts of the school’s subliminal education enhancers, the Doctor fires a stream of background data at the Warriors, overloading their brains and rendering them unconscious for a few days. Plenty of time for Schef and his teacher to get them removed by the galactic law enforcement authorities under Article 57 of the Shadow Proclamation. |
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| | | THE MIRROR WAR |
| | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 271
COVER DATE: 31 May - 6 June 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Sticks and Stones
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive aboard an FSC battle cruiser in pursuit of a Sorbazaran ship. The Sorbazarans have enslaved two allied worlds and a state of war has been declared. Held prisoner by Captain O'Rian, the FSC loses the Sorbazaran ship and the Doctor’s announcement of a distortion field around the ship affecting their readings goes unheeded. When another ship is detected and O’Rian prepares to fire, the Doctor snatches a weapon from one of the guards and holds off the attack until the second ship reveals itself to be a duplicate from the future. A transmission tells O’Rian to trust the Doctor. The ‘future’ O’Rian asks if the Doctor has caught the spy yet. This prompts the Doctor to expose the guard he stole the gun from (because of his limited peripheral vision- he only has one eye), as a Sorbazaran in humanoid guise who infiltrated the control room and sabotaged the ship’s systems. With two FSC craft now pursuing the Sorbazaran craft, the Doctor suggests they also surrender. |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
More timey-whimey storytelling, and I have to say I prefer it in the DWA comic strip much more than on the television show. This is tidy and significantly more intelligent than the usual run of strips. The FSC war with the Sorbazarans has enough detail to offer a setting for future stories too.
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| | | GHOST TRAIN |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
It’s a nice touch that the monsters Rory imagines include the Cyclops, the Fuegolem, and the Kchrusivour, plus three other things that I simply can’t identify. The story is solid if predictable, and it’s nice that Rory is the one in the spotlight for a change.
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| | | | SCRIPT: Steve Lyons
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 272
COVER DATE: 7 -13 June 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Sticks and Stones
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory investigate mysterious disappearances on a ghost train. The missing people arrive days later with no memory of where they have been. The Doctor and Amy aren’t impressed by the ride but when they finish Rory’s carriage is empty. They use the sonic screwdriver to break in after dark. There are exhibits of snakes, vampires, spiders, mummies and alien creatures on the attack. Rory is linked up to an alien machine feeding his fears with alien encounters. Alien Phobovores are feeding on his fears. However, they haven’t bargained on the strength of Rory’s will. His nightmares are balanced by the appearance of the Doctor and Amy telling him to be strong and brave. They also remind him that he is the Lone Centurion. Rory fights the monsters and breaks free to rejoin the 'real' Doctor and Amy in the Ghost Train. With his fears overcome, the Phobovores are weakened and disappear – dragged back to their own dimension. |
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| | | I SCREAM |
| | | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 273
COVER DATE: 14 - 20 June 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Sticks and Stones
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None Having just escaped the Firemen of Fleengarr, the Doctor, Amy and Rory board the SS Greensleeves. A few hours before, it was boarded by space pirates. Exploring, they find the ship apparently deserted. Something appears to have erupted from one of the large vats of ice cream the ship was carrying and jammed the thermostats on defrost. When they find the control deck, it is covered in a web-like substance. Trapped alive inside the web are the crew and the space pirates. They are suddenly aware of a large creature with a fluid shape – a hybrid carnivorous hypomorph. It is a ravenous, meat-eating creature which has fused its DNA with the proteins, minerals and vitamins of the ice cream. Rory’s observation about the temperature gives the Doctor an idea. They board an escape pod and, as the pod blasts into space, the creature is drawn by the heat. However, the cold of space freezes it and makes it unable to move. As “a solid scoop of ice cream”, the creature drifts in space while the Doctor returns the pod to the ship to collect the TARDIS. |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
It’s like Alien crossed with a dessert menu. In essence (probably vanilla essence) it is completely insane, but it works with the straightforward logic of its own insanity to produce a story that has atmosphere, that manages to be exciting and that somehow works. Crazy but true.
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| | | LE TOUR DE DEATH |
| | | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 274
COVER DATE: 21 - 27 June 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Sticks and Stones - The Cornucopia Caper
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None Arriving on the lava planet of Parisian Dix to witness ‘Le Tour de Parisian Dix' – an extreme unicycling race - the Doctor, Amy and Rory find themselves directly in the path of the unicyclists, causing a pile up of contestants. The race leader |
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| picks up his unicycle and races off. Another competitor, armed with a ‘pulveriser’ badly disguised as a bicycle pump, seems intent on stopping him. The Doctor, Amy and Rory pick up unicycles and give chase. They soon catch up with the armed competitor, who is knocked out by a lava eruption. He turns out to be a Galactic Marshal on the hunt for a dangerous criminal – the competitor in front. He isn’t trying to win but to escape! The Doctor shows some nifty moves on his unicycle. He uses his sonic screwdriver to weaken the crust. The criminal is thrown off his unicycle and the Doctor wins the race – for a record eleventh time! |
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| | | THE SKY IS FALLING! |
| | | | SCRIPT: Trevor Baxendale
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 275
COVER DATE: 28 June - 4 July 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Cornucopia Caper
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None On the planet Diobath, the Doctor, Amy and Rory dodge the falling blocks of sky. A sonic scan reveals them to be huge lumps of nothing. It's not long until they are pursued into the woods by a Gorolox. In the woods they are led to safety by Mersal and Kilo, two |
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| | | natives who take them to their underground safe house. The safe house has long-forgotten technology from which the Doctor learns Diobath was an experimental planet run by Siera Logistica who specialised in artificial environments. The company went bust long ago and the equipment maintaining the artificial environment is breaking down. The falling sky is chunks of the bio-dome crumbling away. The Gorolox found the world falling apart and decided to plunder it, but the Doctor makes them believe that their mortal enemy the Omwanar League are on their way to clear up the mess. They aren’t, but the threat is enough to make the Gorolox flee. The Doctor, having fixed the machine, leaves Mersal and Kilo to live peacefully again without fear of plundering forces. |
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| | | THE TIME GALLERY |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Cybernetic creatures who convert others to be like them? Was this originally intended to be a Cyberman story? Anyway, it’s not a bad one with a neat idea in the time gallery (which apparently the Time Lords got shut down) and it is refreshing to see some bad sorts perish in a big explosion which is far more in the spirit of Doctor Who than a relocation program
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| | | | SCRIPT: Glenn Dakin
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 276
COVER DATE: 5 - 11 July 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Cornucopia Caper
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory visit an abandoned art gallery on Darathos. It’s a Time Gallery that displays pictures of future selves, pictures from a few minutes or even years ahead. Amy looks worried in her picture and it's not long before the travellers are hiding from the arrival of a group of Skavengers about to raid the gallery for its technology. The Doctor uses Amy’s phone to take a photo of the gallery, but Rory is captured by the Skavengers moments after finding a picture of himself with half a robot head. Viewing the photo on Amy’s phone, the Doctor sees a future image of Amy using the flash on her camera and the effect it has on the Skavengers. Using the camera flash to blind the Skavengers, the Doctor and Amy rescue Rory from being transformed. They return to the safety of the TARDIS and the Doctor activates the gallery’s defence mechanism (previously blocked by the Skavengers). The gallery explodes, taking the Skavengers with it. The Doctor believes it is a good thing – who really wants to see their future, far too many spoilers. |
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| | | THE CLIFF FACE |
| | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 277
COVER DATE: 12 - 18 July 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Cornucopia Caper
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive on the Dorset coast in Lapperton in 1951. Nearby, coastal erosion has exposed the face of a giant robot, a Demigod. Henrietta Fenner is a local artist who mistakes the travellers for reporters reporting the find. A rumble from the ground sends the crowd running. The cliff cracks open and the Demigod breaks free and marches off. However, while one half of its body is encased in its protective suit, the other is left open, weak and exposed. Rampaging towards Lapperton, it leaves a trail of devastation in its wake. Realising that the creature is hunting for the rest of its casing, the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to locate it underground. The Doctor summons the Demigod. It cracks the ground open to retrieve an almost matching creature wearing the missing bits of casing. As the two creatures merge into one, the Doctor wonders what it may try next. He is reassured when it blasts itself back into space intent on returning home | | | |  |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
There’s a great deal of promise in this strip and an historical, coastal setting also makes a refreshing change after a string of spaceships and strange alien worlds. How the Demigod (only ever referred to as such in captions - the Doctor has no idea what it is) came to be split into two and buried, or indeed why, is never explained, and it is all the odder given that the creature does not appear to be hostile. However, this vagueness in its backstory does allow the reader’s imagination to go to work, something not many DWA strips achieve.
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| | | BUMBLE OF DESTRUCTION |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
What to say? It’s bizarre. It’s nonsense. Just how young would you have to be before this seemed like an appealing substitute for something resembling Doctor Who?
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| | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 278
COVER DATE: 19 - 25 July 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Cornucopia Caper
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None Having overshot their destination, the Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive in London 2064 and find the city in flames. On the scanner they see the Bumble, a giant furry creature, causing havoc and chaos – buses and buildings are destroyed. Outside they find crowds laughing at the destruction. It’s Rory who notices that the Bumble is moulting like a cat, but soon he and Amy are also helpless with laughter. The Doctor realises it’s the hairs causing the laughing attack. The Doctor leads Amy and Rory away where they fill bin bags with cooking oil which they drop on the Bumble from the roof of a still standing building. As the oil covers the fur and sticks the creature’s fur down, the crowds turn on the Bumble, and it is not long before the Bumble is safely taken away by helicopter to be looked after and regularly shaved. |
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| | | THE LIGHT CATCHER |
| | | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 279
COVER DATE: 26 July - 1 August 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Cornucopia Caper
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None Taking Amy and Rory to see a dawn over the Meadows of Kallisshamarriss, the Doctor arrives just as dawn is about to break. But the sky suddenly darkens, and it grows cold. They see an alien ship draining the sun’s energy. Racing back to the TARDIS the Doctor has just two minutes to save the sun and all life on the planet. Once the planet has been saved, the Doctor pursues the spacecraft deep within the Onyx Nebula (a mass so dense that not even light can penetrate it). In the blackness they find a semi-world topped with a gleaming crystal turret. On exploring the turret they are all arrested for trespassing in the Temple of Light by the Light Catcher, but the Doctor notices that the energy gathering crystal is cracked. With their artificial ‘sun’ waning, the Light Keeper of this world has been seeking out alternative sources of light. In exchange for the Doctor fixing the crystal’s energy leak, the Light Catcher gives his word not to steal light from others. Besides which the energy trapped in the gas cloud of the Onyx Nebula will now last them forever. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
This strip manages to cram a surprising amount of plot into its four pages, which makes it feel rather more substantial than some other stories. There’s even room for Amy to discuss fixed points in time. Indeed, the only thing that isn’t explained (aside from how the Doctor saves the sun) is, if the Onyx Nebula is so dense than not even light can penetrate it, how does the Light Catcher’s ship enter and exit it and how does the TARDIS follow?
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| | | DUNGEON OF THE LOST |
| | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 280
COVER DATE: 2 - 8 August 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Cornucopia Caper
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None Rome, 1985. Plumber Pietro Rossi responds to a call to find a deserted house with a blocked pipe but when he opens the pipe, a rainbow light pours out and he finds himself sucked away. Pietro falls from a chute and lands on a giant savage tortoise’s head rendering it unconscious. It was about to attack the Doctor and Amy. Amy explains that they are in some side dimension and are trying to find her husband Rory who was captured when they attempted to free others captured by fire-breathing Miyota using his pipes. The Doctor has a plan and, with Pietro’s help, he rigs the plumbing so they emerge directly over Miyota’s head, knocking him unconscious. Rory, along with other captives, is freed and the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to send Miyota through one of his own pipes to land on some quiet backwater world. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Starting a comic strip halfway through the action does give it a little extra depth by suggesting a bigger story that we have only witnessed a part of. However, I’m frankly not sure we would want more of Miyota and his dimension-hopping pipes. He doesn’t even get the chance to speak and we have no idea why he might be capturing people other than because he’s the villain in a DWA comic strip.
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| | | THE INTERGALACTIC TRIALS |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
With the London 2012 Olympics drawing to a close during publication of this strip, this is fiercely topical, though the drugs angle is surprising for DWA. More surprising is that the Galapogans feel justified in using them and remain unrepentant.
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| | | | SCRIPT: Luke Paton
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 281
COVER DATE: 9 - 15 August 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Cornucopia Caper
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory are at the Intergalactic Trials, 2412, with a poor view stuck behind a pillar in the huge stadium. Surprised by the Galapogans success in the games, the Doctor, who is a regular attendee, decides to take a closer look. ‘Invading’ the pitch to meet the team, and persuading them to pose for a photo, the Doctor scans the Galapogans with his sonic screwdriver and discovers their’ muscles have been enhanced with the illegal drug mediphosphide. The secret of their success revealed, they try to stop the Doctor and Rory exposing them but Amy alerts the Trials Task Force. The authorities arrive in time to save the Doctor and Rory and the Galapogan team is arrested and disqualified. As a reward for their intervention the travellers are rewarded with seats and refreshments in the royal box with a great view and comfy chairs. |
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| | | 24-HOUR NEWS INVASION |
| | | | SCRIPT: Glenn Dakin
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 282
COVER DATE: 16 - 22 August 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Cornucopia Caper
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory invade the 24-hour newsroom on the planet Vorala claiming they are there to stop an invasion. Rory, armed with Amy’s hairdryer, prevents the plug being pulled on the live broadcast while the Doctor wrestles with security. With a sudden rise in ratings the Doctor finds himself interviewed. When they break for the weather, the Doctor’s suspicions are confirmed – the weather map is wrong and not a weather map at all but an hypnotic pattern being projected to every home around the planet. Using his sonic screwdriver the Doctor disrupts the perception filter that is disguising the weather man, who is actually a Blehurg, a neighbouring enemy of Vorala. The Blehurg were close to hypnotising the whole planet before enslaving them and taking over. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Solid if unremarkable. All three of the regulars get something to do and a clue to the means of the invasion is seeded before the Doctor realises the significance of the weather map. It just isn’t particularly exciting.
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| | | THE PANIC ROOM |
| | | | SCRIPT: Glenn Dakin
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 283
COVER DATE: 23- 29 August 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Cornucopia Caper
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None Believing himself safe in his panic room in the Palace of Gorm on the planet Abaria the Emperor’s panic level increases significantly when the TARDIS materialises and the Doctor, Amy and Rory emerge. In the ensuing chaos a huge green serpent appears and towers over them. The Doctor encourages the Emperor out of hiding, and explains that the serpent is a panic creature that has been feeding on the Emperor’s fears. Amy has prepared a chill-out zone for the Emperor with soothing drinks and nibbles. As the Emperor calms and starts to relax the panic creature’s threats are ignored and it finally shrinks until the Doctor can safely pick it up, place it in an urn and take it somewhere peaceful. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Well, it’s the standard ‘feeds on fear’ story and it works much the same here as every other occasion that it’s ever been employed.
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| | | TERROR FROM THE SWAMP |
| | | | SCRIPT: Trevor Baxendale
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 284
COVER DATE: 30 August - 5 September 2012
ON TV: Asylum of the Daleks
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Cornucopia Caper
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Hypothetical Gentleman/Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory dine with the Jonsons in 1929 Louisiana. Dinner conversation turns to talk of a ‘terrifying beast’ that has taken whole families. Not long after the trio of guests go monster hunting. They are soon captured by a giant creature that carries them of to a cave which it appears to be using as a larder storing the missing townsfolk until it is ready to eat them. The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to release everyone but as they are about to escape they find a pile of alien skeletons. Outside the cave the townsfolk have arrived en mass. Armed with flaming torches they pursue the creature. The fleeing creature is savaged by an alligator and left for dead while the townsfolk chase off the alligator instead. The Doctor races to the creature’s aid and learns that it is an orphan - its parents having died in a crash some years earlier. Struggling to survive it sought to protect the townsfolk from the alligators. The Doctor returns the creature to its home planet. |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
1920s Louisiana, plantations, swamps, alligators, tales of a terrifying beast... and just as the story looks set to be an atmospheric classic, we get a couple of frames of Frankenstein pastiche and then some old guff about baby monster collecting people for no readily logical reason.
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| | | THE PLANET THAT SLEPT |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Whatever happened to the days of ‘Die, hideous creature... die!’ Just as the TV Doctor is finishing off Solomon with some missiles, his comic strip counterpart continues his relocation program. Despite that, this is a much meatier story than we are generally used to, and it also contains some of the best artwork yet seen in the DWA strip. A nice cheeky title too - the working title for TV story Full Circle.
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| | | | SCRIPT: Trevor Baxendale
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 285
COVER DATE: 6 - 12 September 2012
ON TV: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Cornucopia Caper
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Hypothetical Gentleman/Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive on a Saturday afternoon on an alien planet and find it asleep. Stepping out of the TARDIS the Doctor is also affected. When Amy falls asleep as well, Rory carries her back inside the TARDIS. Underneath the city, the Somnoid has the world in its power and is feeding on subconscious brain activity. Detecting the intruders, the Somnoid captures the sleeping Doctor but he manages to appear inside the TARDIS as part of Rory’s dream to warn Amy and Rory about the controlling creature. The Doctor isn’t really asleep. When he detected a psychic presence he went into a deliberate trance, knowing Amy and Rory are safe he suddenly ‘wakes up’ in the Somnoid’s grasp, shocks it, and interrupting its feeding frenzy, releases the planet from its controlling hold. Unable to feed, the Somnoid reverts to its natural size and shape. The Doctor later re-houses the Somnoid on another planet. |
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| | | PLANET OF THE RORYS |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |  | | SCRIPT: Craig Donaghy
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 286
COVER DATE: 13 - 19 September 2012
ON TV: A Town Called Mercy
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Cornucopia Caper
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Hypothetical Gentleman/Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None Arriving on a jungle world, the Doctor detects something hidden and is reluctant to explore. With Amy and the Doctor aboard, the TARDIS is suddenly removed from the planet leaving Rory behind. He soon finds himself captured by a primitive tribe of look-a-like Rorys, then rescued by more Rorys clones armed with guns who intend to sell his body parts. He is rescued again by more advanced Rorys who explain that the planet was waiting for a visitor to decide its self-creating, high speed evolutionary pattern. His arrival triggered the planet’s DNA key. The result is a world of Rorys evolving towards stronger ‘new Rorys’. The sudden arrival of Amy sees the army of Rorys bow down to worship her. Not only was Rory’s DNA used as the template for life but his love for Amy is strong enough to instil an instinct to worship Amy, allowing her to rescue the genuine article. | |  | | | | | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Bizarre, high concept and rather sweet. The DWA strip has a peculiar obsession with Rory as a Roman, which gets mentioned with great frequency. If all life on the planet resembles Rory there may be a small problem when it comes to procreation...
| | | | |  | | | DAWN OF TIME | | |  | | | | SCRIPT: Trevor Baxendale
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 287
COVER DATE: 20 - 26 September 2012
ON TV: The Power of Three
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Cornucopia Caper
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Hypothetical Gentleman/Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory are having a rough ride in the vortex when the TARDIS is invaded by a creature that identifies itself as Dawn 726-Alpha Continua. Dawn takes control of the TARDIS and they watch as the interior configuration begins to revert back. Dawn is a creation of Rassilon, a robot guardian installed by the early Time Lords to fix a tear they made in the space-time vortex. She sees the TARDIS as an imperfection and begins a countdown to destruction. Amy pleads with Dawn to check the TARDIS history for all the good that has been done. Dawn checks but realises that Gallifrey has gone, the link to the Matrix is severed – she is without guidance or purpose. Her self-destruction and that of the TARDIS is narrowly avoided and the drain of Artron energy from the TARDIS is reversed when Dawn contemplates a new life of freedom to travel the whole of Time and Space. | | | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Wow! We see a whole host of TARDIS console rooms dating right back to the original, get mention of the Time Lords, Artron energy, the Matrix and Rassilon, and even see Daleks, Silurians and some squiggles that may or may not be other old foes. We also get a tense and interesting story that promises a sequel. I’m liking this one a lot.
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| | | TV HELL! |
| | | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 288
COVER DATE: 27 September - 3 October 2012
ON TV: The Angels Take Manhattan
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Cornucopia Caper - The Broken Man
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Hypothetical Gentleman/Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive on set of long-running soap opera EarthEnders. The interruption causes broadcast to be suspended and in a bustle of activity the TARDIS crew sign contracts to appear on the show. The other actors warn them too late that the small print ties them to appear in unlimited repeats – not a problem in itself, but they are apparently unable to record any kind of video of the show since solar flares hit Earth. The same ninety episodes have been re-shot for the past twenty years with the cast having to adopt some heavy make-up and elaborate wigs. However, the Doctor uses Amy’s |
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| mobile phone to prove that recording is once again possible. Using his sonic screwdriver to get out of the studio the cast find a barren, sun scorched planet. Bundling the cast into the TARDIS, the Doctor takes them to meet their audience - the Arr'Chorrs - a race of technologically ignorant creatures who can’t even work a video recorder! Their planet was bankrupted and they had become dependent on EarthEnders for their entertainment. With a quick demonstration of filming using Amy’s phone, the Arr'Chorrs have a means of making new programmes helped by the cast who after all the years have learnt all about making a TV show. |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
I bet the Doctor’s been hankering to get back on TV ever since his second incarnation made regular appearances on Explain My Mystery! (No really) And talking of TV Comic, this is right up there with the craziest strips, though quite what it’s trying to say about Eastenders’ production crew or The Archers is frankly anyone’s guess.
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| | | PONDNIUM! |
| | | | SCRIPT: Craig Donarghy
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 289
COVER DATE: 4 - 10 October 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Broken Man
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Hypothetical Gentleman/Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None The Doctor takes Amy and Rory to Pondinium – a planet covered in ponds that reflect possible versions of the viewer’s own future. When Rory accidentally falls into one he is rescued by Amy but emerging after them is a Aquarpey. The ponds are traps that create small water puddles of psychic resonance particles. The Aquarpray is alone and has been for centuries, creating so many ponds. In another pond the Aquarpey catches a glimpse of a happy family future with her own young. The threat dissipated, the travellers arrange to take the lonely creatures home. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
So, yet another story where the threat turns out to be harmless and the Doctor gives someone a lift home. It also contradicts itself as the Doctor says that nobody knows why or how the pools function before knowing the answer just two pages later. Added to that, the title of the strip is Pondium whilst the planet in the strip is called Pondinium. Which one is correct?
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| | | BITE OF THE MORPHUSE! |
| | | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 290
COVER DATE: 11 - 17 October 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Broken Man
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Hypothetical Gentleman/Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None Now travelling alone, the Doctor arrives in Detroit, 1970, for an Elvis Presley comeback gig but finds the streets away from the venue surprisingly quiet. While the Doctor searches for a chicken dinner he finds himself on the menu of a gang of Morphuse led by Mistress Zof’Iya. Able to recognise a Time Lord from their files, he is a delicacy they thought they'd never get the chance to taste. Hiding in the crowds of the comeback show, the Doctor makes his way backstage to 'Elvis' where, after securing the door with his sonic, the Doctor asks Elvis (actually an alien called Derek) for assistance. Embarrassed at being found out by the Doctor, Derek doesn't want to be anyone’s dessert so agrees to contact his ship. As the Morphuse break down the dressing room door they are teleported aboard Derek's spaceship tour bus and held in what used to be a cage for Drashigs. Safely contained the Doctor leaves Derek charged with dropping them off on a planet where only cabbages grow. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Zof’Iya actually makes quite an interesting and visually appealing villain, but the real star of this strip is Derek the alien Elvis impersonator who even gets the honour of resettling this week’s villain instead of the Doctor.
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| | | GARBAGE DAY! |
| | | | SCRIPT: Glenn Dakin
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 291
COVER DATE: 18- 24 October 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Broken Man
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Hypothetical Gentleman/Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None The Doctor arrives during the closing countdown to the launch of Clean-Up Day when an army of automated Garbage-bots go live to remove all rubbish for a cleaner future. But given the freedom to decide what is rubbish the Gar-bots turn on the humans because they are covered in germs. The Doctor, disguising himself as rubbish, gets collected and taken to the sorting centre where he discovers the Gar-bots’ central processor and re-programmes their definition of rubbish. As a result of the Doctor’s tinkering the Gar-bots turn on each other. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
The despicable Trods have a new heir. Given a rare splash page, this strip consequently has even less plot than usual. And I really can’t think of anything else to say about it.
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| | | THE GREEDY GULPER |
| | | | SCRIPT: Steve Lyons
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 292
COVER DATE: 25- 31 October 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Broken Man
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Hypothetical Gentleman/Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None In a quiet alien village, the Doctor is attacked and tied up by villagers dressed as unconvincing |
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| ghosts. The shaman accuses the Doctor of being a servant of the Greedy Gulper, according to the only book surviving from their ancestors on Old Earth, but the Doctor identifies the ‘sacred text’ as a manual for an old video game. He has only just finished telling them that the Greedy Gulper doesn’t exist when a creature appears that looks like the sacred text’s illustration. The Doctor encourages the villagers to throw fruit at it, and the creature is knocked off balance and revealed to be a human from a terra-forming company seeking to frighten away the settlers already on the planet. The exposed employee agrees to testify to the Shadow Proclamation meaning that the villagers are safe. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Okay, this is odd. It feels like a bizarre mash-up of Colony in Space, The Face of Evil, The Mysterious Planet and Scooby Doo - only with added fruit. Why does the company want to terraform a planet that can clearly already support human life? How do they expect the primitive villagers to leave the planet?
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| | | METEORITE MEETING |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Decky joins Heather McCrimmon and Wolfgang Ryter as a new reader-created companion to the Doctor. The strip itself serves as a good introduction to the character, nothing more, nothing less.
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| | | | SCRIPT: Craig Donaghy
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
DECKY CREATOR: Mitchell Collett
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 293
COVER DATE: 1 - 7 November 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Broken Man
IN DOCTOR WHO US: The Doctor and the Nurse/Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None On Earth at night investigating a spooky deserted park, the Doctor first encounters a park attendant then a monster, both of whom mysteriously disappear, before locating a crashed ship that has been hit by a time bomb meteorite. Finally meeting the shape-shifting pilot of the ship - Decky Flamboon - and disabling his shape-shifting belt - the Doctor and the alien work together to launch the meteorite into the Nebulous Void of Nothing before it explodes. Realising Decky’s virtuous nature, the Doctor offers to take him home to Sirus. |
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| | | TOWER OF POWER |
| | | | SCRIPT: Craig Donaghy
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
DECKY CREATOR: Mitchell Collett
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 294
COVER DATE: 8 - 14 November 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Broken Man
IN DOCTOR WHO US: The Doctor and the Nurse/Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None On Cobaltikar 45, a planet of robots, the Doctor and Decky discover something pulling energy out of the universal atmosphere which could destroy the planet. Further investigation reveals an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower and, at its base, a robot restrained by the drained energy. The Doctor deactivates the power drain with his sonic, but this releases the robot who, he learns from another robot, is Cobalikbot Acorn Delta, who poses a threat to the whole universe and was restrained for the safety of everywhere. Decky and the Doctor trick the robot into blasting the base of the tower which traps it as it falls. This reveals Brancheerian symbols - part of the co-ordinates Decky needs to get home - but he realises that a Brancheerian selling copies of Earth landmarks is bad news. The Doctor looks on the bright side - at least Decky is one step closer to home. |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Taken on its own, this is fairly thin, but it’s the little clues to the bigger story that entice here and Decky is surprisingly likeable.
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| | | THE SHARK SHOCKER |
| | | | SCRIPT: Craig Donaghy
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
SPACESHIP CREATOR: Joe Dutton
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 295
COVER DATE: 15 - 21 November 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Broken Man
IN DOCTOR WHO US: The Doctor and the Nurse/Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None The planet Seacyde in the year 3044, and the Doctor and Decky are in time to see a spaceship crash into the sea. Investigating in a boat, they are soon in danger as the shark-shaped ship attacks, capturing them as they attempt to swim to safety. Realising something is amiss, the Doctor sonics some controls then learns from the ship’s crew that they are aboard the Maritimus Carcharias, a ship designed to transport marine life. When it malfunctioned, the ship brought them to a world capable of supporting marine life. Systems sorted, they blast into space. |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
So both the companion and the ship are designed by the readership. And that’s really the most interesting thing that can be said about this strip. It doesn’t even advance Decky’s story.
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| | | THE TOYBOX |
| | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 296
COVER DATE: 22 - 28 November 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Broken Man
IN DOCTOR WHO US: The Doctor and the Nurse/Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None Having saved the woodlands of Guzan from flooding, the Doctor and Decky return to the TARDIS, only for it to be picked up by giant hands and the Doctor knocked unconscious. When he recovers, the TARDIS is filled with giant toys. He and Decky struggle to reach the console to expel all the items, unaware that a giant child is using the TARDIS as a storage container to help him tidy his room. The Doctor reaches the console and expels all the toys back into the bedroom, leaving the child facing an angry mother. |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Does it seem odd to you to have a shape-shifting companion who, now on his third adventure in the TARDIS, hasn’t shifted shape even once? Here we have a nice reference to the Doctor’s sixth regeneration and... er... not much else.
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| | | THE RUNAWAY BOGEY |
| | | | SCRIPT: Simon Guerrier
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 297
COVER DATE: 29 November - 5 December 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Broken Man
IN DOCTOR WHO US: The Doctor and the Nurse/Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None At a school in Leeds, Archie sneezes a snot monster out of his nose, which promptly escapes outside. The Doctor and Decky arrive and the Doctor identifies the creature of being composed of alien snot. It grows, causing chaos, but it is afraid of a small barking dog. The Doctor uses the distraction to sonic it back to manageable proportions, then stuffs it back up the boy’s nose. The boy is actually an alien called an Archie in disguise, two creatures one living inside the other |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Whole moments of my life I will never get back. Words. Fail. Me.
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| | | ON THE CARDS |
| | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Okay, so this is pure whimsy and faintly silly, but on its own terms it sort of works, even vaguely evoking a Sapphire and Steel ‘trapped in photos’ kind of vibe. If you squint a lot. Of course, Doctor Who has a long tradition of bonkers Yuletide stories dating all the way back to the First Doctor’s insane battle with the Demon Magician in 1965’s A Christmas Story.
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| | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 298
COVER DATE: 6 - 12 December 2012
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: The Broken Man
IN DOCTOR WHO US: The Doctor and the Nurse/Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None Christmas Eve 2012, and the TARDIS deposits the Doctor and Decky in a deserted dining room somewhere in Britain. The reason it is deserted soon becomes apparent as a Christmas card grows and swallows them. Finding themselves in the world of the card, they meet Kirsty and Shane. The Doctor believes this is the work of an Edger, a predator that can only exist in two dimensions. Realising the Edger will rest before it starts to feed, the Doctor opens the portals to other Christmas cards to rescue the other party-goers until he eventually discovers the Edger itself. Decky roars, causing an avalanche of snow to bury the Edger. Returning everyone home, the Doctor burns the Christmas cards. It won’t kill the Edger, but it will block this route into our universe |
| | | DECKY THE HALLS |
| | | | SCRIPT: Craig Donaghy
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 299
COVER DATE: 13 - 27 December 2012
ON TV: The Snowmen
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Imaginary Enemies
IN DOCTOR WHO US: The Doctor and the Nurse/Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None Decky wants to experience a Christmas on Earth, as everyone on Sirus loves Earth traditions so much that they used to celebrate Christmas three times a year. Repairing Decky’s shape-shifting belt, the Doctor lands the TARDIS in England, 25th December 2034 where they learn that the Arch-Mayoress has outlawed Christmas. In the town hall, the Doctor discovers a machine that sucks up fun and crushes it. Captured by the Arch-Mayoress, Decky transforms back into his lizard form, shocking her into fainting. The Doctor reverses the machine and brings back Christmas. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
More prosaic and less entertaining than the above strip, it is at least nice to see Decky shape-shift again.
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| | | SNOWBALL! |
| | | | SCRIPT: Moray Laing
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 300
COVER DATE: 28 December 2012 - 3 January 2013
ON TV: The Snowmen
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Imaginary Enemies
IN DOCTOR WHO US: The Doctor and the Nurse/Assimilation2
REPRINTS: None Whilst attempting to learn to ski in the Alps with the Doctor, Decky accidentally knocks the TARDIS down the mountain. With the ship rapidly snowballing, and Decky and the Doctor in pursuit, the activity is detected by a Vendraxoo spaceship hidden inside the mountain. Detecting the presence of superior technology (the TARDIS), they panic and abort their invasion plans, blasting off into space. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Breathless action and the Doctor and Decky stop an invasion without even trying.
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| | | MUSEUM PIECE |
| | | | SCRIPT: Steve Lyons
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 301
COVER DATE: 4 - 9 January 2013
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Hunters of the Burning Stone
IN DOCTOR WHO US: The Eye of Ashaya
REPRINTS: None Still trying to get Decky Flamboon home, the Doctor lands inside an asteroid to visit the curator of the Cosmic Museum. But things have changed since a previous visit. Decky is alarmed to find a cabinet of exhibits including half eaten Jammie Dodgers, then they are greeted by a hologram of the Doctor who |
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| suggests they start the tour in the Hall of Cool Bow Ties and Hats! The Curator proclaims himself to be the Doctor’s biggest fan and has devoted the new exhibition to him. The Doctor tries to leave as the Curator reveals his proudest achievement – the Hall of Monsters featuring creatures that the Doctor has encountered trapped in stasis fields – along with the TARDIS! When the Doctor attempts to free the TARDIS with his sonic screwdriver, the Curator knocks it from his hand but it accidentally breaks the stasis field - the monsters are released and not happy. The Curator flees in his one-man escape pod leaving the Doctor and Decky behind. As the monsters go on the rampage destroying the museum the Doctor draws their fire. But it isn’t the real Doctor but the hologram. Having blasted the wiring, the museum is plunged into darkness and the Doctor and Decky make their escape. |
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| | | ALL CHANGE! |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Filler that at least derives its antics from an established trait of one of the main characters.
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| | | | SCRIPT: Simon Guerrier
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 302
COVER DATE: 10 - 16 January 2013
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Hunters of the Burning Stone
IN DOCTOR WHO US: The Eye of Ashaya
REPRINTS: None Refreshed after a swim in the TARDIS pool, Decky returns to the console room and begins to hiccup. Unfortunately every hiccup seems to trigger a shape-shifting change. The Doctor realises it is Decky’s belt that is causing the problem. As Decky continues to change with every hiccup the Doctor asks the Doctors at a Space Hospital to help. After multiple changes it |
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| is only when Decky turns into a large glass of water that the Doctor realises what might have happened. The Doctor suggests that Decky went swimming with his belt on not realising it was not waterproof. Decky replies that that was why he filled the pool with lemonade instead!! Some time later Decky’s belt is cleaned up and all the sugar removed from the circuits. Decky decides to drink lemonade not swim in it in future. |
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| | | AN ILL WIND |
| | | | SCRIPT: James Hill
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 303
COVER DATE: 17 - 23 January 2013
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Hunters of the Burning Stone
IN DOCTOR WHO US: The Eye of Ashaya
REPRINTS: None The Doctor, and Decky are in China 620, facing a tornado and rain. As it subsides, a local is amazed to see a second dragon. The Doctor explains that Decky isn’t a dragon – just a talking Brancheerian. The local explains that the dragon flying above them is responsible for the storms. It arrived a few days ago and was celebrated with fireworks as it was believed to bring rain to nourish the crops, not floods and winds to bring down buildings. The Doctor investigates some ‘scales’ scattered on the ground and realises the dragon is actually an Andrassi Warship – a robotic unmanned space vessel sent ahead to batter worlds into submission. He believes the destructive programming must have kicked in automatically on arriving on Earth. As the robot begins another assault the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to super-charge some nearby fireworks turning them into missiles. In a brilliant display of colour the robot dragon is destroyed. As impressive as it is, Decky still wants to see the Great Wall. |
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| | | THE WATER WORLD |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
It’s simple stuff ending with some word play on the word ‘water’. As Decky says, water-ver.
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| | | | SCRIPT: Moray Laing
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 304
COVER DATE: 24 - 30 January 2013
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Hunters of the Burning Stone
IN DOCTOR WHO US: The Eye of Ashaya
REPRINTS: None When Decky fiddles with the console, the TARDIS crashes on the planet Hydrocallica. Apart from arriving upside down there appears to be no ill effects. The planet is covered in water – but water that you can walk on. As Decky and the Doctor bounce across the planet Decky |
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| suddenly falls through the water, landing inside the planet. The Doctor joins him, and they accidentally scare some bird-like creatures that the Doctor recognises as Strigidae which he thought were extinct. Their leader Lord Strige explains that they were once the most hunted race in the universe so now they hide beneath a water molecule shield. However, their world is threatened by the shield breaking down. The Doctor fixes it with his sonic screwdriver, protecting them for a few more centuries at least. As a thank you, the Strigidae give the Doctor and Decky a ride back to the TARDIS. |
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| | | PET PANIC |
| | | | SCRIPT: Glen Dakin
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 305
COVER DATE: 31 January - 6 February 2013
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Hunters of the Burning Stone
IN DOCTOR WHO US: The Eye of Ashaya
REPRINTS: None The Doctor having taken Decky to a pet shop on Kandro Four now travels aboard the TARDIS with a tank containing a pair of small space bugs. But the TARDIS experiences disturbances in the vortexwhich seems to accelerate the bugs’ growth. When the TARDIS lands in Dubai, the bugs escape and, having grown even bigger, they cause panic among the locals. They have no problem scaling the walls of the Burj Khalifa – the tallest building on Earth. Returning with Decky to the TARDIS, the Doctor pilots the TARDIS to the top of the building where, eye to eye with the bugs, they find that not only have the bugs grown but they have also evolved. The bugs were time-sensitive and having fed on the Artron energy of the TARDIS in the vortex the now evolved beings thank the Doctor and use their new found mental powers to teleport to a world where they appear less frightening. Back in the TARDIS the Doctor suggests that next time maybe Decky could get a hamster. |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
A neat plot that even contains some educational material and a mention of artron energy. And the aliens manage to relocate themselves for a change!
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| | | SPACE RACE |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
With a nod to the Transformers franchise and quite a lot of plot, action and jeopardy squeezed into its four pages, this strip is bright and breezy with good artwork and nice colour work from Craddock (who is generally very consistent). Of course, this isn’t the first time the Doctor has met a Robot King. I look forward to a rematch in which the Robot King in his new form ruthlessly burns bread throughout the galaxy...
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| | | | SCRIPT: Steve Lyons
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 306
COVER DATE: 7 - 13 February 2013
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Hunters of the Burning Stone
IN DOCTOR WHO US: The Eye of Ashaya
REPRINTS: None Investigating the disappearance of four pilots from the Great Space Race on Space Station Cherry Delta, the Doctor enters Decky in the race armed with a homing beacon. The first manoeuvre in space is to circle a junkyard planet, and it is here that Decky loses control of his ship and crashes. Investigating, the Doctor is attacked by giant robots transformed out of the racing ships trapping a pilot inside each. Decky (along with the other trapped pilots) is unable to stop his own robot shell firing at the Doctor. Attempting to use his shape-shifting belt to free himself results in the robot firing indiscriminately. In the confusion, the Doctor tracks the control source to a bitter and rusted Robot King abandoned and allowed to go rusty in a pile of junk. With a little modification, the Doctor removes the Robot King’s consciousness and converts the Robot King into a more useful appliance – a toaster. Without the Robot King’s influence the robots are reduced to scrap and the missing pilots are free to return home. | | |  |
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| | | LOVE IS IN THE AIR |
| | | | SCRIPT: Craig Donaghy
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 307
COVER DATE: 14 - 20 February 2013
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Hunters of the Burning Stone
IN DOCTOR WHO US: The Eye of Ashaya
REPRINTS: None Valentine's Day on Earth, 2013, and the Doctor realises something is wrong. All around him and Decky are loved up couples. A heart tipped arrow is fired at them but misses its target and embeds itself in the TARDIS. A handsome winged creature with a bow and arrows appears and identifies himself as Cupid, here to spread romance, but the Doctor doesn’t believe him. Inspecting the arrow reveals it is dipped in mind-controlling Porcheen neurotoxins. Firing again at the Doctor the |
| arrow misses and strikes Decky who falls to the floor. Angry, the Doctor suspects a shimmer disguise and using his sonic screwdriver the creature is revealed to be an Ameteli. The Ameteli explains how it intends to distract the humans with love so it can plunder the planet’s resources. As it moves in on the Doctor, Decky leaps up and returns the arrow he took and caught with his tail, aiming squarely at the creature. With love on its mind, the Doctor shows the Ameteli a projection of the planet Mascoda 6, instantly falls in love with it and flies off. | | | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Only Doctor Who could turn Valentine’s Day and love into a threat from outer space. This is kind of fun and the resolution is neat and tidy.
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| | | TOOTHACHE! |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Yay, give small children a fear of going to the dentist, that’s the way to go. Not that dentists don’t do a good enough job of this all on their own, but I’m sure they probably appreciate the assistance. This is unremarkable, really, but at least it fills four pages.
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| | | | SCRIPT: James Hill
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 308
COVER DATE: 21 - 27 February 2013
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Hunters of the Burning Stone
IN DOCTOR WHO US: The Eye of Ashaya
REPRINTS: None When Decky develops a ‘fang’ ache the Doctor takes him to a space medical facility in the 30th century. The dentistry area is full. Everyone seems to have developed toothache a few days ago just before the new dentist arrived. When the Doctor hears Decky cry out he bursts in to find the dentist robots about to remove Decky’s fangs. Disabling the robots by tying them up with sonic dental floss the Doctor turns to the dentist. Using his sonic screwdriver to deactivate the dentist’s holographic disguise the dentist is revealed to be an Amorta. The Amorta are single-celled creatures from a pocket universe. On the Amorta’s homeworld calcium is like gold. The Amorta sent out a telepathic message convincing everyone they had toothache. By pretending to be a dentist he was able to extract and collect as many teeth/calcium deposits as he wanted. The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver on the Amorta and forces it to return home. To make sure that Decky doesn’t have any more toothache the Doctor gives him a toothbrush. | | |  |
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| | | TERROR IN THE TAJ MAHAL |
| | | | SCRIPT: Craig Donaghy
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 309
COVER DATE: 28 February - 6 March 2013
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Hunters of the Burning Stone
IN DOCTOR WHO US: The Eye of Ashaya - Space Oddity
REPRINTS: None On the Hollow Moon of Artenture the Doctor takes Decky to another replica of a famous Earth landmark this time the Taj Mahal. Once again the Doctor is able to find more of the co-ordinates that will help him get Decky home. But they soon discover the Propheetis (see here), have been using the landmark as a base. The Propheetis |
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| have adapted the Taj Mahal into a giant weapon. They intend to replace the real Taj Mahal with their one to be activated when they are ready to invade the planet. Telling Decky to run, the Doctor activates all the weapons with a wave of his sonic screwdriver. Racing back to the TARDIS they watch the replica Taj Mahal empty all its missiles from the towers. One of the missiles shoots past and knocks out the Propheetis who is waiting at the TARDIS door to stop the Doctor. Decky realises that his mission has changed, he’s now more concerned with stopping a bad Brancheerian from selling replica landmarks for evil plans than he is finding a way home. |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
A returning foe is unusual in Doctor Who Adventures, but the Propheetis make a fairly good one. This isn’t a patch on their debut, but it’s entertaining enough and does give Decky some character growth.
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| | | EYE SPY |
| | | SCRIPT: Craig Donaghy
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes
HOMOZILLIAN EYEDROP DESIGN: Gregor Stanley ISSUE: 310
COVER DATE: 7 - 13 March 2013
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Hunters of the Burning Stone
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Space Oddity
REPRINTS: None The planet Kestraleve is no longer the welcoming place it used to be. It is isolated from other worlds and hostile to all alien visitors, so the Doctor is naturally curious. As they arrive in an empty market place, Decky shape-shifts into a local to blend in, but their arrival is seen and soon the Doctor and Decky are being carted away by the Kastraleve leader. Puzzled as to how they were spotted, the clue appears to be in the eyepiece the leader wears - the Doctor recognises it as a Homozillian eyedrop able to detect alien life forms and capable of shrinking to fit its wearer. Suspicious as to why a Kestraleven is using alien technology, the Doctor rightly guesses that the leader is in fact a Homozillian invader. Before the Doctor and Decky are blasted into the sun, the Doctor sonics the eyedrop with his sonic screwdriver and increases its field. Once enlarged, the people can see that their 'guards' are actually Homozillian forces controlling them for personal gain. Their plan exposed, the Kestralevens turn on the Homozillians and drive them away. Addressing the crowd, the Doctor reminds them that some aliens are friendly and encourages them to go out there and meet them. |
| | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
There’s actually quite a nice idea underpinning this strip, effectively subjugating and ruling a people by exploiting their own xenophobia, which helps to give it a little bit of a boost above many other strips, even if it doesn’t really have the space to explore its ideas. After asking readers to create companions and monsters, designing a gadget feels like something of a come-down, but I’m sure Gregor was probably delighted to see his design included in a strip.
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| | | COLOSSUS OF THE COLOSSEUM |
| | | | SCRIPT: Craig Donaghy
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 311
COVER DATE: 14 - 20 March 2013
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Hunters of the Burning Stone
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Space Oddity
REPRINTS: None On the planet Phwillite, the Doctor and Decky find another replica landmark from Earth - the Colosseum. They are greeted by Professor Rulas, who uses the Colosseum as home for his super computer Colossus. Colossus has one purpose - to find the cleverest and bravest fighters in existence and put them in the arena to decide the champion of the universe. The Doctor is detected and transported into the arena, where he refuses to fight any of the combatants. Rulas mocks Decky's strength as he attempts to free the Doctor, making the comparison with the much stronger Brancheerian Monty Punnions, who sold him the Colosseum and who, having been selected, now fights in the Colosseum. While the Doctor tries to avoid Monty's attack, Decky tricks Rulas into admitting that, as Monty was a cunning ruthless genius who he had managed to outwit, he is therefore himself the most ruthless. As soon as Rulas acknowledges this fact, he is teleported into the Colosseum. Forced to escape the arena and save his own life, Rulas ends the Colossus program with the secret codeword 'Gibwyn'. As Colossus shuts down, all the combatants are returned to where they came from. Collecting the last of the co-ordinates for Decky's home world, Decky is even more eager to return home and warn his people that Monty is up to no good. |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Decky’s story starts to draw to a conclusion. Now all the individual stories start to feel part of a bigger picture, and it works in the strip’s favour, though this is actually a strong strip in its own right too.
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| | | THE TAIL OF DECKY FLAMBOON |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Decky’s story finally concludes with an invasion story so slight and so easily defeated that it all feels somewhat pointless. It is at least solved using something intrinsic to Decky’s character and it is also good to see Decky returned home. DWA’s own companions often seem to fair better in the strips in terms of characterisation and actually doing stuff than the TV companions, and this is certainly true of Decky.
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| | | | | | SCRIPT: Craig Donaghy
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 312
COVER DATE: 21 - 27 March 2013
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Hunters of the Burning Stone
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Space Oddity
REPRINTS: None The Doctor materialises the TARDIS on Sirus, Decky’s home, but all the people have vanished. and the planet has been invaded by ant-like aliens. They are found by Monty Punnions who reveals that he led the ant creatures to Sirus, after they wanted Earth for its resources. The ants promised Monty the planet and all the credits a lizard could want. Decky realises that Sirus’ coordinates on the monuments were a trail laid by Monty to lead the creatures to Sirus. The Doctor mentions Decky's shape-shifting belt and Monty snatches it. The Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver on the belt and turns Monty into a giant ball. Decky hits this with his tail, destroying all the ant creatures. Afterwards, Decky is upset and wondering where his people are, but the moons of Flamboon have the words words “We Are Here” written on them. The Doctor and Decky fly to Flamboon Moon 2, where the Doctor says goodbye to Decky. | | |  | |
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| | | THE EGG HUNT |
| | | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
For the most part here, the artwork feels more simplistic than usual. The story is basically the sort of thing you can expect from Doctor Who Adventures on public holidays and the Doctor’s policy of relocating alien species returns yet again.
| | | SCRIPT: James Hill
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 313
COVER DATE: 28 March - 3 April 2013
ON TV: The Bells of Saint John
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Hunters of the Burning Stone
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Space Oddity
REPRINTS: None |
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| | | Landing in an English village, the Doctor hopes to join an Easter egg hunt, but finds the place deserted. Investigating, he finds large cracked alien eggs. The Doctor is attacked by monster |
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| birds, but, a woman appears and chases the birds away with a hockey stick. She leads the Doctor to a tool shed to hide. She is called Pippa, a games teacher at the local school. Pippa explains that there was a meteor shower of eggs the previous night. The eggs hatched and the aliens that emerged hunted for the chocolate Easter eggs before hunting the villagers who took to hiding indoors. The Doctor realises that the aliens are Astro-raptors, creatures that invade worlds and eat everything in sight. Leaving a trail of chocolate eggs to the TARDIS, the Doctor and Pippa lure the Raptors inside. The Doctor pilots the TARDIS to an alien world of floating islands with plenty for them to eat. With the Raptors re-settled the Doctor and Pippa enter the TARDIS again, to return to Earth. |
| | | THE MYSTERY OF THE MOULD |
| | | | | | | | SCRIPT: Craig Donaghy
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 314
COVER DATE: 4 - 10 April 2013
ON TV: The Rings of Akhaten
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Hunters of the Burning Stone
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Space Oddity
REPRINTS: None Responding to a distress signal, the Doctor and Clara arrive on an abandoned space station covered in what appears to be green mould. The mould creates a mould monster. The Doctor and Clara are led to safety by three aliens. The Doctor presumes it was them that sent the distress signal. but the alien Parabees, although trapped for three weeks, quite like it here – feasting on the mould. Clara realises it was the sentient mould that sent out the distress signal and the Doctor declares it under his own protection. The Parabees turn on the Doctor and Clara but they are saved when tentacles of mould overcome and restrain the Parabees until the Doctor is ready to return them home leaving the new species of mould in peace aboard the station. | |  | | | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Clara makes her comic strip debut... and finds herself battling sentient mould. Mind you, on TV this week, she’s visiting Akhaten, so maybe sentient mould isn’t such a rough deal after all. As a subversion of the usual way this story plays out, this is not bad, though the Doctor again has to use the TARDIS as a taxi to get the Parabees back home, and I’m not quite sure what’s stopping the Parabees from coming straight back with all their mates for an all-you-can-eat buffet.
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| | | THE PLANET THAT WENT BACKWARDS |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
This strip shares many similarities with the 1965 First Doctor strip Time In Reverse, though there only the order of the words is reversed not the letters of the words, but it’s still a fun and intriguing idea bound to capture the imaginations of children. I have to say I’m not entirely convinced that alien drool can send time into reverse and the First Doctor strip’s explanation of a TARDIS malfunction seems massively more plausible, but maybe bodily fluids are much more 21st Century... |
| | | | SCRIPT: Moray Laing
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 315
COVER DATE: 11 - 17 April 2013
ON TV: Cold War
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Hunters of the Burning Stone
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Space Oddity
REPRINTS: None Finding themselves literally retracing their recent adventure the Doctor and Clara flee an exploding castle only to find it putting itself back together after the Doctor’s damage to the teleport controls is undone. Then they walk back into the river where they are carried against the current to the foot of some cliffs where they find themselves falling back-up the cliff. On the cliff edge they are threatened by Drooloords who disappear no sooner than they arrived. Even speech when used is in reverse. The Doctor has to telepathically link with Clara, and explains that time is running backwards and that they must be on the planet Ooharahoo, which exists outside of normal time. The Drooloords are creatures whose drool affects time. The Drooloords reappear and attempt to stop the Doctor and Clara reaching the TARDIS but they fail leaving the Doctor with only a bit of drool on his jacket.The drool on the jacket shortly after arriving was what resersed the sequence of events in the first place. Clara decides that next time they should go forward in time not backwards. | | |  |
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| | | TEACHER’S PET |
| | | | SCRIPT: Christopher Cooper
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 316
COVER DATE: 18 - 24 April 2013
ON TV: Hide
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Hunters of the Burning Stone
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Space Oddity
REPRINTS: None Biology teacher Miss Brayley is preparing for class when she hears a noise in the window-box. She finds a small, purple alien and believes it is hurt, so decides to adopt the it. She puts the alien in a desk drawer with food then leaves the room, but, devouring sandwiches, the alien grows. Meanwhile, the TARDIS materialises on a nearby golf course. Clara asks the Doctor about the carnivorous alien they are looking for. They soon hear a roaring sound coming from Rolle Hill School. Grabbing a satchel from the TARDIS, they arrive at the school to find a giant creature eating its way through the allotments. Not the tiny and cute Drokkvid the Doctor described to Clara. When fed, hunger takes over and the Drokkvid grows even to the point of eating flesh. Miss Brayley apologises and helps the Doctor, taking him to the compost heap. The Doctor adds a few more ingredients to the steaming heap. The smell draws the creature and shortly after feasting it reverts to its smaller form - small enough to fit into Clara's satchel. The Doctor and Clara then leave quickly, before they get detention. |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Quite how the Doctor reverses the growth is unclear, but at least it doesn’t involve the sonic screwdriver. This is sort of okay, but fairly standard fare.
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| | | CORAL MAZE |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Reasonably clever, and a good showcase for Clara who works out the solution, though a colony with only five members will presumably have a very interesting breeding program. The title has nothing to do with the story as no maze actually features. Which is odd.
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| | | | SCRIPT: Glenn Dakin
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 317
COVER DATE: 25 April - 1 May 2013
ON TV: Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Hunters of the Burning Stone
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Space Oddity - Sky Jacks!
REPRINTS: None The Doctor takes Clara to 2211 to see the amazing glowing coral on the small human colony world of Polypia 4, but the peace is soon disrupted by a giant two-headed shark creature that scares the colonists then disappears. The Doctor meets the five explorers from Earth who recently settled on the planet. The two-headed shark has been appearing every night but never attacks. The Doctor suspects it has something to do with the coral and takes one of the female researchers aboard the TARDIS. He presents an aerial view of the planet showing the coral to be a giant brain, an organic creature that is capable of dreaming. The colonists’ arrival gave the coral nightmares – and the sharks were part of that nightmare, just angry illusions created by the coral. Clara suggests that rather than building their base on the living coral which is hurting the coral brain the colonists move across to one of the other more boring but less ‘alive’ islands. The colonists willingly agree to move camp and within a few days they are rewarded by the sight of a happier coral brain. The beginning of a beautiful friendship observes the Doctor as he returns to the TARDIS with Clara. |
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| | | SANDBLASTED |
| | | | SCRIPT: Steve Lyons
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 318
COVER DATE: 2 - 8 May 2013
ON TV: The Crimson Horror
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Hunters of the Burning Stone
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Sky Jacks!
REPRINTS: None Clara is disappointed: when she asked for sun and sand she didn’t mean the Sahara Desert. The Doctor sees Bedouin tribesfolk running away, scared of the "Mighty Djinn". A sandstorm rises up and sucks them in. The Doctor takes out his sonic screwdriver, but accidentally drops it. Clara catches it, and operates it on the Doctor’s instructions. The sandstorm vanishes because of rain, but reappears as the Doctor goes to the TARDIS to get more equipment. Clara sees something metal in the |
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| sand. The Doctor uses his sonic and the sandstorm monster and it disappears. He says he blocked the signal from the cloaked space pod she’s discovered. When he looks inside, it is being controlled by a camel-like creature. The Doctor sends it safely on a one-way trip back to its home planet. |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Slight and with much sonic screwdriver action. Quite what the alien wanted to achieve and whether it was for good or bad reasons we never learn.
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| | | TUNNEL TERRORS! |
| | | | SCRIPT: James Hill
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 319
COVER DATE: 9 - 15 May 2013
ON TV: Nightmare in Silver
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Hunters of the Burning Stone
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Sky Jacks!
REPRINTS: None Arriving in the 25th century but not at a holographic safari park as expected, the Doctor and Clara find themselves in the path of a rampaging giant rodent. As the excited rodent passes they are called out of the tunnel by an astronaut – part of a team mining the asteroid for valuable rocks and minerals. The rodents are referred to as mole monsters and only recently appeared. The Doctor suspects the drilling noise disturbed them and, when the opportunity presents itself, both he and Clara hitch a ride on one of the moles and are taken to an idyllic underground cavern. The moles are peaceful creatures simply agitated by the drilling which has driven them to tunnel to the surface. The Doctor returns to the surface with an idea. He instructs the astronauts in the construction of two giant exercise wheels! The moles love to run and can play in the wheels while the astronauts finish off their drilling. No more tunnel terrors just happy neighbours. |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
It’s not clear why the rat-like creatures are referred to as mole monsters. Perhaps John Ross couldn’t draw moles. It is also somewhat bizarre that, having established that the sound of the drilling agitates them, the Doctor does nothing to stop this and fully supports the miners in exploiting the creatures’ environment. It’d be like the Doctor building the monkeys of the Amazon picnic tables to keep them occupied whilst their trees are cut down. Weird and wrong!
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| | | NOVA |
| | | | SCRIPT: Rik Hoskin
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 320
COVER DATE: 16 - 22 May 2013
ON TV: The Name of the Doctor
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Hunters of the Burning Stone
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Sky Jacks!
REPRINTS: None The Doctor and Clara arrive at a star about to go nova but are curious about an alien ship right in its path. Arriving on the ship they find the alien Raxel quite relaxed about the impending explosion. The Raxel are a cold-blooded species who love nothing more than to sunbathe and improve their tans. The Doctor is horrified to learn that they travel around the |
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| galaxy force feeding stars to get the perfect tan. The stars survive the burst of power for only a few hours before turning nova. The Doctor decides this must stop and goes to switch off the vortex generator, but he and Clara are stopped by guards and taken to the Captain. The Captain is blind to the Doctor’s argument about the loss of life for the sake of a tan and adamant that the penalty for interference is death. Fortunately Clara has a solution and persuades the Captain that fake tan is a girl’s best friend and that fashion is all about how something looks – no-one cares if it’s real or not. |
| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Perhaps this is a veiled critique of Clara’s character, or maybe this strip really is saying that it’s great to be fake. Very ‘Doctor Who’. It makes my head hurt that the Doctor already knows of the appalling death toll the Raxel have notched up in the name of fashion and yet has done nothing about it. Nor does anything about it here. This is just rubbish no matter how you look at it.
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| | | LINE OF BATTLE |
| | | | SCRIPT: Eddie Robson
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 321
COVER DATE: 23 May - 3 June 2013
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Hunters of the Burning Stone
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Sky Jacks!
REPRINTS: None The TARDIS lands in the heavily industrialised city of Peorek, on the planet Ninsul. A giant claw grabs Clara. Soon it also captures the Doctor . At the controls is a humanoid alien. He and the Elite say they will use the Doctor and Clara, that the project is almost complete and that the other side will be theirs. The Doctor and Clara are set to work on a production line, but only the Elite knows. The only information they have is that it has something to do with Sokkar, the city on the opposite side of Ninsul. The Doctor hacks the systems and learns that they are working on the brain of a Wardroid. The next day, the Elite command the Wardroid to destroy Sokkar, but the Wardroid questions the order. The Doctor reveals that he did a simple bit of core reprogramming. Clara wonders where it will take them, and the Doctor says that he programmed it to take them to a deserted island, and if they try to swim off, it'll pick them up and put them back. |
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| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
A strip that highlights the pitfalls of hiring a workforce without checking their work history. It looks quite stylish.
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| | | THE CURSE OF THE GIBWYN |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Wow, a story about racial intolerance in Doctor Who Adventures, and a fairly clever and interesting one at that. Gibwyn was Professor Rulas’ authority code back in The Colossus of the Colosseum.
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| | | | SCRIPT: Craig Donaghy
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 322
COVER DATE: 4 - 17 June 2013
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Hunters of the Burning Stone
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Sky Jacks!
REPRINTS: None The Doctor and Clara are in the swamps of Medattia in 1875 where two rival tribes (the Gibbles and the Wynals) have joined forces to hunt down the Gibwyn. The Doctor is determined to find it first and save it. They find the Gibwyn but it is scared off by a Voodoo priest called Cronker carrying a flaming skull who warns that the Gibwyn is a curse brought on them by the mixing of the two tribes. An elder of the Wynals tells the Doctor not to mock |
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| Cronker and how, just before the Gibwyn first appeared, his son fell in love with a Gibble - and then the couple disappeared without trace. The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to summon the Gibwyn and detects two heart beats. Knocking Cronker's flaming skull from his hands it is revealed to be a genetic bonding device disguised as magic. With the device destroyed the Gibwyn separates into two people - the young lovers that were missing. Exposed for his deception Cronker's efforts to keep the two tribes apart is finally exposed and both tribes invite the Doctor and Clara to the wedding. |
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| | | GUMFIGHT |
| | | THE HAT TRICK |
| | | SCRIPT: James Hill
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 324
COVER DATE: 3 - 16 July 2013
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Hunters of the Burning Stone
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Sky Jacks!
REPRINTS: None In 1923, Miraclo the Magician is on stage in a New York theatre. He is about to pull a rabbit out of an ordinary looking hat. But the Doctor appears and warns him not to. Miraclo refuses to listen, because it will make him famous. He puts his hand in the hat, and pulls out an army of alien rabbits who start firing at the audience. The Doctor and Clara take Miraclo backstage. The invaders are dimension-hopping Lepus Warriors. They hynotised Miraclo into turning his hat into a warp gate. The Doctor heads back onto the stage and hypnotises the Lepus Warriors into jumping back through the warp gate. For his last trick, he and Clara step into a blue box and vanish into thin air. |
| | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Utterly insane, but not necessarily in a bad way, and probably worth it just for the splash page of a magician pulling killer rabbit warriors from a top hat. Pleasingly, the Doctor doesn’t solve this by waving the sonic screwdriver or by relocating them in the TARDIS, which is welcome.
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| | | GNOME GUARD |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
The Doctor uses his wits to repair the sprinkler system rather than the sonic screwdriver... and that’s really the most remarkable thing about this strip. The rest is a fairly unsurprising runaround with silly looking robots of the sort we’re more than used to.
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| | | | SCRIPT: Glenn Dakin
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 325
COVER DATE: 17 - 30 July 2013
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: Hunters of the Burning Stone
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Sky Jacks!
REPRINTS: None The Doctor takes Clara to the Hidden Gardens of Iros, one of the most beautiful gardens in the universe. Their peace does not last long, though, as the garden’s Robot Guardians appear, and deem the two new arrivals as weeds. The robots attempt to spray them with poison, and pursue the Doctor and Clara. The Doctor tries to slow the robots down with fertiliser, which angers them further; this is deemed a waste. Discovering a more barren area of the garden, the Doctor repairs the sprinkler system, hoping the robots will malfunction or rust. The robots, however, are water-proof and remain unaffected. Just as the Doctor and Clara are about to be poisoned, the robots realise that the sprinkler system has been fixed, bringing life to a barren patch, therefore the new arrivals are a helpful presence in the garden, not weeds. Now treated as honoured guests, the Doctor and Clara are given a guided tour of the garden, with the Doctor wishing he could somehow turn the sprinklers off now — he's soaking wet. | | |  |
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| | | STRICTLY FIGHT MONSTERS |
| | |  | | | SCRIPT: Simon Guerrier
ART: John Ross (art), Alan Craddock (colour)
EDITOR: Natalie Barnes ISSUE: 326
COVER DATE: 31 July - 13 August 2013
IN DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE: A Wing and a Prayer
IN DOCTOR WHO US: Sky Jacks!
REPRINTS: None A Saturday teatime on the planet Anclodupon finds the Doctor and Clara tying a tentacled terror in knots - all for the entertainment of an audience watching a TV talent show. Getting a rave review for their performance and high scores from four judges, the Doctor and Clara find themselves through to the next round and an even bigger monster. Locked in a glass case with the giant creature, the Doctor deliberately ducks a blow which smashes the glass, breaks the judges’ desk and exposes the judges as one creature - a Lernian. The audience are furious at the deception. The space police arrive and arrest the Lernian and the compere. The Doctor returns to the TARDIS puzzling why people would want to watch a show about people battling monsters. |
| | | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
Mashing together two of Saturday night television’s biggest audience winners is a great idea, and there’s actually quite a lot of fun to be had here, not least the amusing caricatures of compere Bruce Forsyth and the four judges who are captured rather well. The story is admittedly thin, but this is still an enjoyable strip.
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| | | PLANET VOID |
| | |  | | | ALTERED VISTAS SAYS:
One of the colonists wields a Dalek gun and... er... that’s the single most interesting thing going on here. It’s like |
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