The Steel Web (comic story)

The Steel Web
Doctor:	[[doctor::Eleventh Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Amy Pond
Main enemy:	Cyborg Spiders
Main setting:	Pomarius
Key crew
Publisher:	[[publisher::BBC Magazines]]
Editor:	Moray Laing
Writer:	Steve Lyons
Artist:	John Ross
Colourist:	Alan Craddock
Release details
Release number:	185
Printed in:	Doctor Who Adventures Issues 185
Release date:	23 September 2010
Format:	Comic - 1 parts (4 pages)
DWA comic stories
← Previous	The Purrfect Crime
Next →	In the Can

Summary

En route to see the beautiful orchards of Pomarius, the TARDIS, with the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond inside, 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 inside 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.

Characters

• The Doctor
• Amy Pond

References

to be added

Notes

• A somewhat suspect story, the penultimate page ends with a question asking the reader if they spotted something that made the spiders stop – the answer is “nope!” Yet in the next frame, the Doctor is mixing up a liquid to pour into the TARDIS engines (!) to make it smell like a fruit fly, He then lures the cyborg spiders away from Pomarius to another planet! If it was the fact that the spiders were programmed to attack fruit flies , where was the threat to Heldan or the Doctor?
• The DWA comic strip adventures were very much aimed at a younger audience and the artwork and colours were bold and bright, reflecting the tone of the magazine.
• Self contained, one part stories were the norm.

Original print details

Publication with page count and closing captions

1. DWA 185 (4 pages) NEXT WEEK – The Doctor and Amy deal with some freaky food

• No reprints to date.

Continuity

to be added

TIMELINE

• This story occurs after DWAN: The Purrfect Crime
• This story occurs before DWAN: In the Can