Alternating Current (comic story)

Alternating Current
Doctor:	Thirteenth Doctor
Companion(s):	Graham, Yaz, Ryan
Featuring:	Tenth Doctor, Rose, Skithra Queen
Main enemy:	Sea Devils
Main setting:	London, Sea Devil Earth, 2020
Key crew
Publisher:	Titan Comics
Writer:	Jody Houser
Artist:	Roberta Ingranata
Colourist:	Enrica Eren Angiolini
Letterer:	Richard Starkings & Comicraft's Sarah Jacobs & John Roshell
Release details
Printed in:	DWC20 1 - 4
Release date:	18 November 2020 - 10 February 2021
Format:	Comic

Alternating Current was the first story published in the Doctor Who Comic in 2020, starring the Thirteenth Doctor.

It picked up directly from where A Little Help from My Friends left off, with the Doctor and Team TARDIS having to deal with an alternate timeline, caused by the events of the aforementioned story, in which the Sea Devils have ruled over Earth for over a century. The Tenth Doctor returned once again for this story, as well as an alternate timeline version of Rose Tyler.

The story had a turbulent production history due to the then-ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; it was originally intended for publication in the summer of 2020 as part of Titan's previous ongoing comic, Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor, in issues 5 through 8 of its second year, before being delayed. When it eventually released, Titan chose to discontinue their Thirteenth Doctor title in favour of a new title.

The story also leads directly into the Time Lord Victorious comic story, Defender of the Daleks, which ended up releasing two months prior, due to the delay.

Summary

to be added

Characters

• Thirteenth Doctor
• Graham O'Brien
• Ryan Sinclair
• Yasmin Khan
• Tenth Doctor
• Rose Tyler
• Jackie Tyler
• Peter Tyler
• Skithra Queen (future)
• Dorothy Skerrit
• Nikola Tesla
• Thomas Edison
• Queen of the Skithra (past)
• The Corsair

References

The Doctor

• The Thirteenth Doctor uses psychic paper to identify herself as a "Human Sea Devil chief liason" officer to a Sea Devil soldier.

Other individuals

• Rose Tyler is on a Wanted poster.
• Graham implies that he has previously been in trouble with the authorities.

Locations

• Big Ben still exists, but has been heavily damaged.
• Rose lives on a London Underground station platform.

Miscellaneous

• The Thirteenth Doctor asks the Sea Devils if they had ever considered unionising.
• The Thirteenth Doctor believes that everyone on Earth liked "having a go at their bosses".
• Graham refers to the "local work force" as slaves.
• The slaves sleep on bunk beds.
• The room the slaves sleep in has a broken television and a snooker table.
• Rose has a photograph of herself with her parents.
• Tesla and Edison are held prisoner with ourturian static cuffs.

Notes

• In issue #4, the warp core from Star Trek's U.S.S. Voyager can be seen.

Continuity

• The actions of the Thirteenth and Tenth Doctors in 1969 caused a paradox. (COMIC: A Little Help from My Friends)
• The Doctor can identify shifts in the timeline by smelling the air. (COMIC: Defender of the Daleks)
• The Doctor explains that Sea Devil society existed on Earth in its prehistoric era. (TV: The Sea Devils) She further notes that they were "one of several" early races. (TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians)
• The Doctor explains to her friends that, in the original timeline, Pete Tyler died in 1987, (TV: Father's Day) and that Jackie Tyler met a Pete from another Earth who had lost his own Jackie. (TV: Army of Ghosts, Doomsday) She also states that Rose found "someone" too. (TV: Journey's End)
• The Doctor mentions that Jackie slapped her once. (TV: Aliens of London)
• An unspecified member of Team TARDIS mentions Martha Jones. (COMIC: A Little Help from My Friends)
• The Thirteenth Doctor tells the Fam about how an earthquake at the Raven Peninsula woke up the Sea Devils. (COMIC: Clara Oswald and the School of Death)
• The Fam return to 1903, meet Dorothy Skerrit again, and discover that the Skithra have kidnapped both Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. (TV: Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror)
• The Thirteenth Doctor briefly leaves Team TARDIS behind to aide the Tenth Doctor in escaping from the Daleks' Restoration Empire. (COMIC: Defender of the Daleks)
• The Corsair reunites with the Fam. (COMIC: Old Friends)