Attack of the Rats (comic story)

Attack of the Rats (comic story)

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Attack of the Rats
Doctor:	[[doctor::Tenth Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Donna Noble
Main enemy:	Zantraan
Main setting:	Paris, France, Earth
Key crew
Publisher:	[[publisher::GE Fabbri Ltd]]
Editor:	Claire Lister
Writer:	Jason Loborik
Artist:	Lee Sullivan
Colourist:	Alan Craddock
Release details
Format:	Comic - Part 3 of 3 (4 pages)

Opening narration box

The Doctor has tracked the latest alien pod to France ...

Summary

In Paris the area around a third crashed alien craft has been evacuated and placed under UNIT control. The Doctor's psychic paper gives them entrance as providers from Noble Catering. This is a bigger craft, with more crew and more alien mutations, this time giant rats. Taking refuge in the alien craft. the Doctor uses the communication system to contact the mothership. Onboard the mother ship the Queen of the Zantraan is expecting her three scout ships to have found a safe landing site for the royal ship. The Queen is not happy that her scouts have all died and uses a tractor beam to bring back the space craft, along with the Doctor and Donna, who are encased in an isolation sphere to protect the Zantraans from germs. Following their exodus from a plague ridden homeworld, the Zantraans are looking for a new world to colonise. As their ship is dying, they luckily came across the Earth, the Pure Planet, a fresh clean world. The Doctor and Donna fail to convince the Zantraans that the Earth isn't suitable, as it's ridden with pollution, smells and disease. Instead The Zantraan Queen orders preparations to cleanse the planet through burning...
ArtistLee Sullivan

Characters

• Tenth Doctor
• Donna Noble
• Zantraan - Large, grey in colour, three-eyed, six tentacled limbed creatures, ruled over by a monarch Queen. The Zantraans were forced to leave their home planet when it was ravaged by a plague. The surviving population fled in a shape ship destined to find a new world.

Original print details

(Instalment, publication with page count and closing captions)

• 3/4 DWBIT 47 (4 pages) TO BE CONTINUED…
• No reprints to date.

Notes

• Supporting the series of collectable Doctor Who trading cards, the magazine carried a regular four page comic strip of the Tenth Doctor’s adventures.
• The limitation of only four pages meant that stories often lacked depth compared to other regular comic strips running at the same time.
• The artwork and colours were bold and bright, reflecting the tone of the magazine and as did Doctor Who Adventures, reflected the appeal to readers younger than those catered to by Doctor Who Magazine.

References

• The Battles in Time comic strip sought to reinforce the association of its Doctor with the one seen on screen with ‘props’ from the TV series: blue/brown suit, sonic screwdriver, psychic paper and his intelligent glasses.

Continuity

to be added

Timeline

• This story takes place after DWBIT: Sting of the Serpent
• This story takes place before DWBIT: The Zantraan Invasion