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{{Infobox Comic|
{{title dab away}}
comic name= End of the Line |
{{real world}}
image= |
{{ImageLinkTV}}
series= [[Doctor Who Magazine comic strips|Doctor Who]] -<BR> [[Fourth Doctor Comic Strip Stories]]|
{{Infobox Story SMW
number=1|
|range = DWM comic stories{{!}}DWM Comics
doctor= [[Fourth Doctor]]|
|number in range = 14
companions= |
|image= CannibalsEndOfTheLine.jpg
enemy= |
|series=[[DWM comic stories|''DWM'' comic stories]]
year= |
|doctor= Fourth Doctor
writer= [[Steve Parkhouse]]|
|companions=
artist= [[Dave Gibbons]]|
|enemy= [[Chief (End of the Line)|Chief]]
publication_title= [[Doctor Who Monthly]] 54-55|
|setting= [[Planet (End of the Line)|Unnamed world]]
publication_dates= June - August [[1981]]|
|writer= Steve Parkhouse
publisher= [[Marvel Comics]]|
|artist= [[Dave Gibbons]]
format= Comic - 2 parts|
|colourist=
previous story= [[The Deal]]|
|letterer=
next story= [[The Freefall Warriors]]|
|editor = [[Alan McKenzie]]
}}
|publication= [[DWM 54]]-[[DWM 55|55]]
|release date= 11 June - 9 July 1981
|publisher= Marvel Comics UK
|format= Comic
|prev= The Deal (comic story)
|next= Doctor Who and the Free-Fall Warriors (comic story)
|epcount = 2|reprint=Dragon's Claw (graphic novel)
}}{{you may|End of the Road (TV story)|n1=the Torchwood story ''End of the Road''}}
'''''End of the Line''''' was a [[Fourth Doctor]] comic strip published in ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]''.


==Summary==
== Summary ==
The TARDIS materializes in the subway system of a dystopian city, where years of industrial pollution have transformed the street gangs into cannibal mutants. The Doctor is saved from the cannibals by the Guardian Angels, the few remaining “normal” humans, and taken to their headquarters; there, an elderly engineer is trying to repair the connections which will take the Angels out of the city to the fabled Countryside. The cannibals track down their prey, however, and slaughter most of the Angels while trying to get to the Doctor. The Doctor sends the surviving Angels out of the city on the last remaining train while he remains behind, completing the engineer’s work just as the cannibals break in. The cannibal Chief tries to kill the Doctor but electrocutes himself in the machinery, and the Doctor escapes as the Chief’s fellows fall upon his carcass. Curious, the Doctor uses the TARDIS to follow the tracks to the end of the line -- only to find that the open countryside is a sterile, poisonous wasteland, and that there is no sign of the train carrying the last of the Angels.
The [[Fourth Doctor]] lands on what appears to be a [[subway]] platform. Soon, he finds himself chased by [[Cannibal (End of the Line)|Cannibals]]. As the creatures appear to gain the upper hand, a masked figure suddenly rushes the zombies. They are quickly dispatched, and the Doctor's shadowy saviour removes her mask. She introduces herself as "[[Angel (End of the Line)|Angel]]", one of the [[Guardian Angel]]s who patrol the under-city. She explains that the zombies were in fact called "[[Cannibal (End of the Line)|Cannibals]]", in deference to their eating habits.


Angel suggests that the Doctor should come with her back to Guardian Angel HQ. Once there, she introduces the Doctor to her fellow Guardian Angel, [[Sonny (End of the Line)|Sonny]], and their scientific advisor, [[the Engineer (End of the Line)|the Engineer]]. The goal of the Angels, it turns out, is to try to do something to reverse or escape the crushing levels of [[pollution]] in the city, as this has been traced directly to the creation of the Cannibal underclass. The Angels, in fact, believe that there is some place beyond the city, somewhere at "the end of the line", called "[[countryside]]". If they can just figure out how to manipulate the subway system, perhaps they can break free and find it.


The Doctor offers to help, just as Angel HQ is rushed by Cannibals. The Doctor believes that he's managed to set the tracks properly to lead the Angels out of the city, but he gets separated from his new friends after he believes he sees them board the right train. Thinking all is probably well, he slips away from the Cannibals and finds his way back to [[the Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]].


==Characters==
Just as the Doctor is about to leave the [[planet]], though, he reasons that he didn't ''actually'' see Angel, Sonny and the Engineer make it to their new life in the countryside. So he pilots the TARDIS to the end of the subway line. There, the Doctor finds it's not a paradise, but really just as polluted as the city proper. Nevertheless, he waits for his new friends to arrive. After a considerable length of time, a [[radioactive]] [[rain]] storm phases the Doctor's determination to wait for his friends to arrive. The Doctor goes back to the TARDIS, saddened that his friends didn't make it, but also grateful that their unrealistically hopeful dreams of the countryside were likely still intact.
*[[Fourth Doctor]]


==References==
== Characters ==
''to be added''
* [[Fourth Doctor]]
* [[Angel (End of the Line)|Angel]]
* [[Sonny (End of the Line)|Sonny]]
* [[The Engineer (End of the Line)|The Engineer]]
* [[Joey (End of the Line)|Joey]]
* [[Chief (End of the Line)|Chief]]


==Notes==
== Worldbuilding ==
''to be added''
''to be added''


==Continuity==
== Notes ==
''to be added''
===  Original print details ===
::(Publication with page count and closing captions)
# DWM 54 (8 pages) Next: You Are What You Eat!
# [[DWM 55]] (8 pages) The End.
=== Reprints ===
# [[DW84 11]]-[[DW84 12|12]] (''Doctor Who'' (1984) colourised reprint)
# ''[[Dragon's Claw (graphic novel)|Dragon's Claw]]''
# [[DWCS2 2]]-[[DWCS2 3|3]] (IDW colourised reprint)
# [[Doctor Who Classics Volume 3]] (IDW colourised reprint)
# [[Doctor Who Classics Omnibus Volume 1]] (IDW colourised reprint)


==External Links==
== Continuity ==
''to be added''
* The Doctor bolsters his own confidence in a bad situation by quoting his [[third incarnation]]'s dying sentiment, ''"Where there's life, there's hope."'' ([[TV]]: ''[[Planet of the Spiders (TV story)|Planet of the Spiders]]'')


{{comic stub}}
== External links ==
{{Dwrefguide|comic4.htm#endofline|End of the Line}}
{{Fourth Doctor DWM comics}}
{{TitleSort}}


[[Category:Fourth Doctor Doctor Who Magazine comics stories]]
[[Category:Fourth Doctor DWM comic stories]]
[[Category:1981 comic stories]]
[[Category:Two part comics]]

Latest revision as of 20:31, 26 January 2024

RealWorld.png

You may be looking for the Torchwood story End of the Road.

End of the Line was a Fourth Doctor comic strip published in Doctor Who Magazine.

Summary[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Fourth Doctor lands on what appears to be a subway platform. Soon, he finds himself chased by Cannibals. As the creatures appear to gain the upper hand, a masked figure suddenly rushes the zombies. They are quickly dispatched, and the Doctor's shadowy saviour removes her mask. She introduces herself as "Angel", one of the Guardian Angels who patrol the under-city. She explains that the zombies were in fact called "Cannibals", in deference to their eating habits.

Angel suggests that the Doctor should come with her back to Guardian Angel HQ. Once there, she introduces the Doctor to her fellow Guardian Angel, Sonny, and their scientific advisor, the Engineer. The goal of the Angels, it turns out, is to try to do something to reverse or escape the crushing levels of pollution in the city, as this has been traced directly to the creation of the Cannibal underclass. The Angels, in fact, believe that there is some place beyond the city, somewhere at "the end of the line", called "countryside". If they can just figure out how to manipulate the subway system, perhaps they can break free and find it.

The Doctor offers to help, just as Angel HQ is rushed by Cannibals. The Doctor believes that he's managed to set the tracks properly to lead the Angels out of the city, but he gets separated from his new friends after he believes he sees them board the right train. Thinking all is probably well, he slips away from the Cannibals and finds his way back to the TARDIS.

Just as the Doctor is about to leave the planet, though, he reasons that he didn't actually see Angel, Sonny and the Engineer make it to their new life in the countryside. So he pilots the TARDIS to the end of the subway line. There, the Doctor finds it's not a paradise, but really just as polluted as the city proper. Nevertheless, he waits for his new friends to arrive. After a considerable length of time, a radioactive rain storm phases the Doctor's determination to wait for his friends to arrive. The Doctor goes back to the TARDIS, saddened that his friends didn't make it, but also grateful that their unrealistically hopeful dreams of the countryside were likely still intact.

Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

 Original print details[[edit] | [edit source]]

(Publication with page count and closing captions)
  1. DWM 54 (8 pages) Next: You Are What You Eat!
  2. DWM 55 (8 pages) The End.

Reprints[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. DW84 11-12 (Doctor Who (1984) colourised reprint)
  2. Dragon's Claw
  3. DWCS2 2-3 (IDW colourised reprint)
  4. Doctor Who Classics Volume 3 (IDW colourised reprint)
  5. Doctor Who Classics Omnibus Volume 1 (IDW colourised reprint)

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

v • e
DWM Fourth Doctor comic stories
Original run
Solo
K9
Sharon & K9
K9
Solo
Later stories
Romana II
Romana I & K9
Sarah & Harry
Sean
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