Invasion of the Quarks (comic story)

This topic might have a better name.

The title given at the end of the previous comic was "The Invasion of the Quarks", so this page should be moved there.

Talk about it here.

Invasion of the Quarks
Doctor:	Second Doctor
Companion(s):	Jamie
Featuring:	John, Gillian
Main enemy:	Quarks
Main setting:	Zebadee Claw Castle, Scotland, 1960s
Key crew
Writer:	Roger Noel Cook
Artist:	John Canning
Release details
Number of parts:	5
Printed in:	TV Comic 872-876
Release date:	31 August - 28 September 1968
Format:	Comic
TVC comic stories
← Previous	The Jokers
Next →	The Killer Wasps

Invasion of the Quarks was a TV Comic story featuring the Second Doctor. It showed the departure of John and Gillian and the introduction of the television companion Jamie McCrimmon to the comic strip.

Summary

The Second Doctor, John and Gillian are on the planet Zebadee, an intellectual meeting place. While John and Gillian go to meet some of the young friends they've made at the university, the Doctor visits Madam Rosa, a fortune teller who informs him that he will soon encounter deadly robots. The Doctor realises, if his next adventure will take him to the edge of death, he must leave John and Gillian on Zebadee. He talks to the children and convinces them to enrol at Zebadee University before he travels on alone.

The Doctor's TARDIS lands in the cellar of an old castle in Scotland, where the Doctor sees a flying saucer land in the castle courtyard — piloted by Quarks plotting an invasion of Earth. The Doctor is spotted and the Quarks are soon in pursuit. The Doctor tumbles down a flight of stairs, but is saved at the last minute by his old friend Jamie McCrimmon.

However, the damaged Quark's cries brings a whole squad after them. The Doctor and Jamie elude them and hide in the castle's torture chamber, where Jamie explains that he had called to see Professor Quantril at a tracking station about half a mile from the castle. The Professor spotted the Quark ship on the radar. Just as he was about to warn Earth's defences, the Quarks destroyed the station. Jamie was the only survivor and saw the Quark ship land inside the castle, so he went there, intent on finding out how large an invasion force they were up against.

With little time to act before the main invasion force arrives, the Doctor and Jamie seize the Quark ship and take off. Once in flight, the Doctor flies straight into the approaching fleet and opens fire. The Quarks attempt to retaliate, but not knowing which ship is firing causes chaos.

The Doctor's ship is hit but he still has limited control. As the two remaining Quark ships destroy each other, the Doctor pilots the ship back to the castle and Jamie blasts it to pieces, destroying the Quarks stationed there with their own weapon. Landing, the Doctor and Jamie board the TARDIS, but, from their planet in "another galaxy", the Quark leaders declare that they will avenge the fallen invasion force.

Characters

• Second Doctor
• John Who (exit: part 1)
• Gillian Who (exit: part 1)
• Jamie McCrimmon (intro: part 2)
• Madam Rosa
• Quarks
• Quantril

Worldbuilding

• Zebadee is where the "great intellectuals" and wizards meet to compare notes.
• Madam Rosa uses her crystal ball to see the TARDIS whirling through time and space.
• The Doctor says that John and Gillian have travelled with him for years.
• The Doctor has heard of the Quarks before, but this is his first meeting with them.
• Jamie has spent some time in the 1960s.

Notes

• Hoping for the Quarks to be successful, TV Comic negotiated with BBC Enterprises to have them licensed for the strip. From this, creative team Roger Noel Cook and John Canning were arranged to attend a recording session of The Dominators to see the Quarks in action. (DWCC 17) This story was then run at the same time that The Dominators was airing.
• Greater ties to televised continuity were also achieved with Jamie's introduction. He is the first TV companion to appear in a strip.
• Upon the comic's publication, Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln, who were simultaneously dealing with similar issues that same month with the use of their Robot Yeti in Doctor Who Annual 1969, were displeased that the BBC had licensed out the Quarks without their permission and contacted TV Comic to ask them to stop. The BBC reaffirmed with TV Comic that they could continue using the Quarks, but the upcoming story Ice Cap Terror was rewritten to not use the Robot Yeti as a compromise. (DWCC 17)
• The Quarks are vastly different from their televised selves, being autonomous, speaking, and far more dangerous. Indeed, unlike later TVC stories, the Quarks here use the same spaceships seen on television as the Dominator ship.
• This was the final appearance of John and Gillian in a comic story until The Land of Happy Endings in 2003. In the interim, John appeared as Professor John Who, head of Space Science, in Beware the Trods! in DWCC 8 in 1993. Furthermore, they appeared as fictional characters created by Jason, the Master of the Land of Fiction, in the novel Conundrum in 1994.
• The mention of Zebadee being a planet of wise wizards calls back to the good Wizards discussed in The Witches. One spell in The Witches used the words "Zebadee Zorrow".

Original print details

(Publication with page count and closing captions)

• TVC 872 (2 pages) The hunt is on and Dr. Who is the prey! Don't miss next week's dramatic episode!
• TVC 873 (2 pages) Pursued down a corridor of death! Can the space travellers escape?
• TVC 874 (2 pages) Death is only a few feet away! Don't miss next week's dramatic episode!
• TVC 875 (2 pages) Our heroes are sitting ducks... and next week a rocket strikes!
• TVC 876 (2 pages) Drama plusnext week when the Quarks send giant wasps against the Doctor!

Continuity

• Wizards are among the "most marvellous brains in the universe." (COMIC: The Witches)
• The Quarks fly in "Quark saucers". (TV: The Dominators)