Unnatural Born Killers (comic story)

Unnatural Born Killers
Main character(s):	Kroton
Main enemy:	Sontarans
Main setting:	Unnamed planet
Key crew
Publisher:	Marvel Comics
Editor:	Gary G, Alan B. and Scott G.
Writer:	Adrian Salmon
Artist:	Adrian Salmon
Letterer:	Elitta Fell
Release details
Number of parts:	1
Printed in:	DWM 277
Release date:	8 April 1999
Cover date:	5 May 1999
Reprinted in:	The Glorious Dead
Format:	Comic
DWM comic stories
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Next →	The Road to Hell

Unnatural Born Killers was the comic story featured in DWM 277. Like the later Me and My Shadow, it was the unusual case of a story that didn't feature the Eighth Doctor but was nevertheless still vital to the narrative of the Eighth Doctor's DWM run. Thus, it is best thought of as a part of the Eighth Doctor narrative, rather than a one-off Doctor-less adventure like the DWM backup comic stories.

Crucially, it re-introduced the character of Kroton, who had debuted in Throwback: The Soul of a Cyberman, one of the early 1980s backup comic stories. Kroton would play a vital role in the series of Eighth Doctor strips that culminated in The Glorious Dead.

Summary

The day starts badly when a Cyberman is awoken halfway through its solar regeneration cycle by the needless Sontaran slaughter of an innocent people offering the hand of peace. Unable to start a war with the natives, the Sontarans begin genocide. The Cyberman, now fully recharged, defends the people and takes on the Sontaran force single-handed. Fighting his way aboard their colonisation ship, the Cyberman manages to destroy it, along with the bio-energy feed link with the surviving Sontaran ground troops. Returning to the people, he walks away, unable to share their joy. They remind him of so much that he has lost. He's called Kroton. He can't remember his real name.

Characters

• Kroton
• Sontarans
• Kahlor
• Shallia

Worldbuilding

to be added

Notes

• Unnatural Born Killers has no dialogue, only Kroton's internal monologue.
• The second and third editions of aHistory arbitrarily date Unnatural Born Killers to 3500, the same year as Ship of Fools, though acknowledges that it could be much later.

Original print details

Publication with page count and closing captions

• DWM 277 (7)

Continuity

to be added