A Groatsworth of Wit (comic story)

A Groatsworth of Wit was a Doctor Who Magazine comic story featuring the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler.

It served as the Ninth Doctor's last regular appearance in the publication, although he would later receive one more DWM outing fifteen years later in Monstrous Beauty.

Summary

The Shadeys are a race that draws on negative emotions. They choose Robert Greene as a host for powerful negative emotions. By manipulating the dying Greene they turn his hatred, bile, and jealousy of Shakespeare "up to eleven", giving them enough power to crush the planet.

Plot

to be added

Characters

• The Ninth Doctor
• Rose Tyler
• Robert Greene
• Uncle Bloodfinger
• Woodscrape
• William Shakespeare
• Ty Baxter
• Liz Golding
• John Naps
• Matt

Worldbuilding

• Rose unfavourably compares Shakespeare to Joseph Fiennes.
• In Books Unltd, there is a Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince poster and Doctor Who annuals.

Notes

A Groatsworth of Wit title card.

• This marks the final appearance of the Ninth Doctor in regular comic strip format. His final lines in his comic book tenure are, "Everybody gets forgotten in the end, Rose. Best to make the most of life while you're still around. I s'pose it'll happen to me one day..."
• The name Uncle Bloodfinger is very similar to Mother Doomfinger and Mother Bloodtide, two characters who featured in The Shakespeare Code, an episode released two years after the comic, where three "witches" attempt to free the other members of their race, the Carrionites. The dialogue and presentation of the enemies speaking while watching the writer work is similar to several parts of The Shakespeare Code. Both were written by Gareth Roberts.
• A tavern sign features a picture of a wolf's head and the initials "B.W.", a reference to the Bad Wolf story arc resolved in the television story The Parting of the Ways.
• No specific date is given in the scenes set on Charing Cross Road, inside the Books Unltd. bookstore, nor in Leicester Square. In Part One, Bloodfinger takes Robert Greene forward in time "four hundred years" from 1592, while a text box at the beginning of Part Two places the Leicester Square part of the story in the "present day".
• Despite Books Unltd clearly being located in the United Kingdom, the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince poster in the store depicts the cover artwork for the North American edition, rather than the British edition.

Continuity

• The Ninth Doctor mentions the "big row" he and Rose had over interfering with time. (TV: Father's Day)
• The Doctor is already acquainted with Shakespeare, but notes that Shakespeare hasn't met him yet. (TV: City of Death)