Mancopolis (comic story)
Mancopolis was the five hundredth and eighth comic strip published in Doctor Who Magazine, beginning on 4 January 2024[1] by Panini Magazines and written by Alan Barnes.
It marked the comic strip debuts of the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday, depicting an unspecified point in their travels.
It was notably the first story in any medium to depict Ruby taking a trip in the TARDIS, predating any such trip in televised media.
Plot
Part One
08:30 am in the city of the north, and in a futuristic high-rise building, a bespectacled man named Gerry pleads with his boss, Mayor Mary Mulberry, to be honest with the public about the collapsing economy. She deflects him, claiming that the early meeting has made him difficult, despite her claiming it to be a breakfast meeting. Upon his admission that he has been in contact with Galactic Central Exchange to send the auditors in on her, Mulberry admits that her Internal Affairs team has intercepted his call and informed her. No longer wanting to work with a "snitch", she has him teleported to a dark chamber where he is attacked by wet, fanged creatures, informing Gerry over their watches that he is the breakfast.
An hour and fifteen minutes later, the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday arrive in the TARDIS above Jason Orange Plaza. The Doctor proudly shows her their location: her childhood home city of Manchester in 2424, shocking her. He points to all the skyscrapers named after legendary figures from the city's history and a strange cloud, but Ruby instead notices that they have landed upon a tram track. Realising the danger they are in as a futuristic tram hurtles towards them, they dodge it and it stops just in time, but they are immediately surrounded by the Care Fleet vehicle's masked occupants - the Care Force, who accuse them of being tram raiders and order them to surrender. As they do, a baby faced cloud appears, claiming to be a witness to the Doctor and Ruby having unhappy faces and dares them to try and make the Care Force go away. When they fail to do so, it begins raining on the duo impetuously. Ruby, annoyed, sarcastically states that they are definitely in Manchester.
Characters
(In order of appearance)
Referenced only
- Fred Perry
- Auditor-General
- Frank Sidebottom
- Olive Morris
- Nana Bonsu
- Jason Orange
- Shelagh Delaney
- Eric Sykes
- Rosetta Tharpe
- John Cooper Clarke
- Lemn Sissay
- George Formby
- Les Dawson
- Erinma Bell
- Pablo Fanque
- Tony Wilson
Worldbuilding
Food and drink
- Gerry was told by Mulberry that they'd have a "breakfast meeting"; she actually intended to feed him to the fanged creatures, having led him to believe that he'd be served something like croissants.
- Mulberry pours herself a cup of coffee.
Manchester
- Manchester is a northern city.
- Mulberry is a trusted figurehead to the public.
- Gerry is Mulberry's deputy.
- Gerry metaphorically claims that the interest on the debt contributing to the economic crash is "stratospheric".
- He also metaphorically claims that there is a "black hole" in the city's finances, which they've crossed the event horizon.
- Internal Affairs detected Gerry's communication with the Galactic Central Exchange, alerting Mulberry. After Gerry's admission, she calls him a whistle-blower.
- The Exchange told Gerry that auditors would be sent to Manchester. The Auditor-General also threatened him with extradition.
- Mulberry's office has a desk, chair and computer. It is also furnished with a framed butterfly and a potted fern.
- The TARDIS materialises on the Jason Orange Plaza.
- The buildings are named after "legendary figures" from the city's history. Among them are; Fred Perry, Nana Bonsu, Olive Morris, Frank Sidebottom, Shelagh Delaney, Eric Sykes, Rosetta Tharpe, John Cooper Clarke, Lemn Sissay, George Formby, Les Dawson, Erinma Bell, Pablo Fanque and Tony Wilson.
- The Care Forces' vehicle is named Care Fleet.
- According to Ruby, rain is typical in Manchester.
The Doctor
- The Doctor wears his burnt orange leather trenchcoat.
Notes
- This was the first Doctor Who Magazine comic story to feature the Fifteenth Doctor, and the first words spoken by him in his tenure as the incumbent incarnation of the DWM range are: "Yeah, this is it. This is what we want!"
- Similar to Liberation of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"] before it, the story's title is kept entirely secret until the final page of part one, simply being called "Comic strip" on the issue's spine and contents page.
- Although the story's placement in the Doctor and Ruby's timeline is ambiguous, it is likely shortly after The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"] as they're still wearing similar clothes to what they wore in that episode.
- This story — the Fifteenth Doctor's comic debut in DWM — is set four hundred years after its real world publication in 2424, similarly to how Liberation of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"] — the Fourteenth Doctor's comic debut in DWM — is set three hundred years after its publication in 2323.
Production errors
to be added
Original print details
(Publication with page count and closing captions)
- DWM 599: (6 pages): N/A
Continuity
to be added
Footnotes
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