Doomsilk (comic story)

Doomsilk
Doctor:	[[doctor::Tenth Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Heather McCrimmon
Key crew
Publisher:	[[publisher::BBC Magazines]]
Editor:	Moray Laing
Writer:	Trevor Baxendale
Artist:	John Ross
Colourist:	Alan Craddock
Letterer:	Paul Vyse
Release details
Printed in:	Doctor Who Adventures 142
Release date:	19 November 2009
Format:	Comic - 1 parter (4 pages)
DWA comic stories
← Previous	Highway Robbery
Next →	One Careful Owner

Summary

Landing on a small planet that looks like a pearl in the middle of a distant galalaxy, the Tenth Doctor and Heather McCrimmon discover the planet is composed of a silk-like substance. Two figures rise out of the ground and, still attached to the planet, give chase. The figures bear a strong resemblance to the Doctor and Heather, who fall through a hole in the ground leading to an underground chamber. With the low gravity of the planet breaking their fall, they explore the chamber with its pools of luminous green slime. They find a long dead giant spider. Looking around more they find cocooned bodies hanging from the roof, the remains of other visitors: dinner or sacrificial victims! The Doctor investigates the slime that has some unusual properties but the silk creatures again attack them. With Heather trapped, the Doctor tests a theory. Covering himself with slime, he drives the creatures back. The Doctor explains that the slime may have killed the spider and in doing so gave the silk a life of its own. Without any form of its own, the silk copies whatever creatures land, and make their own offerings in worship to the slime. Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor hopes no one else lands here by mistake!

Characters

• The Doctor
• Heather McCrimmon

References

• The Tenth Doctor wears his brown coat and suit.
• The Tenth Doctor uses his Sonic screwdriver to scan the luminous slime in the cave.
• The Doctor also dons his glasses for a closer inspection of a a cocooned victim.

Notes

• The DWA comic strip adventures were very much aimed at a younger audience and the artwork and colours were bold and bright, reflecting the tone of the magazine.
• Self contained, one part stories were the norm in the early issues, later being expanded to two-parters.

Original print details

Publication with page count and closing captions

1. DWA 142 (4 pages) NEXT WEEK! The TARDIS is stolen!

Continuity

• The Doctor refers to a "Spider-God" when he questions whether the cocooned bodies are food or sacrificial offerings. This is a reference to a Fourth Doctor comic strip story from Doctor Who Magazine Issue 52.

Timeline

• This story takes place after DWA: Highway Robbery
• This story takes place before DWA: One Careful Owner