The Blood of Azrael (comic story)
The Blood of Azrael was a comic story published in the 470th issue of Doctor Who Magazine. It ended in issue 474 and was last regular Eleventh Doctor strip from the magazine.
Summary
Part one: The Blood of Azrael
In a flashback, a young Danny Fisher and his dad are attacked by a lizard creature that speaks in an alien language. He is then brought back to reality in their base in Cornucopia by Annabel Lake speaking to him. Patrick Lake enters and talks to them about the aftermath of the Obsidian Mainframe Incident and how it is important not to reveal that Earth or humans were involved. He is then interrupted by a TV broadcast showing Amy Johnson (a famous pilot who supposedly died in World War 2, rescued by the Doctor and Clara) being interviewed about the upcoming Lifesong Carnival to celebrate Cornucopia's history. Patrick suspects the Doctor's involvement. He sends Annabel and Danny undercover as their respective counterparts, Ms Ghost and Londi, to interview Amy about her rescue. However, she is out flying and while doing so is hijacked by Brothers Progg and Hanka that have been hired to eliminate her. She is rescued by Horatio Lynk. They realise they are both linked by their meetings with the Doctor.
Meanwhile, in Cornucopia's airport, the Doctor and Clara, after losing the TARDIS, are travelling through customs. The Doctor is a state of depression at losing his beloved time machine. At the front a girl, Keli, is being harassed by security guards for not having the necessary papers to enter Cornucopia. She is distraught and pops a pill into her mouth. The Doctor and Clara look at what's going on. Keli begins to scream and holds her hand up to the world. It bears a strange triangular symbol. She dissolves while the Doctor and Clara look on in horror.
Part two: The Architect of Despair
On Cornucopia, all the species and people are preparing for the Lifesong Carnival. Meanwhile, Amy and Clara are talking about what happened to them at the airport and Keli. The Doctor is still depressed and walks put. Clara tells Amy about the situation.
At the same time, Annabel and Danny are spying on the Doctor and they realise that they caused the Doctor to lose his TARDIS. Lynk calls Amy and tells her he's found Progg and Hanka, dead. Clara drags the Doctor to a clinic where they meet Lynk and other children and aliens. Lynk is revealed to be helping them and the Doctor helps cure a young kid, who hugs him and tells him he's a good doctor.
Suddenly the Doctor springs back to his old self and runs out. Lynk takes them all to the Renath Archive, an old library in the heart of Cornucopia, where they meet Albert, a blind alien and Matildus, the librarian. The Doctor shows her the symbol on Keli's hand. She takes several guesses at what it is before coming to a stern conclusion. It is the mark of Azrael...
As told to the Doctor, Clara, Amy and Lynk, the story of Azrael...
"He was the first Necrotist, a man who inspired a black stream of madness that flows through the universe to this day. A Necrotist is an artist who believes that murder is the only true form of creativity: that life must bestolen in order for art to blossom. Where a Necrotist walks, tragedy follows. Azrael was a genius who came from a world where death had been conquered, where immortality was fact. His brilliance turned his people's science against him. They perished in a flood of measureless agony. It was his first "statement". Many more soon followed. Some said his face was so terrible that to merely look upon it would summon death. Others claimed it was beautiful it would drive the beholder mad. Whatever the truth, Azrael chose to wear a mask carved from the skull of the last Magellan Emperor. His supposed masterpiece was the Wasting Wall, a structure built out of the bodies of an entire species- a monument to genocide. If it ever truly existed it has been lost to myth. But history records in harrowing detail a slaughter that spanned three centuries and countless worlds. Azrael lived and died ten thousand years ago. When he was finally captured, he sttod calmly upon his execution block and spoke four words, "Death is my ally." He was the Sculptor of Grief. The Peot of Corruption. The Architect of Despair."
After the story has been told, they hear a scream. Horatio and Amy set off in search of Albert. They find him, crystallized. Clara and the Doctor follow. They then find the TARDIS. The Doctor is overjoyed. But then the door opens and Azrael steps out. He tells the Doctor that time belongs to him and that he should take solace in the fact that the universe is now his canvas before the TARDIS dematerialises...
Part three: The Mercy
The part opens with more information about the aliens and various lifeforms performing in the Carnival, including a girl wearing the cloak of her fore-mothers, a drummer who will be providing a beat for his son and daughter to dance along to and a girl who will be describing a sonnet in the night air, through the use of sigils.
Meanwhile, the Doctor and Horatio Lynk are working on an Artron Energy Detector, to find the Tardis, which has been stolen by Azrael, a Necrotist. Clara and Emily are flying overhead, providing a sensor sweep of Cornucopia for the Detector to scan. However, the Detector doesn't show up any traces of Energy, prompting the Doctor to destroy the machine in a fit of rage. He calms down though and admits he will need help to fight someone like Azrael.
We cut to Cornucopia Trading Standards, where Ms Ghost alias Annabel Lake or Madame Strul, is receiving trading reports from a coworker, Derek. She walks into her office, where she finds the Doctor sitting in her chair. She immediately pulls a gun on him, questioning him as to why he is here. The Doctor admits he hasn't told anyone about Wonderland, but he's here because he knows he's been under surveillance by them and he needs their help finding his Tardis and stopping Azrael. Ghost refuses to help, until Londi, the taxi driver from the Obsidian Mainframe and actually Danny Fisher, an agent of Wonderland, in disguise, chooses an inappropriate time to walk in. The Doctor recognizes him and flies into a rage at him, describing in detail his deductions of their plan to hack the Mainframe, the biggest market in the galaxy, for information on the bidders. Danny removes his disguise as does Annabel and the Doctor finally convinces her to help by telling her she owes him.
Meanwhile, in the centre of Cornucopia, Clara and Amy are joined by a guy named Vansa, who has the same triangular tattoo symbol that Keli had, on his hand. He tells them he is here to meet someone very special, who is here in Cornucopia and decides to bring them along.
At Wonderland HQ in Cornucopia, the Doctor is ushered in by Danny and Annabel, masked, to be greeted by Patrick Lake, who decides to help the Doctor find Azrael. Annabel uses the Doctor's screwdriver that she took in Prague when she first met him. They look through all the bids on the Tardis and the Doctor quickly discovers Azrael's winning bid came from the Halion Nebula, "sixty billion miles of space dust... and one Azrael." Patrick is able to open a portal to the Nebula and the Doctor yells "Geronimo!" as he, Danny and Annabel run through the portal, with Patrick muttering that they'll be back.
At a warehouse in Cornucopia, Clara and Amy discover hundreds of aliens have gathered there and they all have one thing in common. They are fans of Azrael who have come together to die and become part of a masterpiece. The usher releases the Mercy from a box. The Mercy is a wave of red energy that incinerates all the aliens. Clara and Amy leg it, Clara makes it to the other side, but Amy is trapped. She leans against the door and comforts Clara, before the incinerating red beam engulfs her, killing her. Clara cries and sinks down against the door, sobbing.
Part four: The Wasting Wall
to be added
Characters
- Eleventh Doctor
- Clara Oswald
- Amy Johnson
- Horatio Lynk
- Annabel Lake/Ms Ghost
- Danny Fisher/Londi
- Azrael
- Patrick Lake
References
to be added
Notes
- This was the final Doctor Who Magazine comic story to feature the Eleventh Doctor.
Continuity
to be added
External links
to be added
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