The Mark of Mandragora (comic story)

The Mark of Mandragora
Doctor:	Seventh Doctor
Companion(s):	Ace
Main enemy:	Mandragora Helix
Main setting:	London, 1999
Key crew
Publisher:	Marvel Comics
Editor:	John Freeman
Writer:	Dan Abnett
Artist:	Lee Sullivan and Mark Farmer
Release details
Printed in:	Doctor Who Magazine 169-172
Release date:	23 January - 17 April 1991
Reprinted in:	[[reprint::The Mark of Mandragora|'The Mark o
Format:	Comic - 4 parts
DWM comic stories
← Previous	Distractions
Next →	Party Animals
DWM's "New Adventures order"
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Next →	Under Pressure

You may be looking for the graphic novel collection of the same name.

The Mark of Mandragora was a Seventh Doctor comic strip published in Doctor Who Magazine.

Summary

to be added

Characters

• Seventh Doctor
• Ace
• Captain Muriel Frost
• Beanie
• Stranks
• Sergeant Jasper Bean
• Lynodd
• Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart

References

• Throughout the story, a number of epigraphs are contrasted against the events within the panels. These are from: Francis Bacon, Essay on Death; William Shakespeare, Othello and Antony and Cleopatra; John Donne, Song and Alfonso, King of Castile.
• The Brigadier is absent for much of the story as he is at a Geneva summit.
• UNIT are trying to negotiate greater powers with the UN.
• By the late 1990s, London had become known as 'swinging London' again, having not held the name for thirty years.
• The Doctor says that he has been redecorating the TARDIS.
• When the lightning falls and the Doctor takes out his umbrella, he sings the lyrics to Singin' in the Rain.

Notes

• Ace's earrings are the Starfleet insignia from Star Trek.
• From Distractions and this story onwards, the Doctor's question mark pullover disappears from the comic strip and is not seen again. This is in line with an increasing synergy with the New Adventures, in which the Doctor was often portrayed without the pullover.
• Nicholas Courtney gave permission for the use of his likeness in this and the prelude story Darkness, Falling, on the condition that the Brigadier only appeared for a few frames.
• The story was presented in full colour in the graphic novel The Mark of Mandragora.

Continuity

• The Doctor and Ace return to the secondary console room. (TV: The Masque of Mandragora et al.)
• The TARDIS features a library of bookcases embedded in its walls. (TV: Deep Breath et al.)
• Ace briefly encounters Magog, still trapped in the Doctor's TARDIS and pleading for release. (COMIC: The Iron Legion)
• M, or Mandrake, is a popular drug amongst teenagers and young adults that first appeared in 1997, and is the most important teenage problem in some European countries, but carries a more malevolent, alien purpose with the Mandragora. The Seventh Doctor later encountered cocaine, or SMILE, in 1987, that had become infused with the N-Forms. (PROSE: Damaged Goods, AUDIO: Damaged Goods)
• The Doctor states that the Mandragora Helix aligns with Earth every five centuries. (TV: The Masque of Mandragora) Repercussions of the alignment would be felt in 2009. (PROSE: Beautiful Chaos)
• Frost states that following the Gantac Invasion and the Availlon fiasco, (COMIC: Invaders from Gantac!, TV: Battlefield) UNIT have been operating under a greater degree of public transparency, with aliens now a public fact. However, by 2005, public knowledge had diminished. (TV: Aliens of London)
• Due to UNIT's new public and global position, Frost sows the seeds for the later organisation Foreign Hazard Duty, to operate in a secret position. (COMIC: Echoes of the Mogor!) It is implied that their name originates from the fact Mandrake is classified as a foreign hazard.
• Frost says that the Brigadier suggested the Doctor could become part of FHD's core team, likely alluding to his previous role of scientific advisor. (TV: Spearhead from Space et al.)

External links

• The Mark of Mandragora at the Doctor Who Reference Guide