The Five Masters (comic story)

The Five Masters
Doctor:	Twelfth Doctor
Companion(s):	Clara
Main enemy:	The Master
Main setting:	Battle of the Bands Beyond the Stars
Key crew
Writer:	Colin Bell
Artist:	Neil Slorance
Release details
Release date:	30 September 2016
← Previous	The Abominable Showmen
Next →	One! Two! Three! Four! To Doomsday

The Five Masters was a backup comic printed in the back of Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor issue 12. It continued the story printed in the previous three back up stories of the Doctor and Clara being forced to perform in a music competition in order to save their lives. Like The Abominable Showmen before it, this story is notable as one of the few multi-Master stories, featuring five incarnations of the Time Lord competing to attempt to take over the universe.

Summary

to be added

Characters

• Twelfth Doctor
• Clara Oswald
• Missy
• Decayed Master
• "Tremas" Master
• "Bruce" Master
• "Saxon" Master
• Alien

References

to be added

Notes

• The title is a play on The Five Doctors.
• As with the previous issue, the only lines spoken by the "Saxon" Master are "the drums" over and over again. (TV: Utopia, et. al)

Continuity

• The Doctor says, "I didn't know when I was well off", upon seeing the many Masters, noting that it is something that he has always heard others say and has always wanted to say himself. (TV: The Three Doctors, The Day of the Doctor)
• When the Doctor shows little care in the plan concocted by Missy and the Masters, Missy comes close to begging the Doctor to ask what their scheme is. The Master has noted his dependance of seeing the Doctor's reactions to his plans before. (PROSE: Legacy of the Daleks, TV: Castrovalva)
• When the Doctor angers Missy by asking if her plans involve "death by monologue", she threatens him with her device, and yells, "Say something nice!" (TV: Dark Water/Death in Heaven, The Magician's Apprentice)
• This is Clara's third encounter with Missy (TV: Dark Water/Death in Heaven, The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar) and her second with the "Tremas" Master. (COMIC: Prisoners of Time)
• The Doctor easily guesses that the Masters' and Missy's plan revolves around using the show to hypnotise viewers across the galaxy, and is not impressed by its predictability. (TV: Logopolis, et. al)
• The Doctor and Clara recall their previous discussions of the creative differences which had befallen a band of the first four Doctors as the five Masters fight. (COMIC: Day of the Tune)