Find the 600! (comic story)
Find the 600! was a comic strip published in the supplementary magazine of the same name, which came free with, and celebrated the landmark 600th issue of Doctor Who Magazine.
The story, starring the magazine's own members of staff, is told through staged photographs arranged into comic pages, and largely serves as a narrative lead-in to the main magazine's specially-created cover image.
Plot
One day in Panini Towers, Jason Quinn is working in his job as editor of Doctor Who Magazine just like any other day. However, he eventually gets a call on his work phone from Dez Skinn, the creator of the magazine, who tells him in shock that his entire collection of magazines has vanished. Jason promises to send him some spares and hangs up, ignoring his protests. Turning to his deputy, Richard Atkinson, and art editor Mike Jones, Jason asks them to send Dez one copy of every DWM ever, but Richard quickly discovers that their entire archive has gone missing too.
Soon enough, across the country, DWM luminaries past and present react with shock and terror as all their hard work has vanished. Amongst all this, Richard receives a video call from "DWM oracle" Peter Ware, who informs Jason that someone is trying to erase DWM from history and that they need to stop the timeline changing altogether. Jason tells Richard and Mike that they have a mission to undertake. They begin to leave, but Mike already starts to forget about the magazine's existence.
The trio rush to Mike's car, despite him briefly forgetting that he can drive, and Jason orders them to head to the only reasonable location: Cardiff, the centre of the space-time nexus. Driving down the M4 westbound and over the Severn Bridge, Richard begins to even forget who his colleagues are. They try to hold on to their memories as they pull into Cardiff Bay and park up at Wolf Studios, knowing that without DWM, the entire world would be unrecognisable.
Walking around the studios, they spot the Doctor's TARDIS materialising in a corridor and Jason immediately knows that the answers to saving reality must be inside. They find it unlocked and are astonished to discover that it actually is bigger on the inside, with the Doctor's TARDIS control room. Even more amazingly, they find the floors, railings, and even the control console itself carpeted with every single previous issue of DWM ever. Each taking an issue in their hands, Jason, Richard and Mike triumphantly proclaim that their memories are back and DWM is saved. They gather around the TARDIS jukebox to share stories of their favourite issues, but suddenly hear a charismatic commanding voice coming from the doorway, shouting "Err... Hello? Can I help you?", stopping them in their tracks...
Characters
- Jason Quinn
- Richard Atkinson
- Mike Jones
- Dez Skinn
- John Freeman
- Alan Barnes
- Lew Stringer
- Peri Godbold
- Gary Russell
- Marcus Hearn
- Emily Cook
- Tom Spilsbury
- Peter Ware
- Fifteenth Doctor (voice only)
Worldbuilding
- Next to Jason's work phone are six VHS cassettes, the first five of which are labelled "Marco Polo 1-4", "Marco Polo 5-7", "Mission to the Unknown", "The Smugglers 1-4", and "The Highlanders".
- Richard is seen holding a TARDIS tin in the office.
- Jason sighs upon getting a call from Peter Ware, believing him to be hiding in Brazil.
- Artwork of Spider-Man and Wolverine appears on the wall of Panini Towers.
- The team drive past the M4 junction 15: one branch leading west towards Reading and Slough; a second leading to western and central London and Terminals 1, 2 and 3 of Heathrow Airport; and a third leading to Oxford, Watford and Stansted Airport via the M40, M1 and M11.
- Mike wears a T-shirt with artwork from If You're Feeling Sinister by Belle & Sebastian.
Doctor Who Magazine
- Jason reads from the Doctor Who and the Star Beast comic strip at his desk.
- Mike Jones has a copy of a Doctor Who Magazine graphic novel on his desk.
- Alan Barnes shows concern that "The Fact of Fiction is no more" after realising that Doctor Who Magazine has gone missing. Peri Godbold is more worried about all her drop shadows.
- Issue 584 had a rare subscriber exclusive cover featuring the Fourteenth Doctor.
- Issue 167 came with a seven-inch Abslom Daak flexidisc.
- Jason picks up and opens an issue featuring the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday on the front cover. The back cover features an advertisement for The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles depicting the Eleventh Doctor and Valarie Lockwood.
Popular culture
- Mike has a copy of Lovely Jubbly: A Celebration of 40 years of Only Fools and Horses on his desk.
Notes
- All of the stories seen on VHS tapes on Jason's desk are almost completely missing from the archives in real life.
- The TARDIS tin that Richard is holds is from the magazine's semi-regular Out of the TARDIS interviews, one of which appeared in issue 600 itself.
Continuity
to be added
