Imaginary Enemies (comic story)

Imaginary Enemies
Main character(s):	Amy, Rory, Mels
Featuring:	Brian
Main enemy:	Krampus, Veronica Stackmore
Main setting:	Leadworth Primary School, 1990s
Key crew
Publisher:	Panini Comics
Editor:	Tom Spilsbury & Peter Ware
Writer:	Scott Gray
Penciller:	Mike Collins
Inker:	David A. Roach
Colourist:	James Offredi
Letterer:	Roger Langridge
Release details
Number of parts:	1
Printed in:	DWM 455
Release date:	13 December 2012
Format:	Comic
DWM comic stories
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Next →	Hunters of the Burning Stone

Imaginary Enemies was a story printed in issue 455 of Doctor Who Magazine. Notably, it did not feature the Doctor. It was the last DWM story to feature Amy and Rory, and was the first to feature Melody Pond, in the form of Mels Zucker. It is also the only strip to feature Brian Williams.

Plot

In Leadworth, during the 1990s, the nativity play is almost starting and young Amelia Pond is being bullied before the school play by the main star Veronica (the mayor's spoiled daughter) saying she's mad and she'll get locked away forever. Veronica then breaks the Raggedy Doctor doll Amelia made. Whilst in the library she's visited in the mirror by a man who appears similar to a reverse Santa Claus claiming to be her uncle "Krampus" who is really a member of the Pantheon trying to prevent the future Amy and Rory from getting married and joining the mad man in the box, and conceiving their child who would go on to kill the Doctor.

Krampus captures them with his goblins Otto, Siegfried and Ludwig. However Veronica notices that the doll he has given her is nothing more than a lump of coal. So she throws it into a mirror and Krampus and his goblins are sucked through the portal in the mirror. Amelia and Rory forget about the events but Mels remembers. Since Veronica is knocked out Amelia becomes the new Mary, with Rory as her Joseph. Rory's father comments that they make a lovely couple, to which Mels enthusiastically agrees.

Characters

• Krampus
• Ludwig
• Otto
• Amelia Pond
• Siegfried
• Veronica Stackmore
• Brian Williams
• Rory Williams
• Mels Zucker

Worldbuilding

• Krampus explains that he is part of "a Pantheon".
• Veronica says that her uncle works at Canary Wharf.
• Krampus is dressed like Santa Claus albeit with the colours in reverse and a German accent.
• Mrs Brockerly is one of the teachers at the primary school.

Notes

• The story ends with various images of Amy and Rory together from their later years of their life after being sent back in time at the end of the television story The Angels Take Manhattan. In one of the images, Rory is shown to be a medical doctor, suggesting that he moved up from being a nurse.
• This is the first non-televised adventure in which Melody's second incarnation, Mels, appears, but the third non-televised adventure in which Melody, in any incarnation, has appeared. In the first two, the video game The Eternity Clock and the novel The Angel's Kiss: A Melody Malone Mystery, she appeared in the form of her third incarnation, going by the aliases River Song and Melody Malone respectively.

Continuity

• Mels has superhuman strength. Her original incarnation had previously shown to have broken free of the Astronaut, which characters reflected would have taken superhuman strength, in TV: Day of the Moon ^[+]Loading...["Day of the Moon (TV story)"].
• Krampus identifies himself as a member of "a Pantheon" whose members delight in chaos, liking to "take histoy and change it, (…) twist it into dark new shapes". This aligns with the modus operandi of the Trickster, who debuted in TV: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? ^[+]Loading...["Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (TV story)"] and was established in TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith ^[+]Loading...["The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)"] to belong to a group known as the Pantheon of Discord. The Time Beetle seen in TV: Turn Left ^[+]Loading...["Turn Left (TV story)"] was described as having a similar agenda, and was identified as a member of the Trickster's Brigade by the Tenth Doctor in Turn Left itself, later being established as a Pantheon member in its own right in PROSE: Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia ^[+]Loading...{"page":"264","ed":"2011 reprint","1":"Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia (reference book)"}. From TV: The Devil's Chord ^[+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"], it would become standard to refer to the group as simply "the Pantheon".
• Krampus is defeated in the same way as the Trickster in TV: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? ^[+]Loading...["Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (TV story)"] and TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith ^[+]Loading...["The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)"] the link that brought him into the Universe being broken.
• Veronica sees a picture of Amy's future self advertising Petrichor perfume. Such a poster was seen in TV: Closing Time ^[+]Loading...["Closing Time (TV story)"], revealing Amy's new career.
• The Thirteenth Doctor would later face Krampus in COMIC: Holiday Special ^[+]Loading...["Holiday Special (comic story)"]. Though revealed to actually be female in her true form, Krampus's portrayal otherwise aligned with his depiction in this story, able to shift between a true goat-like, demonic form, and a human form similar to Santa Claus.