Star Tigers (comic story)

Star Tigers
Main character(s):	Abslom Daak
Featuring:	Salander, Harma, Mercurius, Taiyin
Main enemy:	Axiron, Kill-Mechs, Daleks
Main setting:	Draconia, 26th century Paradise, 26th century Dispater, 26th century
Key crew
Publisher:	Marvel Comics
Editor:	Dez Skinn
Writer:	Steve Moore
Artist:	Steve Dillon DWM issues 27, 28 and 29 David Lloyd DWM issue 30
Letterer:	no credit given
Release details
Printed in:	Doctor Who - A Marvel Monthly Issues 27-30, 44-46
Release date:	10 April - November 1980
Format:	B&W 4 parts / 16 pages
DWM backup comic stories
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Star Tigers was a comic story published in Doctor Who - A Marvel Monthly. It was written by Steve Moore.

Summary

Part one

The 26th century: Draconians watch, undecided on a course of action, while three Dalek craft enter their territory in pursuit of another ship. Prince Salander watches as the Dalek craft are destroyed by the stranger in the fourth craft. To shortcut bureaucratic complications, Salander greets the fourth craft's pilot, Abslom Daak, without the permission of the Emperor. Daak is searching for a way to resurrect Taiyin from her cryogenic unit. Salander offers to help, but is accused of treason by fellow Draconian Axiron. Daak and Salander are placed under house arrest, but Salander learns of his son's death by Dalek fire and the Emperor's refusal to retaliate. After they have collected Taiyin's body, Salander and Daak make their escape in Salander's private spacecraft.

Part two

Having fled the Draconian Empire in a prototype attack ship now christened the Kill-Wagon, Abslom Daak and Prince Salander search for a crew. On the decadent and hedonistic planet Paradise they find Harma, an Ice Warrior now employed as a contract killer. Daak overpowers Harma, makes him break his contract and goes with him to the planet Dispater to find Vol Mercurius.

Part three

Mercurius has a cybernetic hand. He plays a game of parachess with the robot Klikbrain as Kill-Mechs close in on his home and planet. Daak had taken his hand in return for the loss of "his" girl, Selene. Mercurius agrees to go with the others, callously ignoring Klikbrain's plea to take him offworld with them.

Part four

The Kill-Wagon has come to a meteoroids belt — really Dalek Space-Commando Units. Daak wants to attack at once, but Mercurius says to wait twelve hours until the Daleks have to recharge. The Kill-Wagon crew launch a successful nuclear attack on a Dalek craft inside a volcano.

Characters

• Abslom Daak
• Salander
• Draconian Emperor
• Axiron
• Karinis
• Zorynx
• Praliss
• Harma
• Vol Mercurius
• Klikbrain
• Dalek Commander
• Kroton

Worldbuilding

• While imprisoned, Salander compares Daak's behaviour to that of a caged Thorion, though Daak thought he was going to say tiger.
• Mercurius voices his preference to working with a Rigellian than Daak.

Notes

Kroton on the planet Paradise.

• There was an unexplained break to this story during the transition from Doctor Who Weekly to Doctor Who Monthly.
• The Daleks were originally to have featured in part six, when they would have been seen closing in on Mercurius' home on Dispater. However, the instalment had to be rewritten and revised to replace the Daleks with the Kill-Mechs, totally original creations, when it was rumoured that Terry Nation was planning to withdraw the licence to use the Daleks in the strip. Fortunately, it turned out Nation had no such intentions and the Daleks returned in part seven. The Abslom Daak: Dalek Killer graphic novel restores the original dialogue and art, removing the Kill-Mechs altogether.
• A minor crossover with Ship of Fools occurs in part five: when Daak and Salander are on the streets of Paradise wondering how to find Harma, a Cyberman can be seen in the background with its back to the reader. The back stripes match those of Kroton, implying that the planet seen from Flying Dutchman II in Ship of Fools was Paradise.

Original print details

Publication with page count and closing captions

1. DWM 27 (4) To Be Continued.
2. DWM 28 (4) To Be Continued.
3. DWM 29 (4) More Next Week!
4. DWM 30 (4) More Next Week!
5. DWM 44 (4) More Next Month!
6. DWM 45 (4) ...More Next Month
7. DWM 46 (4) The End ... For Now ...

Reprints

• Coloured and reprinted by Marvel in DW84 9 - 12.

• Reprinted as part of a linked narrative tale in DWMS Summer 1981.
• Included as part of the Abslom Daak - Dalek Killer graphic novel in 1990.
• Included as part of the Nemesis of the Daleks graphic novel in 2013.

Continuity

• In his introduction, the Fourth Doctor refers to the Human-Draconian War. (TV: Frontier in Space)
• Salander reports to the Emperor on the Daleks' conquest of Mazam. (COMIC: Abslom Daak... Dalek Killer)
• Daak recalls being sentenced to exile on Mazam when becoming a Dalek Killer. (COMIC: Abslom Daak... Dalek Killer)
• Daak placed Taiyin's body in the cryogenic freezer-unit of her space-yacht, in the hope that she can eventually be revived, "about twenty minutes" after she was killed by the energy blast of a Dalek gunstick. (COMIC: Abslom Daak... Dalek Killer)
• The Daleks travel in space individually. (COMIC: Invasion of the Daleks)