Warning: The following contains information that reveals the events of this comic strip. If you haven't read it and don't want to have the story spoiled, do not continue.

Endgame


Part 2
DWM 245
November 20th, 1996
above: The Toymaker taunts the Doctor and Izzy.

Story: Alan Barnes Pencils: Martin Geraghty Inks: Robin Smith
Lettering: Elitta Fell Editors: Gary Gillatt & Scott Gray

Quotes:
Izzy: (upon seeing the TARDIS control room) So this is it? I was expecting something bigger. Not exactly the starship Enterprise, is it?
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Izzy: I don't know my real parents. Don't even know their name. One day I'll find out. 'Til then, I'm just Izzy S...'Izzy Somebody.'

Synopsis:
The Doctor explains to Izzy that he once won a game against The Toymaker and that this must be the rematch. The Toymaker disapproves of the Doctor's changed appearance and threatens to make him invisible again.

Marwood catches up to them and demands the Focus from Izzy, who refuses. The Doctor warns her that they truly want him and that she and Max are pawns which may be sacrificed. The Toymaker commends the Doctor on his observation and expects the game to be enjoyable. The Doctor decrees that it not be played in Stockbridge, but the Toymaker says that is not their actual location.

While trying to determine where thay actually are, the Doctor pulls out a device that he presents as a bomb and warns Marwood to stay away or he might detonate it. As the Toymaker scoffs at this action, Max quietly inquires if the device is really a bomb. The Doctor explains to him that it's actually an alarm clock from Somnambulos IV that wakes a person by scrambling their sensory centers. He then tosses the device at the hunters and the Toymaker, blinding them and disturbing their senses. The Doctor rushes Izzy into the TARDIS and escapes, but the Toymaker assures Marwood that they'll return because Max has been left behind.

Izzy worries about Max, but the Doctor tells her they'll return and that the Toymaker plays by the rules. Izzy is not impressed by the TARDIS interior. The Doctor checks the console and sees that they are at the right coordinates, but in the wrong Stockbridge.

Izzy explains that two days earlier she and Max returned from a skywatch in Wells Wood to find Stockbridge altered, the season suddenly summer and the citizens either vanished or possessed. That night in a cemetary they met Knight Templar and Marwood's adjutant, Felix. He stole the Focus from Marwood, who served a new master, and asked them to remove it from the town before Marwood discovered its absence. She points out the Toymaker wants the Focus as badly as he wants the Doctor.

Izzy gives the Focus to the Doctor and he asks her to browse the library for a book on artifacts, in which he's sure he has seen the Focus before. Izzy admires his books on the dark sciences and the Doctor warns her to be careful with one called the Osirian Grimoire, which is alive and he went through much trouble to recover.

As Izzy finds the correct book, the Doctor disengages the sub-spatial gyros because he fears Stockbridge is closer than they realize and warns Izzy that he became one-inch tall the last time he attempted such a maneuver. The TARDIS transports.

Meanwhile, Marwood approaches the Toymaker, who orders him to move the body of a cleric that was murdered in the style of the boardgame Clue. The Toymaker has Max hanging from the ceiling in a birdcage and decides it's time to "shake up" the Doctor.

The Doctor explains his theory to Izzy about them being in a macro-dimensional pocket when they come across a frozen couple in front of a pub. Izzy sadly tells the Doctor that they are Sandra and Les, her adopted parents, and that she dosn't know the identity of her real folks. The Doctor looks on with compassion as she reveals that her last initial, S, stands for Somebody.

Suddenly, the ground begins to shake and they are caught in a snowstorm. The Toymaker peers in on the Doctor and Izzy from outside the snowglobe that contains them.

Comments:
For being confined to the comic pages of a magazine, the Doctor and Izzy feel quite three-dimensional in Part 2 of this story. The Doctor, bluffing with an alarm clock and such, maintains the quirkiness he had in the telefilm, such as the scene in that movie in which he pulled a gun on himself. Izzy is given a background and must be the first human who actually expects the TARDIS interior (as seen the 1996 movie) to be BIGGER, facets of her personality that make us laugh and feel compassion for her. The Toymaker maintains the appropriate level of playful, yet dangerous villainy.

Most of the pages in this story are dedicated to expository information and character development, but it paints a fuller picture. The snowglobe cliffhanger is quite fascinating and exactly the surreal kind of ploy I'd expect from the Toymaker. On a side note, there are a number of references to past stories in this part.

With some fabulous perspective and inks, we get our first DWM comic glimpse of the new TARDIS control room. The pencils in this issue are quite good, although Izzy's face takes on different shapes throughout the comic. That is understandable, since she was a new character at the time and was not established by a photographed actor, such as Paul McGann.
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This part of the story contains a boxed literary quote from William Shakespeare's The Rape of Lucrece.
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At one point, the Doctor passes off an alarm clock as a bomb and warns Marwood, "Stay back, or I might explode!" This is very similar to what the 4th Doctor said while strapped to a bomb in the televised story Revenge of the Cybermen.

Other Features This Issue:
The John Nathan-Turner Memoirs, Chapter 9; Roots of Doctor Who, Part 1; reused plots; Archive: The Mind Robber; Chris Clough interview; fan thoughts on continuity issues in 1996 telefilm.

If you feel I've missed anything and have facts to contribute, such as notes about earlier continuity, please mail me. If I use them, you will receive credit.

Endgame: Part 3

Cover Page

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