The Prodigal Returns (comic story)

For the 50th anniversary of the Cybermen in September 2016, a brief continuation of the Cybermen comic series from the 1990s was released in DWM 504. It was given the name The Prodigal Returns in the contents page of the magazine.

The story was told with two pages: one at the beginning of the magazine and one at the end. Like the audio story Flip Flop, the story involved a temporal loop, meaning the order the pages were read in didn't affect the story. The pages also heavily resembled each other in terms of frame composition and dialogue.

Page 1
After its separation from Earth, Mondas is ruled by Cybermen. The Cybermen detect an object falling through Mondas' atmosphere. They fire missiles, but they miss and the object lands. An ape with Cyberman-like modifications comes out of the crashed object. The ape is captured and taken to a laboratory to be analysed.

The Cyberman scientists theorise that the ape came from a cosmic cloud, a moving distortion in space-time that appeared shortly before the ape crashed into Mondas. They theorise that there must be an entire planet of apes on the other side of the cosmic cloud and decide to send a scout through the cloud to begin a cyber-conversion of this species. As the Cybermen prepare to vivisect it, the ape thinks about how it will never complete its mission by returning to its home: Mondas.

Page 2
Before its separation from Earth, Mondas is ruled by Lizard Kings. They detect an object falling through Mondas' atmosphere. They fire missiles, but the object swerves through them and lands. A damaged Cyberman emerges from its crashed ship. The Cyberman is captured and taken to a laboratory to be analysed.

The Lizard King scientists theorise that the Cyberman came from a cosmic cloud, a moving distortion in space-time that appeared shortly before the Cyberman crashed into Mondas. The Queen of the Lizard Kings suggests that they could use the cloud to escape Mondas before the fast-approaching rogue planet arrives near Mondas and sets it on an orbit away from Earth. She decides to send an augmented ape through the cloud to test if it could be used. As the Lizard Kings prepare to vivisect the Cyberman, it thinks about how it will never complete its mission by returning to its home: Mondas.