Mudshock (comic story)

Summary
Arriving at a final frontier called Dustville (aka Arkansas XVl Colony Base One) the Tenth Doctor is curious why at noon the town’s streets are empty. From nearby a young boy, Ben McGill calls to the Doctor to hide as bandits (large fearsome beasts with red eyes) tear through the town leaving a trail of damage in their wake. The bandits have been coming every day at high noon and steal the towns supplies before leaving. Fixing the town’s generator unit the Doctor stays overnight heading out in the morning with Ben to track down the bandits using horse-shaped sky bikes. In the Wastes (the salt and dust land surrounding the settlement) the Doctor and Ben analyses the ground with his sonic screwdriver near to where Ben spots one of the satellite antennae from the town embedded in the rock. He finds that the salt bed is full of tiny living crystals. At its hottest point the twin suns heat creates a chemical reaction which gives rise to the bandits. As noon approaches the bandits chase the Doctor and Ben back to Dustville where the Doctor confronts the bandits and suggests that they live together with the settlers. The bandits refuse pointing out that this dry and barren world is perfect for them and they will take what they want. The Doctor has other ideas, and, Ben, armed with the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver and the TARDIS, creates a localised atmospheric excitation causing the first heavy showers on the planet for a thousand centuries. The icy rain causes the bandits molecules to cool too quickly and they are unable to hold their physical form and are reduced to puddles. Still conscious though the Doctor gets the settlers to collect up the ‘puddle’ of bandits in buckets, and safely takes them in the TARDIS to be resettled on a dry world they can make their own.

Characters

 * The Doctor
 * Ben McGill

Original Print Details (Publication with page count and closing captions)

 * 1) DWA Issue 156 (4 pages) NEXT WEEK UFO alert!

Reprints

 * None to date

Continuity

 * The Tenth Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to scan the Wastes outside the town and (with Ben’s help), create an localised atmospheric excitation causing it to rain.
 * The Tenth Doctor is featured wearing his brown suit in this strip
 * The idea of using the TARDIS to create a localised atmospheric excitation producing rain is not without precedent. In (DW): The Runaway Bride the Doctor does a similar thing to make it snow for Donna Noble.