The Everlasting Summer (comic story)

The Everlasting Summer was a comic story published in Doctor Who Magazine starring the Thirteenth Doctor, Yasmin Khan and Dan Lewis.

Part one
Inside the Doctor's TARDIS, Dan picks up a brochure from Alien Getaways, advertising the Gardens of Everlasting Summer with the caption, "Aged over 660? Time to take things easy". Dan jokingly asks the Thirteenth Doctor if she is planning to retire, but she has no interest in peaceful getaways. However, when he and Yaz point out the two-headed crocodiles pictured in the brochure, the Doctor investigates. Concerned by something she sees, she decides that maybe it is time to settle down after all.

Arriving at the manor house where the gardens are located, Yaz greets its owner: a short, blue-grey-skinned humanoid with dark blue striped markings named Custodian Jinpar. He welcomes the trio inside for a tour, complete with the Doctor pretending to be Yaz and Dan's grandmother by being pushed by Dan in a wheelchair while placing covers over her head and knees. Jinpar happily shows them first the recreation room, then the dining area, but the Doctor demands to see the gardens. Despite Jinpar's protests, he lets them see their "perfect" gardens, but the Doctor is highly sceptical.

As Yaz and Dan look around at the many and varied types of beautiful flora, a honeygold flower that Yaz smells suddenly sheds a single petal and Jinpar panics, ordering the travellers back to the house immediately without explanation. As they run down the path, the Doctor leaps out of her wheelchair and sheds her disguise in a push for answers, but Jinpar insists they have no time, so she reluctantly follows. However, Dan is distracted by a rustling from a bush, where a large helpless bee-like creature, acting like and sized similarly to a human baby, makes itself known. Falling for it instantly, Dan offers it his help and promises to take it to the Doctor.

Back in the house, the Doctor, Yaz, and Jinpar are safe behind the doors, although Jinpar refuses to open them back up to Dan's terrified knocking until sunrise due to the danger that is held on the other side. Although the Doctor attempts to sonic her way past, she is interrupted by an elderly man and woman called Gebra and Hurum who recognise the Doctor on sight and declare that "at last we will have our revenge" as they shed their clothes and transform into purple-feathered bird-like creatures with vicious beaks. Meanwhile, Dan continues to call for the Doctor from behind the door, still holding the bee creature as a massive swarm of winged insects close in on him.

Characters

 * Thirteenth Doctor
 * Dan Lewis
 * Yasmin Khan
 * Jinpar
 * Gebra
 * Hurum

Original print details

 * (Publication with page count and closing captions)


 * DWM 580 (6 pages): To be continued!

Continuity

 * The Doctor recently took Yaz and Dan on a drama-filled seaside picnic, and still have the picnic basket in the TARDIS control room. (COMIC: Fear of the Future)
 * Yaz mentions her nani. (TV: Demons of the Punjab)