Timeslip (comic story)

Summary
The TARDIS encounters a giant amoeba-like creature which feeds on Time energy and begins to consume the TARDIS itself. Time reverses within the TARDIS as the creature feeds, and K9 disassembles back into his component parts while the Doctor regresses to his first incarnation. Eventually the TARDIS reaches the moment of its activation, and beyond that point ceases to be a time machine. The creature is confused and weakened by the foreign body within itself, and Time begins to flow forward again; the TARDIS is activated once more, and becomes a time machine, and when the creature feeds again Time reverses. The repeated back-and-forth motion weakens and kills the creature, and the TARDIS, the Doctor and K9 return to normal.

Characters

 * Fourth Doctor
 * First Doctor
 * K9 Mark II
 * The Second Doctor and Third Doctor appear briefly
 * Unknown Entity 
 * Like a giant jellyfish drifting in space and feeding on time energy, the entity (one of many) is a basic and primitive life form that feeds at the Galactic Rim on the Great Rifts of Time.

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

 * 1) DWM Issue 17 (4 pages)  Next Week: Bid Time Return
 * 2) DWM Issue 18 (4 pages)  Next Week: The Star Beast

Reprints

 * 1) Doctor Who Comics
 * 2) Doctor Who Classic Comics Issue 27. Reprinted in colour.
 * 3) The Tides of Time (graphic novel). Reprinted in black and white, with closing captions. (Unlike the rest of the stories, printed in full colour.

Continuity

 * Reference is made to the Randomiser being operative, placing this story after the events of DW: The Armageddon Factor (and therefore quite a bit later than the preceding strip, DWM: City of the Damned). Romana is said to be absent, but the presence of K-9 and absence of Adric indicates this story (as well as those immediately following in which the Doctor travels with K-9 and Sharon) has to occur prior to the TARDIS entering E-Space in DW: Full Circle.
 * The reason for Romana's absence is not explained. The Doctor expresses a wish that he could contact her, suggesting that where ever she is (or perhaps due to the randomiser) that communication is difficult.