Nineveh! (comic story)

Nineveh was the final story published in The Incredible Hulk Presents. It was retrospectively notable for its commonality to the storyline seen in DW: The Doctor's Wife.

Summary
The Seventh Doctor encounters the Watcher of Nineveh, a legendary killer of Gallifreyans.

Plot
Against programming, the TARDIS brings the Seventh Doctor to a place without stars — a place in what the Doctor calls "null space". The Doctor investigates only to discover that it is a junkyard full of old TARDISes. His exploration is cut short, however, by the arrival of the Watcher of Nineveh, a spooky figure of Gallifreyan legend. The Watcher, it turns out, has lured many Time Lords to their deaths.

The Doctor initially tries to fight back against the Watcher, but quickly discovers the being has no corporeal existence. Seeing no alternative, the Doctor then simply runs, eventually finding his way back to the TARDIS. Even this is no sanctuary, however, since the Watcher can penetrate and inhabit the TARDIS.

In the end, the only thing that saves the Doctor is the Watcher's recognition that the Doctor is in his seventh body. Since Time Lords have 13 lives, it's not yet time for the Doctor to die.

Characters

 * The Seventh Doctor
 * The Watcher of Nineveh

Continuity

 * This story can be used as proof of the lack of distinction between "Gallifreyan" and "Time Lord", since both the Doctor and the Watcher use the terms interchangeably. It's also an additional source for the notion that Time Lords have a limit of 13 lives. Indeed, the Watcher says that Nineveh is "where Gallifreyans go to die" and then immediately quotes a legend by saying,
 * Twelve rejuvinations all,
 * and not a season more,
 * hath been the lot of the Time Lords,
 * since the darker days of yore . ..


 * The commonality with DW: The Doctor's Wife is unmistakable. However, it's unclear whether there's any narrative connection between the Watcher and House.
 * There is no implication that the Watcher of Nineveh is the same entity as the Watcher, a figure that facilitated the Doctor's fourth regeneration.
 * The Doctor effectively calls the Watcher stupid, suggesting that "even an Ogron" could tell that the Doctor was too healthy to die.

Timeline

 * This story occurs after IHP: Slimmer
 * This story occurs before DWM: Doctor Conkeror