The Demons of Repton Abbey

In The Demons of Repton Abbey, a Doctor Who Adventures comic strip, the 11th Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive at the home of Lord Cranarch ready for dinner. They are all decked out in their glad rags (with the Doctor wearing his top hat and tails as seen in Let’s Kill Hitler) only to find aliens have invaded the house and taken both the upstairs and the downstairs captive.

Doctor Who Adventures comic strips are bright, brash and short and this is no exception. Pleasingly, though, this doesn’t go for DWA’s usual story twist that someone is an alien in disguise or that the alien is actually benevolent. In this case, right from the word go we know the aliens are baduns and the Doctor is going to kick them back to where they came from.

I’m a big fan of the 11th Doctor and Rory (Amy I can take or leave) and whilst Amy and Rory do very little in this story, the Doctor is quite nicely written (for a short comic strip). There’s a lovely part where he claims he’s always been more of a ‘downstairs than upstairs’ kind of guy when rushing down to the servants quarters. I also love the reappearance of his sonic cane. Moffat has tried to reinvent the sonic with Capaldi’s sunglasses but I love the cane as it’s something that the Doctor is able to flourish with aplomb.

The aliens are reptilian but we don’t learn their species name, although the individuals number Lord Ryzt and K’Tang. They are pretty generic baddie aliens with big lasers and devices which can take the humans memories. Quite why they have invaded the house isn’t particularly clear apart from the Doctor making a quick supposition about Lord Cranarch being quite high up in British Intelligence so having useful info in his head the aliens can steal. Why the aliens, after taking the humans captive and put under their machine’s influence, then proceed to trash the dining room isn’t really explained.

1912 is, nominally, the year but aside from a reference to the Titanic, it’s all rather superficial. The aliens do make the effort to blend in by weating some contemporary clothes (although I’m not sure if the one wearing a long dress with frilly sleeves and mop cap is female or just a male alien dragging up). The humans seem to take being invaded by reptilian aliens within their stride – the last frame sees them laughing and joking with the Doctor, Amy and Rory as if nothing beyond some local ruffians trespassing on the ground has occurred.

Not the greatest of DWA’s strips and not the worst but a fun diversion nonetheless.