The Gods Walk Among Us

The beginning of this short back-up strip from DWM dates the initial scenes as 1928. I’ve opted to place the story here in my history of the universe marathon due to the main tale which is told in flashback, which is clearly set somewhere in Egypt’s pyramid building phase, possibly c3600 BC. There is a suggestion that a Pharaoh is having a new style of tomb built – possibly a pyramid, although the artwork is decidedly vague – so this probably occurs sometime prior to The Eye of the Scorpion (although I did not realise this until reading it), possibly around a similar time as when the Daleks pursued the Doctor, Steven and Sara to the part-built pyramids.

The story inscribed in hieroglyphs on the tomb discovered by the 1928 archaeologists, tells of the arrival of a Sontaran scout to Egypt. The Sontaran, named Styx, sets about using the locals to build an emplacement for an ion cannon with which he plans to attack the Rutan Host. He surmises that the Rutan will retaliate and probably wipe out Earth, but he cares little for these primitives (and clearly plans to be away from Earth long before any retaliation comes to pass). An Egyptian overhears him making these plans and when he settles down to recharge himself has Styx walled up in the Pharaoh’s tomb so he can do no harm. Styx awakes but finds himself trapped until in 1928, the archaeologists open the tomb and release him. He kills the archaeologist but clearly the knowledge of his entombment was passed through the generations of Egyptians and a group are waiting for him, slamming the heavy stone door on him and burying him in the sand. However, the last frame suggests that maybe Styx is still alive.

The artwork for this strip does it few favours making its depiction of Ancient Egypt difficult to discern. There are two main Egyptians on display – a Pharaoh (or at least nobleman) and presumably his ‘number two’. Styx is described, entertainingly, as Toad God, and we see small parts of some tombs (as I said, it is never clear if they are actually pyramids or not).

It is not one of the best back-up strips in DWM, but at only one part does not really have time to develop any of the characters unlike the Silurian scientist in Twilight of the Silurians.