By Rob McCow

End of The Line
 

This story ran in issues #54-55 of Doctor Who Monthly. Dave Gibbons gave it a new cover for the full colour reprint in issue #12 of the US Marvel Doctor Who Comic, from September 1985. The Doctor Who graphic novel ‘Dragon’s Claw’, published in 2004 by Panini Books, includes a nicely cleaned up End of The Line.
 

Writer – Steve Parkhouse

Artist – Dave Gibbons

Editor – Alan McKenzie
 

The Doctor encounters the vigilante group of survivors known as The Guardian Angels. They consist of ‘Angel’ herself, Sonny, The Engineer, Joey and a handful of others but their numbers are few.

Sonny is the leader of the Angels, a heavily muscled Sarge-type character with that kind of flat-top buzz-cut haircut that was popular in the eighties, but is all too rarely seen these days outside of Dolph Lundgren films. Naturally, Sonny is very level headed and gets straight to the pont. Angel is a kick-ass ninja type who unexpectedly turns out to be… a woman!?!? She has a soft feminine side, in that she’s strictly vegetarian. Then there’s the warty old Engineer, good with computers, but not so good with malnutrition and radiation sickness, both of which are killing him. Joey is another very eighties character, with MAD magazine style freckles, a baseball cap and stripy shirt. The fact that I need to describe his clothes in detail gives you an idea of how important and interesting Joey’s character is.
 

The TARDIS lands somewhere in the rank, dank darkness of an underground chamber. The Doctor’s Geiger counter detects high levels of radioactivity, shortly before a train almost runs him over. The train pulls up at a station and a shambling man gets out. As the Doctor moves to say hello, a band of vicious, orc-like thugs emerge with the intention of eating him. They chase the Doctor through the train as it moves out of the tunnel into the ruined city.

As the cannibals break into the Doctor’s carriage, the train stops at another station. The Doctor tries to escape but his scarf gets caught in the train door. He is rescued at the last minute by a kick-ass ninja vigilante, who is definitely a man. Oh yes. With a FWAM! and a THWOP!, he batters the cannibals with their cleavers and daggers. The cannibals run off and the ninja removes its mask to reveal – an extraordinarily attractive blonde woman! She introduces herself to the Doctor as Angel of The Guardian Angels and invites him to her secret base. After they leave, an enormous cannibal with a chainsaw for an arm finds the Doctor’s Geiger counter.

Angel’s friends are initially wary of the Doctor, but Angel is able to vouch for him. They take him to the Engineer, who is repairing the train computer so it can take them out of the polluted city to a place called ‘The Countryside’. Unfortunately, the Engineer is dying, so the Doctor offers to help continue the repairs.

Meanwhile, the Chief with the chainsaw arm is using a large-nosed man called Sniffer to track down The Guardian Angels. They find a group of Angels near the station and slaughter them. Only Joey gets away.

At the Angels’ HQ, the Doctor repairs the computer and brings the trains under control. Joey arrives and tells them that the savages are on their way! Sonny, Angel, The Engineer and Joey are the only ones left. They make for the train as the Doctor makes the last preparations. Just as all is ready, the cannibal Chief bursts in and recognises the Doctor. The Doctor flips the switch to send the train on its way and dodges the Chief’s killer blow. The Chief instead hits a power cable, electrocuting himself. The cannibals are excited by the smell of burnt flesh and start to eat the Chief’s body, allowing the Doctor to escape.

Running down a tunnel, the Doctor finds his way back to the TARDIS. He takes the TARDIS to the edge of the city to see if the Angels made it out of the town.

The Doctor sits and waits at a ruined station, but there are no signs of any train. As radioactive rain starts to pour down, the Doctor sadly leaves.

‘They’re not going to make it anyway. They’re not coming… I can feel it. And looking at this poisonous desert… perhaps it’s just as well.’
 

Absolutely no chance. Cannibalism? That was a completely taboo subject for British television until at least 1985. The levels of violence in this story once again make the complaints raised against the bloodless mucking about in the TV story The Deadly Assassin seen ludicrously naïve.

Also, the subway looks far more like New York than Tottenham Court Road, so there would have been no chance of location filming. On the other hand, the Doctor’s character still shines through, although now it’s the sombre, brooding Tom Baker from Season 18 rather than the garish joker of Season 17.
 

The End of The Line displays some top-notch comic art. Gibbons’ style has clearly evolved since the days of The Iron Legion and City of The Damned. End of The Line is drawn in a wilfully dirty and urban fashion. It’s hard to believe that this is the same artist who gave us smooth, clean lines of The Life Bringer.

The detailing is impressive. The cannibals are covered in kill trophies and weapons. The shots of the outside world are similarly detailed.
 

Steve Parkhouse seems to have hit his stride with this multi-part story, which is his first for the comic strip. We can forgive him for The Deal!

What’s so great about The End of The Line is that it is ultra-bleak. No comforting cups of tea or jelly babies here, just cannibals, slaughter and ruined cities. The cannibal Chief has to be one of the most horrific villains that Doctor Who’s comic strip has ever produced, an unstoppable killing machine with a chainsaw arm and a taste for flesh. His appearance is repulsive and sinewy. Although it’s never shown in the strip, it’s not hard to imagine the gore flying if the chainsaw got the chance to cut through human flesh. Nasty!

There is some humour in this story, but it’s utterly black. For example, when the Chief is electrocuted, the cannibals quip about how they’re going to eat him; ‘He didn’t just provide lunch… he is lunch!’ There’s a smattering of jokes about kebabs and spare ribs, but that’s all the light relief you get.

Despite all that, somehow it doesn’t come across as excessive. The Guardian Angels, particularly Angel and Sonny, are such bright and hopeful characters. They are drawn with clean lines, which make them stand out from the cast of horrors and the filthy backdrop.

The poignant ending helps to counterpoint the horror of the story too. It’s one of the rare occasions where the Doctor loses; and this time the stakes weren’t even very high. He only had to save a small group of people. But in the vicious dystopia of The End of The Line, even this proves impossible.

The Doctor uses a Geiger counter to measure radiation.

Although the tube trains resemble New York’s, the skyline of the city seems to feature some London landmarks, including Battersea Power Station. It’s unclear where or when the story is set.

The Doctor’s long scarf gets caught in a train door.

Comic strip perennial Dalek Killer, Absalom Daak also carries a chainsaw strapped to his arm.

The Doctor travels to the end of the line in his TARDIS, meaning he must have over-ridden the randomiser (or done the sensible thing and just forgotten about it like everyone else, for heaven’s sake!)

Here’s a fan letter from issue #57 of DWM, showing reaction at the time:

‘I simply must comment on The End of The Line. I’ve always concentrated more on the articles that the comic strip, but this was outstanding. The ending was surprising, if not shocking and very moving indeed, and gave us a very different perspective on the travels of the Doctor. This was undoubtedly the best tale since Star-Beast, but you haven’t told us who wrote it! Credit where credit’s due, I always say.

‘Rusl Davies, W.Glamorgan.’