In Titan Comics’ new Doctor Who #1, the Thirteenth Doctor returns to present day Earth after Time Lord Victorious to find a dark alternate timeline.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Doctor Who #1 by Jody Houser, Roberta Ingranata, Enrica Eren Angiolini, Shari Chankhamma, Richard Starkings, and Comicraft’s Sarah Hedrick, on sale now.
The Thirteenth Doctor was last seen in the Doctor Who: Time Lord Victorious tie-in comic “Defender of the Daleks,” where she helped the Tenth Doctor escape the Daleks. Due to the time paradox at the heart of the crossover event, the Tenth Doctor had no idea who his female counterpart was, even though they had previously teamed up in the Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor comic series.
Once Ten was saved, the two versions of the immortal Time Lord went their separate ways, to continue their adventures across time and space. Now, in Doctor Who #1, the Thirteenth Doctor and her companions Graham, Ryan, and Yaz return to present-day Earth but what they find is far from what they expected: in the aftermath of Time Lord Victorious, time has been rewritten, and now, the Earth has been taken over by the Sea Devils.
The Sea Devils are prehistoric, amphibian-like creatures that inhabited the Earth before humans existed. They are cousins of sorts to another, perhaps more well-known prehistoric Doctor Who race, the Silurians, anthropomorphic lizards that also lived on Earth before humanity did. The Sea Devils first appeared in 1972, in the Season 9 Doctor Who story “The Sea Devils,” where they clashed with John Pertwee’s Third Doctor. The monsters have made other appearances since then, in other episodes of the television series as well as in comics and books.
Here, the Sea Devils encounter the Thirteenth Doctor after they have successfully taken over the Earth. When the Doctor and her companions first arrive, they find that the planet is now akin to a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The cities are empty, humans are enslaved and the Sea Devils rule. This change didn’t simply happen while the Doctor was away. Her involvement with her previous self caused a change in the timeline and now, she, Graham, Yaz, and Ryan find themselves in what can only be described as an alternate timeline. In this new version of reality, the Sea Devils conquered the Earth centuries ago.