Shear Excitement

 

In some of my oldest notes there are one-liners - simple story titles that are the barest of plot outlines. This is one of those - springing from the rather economical 'The Karkus Gets a Haircut (Monoids)' Nice of younger me to leave such a job for present me to complete! 

The story title likely was inspired by an imaginary book from Monty Python's Bookshop Sketch ("Biggles Combs His Hair'), and Monoids... because they have mop-tops, I guess. There must be a better gag in there, surely. But I doubt there was back in 1998 or so.

Having the Karkus un-masked but not really seems obvious. I have a soft spot for the gag, and was inspired a little by one of my favourite Judge Dredd one-offs, 'In The Bath', in which the titular lawman effects an arrest of intruders in his apartment, all the while never leaving the tub or revealing his face. 

Sheard the Sontaran was a nice discovery, though. I've always regarded them as a 'serious' Doctor Who monster, and never saw the pomposity ripe for parody in the Seventies and Eighties versions. Fast-forward and I've done three Sontaran Erato stories now, and in our post-Strax world, it seems hard to actually make them fun without losing their essential characteristics or referencing Moffat and Starkey's preposterous lovechild. I've given it a go, though, and this one's for my friend Al, who loves them even more than I do.

A Story as Old as Time Itself

 

Here's that anniversary story you ordered!

In truth, I enjoyed visiting the alternative universe of Doctor Human, his Grand-daughter and her brawny teacher that I decided to revisit it for the November 2021 anniversary. It just took a while to finish.

A Sound Thrashing

 

It's not a delay, more a pregnant pause.

Where The Noise Are

 

Olfactory Settings

 

By All Means

The Only Winning Move is What, Now?

 

Island Life

 

Stage Invasion

 

Plot? Leaks!

The Karkus Khronicles Part Four: The Eratoverse Recycles

 

In a story really for another time, by 2001 I was almost burned out on The Karkus. I'd reached the end of a little mini-arc setting him up against a powerful enemy (Santa Claus), and I'd also worked the second Erato strip, Pex, towards a conclusion. But I wasn't entirely burned out on Erato- I just wanted to bring in some new characters.

The replacement strips would be three-fold, because I am a sucker for punishment. Ky-Mutt was a spin-off from Pex, the misadventures of Pex's penpal, who just happened to be half-Mutt, half-human, and could change form when things got too much for him. Like so many shape-changers in Doctor Who, however (c.f. the TARDIS, Frobisher the Whifferdill), he pretty much stayed in one form. 

Altos Loves Yartek was new and set in Morphoton, on Marinus. Essentially an inversion of Pex, it was a hate-love relationship between a hopeless invader (Yartek, leader of the alien Voord) and the last remaining human in Morphoton, the reality-challenged idiot Altos. It was the longest-running of the three.

Lastly, there was Nord, tetchy biker from The Greatest Show in the Galaxy and Nomad Warrior Of The Black Hole Margins. Alas, poor Nord...

All four stories should have worked. One of them did, as far as I'm concerned. But Nord himself was the greatest tragedy, an undeveloped character in search of a plot, a literal drifter in the Eratoverse without no looming backstory in a non-existent future to draw on (and we'll draw a veil over that tantalising observation for now).

The two most 'recent' Karkus stories on Eratoland - The Karkus Drips Dry and The Shane Of It All were previously Nord stories, and have been re-purposed and re-written. I think they're the better for it. If you're curious about the Nord-era versions, they're to be found in TSV issues 68 and 66, respectively. 

Nord's story - and potentially Ky's as well, is not yet done; but when he returns he'll be tweaked, too. There's mileage in that idea - just not as done previously. 

But that's not all! Lest anyone think this is a case of Eratoland eating its young, I can assure you, gentle reader, that The Karkus Drips Dry IS the original storyline and title, including all of the characters in the Karkus story presented here - not so much re-invention as restoration!

Further recycling may occur - but not that much!

Alan Ladd Insane

 

The Park Knight

 

The Menace of the Magnetoids!

 

'Global' as interpreted by a 1970s BBC budget, readers!

Pole Position

 

Action! Inaction

 

Let's call this what it is: real-life delays

In a non-Covid, non-nonsense reality this would have come out in 2021 AS WAS INTENDED, and you, lovely reader, would have had a series of The Karkus, a Doctor Who Birthday special story, and a Christmas Special story Just For 2021. But you didn't get them in 2021 - But You ARE getting them now! 

Better late than never.

Speaking of late, check out the date on this illustration - first appearing on the back of TSV Fifty-mumble back in '99. Last century! I didn't immediately plan to do a story about Magnetoids, but hey, it's a new millennium, so a story about Magnetoids you shall have!

And what are Magnetoids? Why, yet another contender from the Blue Peter Design a Monster Competition of 1967. History doesn't recall who created the Magnetoids, so if you're out there, Doctor Who fan of indeterminate age, location and gender, I hope I did them good!

The Karkus in: 'Futile Attraction' kicks off the 2021-22 Erato season tomorrow- on this very blog!

Cheers and good health, everyone.

Erato.