The Fires Down Below

"I came to discover why you are killing millions of our people."

Writer: John Peel

Format: Comic Strip

Released: April 1982

Printed in: DWM 64

Featuring: Dominators, Quarks, UNIT

Synopsis

Iceland, 1984. UNIT are sent in when tectonic plates are clashing more than should be naturally feasible. A descent into the core of the Earth reveals a sinister presence trying to destroy the planet for fuel.

Verdict

The Fires Down Below was a good little comic strip adventure to continue my way through the Black Sun Rising graphic novel collecting the backup tales of comics from the pages of Doctor Who Magazine! I'm intrigued to find that this story seems to be released three issues later than Devil of the Deep which I read yesterday and as I'm coming towards the end of the graphic novel I wonder if that was a signal of the end in sight for the backup tales. I would love for them to make a return but with the main comic strip now reduced to just six pages, I can't see that happening somehow! I had no idea what to expect from this story but it's another really solid adventure from John Peel. He really is cherry dipping a number of past foes and monsters and when it comes to the comic strips I know the Quarks played a big part in the early stories before there even was a DWM! I would love a collection one day of the TV Comic adventures and beyond for the first three Doctors, but seeing the Quarks here was a delight! And then they were alongside the Dominators too! Now, The Dominators is far from being an all-time classic but it's one that I have a lot of nostalgia for and definitely rate higher than a large chunk of fandom. I think the five-part format is a little strange but seeing the likeness of the Dominator from the screen drawn in the form of Dominator Haag here was fantastic. Now, the Dominator didn't do an awful lot and I think the story would have actually benefitted from having just one of the Dominators or the Quarks, but I understand why both were included when it comes to purely the televised series continuity. They are kind of a package item but there's no doubting that the Quarks are the main attraction! The design is iconic and it's almost a shame that when the UNIT personnel find them within the core and using their device to initiate the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that they just go straight to the Dominators for instructions. It would have been better if they just were being a menace! I liked that we had another UNIT story and I think it's great that they're encountering the Dominators and Quarks. I'm sure there's a story with them in the Lethbridge-Stewart novel series too which I hope to one day get to so hearing that Major Whitaker was operating under the instructions of the Brigadier was a nice touch. I thought the 1984 setting for a story released in 1982 was good fun too and some potentially dark foreshadowing! I don't know my history of volcanic eruptions but imagine if there was an earthquake that caused one in Iceland two years after this comic was released. I thought the panels in the story were good and with only four pages I think a few more could have actually been squeezed in! UNIT didn't mess around in dealing with the Dominators and the feedback loop ensuring a massive explosion felt dangerous given they were in the middle of the planet! Surely that wouldn't help the problem of the tectonic plates clashing? Overall, a fun little story with a good return and I liked the ambiguity surrounding the potential of a Dominator fleet coming. Maybe there's a sequel to come? A good read.

Rating: 7/10