The Last Word ( comic story ) The Last Word was a " Doctor Who Magazine " comic story which celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Virgin New Adventures . Consequently , it featured the Seventh Doctor , Benny and an older Ace . , it remains the last Seventh Doctor strip printed in the pages of " DWM " . Although the Seventh Doctor had previously featured in one full - colour DWM strip before , this was the character ' s first appearance in the pages of " DWM " after the magazine permanently moved to a colour strip . As a result it is also the only Seventh Doctor " DWM " comic to be digitally produced . To those fans who had only begun following the comic strip recently and had not read the New Adventures , the story would likely have made little sense . Coming as it did over seven years since Benny ' s last appearance in a " DWM " comic story , and in the middle of the Eighth Doctor ' s run , the story was surprising for its lack of narrative introductions . The Timewyrm , Puterspace , Benny , and Smithwood Manor all appeared without any narrative explanation . The sudden reappearance of the older Ace in DWM also meant a return to the continuity of even earlier strips , as her very last appearance in the magazine some five years before featured her unambiguous death as a teenager . Readers steeped in the lore of the New Adventures would have understood the strip easily , and as a result cited Ace ' s re - emergence in " DWM " as a repudiation of her " blasphemous " death in " Ground Zero " . The story celebrated the range by reuniting the Seventh Doctor with his first New Adventures foe , the Timewyrm , and included fan - servicing meta - textual elements such as the idea that the Doctor himself wrote all of the New Adventures novels and a panel in featuring a conveniently - placed chessboard in the foreground with the Doctor , out - of - focus , standing behind . Similarly , both Ace and Benny angrily questioned why adventures with with the Doctor " always [ had ] to be so bloody complicated " — a common criticism of the New Adventures themselves . Summary . Whilst the TARDIS traverses the time vortex , the Seventh Doctor is attempting to write a novel about his adventures with Benny and Ace . As he writes , he recounts a recent adventure with the duo during which they were all together at Smithwood Manor . Devising a plan to lure the Timewyrm into a trap , he sends Benny to the 1980s to join a new romantic band named Flash Trash , and Ace to the future to tackle the Chelonian s fighting in a Frontier War in the 57th century , claiming that he needs them to set history right in both periods . These are weak points in the Web of Time , and the women ' s tampering brings about fundamental change to the flow of time . This gives the Timewrym something to feed upon , causing it to emerge from Puterspace to taunt the Doctor about his obvious trap . At first it appears that the Timewyrm has gained the upper hand , pulling the Doctor into Puterspace , but he springs a trap within a trap and the Timewyrm is soon denied the ability to transit between Puterspace and real space . The Doctor has achieved his final victory over the meddlesome Timewyrm . Back in the TARDIS , as the Doctor finishes writing up the story , Ace realises that she once again has been used as bait in one of the Doctor ' s schemes , and Benny is left wondering why travelling with the Doctor is always " so bloody complicated " . Plot . " to be added "