The Curious Tale of Spring - Heeled Jack ( comic story ) The Curious Tale of Spring - Heeled Jack was a " Doctor Who Magazine " comic strip . It was the last to feature the Doctor travelling alone until " Hotel Historia " in 2008 . This story saw the " Doctor Who " universe address the myth of Spring - heeled Jack , making him an alien figure . The tale originally involved , a type of fiction commonly seen as the precursor to comics . After watching a DVD commentary of the show , Scott Gray took note of a commentator who suggested removing the thing you like the most from a story to make it work . After discarding the penny dreadfuls , Gray found the story worked better . He also set it in the 1840s as gaslight s were being introduced in London at that time and offered a back story . Some character changes were also made . A character named Molly became Penny Chapman and the ending was rewritten so that Jack did not die . In an overview of this comic published in " The Flood " graphic novel , Gray noted Penny had all the appropriate companion attributes : pretty , brave , had been in the TARDIS , but decided that Destrii was a better fit . Summary . In London , a demonic figure is searching young ladies on his quest for Morjanus . The Eighth Doctor is also there , trying to enjoy London ' s new night life , thriving with the invention of the gaslight . Something is hidden in London and the Doctor must find it before the city is consumed in fire . . . Plot . Part one . London , 1840 : the Eighth Doctor is unable to see " Les Huguenots " and decides to wander instead . He bumps into Penny Chapman and finds her in a trance - like state muttering about " the essence " . Worried , he tries to care for her . She cries out in her trance . Suspecting him of harassment , those near close in on him but , at that moment , Spring - heeled Jack appears . The police rush in and Bates fires upon him . He moves to attack Penny but is knocked aside by the Doctor . This stranger ' s courageous behaviour raises Jack ' s suspicions and he leaves . Inspector Arnold Porter questions the Doctor who asks him about Jack . It turns out the Jack has been attacking women in London for three years and the police have yet to catch him . Porter asks the Doctor to explain the disturbance before Jack ' s arrival but Penny vouches for him and they leave . The Doctor walks her home and promises to call on her tomorrow . As he leaves he considers how he will find Jack , but he does so straight away as he jumps into a nearby carriage . Jack tells the Doctor he can smell that he has come a long way , before unleashing a fiery burst upon the Doctor . Part two . Jack can see inside the Doctor ' s mind . He sees Time Lord s on " a dull grey world in a bottle he couldn ' t wait to break " ; he see the TARDIS , " a box of delights , its heart so warm and pure " ; and finally , Susan , " a precious little flower , so dear yet so far away " . The Doctor forces Jack out of his mind . The Doctor turns the tables , seeing into Jack ' s mind . He sees a world aflame with his people dying . Out of her window , Penny sees the fight and grabs a gun , she fires upon Jack scaring him away . The Doctor tells Penny that it wasn ' t fire , just a psychic conduit . He examines the carriage ; s driver , finding him unconscious but still alive . Penny tells the Doctor that she coming with him and they both leave in the carriage . Returning to his TARDIS , the Doctor opens a map on the wall and finds anachronistic technology present in the Blackthorne Gasworks , where Penny happens to work . They go there and Penny again falls into a trance . She touches a padlocked door and it opens . Within is a large mechanical - looking object that the Doctor identifies as a proto - morphic lifeform . Suddenly , Penny grips her head and says " I remember , the Pyrodine s , they ' re coming " . On the street , Bates asks the inspector if he can smell something funny . The gaslight s rupture and the Pyrodines are released from them . Part three . The civilians run , as does the inspector , warning Bates to do the same . However , the latter turns to attacks and is killed . In the Blackthorne Gasworks , Penny is still clutching her head . The Doctor tries to care for her , but she tells him she remembers everything , hitting him as she does so . Threatening him with a gun , she forces him onto the roof . " Penny " tells the Doctor that her real name is Morjanus . He works out that she used self - hypnosis to pretend to be Penny to escape Jack ' s telepathy . Her people are at war with the Hunter s , Jack ' s species . The Doctor finally realises that she started to wake up as the Pyrodines had fully attached themselves to the gasworks . Morjanus tells him that the Pyrodines will help her people win , being immune to psychic attack . Morjanus moves to shoot him but finds the gun empty , the Doctor removed the ammunition in the TARDIS as he didn ' t want to walk into the gasworks with the threat of a mind - controlled girl . She sends a Pyrodine to attack him instead but Jack appears and fights it off with his bare hands . Morjanus attacks the Doctor and he throws her from the roof . She manages a foothold and climbs back up , giving chase as she does so . The Doctor uses a crowbar with the gun ammunition attached to break the casing of the lifeform . As it explodes , the Pyrodines disappear . In a last ditch attack , Morjanus lunges at the Doctor but Jack hits her from behind with his psychic attack and she falls down . Morjanus awakes and wonders where she is . The Doctor realises it is in fact Penny , with Morjanus ' mind wiped by Jack . The Doctor thanks Jack and offers him a lift home but he declines . With no home left , he wants to stay where he is needed . The Doctor advises Penny to move to the country , telling her London is a very dangerous place , even with its own guardian demon .