The Vortex (comic story)

The Vortex was the penultimate Doctor Who story in the pages of TV Action. A full-colour, painted strip, it followed a kind of Polystyle convention of pairing the Third Doctor with a temporary, juvenile male companion.
== Summary ==
A tornado in space whisks the Doctor and his new friend Tom inside a vast biological computer, that is collecting specimens of different life-forms as it travels through space. Passing several intelligence tests and duping their captor, the Doctor and Tom attempt to return Earth by reversing the vessel's programming.
== Characters ==
* Third Doctor
* Tom Phipps
* Brian Phipps
* Vicar
== Worldbuilding ==
to be added
== Notes ==
* The Third Doctor's penchant for solving problems by "reversing" something is alive and well in this story. Here, he doesn't quite "reverse the polarity", but he does "find the programming bank and reverse its order".
* The story gives Bessie an explicit new power. At one point the Doctor is seen to turn on Bessie's "increased gravity stabliser", something the Doctor says will resist the force of a tornado.
* Tom's father is called "Brian" in part one, but "John" in part two.
* Bessie is called "Betsy", a common Polystyle error.
=== Original print details ===
(Publication with page count and closing captions)
* TVA 125 (2 pages) The Doctor becomes a willing victim — next week!
* TVA 126 (2 pages) Sucked into a vortex of time—next week!
* TVA 127 (2 pages) Next week, a strange meeting...!
* TVA 128 (2 pages) Next week— escape into a living organism!
* TVA 129 (2 pages) THE DOCTOR RETURNS SOON!
== Continuity ==
to be added
== External links ==
Category:Third Doctor TVA comic stories
Category:Stories set in England
Category:1973 comic stories
Category:Stories set in the 1970s
Category:Third Doctor comic stories
Category:Five part comics