Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 9

Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 9 is the ninth issue of the main Sonic the Hedgehog comic series published by Archie Comics.

Pseudo-Sonic

 * After a thorough analysis of Sonic's profile, Robotnik builds his ultimate evil robot, "The Pseudo-Sonic"! Meanwhile, Sonic, out picking flowers for Sally, comes in contact with some poison sumac and blows up like a balloon! And while in an invalid state The Pseudo-Sonic discovers Knothole and is about to reveal its location to the gleefully awaiting Doctor Robotnik!

Part One
The story opens with Dr. Ivo Robotnik analyzing a chart with all the known data he has on Sonic the Hedgehog, and has used it to create a new robot called Pseudo-Sonic, who can run as fast as Sonic and can stop on a dime, although there are still a few bugs to iron out.

Meanwhile in the Great Forest, Sonic comes up from the secret entrance to Knothole and accidentally hits Antoine D'Coolette, who is guarding the entrance, on the head with the trap door. He then rushes off to secretly pick flowers for Princess Sally without telling Antoine. Once out in the meadow, he begins to pick the flowers, and soon runs into Betty Butterfly, who tells him he's picking Poison Sumac Blossoms, which Sonic is really allergic to, and begins to itch like crazy before swelling up like a balloon, becoming "Swollen Sonic."

Back at Knothole's secret entrance, Antoine complains to Pseudo-Sonic, who he thinks is the real Sonic, that he is almost late for curfew. Antoine then leads Pseudo-Sonic into Knothole, and the other members of the Knothole Freedom Fighters spot it as a fake straight away. Pseudo-Sonic then contacts Dr. Robotnik and prepares to transmit Knothole's coordinates.

Part Two
Pseudo-Sonic proceeds to make contact with Robotnik, but before he can give him the coordinates, Tails run in a circle around him while dragging his tails along the floor to create a field of static electricity that causes Pseudo-Sonic to short out and blow up. Rotor then takes the pieces his workshop to find out who made it.

Meanwhile, Sonic has finally managed to crawl out of the patch of Poison Sumacs and just as he reaches the edge of the Great Forest, Dr. Robotnik shows up after triangulating approximate area of Pseudo-Sonic's last transmission.

Meanwhile, Rotor determines that Pseudo-Sonic was created by Dr. Robotnik and Betty Butterfly flies in to tell them about how he suffered an allergic reaction to the Poison Sumacs.

Delighted at finding Sonic helpless, Robotnik then fires his flamethrower at Sonic, which just misses, and prepares to use his mace on Sonic. But Bunnie Rabbot shows up just in the nick of time to blast Robotnik's hovercraft and then jumps up in the air with Robotnik in hand and then throws him all the way back to Robotropolis. She then returns to Sonic's side and uses an ointment made by her aunt Lulumae on his rash. The duo then head back to Knothole just as Rotor puts the remains of a still active Pseudo-Sonic in the rubbish bin, leaving Sonic in the dark about the day's events.

Tooth or Consequences!
Robotnik is in excitement of the development of the new robot. But, it is a disaster, as even he is not cruel enough to manufacture a dentist bot!

Quick Sketch
In response to letters, Sonic shows how to draw himself, only to have the drawing run off when it's done.

What's the Point?
Sonic has picked Sally some forget-me-nots as a present, but his speed has caused the flowers' pedals to fly away and leaves a stem. He sits down under a tree, realizing that he has no present for Sally, and a party for her is going on right that moment. In the middle of his thinking, a bird falls on him and onto the ground. Sonic looks at the animal closely and notices that it is a Mobian Needle Bird, half-bird and half-porcupine, a species Sonic thought were roboticized. The animal shows off one of its wings, which is injured. First, Sonic decides to get it some food and thinks of different things it can eat. He runs off to grab some, and returns with some berries. Sonic then remembers that Sally likes animals, so he decides to bring it back for her. Sonic arrives at the party, only to have Sally asking Sonic to get rid of the bird nicknamed Thorny. Sonic tries to reason with her and says it's injured and can't protect itself. Sally reminds Sonic of the other animals they tried to protect, including a beaver who was actually a rotor, a squirrel with a tracking device, and a baby deer that could transform into an aerial bomber. After her speech, Sonic looks around and notice that Thorny has gone missing. The group looks over to see it has eaten Sally's berry cake. Sally looks at Sonic, who has Throny, and yells at him and tells him to get rid of it. Meanwhile, Rotor offers to make a new cake for Sally and plans to pick more berries, but Sally, in her anger, grabs a basket and decides to do it herself. Out in the forest, Sonic places Thorny high up on a tree in a nest, when they both hear a shriek nearby. They look over to see Sally, who has been taken by a living tree while picking berries. Back in Robotropolis, Snively notifies Robotnik that one of their forest traps has caught a Freedom Fighter, as they see the sentient tree capturing Sally on a display. Robotnik decides to go to the forest personally to get Sally. (Sonic talks to the reader about the different tree and plant puns used in the comic, using many puns himself.) Sonic runs over to where he heard Sally's scream, but can't find her in the trees. Just as the sentient tree goes to catch Sonic, he is swooped away by Thorny, whose wings are now fine. Despite what Sally said to Thorny, Sonic convinces it to help him find Sally, as she continues screaming for help. They find her in the tree's clutches so Sonic enters into a spindash and cuts through the tree's arm that is holding Sally. The tree drops her, but Sally still can't get loose from it. In the meantime, Sonic looks up to see Robotnik with a portable roboticizer. Before he can fire, an egg dropped by Thorny falls on his head. He wipes off the egg mess, and is then hit by a series of porcupine spines by Thorny. This causes Robotnik to run away in pain. Sonic helps Sally out, while she thanks Thorny, despite the feelings from earlier. The three walk along together, making Thorny an honorary Freedom Fighter.

Key Events

 * Pseudo-Sonic is created by Dr. Robotnik and attacks, but is defeated.

The All New, Pump-Up Sonic the Hedgehog Pin-Up (Sold out)

 * A pin-up of Sonic with humongous muscles, which is then revealed on the following page to be Sonic talking about a funny picture at a carnival.

Trivia

 * The first story is loosely based on the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog episode Pseudo Sonic.
 * This issue is the first appearance of a Sonic robot duplicate; Pseudo-Sonic.
 * Pseudo-Sonic would not be seen again until Sonic the Hedgehog #170.
 * Rotor is wearing a "Hello, my name is Rotor" name tag, and had renamed "Boomer's Shop" to "Rotor's Shop," to stop the confusion over his name.
 * "Tooth or Consequences!" has Robotnik revealing that he at least fears dentists.
 * As revealed in a special in Sonic Archives Vol. 3, this issue was originally scripted to feature Evil Sonic instead of Pseudo-Sonic.
 * The cover of this issue is a reference to the classic DC Comics story: "The Flash of Two Worlds!".