Sonic the Comic Issue 95


 * Editor: Deborah Tate
 * Features Editor: Audrey Wong
 * Designer: Gary Knight
 * Production: Sarah Colley
 * Consultant: Richard Burton

Sonic the Hedgehog - "The Big Fight"

 * Script: Nigel Kitching
 * Art: Richard Elson
 * Colouring: Steve White
 * Lettering: Tom Frame

Synopsis
Sonic has had enough of living with the Chaotix Crew and has set himself up in an apartment in New Tek City. He contacts the Freedom Fighters by video link, telling Tails that he hasn't found any way of escaping the Special Zone. Tails replies that the gang is managing to cope without Sonic now that the Cybernik has joined the team, and Sonic teases Tails about not missing him at all.

Suddenly, Sonic hears several loud crashes and runs outside to investigate, to find two nearly identical men beating each other up in the streets, smashing up cars and causing huge damage to nearby property. Sonic wants to stop them and asks which is the bad guy, but the citizens who have gathered to watch just advise him to stay out of it. Sonic rushes in anyway, but is struck by one of the fighters who tells him to "Mind your own business". Sonic immediately deduces that this is the bad guy and runs back to help the other one, only to be hit by that fighter as well and told to "Mind your own business!" Sonic decides it might be best if he did stay out of it for once. It is revealed that the two are brothers, the Bruise Brothers, who get into a fight like this about once a month.

Sonic sees an old woman in the middle of the fight, and carries her away before she's hurt... and for his trouble she hits him on the head with her walking stick. She is the Bruise Brothers' mother, and goes to tell off her two "very naughty boys". She drags them away by their ears, one of them still carrying a yellow schoolbus, and threatens to tell their father what they've been up to. An onlooker comments that the Bruise Brothers' fights end the same way every time, and the crowd starts to disperse.

Sonic vows to find away out of the Special Zone... before he becomes as crazy as everyone else that lives there!

Appearances

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Johnny Lightfoot
 * Bruise Brothers
 * Ma Bruise
 * New Tek City residents:
 * A donkey
 * A monkey
 * Dogs
 * Rabbits
 * Mice
 * Birds
 * Cats
 * Numerous others

Continuity

 * Sonic the Hedgehog is still trapped in the Special Zone, having travelled there in Sonic the Comic #84, "Heroes & Villains, Part 1". He will eventually return to Mobius in Sonic the Comic #100, "The Final Victory".
 * Sonic has moved out of the Chaotix Crew's asteroid headquarters, where he has been staying since he became trapped in the Special Zone.
 * Tails mentions that Shortfuse the Cybernik has joined the Freedom Fighters. This happened in Sonic the Comic #89, "A New Hope"

Trivia

 * The Bruise Brothers are named and loosely modelled on The Blues Brothers.
 * Ma Bruise's line, "They're not deadly monsters, they're a couple of very naughty boys!" is similar to a line from the film Monty Python's Life of Brian. In the film, Brian's mother informs a crowd of onlookers that "He's not the Messiah! He's a very naughty boy!"

Knuckles - "Roots, Part 2"

 * Script: Nigel Kitching
 * Art: Nigel Dobbyn
 * Lettering: Elitta Fell

Synopsis
Knuckles has arrived in Metropolis City just in time to save some protestors from Doctor Robotnik's badniks. The protestors wish to save the Ancient Trees that live in the park, and who have the ability to talk. Robotnik wants to clear the site and build a tower block. Knuckles is introduced to the Elder Tree, the eldest living creature on planet Mobius, who speaks on behalf of the planet's entire eco system. The Elder Tree asks the protestors to leave - he does not want them hurt when Robotnik's forces return.

At that moment, Omen arrives with two cyborg gorillas, to disperse the protest and arrest Ebony and Pyjamas. Omen and Ebony begin a magical duel, while Knuckles (who is annoyed that Robotnik's troops don't even seem to know who he is) takes on the gorrila henchmen. (In the middle of this, Pyjamas has a vision of them all running through a gigantic forest, but Ebony dismisses it immediately since Pyjamas' visions are always wrong.) One of the gorillas fires a missile at Knuckles, who leaps out of the way... but the missile heads straight for the Elder Tree, who is destroyed even a great explosion, leaving only a charred stump where he once stood.

The other Ancient Trees are outraged, and want to make everyone pay! Suddenly, great wooden roots rip up through the ground across the Metropolis Zone, tearing through buildings, until the park seems to be the center of a gigantic forest. Pyjamas' vision was right all along...

Appearances

 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Ebony
 * Pyjamas
 * Ancient Trees (including the Elder Tree)
 * Omen
 * Cyborg gorillas (red and green)
 * Protesters:
 * Dog with dreadlocks and sideburns
 * Young chimp
 * Elderly chimp
 * Others

Continuity

 * Knuckles is making his way back to the Floating Island with the great chest of documents that he received from Captain Plunder in Sonic the Comic #79, "The Ghost Ship, Part 6". He will eventually return home in Sonic the Comic #97, "Victims, Part 1".

Trivia

 * The Elder Tree claims it is the eldest of the "fauna". In fact, fauna refers to animal life. The corresponding termfor plants like the Elder Tree would be flora.

Amy's Adventures - "Out for a Spin"

 * Script: Lew Stringer
 * Art: Roberto Corona
 * Colouring: Steve White
 * Lettering: Gordon Robson

Synopsis
While walking through the abandoned Emerald Hill Zone, Amy Rose and Tekno the Canary discover a partly buried flying saucer from the Marble Garden Zone, which Sonic once used to fly around. They take it back to Tekno's workshop to repair it. Amy hopes to take it out for a spin, so that she can fly solo like Tails and Shortfuse.

Tekno fixes the spinning top and fits a remote control device to it, which Amy can operate with a wrist gadget. Amy takes it out and flies through the tree tops, but attracts the attention of three EggRobos who start shooting at her. Amy doesn't have enough flying experience to escape them, and one of them using a cloaking device manages to catch her and pull her to the ground. However, before the EggRobos can execute her, Amy uses the remote control to crash the spinning top into them, destroying all three.

The top is damaged beyond even Tekno's ability to repair, but Amy isn't too worried: she'd rather keep her feet on the ground!

Appearances

 * Amy Rose
 * Tekno the Canary
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Shortfuse the Cybernik
 * Three EggRobos

Continuity

 * This is Amy and Tekno's first adventure together. They will go on to star in their own stories.
 * The Emerald Hill Zone was abandoned when the Emerald Hill Folk were transplanted to the Mushroom Hill Zone on the Floating Island in Sonic the Comic #53, "Disaster! Part 3". They will eventually return home in Sonic the Comic #104, "Flickies' Island, Part 1".

Trivia

 * Amy refers to Sonic using a Top to fly around the Marble Garden Zone, and an editorial comment refers readers to Sonic the Hedgehog 3. However, the events of Sonic 3 are not explicitly canon in Sonic the Comic (it was adapted, along with Sonic & Knuckles, between Sonic the Comic #33, "Enter Knuckles, Part 1", and Sonic the Comic #53, "Disaster! Part 3"), and the Tops have never previously appeared in Sonic the Comic. Furthermore, use of the Top is depicted differently in the comic than in the game - in Sonic 3, Sonic was required to run on the Top's flat surface to make it spin and gain altitude. Here, Amy is able to stand on the Top without moving, while the underside spins to provide lift.

Sonic's World - "The Monster Wakes, Part 2"

 * Script: Lew Stringer
 * Art: Roberto Corona
 * Colouring: Andy Pritchett
 * Lettering: Tom Frame

Synopsis
In an attempt to expand Tekno the Canary's underground lab to be their new base, the Freedom Fighters accidentally wake a dragon. The dragon breaths flame at them, and the Freedom Fighters immediately spring to the attack. Shortfuse orders Tails to distract it while he can launch a surprise attack from above, but Shortfuse's blasters have little effect and the dragon breaths fire all over him, charring his armour.

Having brushed aside Johnny Lightfoot's attacks with a sweep of its tail, the dragon takes off and flies away while the Freedom Fighters recover. Shortfuse turns his blaster up to full power, intending to shoot the dragon out of the sky, but Amy pulls his arm aside at the last moment, and the blast harmlessly hits the ground. Amy says the dragon hasn't done anything wrong and they sould leave it in peace, but Shortfuse wants to kill it for attacking them. Tekno manages to talk him out of it by pointing out that when they woke it up, the dragon probably thought it was defending itself.

Tails decides to apologise to the dragon and flies after it, but the dragon says it's "a bit late for apologies". Having been woken up a thousand years too early, the dragon must now roam the planet alone until the other dragons wake up. By then, he'll only be a teenager in dragon years. Tails asks him to help them fight Robotnik, but the dragon is still grumpy and says that he'll let Tails know in a few years' time.

When Tails flies back to the team, Amy expresses concerns about Shortfuse. She tells Tekno that she still trusts Shortfuse, but that his short temper could put them all in danger.

Appearances

 * Amy Rose
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Shortfuse the Cybernik
 * Johnny Lightfoot
 * Tekno the Canary
 * Dragon

Continuity

 * Shortfuse the Cybernik mentions that every time he faces a giant monster he gets scorched. This is a reference to Shortfuse's battle with Mekanik in Sonic the Comic #57, "The Rampage of Mekanik, Part 1".
 * Tekno is listed as a member of the Freedom Fighters for the first time. They have been spending time in her secret lab since Sonic the Comic #91, "Secret Weapon, Part 2".
 * Amy begins to have doubts about Shortfuse's place on the Freedom Fighters, saying that his short temper could foul up a mission and put them in danger. This is eventually proved correct in Sonic the Comic #97, "Boiling Point".

Other features

 * Control Zone
 * Review Zone
 * STC Pin-Up! - Moto Bug Badniks! Art by Ferran Rodriguez
 * Q Zone
 * Speedlines