Sonic the Comic Issue 69


 * Editor: Deborah Tate
 * Assistant Editor: Audrey Wong
 * Designer: Gary Knight
 * Editorial Assistance: William Potter
 * Managing Editor: Richard Burton
 * Publisher: Rob McMenemy

Sonic the Hedgehog - "The Return of Chaotix, Part 3"

 * Script: Nigel Kitching
 * Art: Richard Elson
 * Lettering: Ellie de'Ville

Synopsis
The Brotherhood of Metallix have travelled back in time and changed Mobius' history, cyber-forming it into Planet Metallix! Using emergency escape plan Code 'D', Sonic, Porker and Chaotix leap into the Omni-Viewer and teleport away. The Emperor Metallix says not to bother pursuing... they have nowhere left to run.

Back on the surface of Mobius, Sonic wants to find some survivors. But when he sees the shear industrial horror of what the Metallixes have created, it seems as though there might not be any survivors...

They are spotted by Metallixes. Sonic is so shocked and angry that he wants to stay and fight them all, but Vector convinces him to run away with the others. Charmy accidentally leads them into a dead end, but fortunately a cowled figure appears out of a sewer and guides them under the streets. Underground, another cowled figure named Rob, takes the heroes' image with a camera, despite Sonic's objections.

The Metallixes enter the sewer, where they quickly find the fugitives in a small room. However, as they all gather to apprehend the targets, they notice some odd equipment on the ceiling, crackling with energy. Before they can evacuate, there is a huge explosion, and they are all destroyed!

Further down the tunnels, the cowled figure explains that Rob's camera made a hologram of the six heroes. They set it up so that the Metallixes would all stop in one place and be caught by the bomb. The figure says that they are members of the Underground, the last living people on Mobius, and he claims to know Sonic, too, and to have met him before. In fact, he thought Sonic was dead! Sonic, curious, asks who the figure is. The figure removes his cowl, and introduces himself as Doctor Ovi Kintobor! He's the man who turned into Doctor Robotnik!

Appearances

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Chaotix:
 * Vector the Crocodile
 * Mighty the Armadillo
 * Espio the Chameleon
 * Charmy Bee
 * Omni-Viewer
 * Porker Lewis
 * Emperor Metallix
 * Metallix
 * Doctor Ovi Kintobor
 * Rob

Continuity

 * Doctor Ovi Kintobor's transformation into Doctor Ivo Robotnik took place before the begining on the STC series, but was depicted in Sonic the Comic #8, "The Origin of Sonic". He has been effectively dead since then. In Sonic the Comic #71, "The Return of Chaotix, Part 5", it is revealed that the Metallixes changed history specifically by preventing the accident with the Retro-Orbital Chaos Compressor that caused the transformation.

Trivia

 * In the alternate timeline, the Metallixes seem to be more varied in their designs. One is seen that resembles the Mecha Sonic-style from "Count Down to Disaster", in Sonic the Comic #49 and #50. Another, which seems to have a position of authority, has a triangular blaster on its chest instead of the usual circular one.

Decap Attack - "The Headless Snowmen"
Igor picks up a copy of the Transylvanian Times. Apparently, someone has been stealing the heads of snowmen, baffling the cops. In contrast, the news that Head has turned to drnk after the failure of his film career is relegated to page 7.
 * Script: Nigel Kitching & Richard Rayner
 * Art: Nigel Kitching
 * Lettering: Tom Frame

Chuck arrives on the doorstep, with a new head on his shoulders... made of snow. Igor "helpfully" stokes up the fire, and to Chuck's great shame his new head melts. He confesses that things haven't gone well for him since he and Head split, and now he wants to get back together. "You mean like in the old days?" asks Head, some semblence of life returning to him at last. "When you used to hurl me about all day long and the neighbourhood snowmen slept safe in their beds?"

"What do you say, old buddy?" asks Chuck with a grin... and moments later finds himself alone on the doorstep, with the door slammed in his face. He had to ask!

Knuckles - "The Graveyard, Part 1"

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

Synopsis
Knuckles is trekking through a desert, his only protection from the sandstorms a green poncho, and he carries a small gas mask in his hand. He is going to the only place on the Floating Island that he has never visited before: the Kohenyu Graveyard. At the bottom of a deep chasm, the bones of the Kohenyu (a race of Styracosaurus, long extinct) lie half buried in the sand. They have been there for hundreds of years, preserved forever by some strange power of the place. Knuckles has heard the stories of ghosts and restless spirits. He very much wants to go in and be out before sunset.

Affixing his gas mask, he starts to climb down the chasm (the winds are too strong to glide, and there are no Zoom Tubes). But a rock falls on him from above, and he drops to the chasm floor, shattering a Kohenyu skeleton as he lands. He's not hurt, but his gas mask has fallen off! Before he can get it back, he is sprayed by a Poison Dryalid! Spluttering from the poison, unable to breathe, Knuckles starts to see a light in the sky, which speaks to him and calls him "Murderer!"

The light becomes the ethereal head of a Kohenyu, the Spirit of the Herd. He says that echidnas are not welcome in this place, and demands to know why Knuckles has come. Knuckles insists he is not a murderer, and tries to explain that he needs a new Emerald from the Emerald Mine to hold the power of the Master Emerald, which is being held in a robot's head after the original Emerald was destroyed. But he's having trouble thinking clearly, because the poison is making him feel very weird...

"We do not believe you, echidna!" booms the Spirit. "You are a liar and a murderer, just like all of your kind! Now it is time to make amends for your sins!" As the Spirit of the Herd speaks, the ancient bones rise up out of the sand. "The Herd rises!"

Appearances

 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Spirit of the Herd

Continuity

 * Knuckles' story about the Master Emerald is true. It was destroyed in Sonic the Comic #66, "The Homecoming, Part 2", and Knuckles hooked up the Guardian Robot's head as a replacement in Sonic the Comic #68, "The Homecoming, Part 4".

Sonic's World - "Brute Force, Part 1"

 * Script: Lew Stringer
 * Art: Carl Flint
 * Colouring: Elitta Fell
 * Lettering: Tom Frame

Synopsis
Commander Brutus leads a dawn raid on the River City Zone to capture its residents. Although they capture a large number of citizens, Brutus orders that they are split into two groups. One group is sent in a shuttle to a destination of Brutus' chosing, while the others are taken to the Metropolis Zone to be turned into badniks.

In Citadel Robotnik, Doctor Robotnik himself is very pleased at Brutus' success, although admits he expected Brutus to capture more. After all, Brutus has a copy of Robotnik's brainwaves, meaning he has the intelligence and power to crush all who stand in his way! "Yes, doctor," Brutus says with a pointed look at his master, "and I intend to do just that!"

A few hours later, Brutus arrives in Grimer's laboratory, to pick up some devices that he wanted Grimer to create: portable brain scanners. Now, when he captures one of the Freedom Fighters, he will be able to absorb a copy of their brainwaves and learn all their secrets (like "Where does Sonic hide?", "Where are the [{Emerald Hill Folk]]?", etc). Grimer is impressed, but soon turns back to his desk... only for Brutus to hit him with a stun blast! While Grimer is unconscious, Brutus uses the new brain scanners to absorb a copy of Grimer's brain waves. Now he can build his own army of badniks, loyal only to him!

Appearances

 * Commander Brutus
 * Doctor Ivo Robotnik
 * Grimer
 * Troopers
 * River City Zone residents:
 * A rabbit
 * A bear
 * A duck
 * A tiger
 * A frog
 * Many others

Continuity

 * Commander Brutus previously appeared in "Project Brutus" from Sonic the Comic #63 to #66.
 * The base of the Freedom Fighters has been a mystery since Robotnik forced them out of their old base in "Robotnik's Revenge", Sonic the Comic #37 and #38. They currently roam Mobius disguised as Bob Beaky's Travelling Circus.
 * The Emerald Hill Folk went missing in Sonic the Comic #53, "Disaster! Part 3", in which they were relocated to the Mushroom Hill Zone on the Floating Island.

Other features

 * Control Zone
 * Bat Hog Graphic Zone
 * STC Pin-Up! - Newtron Badniks!
 * Q Zone
 * Speedlines