Sonic the Comic Issue 45


 * Managing Editor: Richard Burton
 * Editor: Deborah Tate
 * Designers: Gary Knight & Paul Chamberlain
 * Assistant Editor: Audrey Wong
 * Publisher: Rob McMenemy

Sonic the Hedgehog - "Day of The Death Egg"

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

Synopsis
In the Launch Base Zone on the Floating Island, Doctor Robotnik's repairs are finally completed, and the Death Egg is launched!

Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails destroy badniks in the Emerald Hill Zone. There is a sudden eclipse, as the moon moves in front of the Sun... but wait! That's no moon! It's a space station! The Death Egg fires its two Death Rays into the Emerald Hill's populated areas, destroying homes and the landscape itself. Robotnik's voice emerges from the enormous machine, demanding Sonic's presence. Sonic arrives moments later.

Tauks tries to catch Robotnik by surprise, as he is the only one who can fly, but he flies in the path of one of the Death Rays and is utterly obliterated! Sonic is horrified! He won't be caught so easily, but Robotnik is not concerned. He sets the Death Rays to wide angle and power to maximum, and then with a single blast he destroys Sonic and the entire Emerald Hill Zone!

Everything goes dark, and a voice says that it is finished.

Then the lights turn on again. It is revealed that everything that we had just read was a simulation that Grimer had been showing Robotnik. None of it was real. The Death Egg is still incomplete, but repairs are progressing quickly. The real launch is only weeks away. With that kind of power, Robotnik's rule over Mobius will be absolute!

Appearances

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Badniks:
 * Rhinobot
 * Buzzer
 * Bat Brain
 * Others
 * Emerald Hill Folk:
 * A rabbit (Johnny Lightfoot)
 * A pig (Porker Lewis)
 * A walrus (Joe Sushi)
 * A chicken (Chirps)
 * A duck
 * Several bears
 * Doctor Ivo Robotnik
 * Grimer

Continuity

 * Grimer confirms that they have taken delivery of the new main thruster for the Death Egg. In Sonic the Comic #44, "Badniks Bridge, Part 2", Sonic and the Freedom Fighters destroyed one thruster, but only managed to delay the Death Egg's repairs for a short time.
 * Grimer also announces an expected date for the launch in just a few weeks. It will take place in Sonic the Comic #49.

Streets of Rage - "The Only Game in Town, Part 5"
Axel falls over the East River bridge. He survives, landing on a girder below, but only Blaze witnesses this and quickly hides it, insiasting "Axel's gone!" Enforcers for Mr X arrive, followed by the crimelord himself. He can't let the heroes make it over East River, or he'd make a loss on his betting game (how far they'll get before dying). Blaze places a bet of twenty thousand dollars on them making it across the river at odds of a hundred to one. Mr X accepts, then orders his men to shoot the heroes. Suddenly the gunmen are run down by Axel, who has retrieved the battle van. He collects the others. The bridge is still incomplete, but they try to jump it... and fall short.
 * Script: Nigel Kitching
 * Art: Peter Richardson
 * Lettering: Tom Frame

In the police department, a corrupt cop gives Feroccio the bad news.

Sonic's World - "Enter the Cybernik, Part 1"

 * Script: Lew Stringer
 * Art: Roberto Corona/John M. Burns
 * Lettering: Steve Potter

Synopsis
In the Emerald Hill Zone, Shorty the Squirrel nearly attacks a yellow bird for calling Robotnik "an O.K. guy", before his friend Hopper pulls Shorty away, saying that Shorty needs to control his short temper.

Suddenly, a Troop Ship appears, and Troopers arrive to capture Emerald Hill Folk to be turned into badniks. Hopper and the yellow Robotnik-symapthising bird are captured, along with several others, but Shorty manages to escape. He decides he needs to rescue his friends, and stows away on the ship as it returns to the Badnik Processing Plant.

As Robotnik and Grimer load the new prisoners into badniks (Hopper into a Burrobot and the yellow bird into a Motobug, for example), Shorty leaps out of a ventilation duct and smashes the computer system. Unfortunately, the process cannot be halted, and Shorty is himself captured. Robotnik decides that the short-tempered squirrel will become the first of a new type of Super-Badnik, known as the Cybernik. And after being connected to the badnik circuitry, he will never be free again!

Appearances

 * Shorty the Squirrel
 * Hopper
 * Yellow bird
 * A pig
 * Other Emerald Hill Folk
 * Doctor Ivo Robotnik
 * Grimer
 * Badniks:
 * Burrobot
 * Motobug
 * Trooper

Continuity

 * Robotnik last mentioned the Super Badniks (from which it was impossible to escape) in Sonic the Comic #22, "Girl Trouble, Part 2", when he tried to install Amy Rose in one (and failed).
 * Shorty damages the badnik processing control panel in this issue, which he will later cite as a reason for keeping his mind intact (along with his stubborn personality).

Marko's Magic Football - "Part 5"
With his magic football lured away by a female decoy, Marko is beset by killer toys. While he is escaping, the toy soldiers' bullets destroy the decoy, and the magic football returns to Marko's foot, allowing him to defeat the toys. Marko sets off to destroy the brainwashing green sludge, but is soon chased by some Welders and then comes face-to-face with the evil Colonel Brown in a brand new power suit!
 * Script: Lew Stringer
 * Art: Gary Andrews
 * Lettering: Steve Potter

Other features

 * Control Zone
 * Review Zone
 * News Zone
 * S.T.C. Star Pin-Up - Shinobi
 * Graphic Zone
 * Q Zone
 * Speedlines