Special Zone (Sonic the Comic)

The Special Zone is a fictional universe from Fleetway's Sonic the Comic, based on the Special Stages from the early Sonic the Hedgehog games, and the setting of many stories since its debut in #8. It is the home of the Chaotix Crew.

"The Weird Bit"
Dubbed "the weird bit" by Charmy Bee in #84, the outskirts of the Special Zone are a surreal mess. Shown to contain the Special Stages from Sonic the Hedgehog 2, they also contain large chequered cubes, strange tangles of geometric shapes, small planets and multicoloured skies, among other oddities. (In #99, one panel showed a fish hovering in it.) They bear a strong resemblance to the magical otherworlds created by Steve Ditko from Marvel Comic's Doctor Strange. The laws of physics do not apply, with drones from the Hive shown using a rowing boat to cross space.

The Chaotix Crew used to have a base here. In the early days of the comic, Doctor Robotnik launched attacks on Mobius and eventually ruled the planet from his Egg Fortress in the Special Zone; when he left it to personally oversee the Death Egg's construction and later move to the Metropolis Zone, the base was turned over to the Brotherhood of Metallix.

The Hive
Resembling a giant mountain floating in space, the Hive is situated in the outer regions of the Special Zone. It is home to a vast colony of bees, ruled over by the Queen; Charmy Bee is secretly her son and next in line to the throne. The bees of the Hive know how to create gold, making them both fabulously wealthy and prone to raids by the Wasps under Vesper.

Planet Meridan
Away from the outer regions, the Special Zone is said to contain many inhabited planets, though Meridan is the only one shown so far. It is inhabited by similar anthropomorphic animal inhabitants to Mobius. Its capital city is New Tek City; far south of it is the Mandrake Swamp, home of the supernatural villain Root.

New Tek City is a parody of superhero comics and cartoons. The first time it was shown, two teams of superhumans were fighting each other with no explanation for who were the villains and who were the heroes, and both sides run from the police. There are many such fights occurring all the time, with the only explanation being from Mighty (in #84): "Fighting villains is just what us heroes do!" The city runs off a bizarre internal logic which the inhabitants understand but which leaves Sonic the Hedgehog confused & frustrated.

New Tek City is also home to the secret scientific laboratory Equinox, staffed entirely by crocodiles.

Sonic the Comic Online
In the unofficial continuation Sonic the Comic Online, the evil Doctor Zachary theorises that the Zone was formed by a Big Bang of excess Chaos energy. Because of this, if the Chaos Emeralds came together in the Special Zone, they would begin absorbing that excess energy and wipe out the Zone in the process. Despite the best efforts of Sonic, Knuckles and the Chaotix Crew, Shadow the Hedgehog succeeded in bringing the Emeralds together.

The Chaotix now live in Mobius, trying to bring the Zone back. The only other known survivors of the Special Zone are the Family crime syndicate, who emigrated to Mobius before the Zone's destruction.

Blockhead Bill
The elderly father of Mighty the Armadillo, Blockhead Bill is a somewhat senile former crimefighter who keeps mistaking random people for his old enemies. He is kept partly under control by his partner Society Max, who uses a special formula to change into a giant T-rex like monster, who he rides like a horse and uses as his main form of attack, he also uses weapon consisting of many gold metal balls on a hoop of rope, which he spins and hits enemies with, he does not seem to have Mighty's trade-mark super-strength.

Blockhead Bill mistook Sonic the Hedgehog for his old enemy the Crimson Cobra (who would appear later in a Chaotix story) was the plot of he Sonic story Back In The Special Zone (STC 134, Blockhead Bill's debut) which was solely about Bill, riding Society Max in his large dinosaur form, attacking a confused Sonic who had been called back to the Zone by the Chaotix (Sonic had previously spent time there before and stayed with the Chaotix) instead of poisoning the water supply. He was then a major part of the following story Roots (STC 135 - 138) where he was under the thrall of the story's main enemy, Root, who used both he and Society Max as minions controlled by controlling them with 'Mind Roots'. Bill and Max had been captured and taken over by Root while searching The Mandrake Swamp, where Root dwelt, for the root that Max uses to transform, though he and Max had less of a role as the story progressed, and Sonic fought The Chaotix. When Bill and Max did attack, Sonic defeated Max by tickling his stomach, making Bill furious at him (he hadn't told Bill he was ticklish), when Root was defeated, Bill and Max regained their right minds and were not seen again.

Notes: Unlike Archie Comics, Blockhead Bill is one of only two Sonic the Comic characters created as a family member for a Sega-created character. The other is Charmy's mother, who was not given a first name. (Tails' family is mentioned but never named or shown).

It has been said online by co-creator Nigel Kitching that Bill and Max were "probably having a homosexual relationship". 

The Fundamental Four
The Fundamental Four appeared once, in a two part Chaotix story The Fundamental Four (STC 80 & 81) they were (obvious) parodies of the Marvel Comics characters the Fantastic Four; Marvel parodies being a common theme with the enemies in the Special Zone.

The team, who bickered constantly, were made up of Hydran, Squall, Gravel and Flare. Hydran, who lead the group, was made up of water kept solid by a stretching specially made suit and fishbowl-like head, Squall appears to be made of air or smoke, and appears to be a goblin of sorts, Gravel is a man of earth who speaks in unintelligible nonsense (that all his teammates seem to understand fine) and Flare, the female of the group, was made of fire. Flare is the only character to resemble a Sonic Team design for the animal characters in the universe.

The Fundamental Four were old enemies of The Chaotix having spent years in prison because of them, they assaulted the Chaotix's headquarters, shortly after, having finally grown too irritating for them, Vector had thrown out Charmy Bee, the remaining members were defeated and put in a liquidator, luckily Charmy spotted them through a window. Charmy was able to 'borrow' workers from his mother's hive, who used the Four's powers against them to fashion them into an urn, much to Vector's annoyance. ("You can't defeat the Fundamental Four by turning them into a pot! It's too stupid!")

Lord Sidewinder
An old enemy of the Chaotix Crew, Lord Sidewinder was a powerful aristocrat and crimelord based out of New Tek City on Planet Meridian in the Special Zone. He is apparently responsible for numerous evil crimes, such as detonating nuclear bombs, but is too intelligent to leave any proof that may convict him. He first appeared in STC #85, in the second part of the Heroes and Villains segment of a larger arc involving the evil Super Sonic.

Sonic had recently entered the Special Zone in pursuit of the genocidal demon Super Sonic, who had been separated from him at this point. Mistaken for a supervillain, Sonic was arrested and bailed out by Lord Sidewinder, who had encountered Super Sonic and made a deal with him; Sidewinder would bring Sonic to the villain so he could kill him, preventing any chance of the two being merged again, and in return Super Sonic would help Lord Sidewinder to conquer the planet. Super Sonic, however, had lied to Sidewinder, and fought in a violent mélee with Sonic, the Chaotix and Sidewiner's minions that would destroy Sidewinder's estate.

Super Sonic was defeated and trapped in the Omni-Viewer, but Sidewinder had escaped to his laboratory in New Tek City, now obsessed with stealing Super Sonic's powers for himself. To this end, he obtained shrinking gas from former Chaotix member Nack the Weasel and attacked the Chaotix base in hopes of retaking Super Sonic. The plan failed due to the intervention of Sonic himself and the incompetence of his crony Biohazard, who managed to poison Sidewinder with his 'toxic vomit.'

When the Chaotix Crew attempted to seal Super Sonic in the heart of the Black Asteroid, Sidewinder followed, but he and his team were again bested by the Chaotix and imprisoned. He made a single reappearance during the run of the comic, seeking to kidnap the now pacifistic and powerless Super Sonic from Mobius, but he was tracked to his base by New Tek City Lieutenant Furor and sent back to jail with his team.

In Sonic the Comic Online, Sidewinder was presumably killed when Shadow the Hedgehog used Chaos Control to destroy the Special Zone on the orders of Dr. Zachary.

Lightmare
Lightmare is Lord Sidewinder's most loyal servant, but is willing to question him when he makes poor decisions, as shown when she says "I told you it was folly to trust this demon," when the crimelord is betrayed by Super Sonic. She seemed to fear for his sanity when he became obsessed with usurping the powers of Super Sonic. She has the ability to confront people with their greatest fears through use of her Nightmare Boxes, often freezing them in place or rendering them unable to fight, proven when she made Sonic think he was blind in a dream and trapping Mighty the Armadillo in an invisible cage. She also seems to have the ability to teleport in a cloud of smoke. When Lightmare first appeared, her white robes and mask made her look like a man, but during a battle with the Chaotix she revealed that she was, unbeknownst to Sidewinder, her leader's daughter.

She is believed dead following the destruction of the Special Zone.

Mr. Shifter
Mr. Shifter only appeared in one issue of Sonic The Comic, issue 87, where he was the main focus of the story Mister Shifter (the most important occurrence in this story was the revelation to Robotnik that Sonic was stuck in the Special Zone at the time). A shape changer from the Black Zone, made of "Radioactive Meta-Clay", he had the power to stretch like rubber or become hard as rock.

Shifter was either a robber or assassin, and was caught by Sonic trying to shoot a young Mobian girl (in fact a spy for Robotnik investigating if the Special Zone was ripe for invasion). Cocky and arrogant, Sonic managed to defeat him by literally stretching him to his limit, then letting him go.

Proctor Speckle and Mr. Fry
Members of Lord Sidewinder's team of enforcers, Proctor Speckle and Mr. Fry are technically the same person, an obvious reference to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A brilliant, renowned alchemist, if somewhat unscrupulous, Speckle transforms into a hulking, superhumanly strong brute named Mr. Fry when he drinks his potions. Speckle is fully willing to transform into Fry if the need should arise, but Fry hates "that weakling Speckle" and constantly drinks the potion to avoid turning back into the alchemist.

Speckle and Fry appeared separately from Sidewinder and his group in a story featuring Captain Plunder, press-ganged into his pirate crew and forced to walk the plank for stealing from Plunder's personal supply of chocolate. In the water, he was beset by sharks and managed to drink some of his potion to turn into Mr. Fry and fight the sharks off. Boarding the ship, he claimed that as Fry he now wanted to join the crew, and cooked one of the dead sharks. Seconds later, the other sharks that had attacked Speckle climbed onto the ship, transformed by the potion he had spilled in the water. Fry fought against them, but turned back into Proctor Speckle and fled, after which Plunder finished the sharks off with a large hammer. Ordering that his chocolate be brought on deck as a treat for himself and the crew, Plunder was outraged to find that Speckle had sailed away from the ship using the last crate of chocolate as an improvised raft.

It is believed that Speckle, and by extension Fry, were killed by the explosion that wiped out the Special Zone.