Sonic the Comic Issue 40


 * Managing Editor: Richard Burton
 * Editor: Deborah Tate
 * Designers: Gary Knight/Tim Read
 * Assistant Editor: Audrey Wong
 * Publisher: Rob McMenemy

Sonic the Hedgehog - "The Frozen Zone"

 * Script: Lew Stringer
 * Art: Casanovas/John Burns
 * Lettering: Ellie de'Ville

Synopsis
Sonic, Tails, Porker Lewis, and Johnny Lightfoot arrive in what was once the Pleasant Zone, but is now a frozen wasteland. The skies are dark, snows lie thick on every rooftop, and all of the residents have been turned into icy statues! Suddenly, a robot bursts through the ice at their feet, and uses a special gun to turn Johnny into an ice statue too! Sonic destroys the robot, and the three remaining Freedom Fighters jump down into the hole where the robot came from, hoping to find the source of this evil...

They discover the base of a mad scientist known as the Chiller, and three more of his Chill-bots. These Chill-bots are stronger and faster than the first, managing to freeze Porker, Tails and Sonic's feet. The Chiller explains his plan: his Chill-bots and Chill-guns couldn't freeze the whole zone, so he constructed a Chill-machine to do that instead! The residents of the zone said his ideas for weather control were too dangerous, and gave him the cold shoulder, so he decided to return the insult... Even his own robots find his ranting boring, and Sonic has little patience. He vibrates his feet to melt the ice and break free, freeing Tails and Porker with his red hot trail at the same time. He destroys two of the robots, while Tails and Porker take the Chiller hostage.

Sonic reverses the settings of the Chill-machine, heating up the Zone and melting the ice. However, locking up the Chiller would be a waste of his genius (even if he is a boring genius), and Sonic offers him a chance to help the people of the Pleasant Zone in the struggle against Doctor Robotnik. Realizing he was never a very good villain, the Chiller agrees. He and his remaining robot (renamed a "mop bot") help clean up the melted ice, fun and laughter returns to the Pleasant Zone, and the Freedom Fighters head home.

Appearances

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Porker Lewis
 * Johnny Lightfoot
 * Chiller
 * Chill-bots
 * Pleasant Zone residents:
 * Birds
 * Bears
 * Rabbits
 * Foxes
 * A dog
 * A cat
 * Others

Trivia
Despite the title of this story, it is not set in the Frozen Zone wherein Sonic once hid the Chaos Emeralds. The setting of this story is the Pleasant Zone.

Eternal Champions - "Larson's Revenge, Part 4"
Larcen Tyler and Shadow Yamoto attempt to fight their way out of Mister Tagliani's clutches, but to no avail. They are knocked out and tied up in the back of Tagliani's car. The mob boss explains that he tried to play Larcen and Shadow (the White Orchid) against each other, taking out both of his enemies, but didn't anticipate that they'd team up against him. Instead, he loads the car with dynamite (with Shadow and Larcen still inside) and rolls it down a cliff towards Shadow's base of operations. Larcen is petrified that Tagliani has managed t kill him again, but with Shadow's encouragement he manages to cut his bonds on Shadow's razor fan and they escape the car in the nick of time. The car explodes, taking Shadow's building with it, and Shadow laments that she has lost the evidence that could have put Tagliani and other oragnised crime bosses in jail. However, Larcen has one last trick up his sleeve: he had the documents all along. Even Shadow's ninja instinct couldn't detect when the best cat burglar in Chicago stole her papers! Organised crime's hold in Chicago is about to be broken, and the two Eternal Champions prepare to return to the future...
 * Script: Michael Cook
 * Art: Jon Haward
 * Lettering: Tom Frame

Knuckles - "Carnival Night Conspiracy, Part 2"

 * Script: Nigel Kitching
 * Art: Richard Elson
 * Lettering: Elitta Fell

Synopsis
Knuckles has come face-to-face with the Marxio Brothers, masters of the strange new Carnival Night City that has appeared on his Floating Island. Grouchio immediately tries to make a good impression, explaining that he only shot at Knuckles because he thought the echidna was a criminal (he had broken in), but now he intends to cut Knuckles in on the profits. Knuckles doesn't want any part of it, until Grouchio brings up Knuckles' long lost people. After all, the Floating Island monuments are so old and run down, and Knuckles could use the money to clean the place up a bit for when his people return! Knuckles, still sceptical, agrees to a tour of the carnival before he makes up his mind.

Suddenly, Knuckles spots two of Robotnik's Trooper badniks marching by and swiftly destroys them, believing that Robotnik must be behind the entire park. Grouchio angrily explains that they only bought the badniks off Robotnik, and have no other dealings with him.

Just then, Grouchio has a brilliant idea: to show Knuckles how great Carnival Night really is, they put him on the rollercoaster/haunted house ride. He seems to enjoy it!

Secretly, however, Grouchio and Chicio have plans for the ride to have a little accident while Knuckles is on board. After all, it wouldn't be very good if the echidna somehow found out that they really do work for Robotnik after all...

Appearances

 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Marxio Brothers (Grouchio, Chicio, Harpio)
 * Troopers

Continuity

 * An editorial comment mentions the Marxio Brothers' last appearance, in "Casino Night", Sonic the Comic #18 and #19.
 * Knuckles claims that he knows all about the evil of Robotnik, referencing the events of "Power of the Chaos Emeralds", in Sonic the Comic #35 and #36.
 * Grouchio claims that the Marxio Brothers only bought the Trooper badniks off Robotnik, and have no other dealings with him. Although this is soon revealed as a lie, long-time readers knew that anyway, as the Marxio Brothers have been established as Robotnik's minions in issues #18, #19 (as above) and Sonic the Comic #25 (in the backup Sonic's World strip).

Decap Attack - "The Replacement"
Chuck, Head, and Igor burst into the Professor's labratory to discover that he has created life! Again! This time his monster is huge and muscle-bound... and has his head on upside down. After fixing this with a Really Big Spanner, the Prof comes to the conclusion that they really don't need two monsters around the castle, so the replacement decides he must kill Chuck D. Head! Even throwing Head at him doesn't slow the brte down, and he easily overpowers Chuck. As he prepares to throw Chuck over the battlements, the Professor claims that, with Chuck gone, the new monster will be able to spend the rest of his life in the castle. The monster quickly makes a decision, puts Chuck down safely and then jumps over the battlements himself, leaving the others to wonder where a muscle-bound nit-wit could find any kind of future...
 * Script: Nigel Kitching
 * Art: Nigel Kitching
 * Lettering: Steve Potter

A few months later, Chuck and Head are sitting down to watch TV when a familiar face appears on Gladiators. The Professor won't believe his eyes...

Other features

 * Control Zone
 * Review Zone
 * News Zone
 * Q Zone
 * Speedlines