Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 290

Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 290 is the two hundred ninetieth issue in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series published by Archie Comics.

Official solicitation

 * The Super Sonic Warrior returns in "Genesis of a Hero" Part Three: The 25th anniversary celebration continues with another blast to the past! Which is also to the future, and the past, and back again! When Sonic goes to see the annual return of Little Planet, he’s surprised to find it chained to a mountain! Join us for the exciting adventures of Sonic CD! Featuring cover art by the legendary Patrick Spaziante plus a “Cosmic Eternity” variant by Mr. Sonic comics himself, Tracy Yardley!"

Genesis of a Hero Part Three: Sonic's Cease & Desist

 * Writer: Ian Flynn
 * Pencils: Tracy Yardley
 * Inks: Terry Austin
 * Colors: Gabriel Cassata
 * Letters: John Workman
 * Editor: Vincent Lovallo
 * Editor-in-Chief: Victor Gorelick
 * President: Mike Pellerito
 * Publisher: Jon Goldwater
 * Special Thanks to: Sandra Jo and Mai Kiyotaki at SEGA Licensing

Synopsis
Sonic arrives at Never Lake finding the planet named Little Planet chained to a mountain. He found out that Dr. Eggman was up to his regular antics again, even after his previous adventures, and decided to stop him once more. Before Sonic could head off, he was stopped by Amy Rose, an admirer who claimed that her fortune told her that she was destined to meet the "hero of her dreams" at Never Lake. Sonic did not exactly believe this and took advantage of Amy's promise to follow him wherever he went by telling her to meet him on Little Planet.

At Palmtree Panic, Sonic wonders where Eggman found the time to make so many Badniks as it was not too long ago that he destroyed the Death Egg. Elsewhere, Eggman receives a status update from Dr. Snively on Angel Island, who says that they were behind schedule as Carnival Night Zone was taking up too much time and forces to build. Sonic arrives on the scene and Eggman accidentally blurts out that he will collect all the fabled Time Stones, rewrite history and finally beat the hedgehog. Following this, Eggman proceeds to fight Sonic in his EGG-HVC-001 mech but is eventually defeated. The evil doctor wonders why that was as he reinforced the mech, suspecting that Sonic had done something to weaken it.

Sonic then orders Eggman to unchain Little Planet when he is suddenly interrupted by a surprise hug from Amy. Eggman takes advantage of this to make his escape, while taking Amy into account. Sonic sarcastically thanks Amy for her help and asks how she caught up to him. Amy replies saying that she was ten times as determined as Sonic, despite her speed not being able to match his. Finding this both creepy and impressive, Sonic suggests that Amy goes home but she stays put as she felt that nothing bad would happen to her as long as she was with her hero.

Suddenly, a robot appears before the eyes of both Sonic and Amy, kidnapping the latter. Impressed by the Super Badnik's speed, Sonic gives chase. The hedgehog travels through more Zones, finding out that Eggman wanted to use the Time Stones to invade the past (or already did). He destroys the Badnik generators in each Zone, creating good futures and later runs afoul of a hologram of the Super Badnik that was disturbing the local Mobini. Sonic eventually arrives at Stardust Speedway and is told by Eggman that he will only be allowed to rescue Amy if he beat his Super Badnik in a race, who was revealed to be named Metal Sonic. Should Sonic fail, he would be disintegrated by a laser beam fired from Eggman's upgraded Egg Mobile. Sonic accepts these terms and gets an easy headstart on the robot. Sonic and Metal Sonic have a tight race around the track but Sonic ultimately prevails, leaving the Super Badnik to be destroyed by a closed door.

Sonic finds Amy hanging from a pole and is glad to hear that he did not keep her waiting too long. Amy then tells once again that her cards did not lie and he truly was her "destined hero." Eggman angrily tells Sonic that it was not over and that once he got his UFOs back online he would defeat the latter once and for all. Amy asks what he meant by that and Sonic replies saying that Eggman had been using items called Time Stones to invade the past and he had run into sign posts that ran on their power. Sonic then forms a plan to find at least one time stone and go back in time to make sure he does not conquer Little Planet. As Amy was prepared to follow Sonic even through time, the duo set off in search of Time Stones.

Appearances
Characters: Locations:
 * Amy Rose
 * Badnik Horde
 * Anton (x3)
 * Metal Sonic
 * Needlenose (x3)
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Dr. Snively
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Carnival Night Zone
 * Little Planet
 * Collision Chaos
 * Palmtree Panic
 * Quartz Quadrant
 * Stardust Speedway
 * Tidal Tempest
 * Wacky Workbench
 * Never Lake

Items:
 * Badnik factory
 * Metal Sonic Projector
 * Time Stones

Vehicles:
 * EGG-HVC-001
 * Egg Mobile

Misc.
 * Figure-Eight Peel-Out
 * Spin Attack
 * V. Maximum Overdrive Attack

Off Panel "The Adventures of Officer Sonic Part Three: Poetic Justice"

 * Script: Eric Esquivel
 * Pencils: Ryan Jampole
 * Inks: Patrick Woodruff
 * Colors: Elaina Unger

Synopsis
Ivan "Bad Egg" Robotnik is being taken away to his cell by Officer Sonic and he asks him how long he will be in jail. Officer Sonic tells Bad Egg that he asked the judge to be lenient and he would have to do some community service. Soon, Bad Egg is seen helping Mobinis cross the street and is almost run over by a speeding civilian on a motorcycle. This prompts him to yell at the driver, asking if he knew that he had to go slow.

Appearances
Characters:
 * Ivan "Bad Egg" Robotnik
 * Mobini
 * Clucky
 * Flicky
 * Picky
 * Pocky
 * Officer Knuckles
 * Officer Sonic
 * Officer Tails

Quotes

 * Amy: --Whew! Thanks--and hi! My name is Amy Rose!
 * Sonic: Uh...yo, I'm Sonic.
 * Amy: I know!
 * Sonic: I guess I am pretty famous by this point...


 * Sonic: That thing was...fast...


 * Sonic: "Metal Sonic," huh? That's pretty cool. Kinda lame that all that style and power is for kidnapping civilians, though.

Trivia

 * Like the "Genesis" story arc in Sonic the Hedgehog #226-#229, this issue's arc celebrates Sonic's anniversary.
 * Also like the "Genesis" story arc, it uses the term "Genesis" as part of its title, in reference to the Sega Genesis console, which the original Sonic the Hedgehog video game appeared on.
 * The sidebar on the main cover resembles the border used on Sega CD boxarts.
 * The art style on both covers and interior art in this issue is derived from the art style used for both the animated opening and ending cutscenes in Sonic the Hedgehog CD.
 * The covers (like all other Archie Comics publications at the time) features an advertisement for the upcoming Riverdale TV series.
 * This issue implies that the events of Sonic Generations took place between Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog CD in the comics.
 * This issue also suggests that Sonic gradually forgot these events as time went on. This would explain how Sonic would not remember seeing his younger self in the future.
 * If looked closely at, Amy's tarot cards depict pictures of Chip and Dark Gaia, Solaris, and Perfect Chaos, suggesting that the events of Sonic Unleashed, Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Adventure would soon occur in the future.
 * Also worth noting, Amy says that her cards never lied. This is true seeing as these events do happen in the future.
 * When Sonic passes by the "Future" Time Warp Plate, he remarks that he could have sworn he just heard somebody say "Future". This is a reference to the disembodied voiceover that announces "Future" or "Past" when the respective Time Warp Plate is touched in Sonic the Hedgehog CD.
 * In the Off Panel, Bad Egg's handcuffs resemble Rings.