Sonic the Comic Issue 102


 * Editor: Deborah Tate
 * Features Editor: Audrey Wong
 * Designer: Gary Knight
 * Production: Sarah Colley
 * Consultant: Richard Burton

Sonic the Hedgehog - "Unnatural Disasters"

 * Script: Lew Stringer
 * Art: Richard Elson
 * Lettering: Elitta Fell

Synopsis
Freak weather conditions are happening all over Planet Mobius. No sooner does Sonic rescue a young pig couple from an Arctic blizzard in the middle of the city than they are hit by a sudden, scorching heat wave, which melts the snow and causes a flash flood. With water level with the tops of the lampposts, Sonic and a few other civilians manage to stay dry by getting into a handful of liferafts.

One of the other citizens in the raft, a geek, insists that the weather must be due to the "Curse of Doctor Robotnik" (because he read about it in his magazine, Doom & Gloom). The others ignore him, instead watching a postable TV on which Windy Wallis the weather gerbil is presenting her uncannily accurate forecasts. Windy says to expect freezing weather, then hail storms and another heatwave. Sure enough, the water freezes moments later, and hailstones soon follow. Sonic becomes suspicious of a weather forecaster who is always right and decides to investigate.

Sonic tracks Windy Wallis down to the TV studio where she works, and accuses her of controlling the weather. Indeed, she says that she originally planned a career as one of Robotnik's weapon designers, but took the weather forecaster position after Robotnik was deposed. She built a weather machine in order to take her revenge, and she turns it against Sonic, creating a localised thunderstorm over his head. She reveals her plan to create a heatwave that will destroy Mobius, but Sonic manages to thwart the scheme by running on the spot, kicking up the puddle of rainwater into the weather machine. The machine goes out of control, creating a tornado that sucks Windy Wallis out of the building, then explodes.

Later, life returns to normal and everyone helps clear up the remaining water from the streets. The geek from earlier asks how Sonic managed to stay so cool in the crisis. "I try not to let things get me down, pal," says Sonic, "although, earlier on, I did feel slightly under the weather!"

Appearances

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Windy Wallis
 * Norris Wimple
 * Citizens:
 * Pigs
 * Rabbit
 * Bulldog
 * Purple Rottweiler
 * Mouse
 * Chicken
 * Others

Continuity

 * Doctor Robotnik was defeated in Sonic the Comic #100, "The Final Victory".
 * Norris Wimple appears for the first time but is not named. His name is revealed in his next appearance in Sonic the Comic #108, "Spot of Bother".
 * Windy Wallis swears that she will return. She next appears in Sonic the Comic #115, "Weather Beaten".

Trivia

 * Norris Wimple is seen wearing a T-shirt that says "X Flies". This is an obvious reference to The X-Files.

"What Ever Happened to Super Sonic?"

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

Synopsis
An amnesiac Super Sonic dreams a nightmare involving a demonic yellow monster (his former, violent personality) who has killed everyone on Mobius and now wants to kill him. He wakes screaming, and a nice lady named Madge comes to see if he's okay.

Madge feels sorry Super, who has not only lost his memory but has to endure the recurring nightmares as well. Her husband Arthur, on the other, just wishes he'd endure the nightmares somewhere else. He's concerned that they can't afford to look after him on Arthur's pension alone. This quickly degenerates into a row in which Madge accuses Arthur of preferring things back when Robotnik was still in charge, however they are interrupted by Super Sonic, who reveals he has decided to leave. Madge pleads with him to stay, but he realises that he must discover who he is, and can't do that if he stays.

Madge sees Super Sonic away, giving him Arthur's beer money as a parting gift. Meanwhile, as Super walks along the street, he walks past Amy and Johnny, who are trying to find Super Sonic by tracking his energy signature. However, the trail is so weak that they cannot follow it. Certain that Super Sonic must be miles away, they decide to call it a day and get something to eat, as Super Sonic himself walks off, oblivious.

Appearances

 * Super Sonic
 * Madge
 * Arthur
 * Amy Rose
 * Johnny Lightfoot

Continuity

 * Super Sonic lost both his powers and his memories in Sonic the Comic #100, "The Final Victory", but is still plagued by nightmares about his former, demonic existance. He will eventually recover his memories in Sonic the Comic #118, "Hunter & The Hunted, Part 3".
 * Super Sonic was taken in by Madge in Sonic the Comic #100, "The Final Victory".
 * Amy Rose and Johnny Lightfoot use the same energy tracking computer to search for Super Sonic as they used to find him in Sonic the Comic #82, "Running Wild, Part 3".

Trivia

 * Arthur is seen reading a newspaper with a front page headline "Super Sonic Still Not Found".
 * Arthur says that at least the trains ran on time while Robotnik was in charge, unlike now. This is a reference to the common myth that Benito Mussolini, fascist leader of Italy during World War II, nevertheless managed to make the trains run on time while in power.

Decap Attack - "Life with the Snagsbys"

 * Script: Nigel Kitching & Richard Rayner
 * Art: Mick McMahon
 * Lettering: Ellie de'Ville

In a bed and breakfast in a sleepy seaside town, Chuck and Head receive a telephone call from the Prof, telling them that the Castle has been rebuilt. Head is glad, because this means they get to go home, but Chuck reveals he quite likes staying at the B+B. Head is aghast, because the place is clearly run by lunatics!

The morning keeps getting stranger. Head tries to warn Chuck about a trip wire at the top of the stairs, but Chuck doesn't see it and (after falling down the stairs) chalks it up to his own clumsiness. When a fish leaps out of Mrs Snagsby's "special recipe" porridge and bites Chuck on the nose, Mrs Snagsby says it is Tipsy the goldfish and dismisses Head's claims that it is a piranha. Even when Mr Snagsby hurls a sharp at Chuck, narrowly missing him, Chuck accepts that his merely slipped while buttering toast.

Head becomes increasingly exasperated. He points out the Snagsbys' other guest, Mr Winkleton, who never eats his breakfast... or speaks... or moves. When Chuck still doesn't get the picture, Head finally loses it: "He's dead! You idiot, he's dead! They bumped him off, just like they're going to do to us!" The Snagsbys admit this, but say they only did it because they love their guests so much that they can't bear to see them leave.

Once they are packed and out the door, Chuck says he can't believe how rude Head was to the nice couple. When Head protests that the 'nice old couple' were trying to kill them, Chuck responds: "That's the trouble with you! You always see the worst in people!"

Sonic's World - "Invasion of the Veg Heads, Part 2"

 * Script: Lew Stringer
 * Art: Andy Pritchett
 * Lettering: Ellie de'Ville

Synopsis
In the Plowright Zone, Sonic, Harry Mole and Farmer Nige have been captured by King Edward and his mutated vegetables, the Veg-Heads. Sonic manages to free all three of them, and then escape with Harry, while an irate Nige charges at his own vegetables.

Sonic and Harry travel to the nearby Chemical Plant Zone, which was shut down after Doctor Robotnik was defeated, but was never properly cleaned up. They find a pipe leaking toxic waste into the river, and realise it must have seeped into Farmer Nige's soil and mutated his crops. Sonic leaves Harry to close off the pipe while he returns to the Plowright Zone to rescue Farmer Nige, who has been grabbed by the turnips.

Just then, the other local farmers arrive, having caught King Edward. They want to roast or boil him, but Sonic says cooking an intelligent being (even a vegetable) is wrong. The onions claim that they didn't mean any harm, and were only following King Edward's orders. Farmer Nige accepts this and offers the Veg-Heads a piece of land if they agree to live in peace. King Edward reluctantly agrees (much to the delight of the cabbage), and Sonic and Harry head off, another mission well done.

Appearances

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Harry Mole
 * Farmer Nige
 * Veg-Heads (including King Edward)
 * Plowright Zone farmers (badger, bloodhound with moustache, dog with sideburns)

Continuity

 * The Chemical Plant Zone was shut down following the fall of Doctor Robotnik's dictatorship in Sonic the Comic #100, "The Final Victory". It is re-opened sometime before Sonic the Comic #114, "Crisis in the Chemical Planet Zone, Part 1".

Other features

 * Control Zone
 * STC Pin-Up! - Super Sonic. Art by Richard Elson
 * Jurassic Zone (Photography Zone)
 * Review Zone
 * Speedlines