Sonic the Comic Issue 105


 * Editor: Deborah Tate
 * Designer: Gary Knight
 * Cover Designer: Steve Cook
 * Production: Sarah Colley
 * Advertising: Stephen Goldsmith
 * Features Editor: Audrey Wong
 * Consultant: Richard Burton

Sonic the Hedgehog - "Flickies' Island, Part 2"

 * Script: Nigel Kitching
 * B & W Art: Richard Elson
 * Lettering: Tom Frame

Synopsis
Sonic and Tails have arrived on Flickies' Island by bi-plane, after a blue Flicky told Tails that there was trouble. They go investigating and find an ancient ruined building with a hexastyle portico, overgrown with moss and vines. Tails says that Flickies' Island is supposed to be deserted apart from the Flickies, but Sonic points out that the building must have been abandoned for centuries. They go inside, and despite Tails' concerns Sonic is certain that the place is deserted...

... but he is proved wrong when they find Doctor Robotnik and a horde of badniks! Sonic wants to leap into action, but Tails suggests they wait a moment to find out what they're up against. This gives Robotnik a chance to explain what he's been doing since being deposed as ruler of Mobius. He reveals a giant glowing gold ring, a portal to another dimension from which the Flickies originate. They travel through the ring to appear on Mobius for just a few weeks every year, but now Robotnik has found a way to catch them and use them as organic batteries for his new badniks... badniks that he now sets to attack Sonic!

Sonic spin attacks the badniks, only to find that they are incredibly sturdy and resistant to his attacks. Tails is worried, and Robotnik boasts that the new badniks are unbeatable - out loud, Sonic pretends to be confident, but privately he is worried that these new badniks may be just as powerful as Robotnik claims. He puts everything he has into another attack, hitting one of the badniks straight on, and is horrified when it stands apparently unharmed... Fortunately, it falls apart a mere moment later, causing Sonic considerable relief.

Less fortunately, though, Robotnik has taken advantage of the distraction. In the time it took to defeat just one badnik, Robotnik has captured Tails!

Appearances

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Doctor Ivo Robotnik
 * Grimer
 * Flickies (blue and yellow)
 * Badniks (gremlin, bat and caterpillar models)

Continuity

 * Robotnik was deposed in Sonic the Comic #100, "The Final Victory".
 * Robotnik mentions that he intends to rule the planet once again. He will eventually give up this goal in Sonic the Comic #171, "Planet in Peril!".
 * Robotnik claims that he will make the people of Mobius suffer when he takes over again, particularly the Emerald Hill Zone. It was Robotnik's hatred of this zone that led the Emerald Hill Folk to flee to the Floating Island between Sonic the Comic #53, "Disaster! Part 3", and Sonic the Comic #104, "Flickies' Island, Part 1".

Trivia

 * "Flickies' Island" is Sonic the Comic ' s adaptation of Sonic 3D.
 * The ancient ruin from this story appears to be based on Rusty Ruin Zone, the second level of Sonic 3D.

Captain Plunder - "Captain Plunder and the Spice Maidens, Part 2"

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

Synopsis
Captain Plunder is in search of the Akotek Treasure, accompanied by Zorabel the Pirate Queen and he five daughters, the Spice Maidens. Zorabel finally agrees to show Plunder her map, but reveals that it's not a map to the treasure, but rather a map that will direct them to somebody who can tell them where the treasure is hidden: Krakiota the Sea Serpent, who knows all the secrets of Planet Mobius! Plunder is worried, having heard legends of Krakiota destroying a hundred warships and devouring entire crews, but Coriander points out that if there had truly been no survivors then nobody saw it happen to tell the story. In any case, Zorabel has made up her mind and they set a course for Skull Rock.

When they arrive at the legendary Skull Rock, Cinnamon is skeptical because the rock doesn't look much like a skull at all. Pepper suggests that Plunder is scared and so he brought them to the wrong place, but Plunder is vindicated when Coriander spots Krakiota through her telescope. However, the dreaded sea serpent is nowhere near as big as expected, fitting comfortably on Plunder's palm.

Krakiota says that he will answer three questions only, but Plunder slips up immediately by asking "You sure yer Krakiota?" Krakiota takes this as Plunder's first question and responds ("I am most certainly."), leading Plunder to waste another question by asking "What are you playin' at?" Krakiota explains that he is not 'playing' at anything. Zorabel quickly tells Plunder to shut his face and stop wasting questions, and asks the final third and final question herself: "Krakiota, do 'ee know where the Akotek Treasure be hid?"

Krakiota replies: "Yes."

Having asked whether he knew where it was hidden (rather than asking where it was hidden), Krakiota refuses to speak further, saying that those are the rules. Zorabel is angry, but Plunder steps in to point out that Krakiota won't talk... so they decide to eat him instead, and give him to Simpson to cook in a cauldron. As Zorabel and Plunder wonder how much of a meal they'll get out of him, Krakiota starts giving serious thought to bending the rules just this once.

Appearances

 * Captain Plunder
 * Queen Zorabel
 * Spice Maidens (Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Coriander, Pepper and Tarragon)
 * Krakiota
 * Simpson the Cat

Trivia

 * Zorabel's map features several named locations. In addition to Skull Rock (which is incorrectly identified as "Skull Island", the name of the island from King Kong), the following places are named:
 * Elson's Island (after artist Richard Elson);
 * Stringer's Strait (after writer Lew Stringer); and
 * Kitching Cove (after writer and artist Nigel Kitching).
 * Zorabel's map also features the legend "Here be Monsters" (denoting the presence of Krakiota the sea serpent), a reference to phrases such as this that were used on real maps in ancient times to denote dangerous or unexplored territories.
 * Simpson uses a cookbook called Quick Fish Dishes by Rick Swine. Rick Swine is named after the real life chef Rick Stein.

Decap Attack - "Wish"

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

It's a normal day at Castle Frank N Stein, and Chuck and Igor are trying to kill each other. Chuck throws Head at Igor but misses, and Head goes bouncing down the stairs and lands on a green bottle, freeing a pixie that was trapped inside. This pixie is glad to be out of the bottle and asks why Head looks so glum - Head bemoans the fact that Chuck and Igor are always fighting, and wishes Igor wasn't such a rat. The pixie agrees to make Igor into Head's pal and, despite Head's doubts, Igor does seem transformed.

Igor comes to pick up Head and puts him back on Chuck's shoulders, then offers to fix Chuck's bandages when Chuck suspects a trick. Then he rushes off to help out the Professor in the laboratory. The Prof and Chuck are very confused. Head tries to explain about the pixie in the bottle, but shuts up quickly when he realises that nobody can see the pixie but him.

When Igor tearfully confesses that he loves everyone and tries to hug them, that's all Chuck can stand and he attacks Igor with the arm of Prof's latest monster creation. Head demands that Peter the Pixie turns Igor back to normal... and, naturally, Igor and Chuck immediately try to kill each other again. Peter asks if Head has any more wishes, but Head just tells him to shut up!

Sonic's World - "Deception"

 * Script: Lew Stringer
 * Art: Andy Pritchett
 * Lettering: Tom Frame

Synopsis
Amy and Tekno are having a day off and going hiking in the Rocky Valley Zone when they come across what look like a crashed alien spaceship outside a cave. Suddenly, two aliens emerge from the cave and fire at them with ray guns! Amy and Tekno leap behind a rock for cover. Tekno is amazed at the existence of aliens on Mobius, but Amy wonders if they're really aliens at all. She wishes she could check out the cave without being seen, and Tekno has just the gadget: a rock boring machine!

Amy and Tekno dig a tunnel straight into the heart of the cave, where Amy finds a plan on how to make a life-size model of a UFO from papier maché... and Tekno finds a chest of gold treasure! At this point the two aliens turn up, and Amy deduces that they are "local aliens" - she is proved correct when they pull off their rubber alien masks to reveal that they are two Mobian dogs named Sid and Tone. They explain that they discovered the treasure and they've been using the alien disguises to scare people away so they don't have to share, and can sell it off bit by bit. And now that Amy and Tekno have learned their secret, they won't leave the cave alive! (What's worse, Amy can't use her crossbow since she left it back at base for her day off.)

However, when Amy takes a look at the gold, she says that it is actually "geek's gold". It's totally fake, a prop left over from a film made locally called Caves of Gold. Sid and Tone immediately accuse each other of lying and wrestle to the ground, accidentally firing Tone's ray gun and causing a cave-in! Luckily, everyone gets out in time, but now the treasure is buried under tons of rubble. Sid and Tone decide to cut their losses, as the gold was fake anyway, and leave.

Once they're gone, Amy asks if Tekno has another boring machine so that they can dig up the treasure to give to the local residents - she only said it was fake to get rid of Sid and Tone. "They're not the only ones who can play tricks y'know!"

Appearances

 * Amy Rose
 * Tekno the Canary
 * Sid and Tone

Other features

 * Control Zone
 * STC Pin-Up! - Caterkiller badniks! Art by Ferran Rodriguez
 * International Zone (Graphic Zone)
 * Speedlines