Sonic the Comic Issue 131


 * Editor: Deborah Tate
 * Designer: Gary Knight
 * Managing Editor: Steve MacManus
 * Production: Sarah Colley
 * Marketing Manager: Douglas Pocock
 * Managing Director: Julie Goldsmith

Sonic - "Shady Characters, Part 1"

 * Script: Lew Stringer
 * Art: Richard Elson
 * Lettering: Tom Frame

Synopsis
With Doctor Robotnik missing after his last defeat, Sonic thinks it's a perfect opportunity to wipe out his base on Flickies' Island. He gathers a group of heroes (Tails, Amy Rose, Johnny Lightfoot, Tekno the Canary, and Shortfuse the Cybernik) in the Emerald Hill Zone, and they all agree to help, except for Johnny Lightfoot who says he should stay behind in case someone attacks Emerald Hill while they're away. Sonic approves, and so the other heroes rush off. When they are gone, Johnny activates a device on his belt and teleports away.

Soon, over the ocean, the heroes expect to make a surprise attack on Robotnik's base, only to be ambushed by an horde of badniks, old and new. One by one, the heroes are taken down and captured: Shorty is blasted from behind, Amy's crossbow has been sabotaged and so has Tekno's Sky Scooter. The bi-plane is hit and starts to crash, with only Sonic and Tails left standing. Sonic continues to display his trademark optimism: "You and me against a hundred badniks, huh? They won't stand a chance!" However, this attitude is short lived as Tails is overwhelmed and then Sonic is caught unawares by a buzzer. Before falling unconscious, Sonic realises that someone must have set them up...

A while later, Sonic wakes up on Flickies' Island strapped into a bulky machine that completely prevents him from moving. His friends are in a cage nearby, and the sinister cloaked figure, Agent X, reveals that he was behind the whole thing. He knew they were coming because he teleported here after the meeting this morning. Pulling his hood back, Agent X reveals that he is really Johnny Lightfoot! Amy assumes it's a trick, but Tekno's scanner says that it really is Johnny.

Sonic calls Johnny a traitor and accuses him of working for Robotnik all along. Johnny says goodbye to Sonic and pulls a lever on the machine. Sonic is blasted with with energy and vaporised... Tails and Amy are horrified, but it's no use. Sonic's gone!

Appearances

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Amy Rose
 * "Johnny Lightfoot"
 * Tekno the Canary
 * Shortfuse the Cybernik
 * Agent X
 * Badniks:
 * Buzzer
 * Nebula
 * Bat Brains
 * Balkiries
 * Mosquis
 * Whisps
 * Jaws
 * Pointdexters
 * Octuses
 * Flickies' Island-style flying Ball Hogs

Continuity

 * Robotnik has been missing since his defeat in Sonic the Comic #130, "Showdown".
 * Tekno's Sky Scooter resembles her Solar-Powered Hover Scooter from Sonic the Comic #125, "Green Envy".
 * Some of the badniks that attack the heroes over the ocean are original-model badniks from early Sonic games. Other badniks are more advanced models that Robotnik began to produce on Flickies' Island, as shown in Sonic the Comic #104, "Flickies' Island, Part 1".
 * Agent X first appeared in Sonic the Comic #122, "Root of All Evil, Part 1". His most recent appearance was in Sonic the Comic #127, "Fog Warning". In these prior appearances ("Root of All Evil" and "Fog Warning"), Agent X and Johnny both appeared, but never in the same place at the same time, foreshadowing the revelation in this story that they are the same person. In fact, as revealed in the next issue, "Shady Characters, Part 2", Agent X is not the real Johnny Lightfoot but an alien doppelgänger named Shayde, who replaced the real Johnny some time between Sonic the Comic #115, "Earthbound, Part 2", and "Root of All Evil".
 * Sonic is apparently vaporised at the end of this story. In the next issue, it is revealed that he has actually been teleported to the Shadow Dimension.

Tails - "Making the News"

 * Script: Lew Stringer
 * Art: Mick McMahon
 * Lettering: Gordon Robson

Synopsis
Smallzone is the village with the lowest population on Planet Mobius. Nothing really important ever happens there. News reporter Clark Bent becomes dissatisfied with the local news stories he is required to cover, like the annual folk-rolling contest (won by its sole contestant, Grasstain O'Grady, as usual), a woman who taught her parrot to speak Italian, and a skateboarding cactus plant. He'd much rather report on big events like a badnik attack, but Smallzone is so insignificant that badniks never bother to invade it. Clark wants something big to happen someday, but the other residents like Smallzone the way it is.

Weeks later, in the Metropolis Zone, Tails sees a news broadcast from Smallzone, reported by Clark Bent: a huge dinosaur monster is destroying the village! Tails quickly flies to the village to investigate, only to find the local villagers panicking and running everywhere. Tails quickly rounds everyone up and tries to make them calm down. They are worried because they've seen a monster on the news, but nobody has actually seen it in real life. Something so big should be towering above them, but the monster is nowhere to be seen.

Tails heads to the TV studio to find answers. Sure enough, the whole thing is a hoax perpetrated by Clark Bent using model miniatures and computer effects. Clark Bent says he was bored reporting on trivia day after day, and wanted to liven the place up. He certainly succeeded, and he's quickly arrested for creating public disorder. Tails suggests he might get a shorter sentence for "model behaviour".

Appearances

 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Clark Bent
 * Smallzone residents:
 * Grasstain O'Grady
 * Dogs
 * Bears
 * Rabbits
 * Rodents
 * Sheep
 * Rhino
 * Parrot
 * Elephant
 * Ape police officer
 * Metropolis Zone resident

Trivia

 * Clark Bent is a reference to Clark Kent, the secret identity of superhero Superman, who acts as a reporter. The Smallzone is also a reference to Clark Kent's home town of Smallville.

Double Sonic - "Game On!"

 * Script: Lew Stringer
 * B & w art: Bob Corona
 * Colour: John Burns
 * Lettering: Elitta Fell

Synopsis
Sonic the Hedgehog runs through a forest, dodging the blasts of an attacking Bat Brain badnik. Sonic feels like he's done this a thousand times. Robotnik sends badniks after him and Sonic beats them up. Sonic leaps into a tree to face the badnik, but the badnik is too fast and blasts him. The world goes black.

Sonic the Hedgehog runs through a forest, dodging the blasts of an attacking Bat Brain badnik. Sonic feels like he's done this a thousand and one times. Robotnik sends badniks after him and Sonic beats them up. Sonic leaps into a tree to face the badnik and destroys it with a well placed punch. Game over: Sonic wins!

On Earth, a young boy cheers that he's finally completed his Sonic game. He and his two friends head to the park and the boy wishes that badniks were real so they could fight them just like Sonic. His friends laugh, and the girl says that the only "super spin attack" in real life is when she uses a swerving volley to score a goal with her football. Suddenly, a real Bat Brain badnik attacks. The dark-haired boy wants to run, but the other two decide to fight the badnik, using their football as a weapon. They kick the ball through the badnik, destroying it. Game over: the kids win!

In Tekno's workshop, Sonic admires Tekno's latest invention: a video game within a video game. Sonic asks what the "funny-looking dudes" were called, and Tekno says that they are humans. Humans actually exist on a planet called Earth. Sonic wonders if there are badniks on Earth. Tekno says no, only in the game version of Earth that Sonic played, but wonders if humans on the real Earth play video games about Sonic. "If they do," says Sonic, "they show great taste!"

Appearances

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Bat Brain badnik
 * Three human kids:
 * Boy with light brown hair
 * Girl with blonde hair
 * Boy with dark brown hair
 * Tekno the Canary

Continuity

 * Tekno mentions her previous visit to Earth with Amy. This visit took place in "Earthbound" from Sonic the Comic #114 and #115.

Decap Attack - "Decap-Man, Part 1"

 * Script & art: Nigel Kitching
 * Lettering: Ellie de' Ville

At Castle Frank N Stein in Transylvania, Prof cries out success. He has finally done it! Chuck congratulates him for finishing his jigsaw, and Igor sarcastically comments that it can't have been easy getting all twenty-five pieces to fit after fifteen years. Prof explains that he's still working on the jigsaw (he's stuck on a bit of the sky), and that he actually finished something much more important, concerning Chuck. The experiment that created Chuck was not a complete success, but now Prof has built a machine that will turn him into the superior being Chuck was always meant to be. The machine is made mainly from the garden barbecue set that Prof's Aunt Millie gave him for Christmas, so Chuck is somewhat reluctant to sit in it and get cooked. Prof instructs Igor to help Chuck into the seat, which he does... with a wrench.

When Chuck is strapped in the seat (with a new bump on his head), Prof sets the controls and tells Igor to double check the feedback regulator, which must be set no higher than 7. Igor finds the dial set to 6, and turns it up to 11 before giving the all clear. Chuck and Head are zapped with powerful beams, and the room fills with smoke. A figure steps through the smoke. It is Chuck and Head, but they are changed: bigger, stronger, sleeker. Chuck declares that the Prof's invention worked and that he is now the ultimate human. Chuck says he cannot stay in the castle and that the world needs him, and he leaps through the roof to find evil.

The following morning at breakfast, Prof and Igor are astonished when the front page of the Transylvanian Times contains a picture of a new masked superhero: the mysterious Decap-Man!

Other features

 * Control Zone
 * Pin-Up - Sonic's Buddies and Baddies, Part 2: Baddies. Art by Carl Flint.
 * Speedlines
 * Graphic Zone - World Cup Fever