Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 274

Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 274 is the two hundred seventy-fourth issue in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series published by Archie Comics. It is the seventh part of the "Worlds Unite" crossover.

Official solicitation

 * The heroes of the SONIC/MEGA MAN crossover event: AT WAR?! “Worlds Unite” Part Seven: The unified army is not so unified anymore! What has driven Mega Man, X and their robot companions to attack Sonic and the Freedom Fighters? Drs. Eggman and Wily may have the answer! Or a weapon. Could a weapon be the answer? Or is it more trademark treachery? Meanwhile, Sigma grows in power, preparing for the next phase of his master plan! And speaking of masters, this issue features cover art from master-artist Patrick “SPAZ” Spaziante, a Heroes Collide Throwback Variant cover from Rafa Knight and part 7 of the epic 12-part connecting variant cover series by artist Ben Bates!

Worlds Unite! Part Seven: Gears and Wills

 * Writer: Ian Flynn
 * Pencils: Edwin Huang
 * Inks: Gary Martin
 * Colorist: Gabriel Cassata
 * Letters: John Workman
 * Assistant Editor: Jonathan H. Gray
 * Editor: Vincent Lovallo
 * Editor-in-chief: Victor Gorelick
 * President: Mike Pellerito
 * Publisher: Jon Goldwater
 * Special Thanks to: Eddie Muzuno, Stacy-Arnold Strider, Patrick Riley and to the character business and Licensing Department of Sega Corporation.
 * Special Thanks to: Francis Mao, Noriko Matsunaga, Susan Suarez and Hiromi Iwasaki at Capcom media and Consumer products and to 飛田栄実.

Summary
Sonic and the New Freedom Fighters find themselves hard-pressed by the Robot Masters and Maverick Hunters, who are still being controlled by the Deadly Six. Sonic encourages his allies to fight it, but Mega Man explains that the Zeti are overriding his controls. Axl, greatly unnerved by the experience, wonders if it is anything like becoming a Maverick, but Zero makes it clear that they are not suffering that affliction while trying not to harm Antoine. Sonic realizes that the Deadly Six have to be stopped before being frozen by Flash Man, who uses his remaining control to convey the plan to the Freedom Fighters. Big then throws Flash Man into his teammates, while Snake Man expresses his regrets to rotor, who is not quite convinced given that the Robot Master is smiling as he's attacking. Observing the action from inside, Sally resolves to go out, while ordering Cream and Roll to remain with Nicole, as she fears the former getting hurt and the latter falling subject to the same manipulation.

Leaving Nicole in charge and telling her to inform Dr. Eggman and Dr. Wily that they have no more time to work on their latest weapon, she rushes outside to find Bunnie struggling to control her robotic limbs and keep from attacking her friends. Gemerl then comes after the princess, but is thwarted by Knuckles, who reports that he just got away from a fight with Break Man. Sally then orders her teammates to retreat inside. Master Zik notices the Sky Patrol is getting in position to fire its cannons at them, and Zeena starts taking said cannons out. Zazz wants to take control of the Sky Patrol and drive it into the ground, or potentially even further into the planet's core, but Zavok points out that would kill them too. And even if they could escape, they can barely stand after the fight they have been in and should not divide their focus any more than they already have.

In another world, Sticks is in an interrogation room where she mixes a recap of what's happened with a conspiracy about pasta sauce. Sticks asks her interrogator if she has any friends who would like to fight a big, bald man and save all of creation, and the grinning silhouette eagerly says she will make a few calls...

Back on the Sky Patrol, Big holds Bunnie down so that she cannot attack anyone while Sonic and Sally argue about her latest plan. X and Mega Man shoot at them while they are distracted, nailing Sally in the arm. Eggman and Wily appear with their completed laser cannon, which blasts all the robots and the Zeti, knocking them out and overheating the weapon. Sonic grabs Eggman, enraged that they have killed Mega Man, but the Doctors explain that they just disabled them, as well as destroying the Deadly Six's armor. Sally confronts the recovering Zavok and offers him the chance to surrender peacefully. Zavok refuses, but then passes out from exhaustion. Cream and Roll come out to help with first aid and repair on the heroes, while the Doctors are annoyed that they saved the day but are being completely ignored. Mega Man tries to apologize to Sonic, but he tells him it is no sweat and they shake hands. Big starts to carry the unconscious Deadly Six off to the brig and Nicole reports that despite Zeena's damage, they still have 40% offensive capability.

There is an argument on what to do next, with Sally, Mega Man, and X arguing the team needs to take some time to recover but Zero and Sonic saying they should press their attack on Lost Hex before Sigma has any more time to complete his plans. They are interrupted by a loud humming from below. Sigma gloats that the merged worlds have nearly been drained of their energies and that his evolution towards godhood begins now as he steps into the chest of a larger machine hooked up to the Unity Engine. Red lightning zaps it as he laughs evilly and the giant robotic body rises from the Lost Hex's surface, dwarfing the approaching Sky Patrol in sheer size. And with it, a whole army of Time-Cloned Mavericks.

Appearances

 * Chun-Li
 * Deadly Six
 * Master Zik
 * Zavok
 * Zazz
 * Zeena
 * Zomom
 * Zor
 * Mavericks
 * Agile
 * Armored Armadillo
 * Avalanche Yeti
 * Axle the Red
 * Bamboo Pandamonium
 * Berkana
 * Bit
 * Blast Hornet
 * Blaze Heatnix
 * Blizzard Buffalo
 * Blizzard Wolfang
 * Boomer Kuwanger
 * Bubble Crab
 * Burn Rooster
 * Byte
 * Chill Penguin
 * Commander Yammark
 * Crystal Snail
 * Cyber Peacock
 * Dark Dizzy
 * Dark Mantis
 * Double
 * Earthrock Trilobyte
 * Flame Hyenard
 * Flame Mammoth
 * Flame Stag
 * Frost Walrus
 * Gareth
 * Geemel
 * Gigabolt Man-O-War
 * Gravity Antonion
 * Gravity Beetle
 * Grizzly Slash
 * Ground Scaravich
 * Infinity Mijinion
 * Izzy Glow
 * Jet Stingray
 * Launch Octopus
 * Mac
 * Magna Centipede
 * Mattrex
 * Metal Shark Player
 * Middy
 * Morph Moth
 * Neon Tiger
 * Optic Sunflower
 * Overdrive Ostrich
 * Rainy Turtloid
 * Ride Boarski
 * Serges
 * Shield Sheldon
 * Sigma
 * Slash Beast
 * Snipe Anteator
 * Solider Stonekong
 * Spark Mandrill
 * Spiral Pegasus
 * Splash Warfly
 * Split Mushroom
 * Squid Adler
 * Sting Chameleon
 * Storm Eagle
 * Storm Owl
 * Techno
 * Tidal Makkoeen
 * Tornado Tonion
 * Toxic Seahorse
 * Tunnel Rhino
 * Vanishing Gungaroo
 * Violen
 * Volt Catfish
 * Web Spider
 * Wheel Gator
 * Wire Sponge
 * Zain
 * Unified Army
 * Dr. Albert W. Wily
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Gemerl
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Maverick Hunters
 * Axl
 * Mega Man X
 * Zero
 * New Freedom Fighters
 * Antoine D'Coolette
 * Amy Rose
 * Big the Cat
 * Bunnie D'Coolette
 * Cheese the Chao
 * Cream the Rabbit
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Nicole the Holo-Lynx
 * Rotor the Walrus
 * Sally Acorn
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Robot Masters
 * Light Robot Masters
 * Break Man
 * Mega Man
 * Roll
 * Quake Woman
 * Wily Robot Masters
 * Air Man
 * Bubble Man
 * Flash Man
 * Hard Man
 * Shadow Man
 * Snake Man
 * Spark Man
 * Wood Man
 * Rush
 * Team Sticks
 * Comedy Chimp
 * Fastidious Beaver
 * Sticks the Badger

Continuity

 * The robotic members of the unified heroes are still under the Deadly Six's control which began in Sonic Boom #9, "Worlds Unite! Part Six: Fire in the Sky".
 * Drs. Eggman and Wily complete their Egg-Wily Uppity Robot Scrambler Cannon, which they began on in Sonic Boom #9, "Worlds Unite! Part Six: Fire in the Sky", and uses it to destroy the Deadly Six's armor and free the mechanical members of the unified heroes from the Zeti's control.
 * Knuckles returns from battling Break Man in Sonic the Hedgehog: Worlds Unite Battles #1, "Knuckles vs. Break Man".
 * The Deadly Six are freed from their mind-control armor after being subjugated to it since Sonic Universe #76, "Worlds Unite! Part One: Across Time and Space".
 * Sticks the Badger is still in the unknown reality she ended up at in Sonic Boom #9, "Worlds Unite! Part Six: Fire in the Sky". There, she recruits some new allies to help combat Sigma. These allies would come to the unified heroes' aid in Mega Man #51.
 * Sticks mentions her fight with Roll in Sonic the Hedgehog: Worlds Unite Battles #1, "Sticks vs Roll".
 * Sigma moves to a bigger body thanks to the Master Engine and Unity Engines which were deployed in Sonic the Hedgehog #273, "Worlds Collide Part Three: Clash of the Corrupted".
 * Sigma sends his Maverick army to attack the unified heroes.

Trivia

 * Sticks makes a reference to the Sonic X anime series, after saying Sonic and X's name together. She goes on to say it probably would not last past three seasons, which is how many seasons of the show there were.
 * The character spread of the Maverick army in the final panel of this story is similar to that of the Robot Master Army in Sonic the Hedgehog #250.

Off Panel

 * Script: Bill Freiberger
 * Pencils, Inks and Colors: Jonathan H. Gray

Synopsis
Mega Man attacks Zomom with his Mega Buster, while Sonic Spin Dashes Zeena, Master Zik, Zor and Zazz. Comedy Chimp throws a pie at Zavok, only for that to make him angry. Comedy Chimp says that this works better than his Wolf Sidekick.

Appearances

 * Comedy Chimp
 * Deadly Six
 * Master Zik
 * Zavok
 * Zazz
 * Zeena
 * Zomom
 * Zor
 * Mega Man
 * Sonic the Hedgehog

Trivia

 * The subtitle of this Off Panel is a parody of the phrase "the sky's the limit."

Trivia

 * The first variant cover is a CGI remake of Sonic the Hedgehog #248's standard cover.