Sonic the Comic Issue 65


 * Editor: Deborah Tate
 * Assistant Editor: Audrey Wong
 * Designer: Gary Knight
 * Managing Editor: Richard Burton
 * Publisher: Rob McMenemy

Sonic the Hedgehog - "Project Brutus, Part 3"

 * Script: Lew Stringer
 * Art: Richard Elson
 * Lettering: Ellie de'Ville

Synopsis
Sonic, Amy Rose, and Johnny Lightfoot have been captured and chained together by the ultimate Trooper, Commander Brutus, who is parading them through the streets of the Pleasant Zone. The citizens start to lose hope for their future, although Sonic says not to write him off just yet. Robotnik contacts Brutus, demanding that Brutus bring Sonic back to Citadel Robotnik immediately! Brutus is angry, claiming that Robotnik is jealous of his victory, and he strikes a Trooper that advises him to follow Robotnik's advice. The Trooper drops its gun, which Amy grabs and uses to blast Brutus!

The three of them, still shackled together by wrists and ankles, trying to run. The Troopers do not follow until Brutus orders them to do so, infuriating the Commander yet further. (He wonders how Robotnik ruled Mobius with such idiots working for him.)

The three Freedom Fighters try to blast off their chains with the gun Amy took, but they are followed so close that they have no time. They run over a bridge, and the Troopers accidentally destroy it so that they cannot follow. Unfortunately for the heroes, Brutus is no mere Trooper: he was once a part of the Special Badnik Service (SBS), and is fitted with an anti-gravity unit that lets him fly over the gorge!

Chained together, the three heroes can't flee, and are knocked to the floor when Sonic trips over a rock. Brutus has had enough of Robotnik's orders and decides to terminate them immediately. Sonic, grounded and helpless, refuses to let it end like this... his spines begin to glow...

An explosion! Sonic has become Super Sonic! He effortlessly snaps the chains and charges at the hovering Brutus! Now we'll see some action!

Appearances

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Amy Rose
 * Johnny Lightfoot
 * Commander Brutus
 * Doctor Ivo Robotnik
 * Troopers
 * Super Sonic
 * Pleasant Zone citizens:
 * Bears (mother and son)
 * A walrus
 * A yellow bird
 * Many others

Ecco the Dolphin - "Return of Ecco the Dolphin, Part 6"
Ecco has rescued his fellow sea creatures from the alien creatures called the Vortex, but is now stranded on the Vortex's world. He communicates telepathically with the Asterite back on Earth, who instructs him to make much noise and attract the attention of the Vortex creatures. Two arrive on a manta ray-like vehicle, which attempts to ensanre him using a Vortex beam. Ecco destroys one with his super sonar, then knocks the other out of the vehicle and comandeers the Vortex beam. The Asterite boosts the beam's power, allowing Ecco to swim through, back to Earth.
 * Script: Alan McKenzie
 * Art: Steve White
 * Lettering: Tom Frame

Now that Ecco and his friends are safe, the Asterite decides to return to his own home. With a fond farewell, he warns that the Vortex are unlikely to forget about Earth. Ecco is confident that they will cope if the Vortex should ever return.

The End.

Knuckles - "The Homecoming, Part 1"

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

Synopsis
Knuckles the Echidna has completed a hard day's work on the Floating Island's Emerald Chamber. He wants a rest, but is prevented from doing so when the alarm system activates. There's a fluctuation in the island's forcefield, which could be an intruder.

Using a Zoom Tube he travels in moments to the zone where the signal was detected: Megopolis City, once the capital of the Echidna civilization on the Island, and now just a crumbling ruin. Knuckles finds a robot searching through the rubble, and calls out to ask what it is doing. The robot immediately opens fire! Knuckles attacks it directly, to little effect, then slams his fist into the ground, opening up a crevice for the robot to fall into.

Knuckles wonders what the robot was searching for, but the answer soon presents itself: an old, white-furred echidna with a gold medallion. He says he's one of the lost race of echidnas, the first of Knuckles' people to return to the Floating Island! And his name is Doctor Zachary!

Appearances

 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Guardian Robot
 * Doctor Zachary

Continuity

 * Doctor Zachary appears for the first time. This is the first echidna Knuckles has seen after many years of waiting for the return of his people, as described in Sonic the Comic #36, "Power of the Chaos Emeralds, Part 2".
 * There is a fluctuation in the Floating Island's forcefield, which was raised in Sonic the Comic #53, "Disaster! Part 3".
 * An indentation on the robot's chin is the same shape as Doctor Zachary's gold medallion, foreshadowing the revelation in Sonic the Comic #67, "The Homecoming, Part 3", that the two are working together.

Sonic's World - "Cybernik Strikes Back, Part 3"

 * Script: Lew Stringer
 * Art: Carl Flint & John Burns
 * Lettering: Steve Potter

Synopsis
Shortfuse the Cybernik and Tekno the Canary have planted a bomb in the Chemical Plant Zone, but Metamorphia has appeared before they can escape. Shortfuse attacks Metamorphia to no avail. She turns into gas to avoid him, then attacks with hands shaped into axes, only to have them shatter against his indestructible armour. He blasts her into the polluted water, but she reappears a moment later as a collosal, tentacled sea monster. Shortfuse and Tekno escape her tentacles, but she turns into a humanoid again and blasts them. Capturing Tekno and flying away on metal wings, she leaves Shortfuse lying next to the bomb as it explodes, taking the Chemical Plant factory along with it!

Shortfuse's armour remains intact, but he is pinned down by debris and twisted metal, dragged underwater, and blacks out...

Appearances

 * Shortfuse the Cybernik
 * Tekno the Canary
 * Metamorphia

Other features

 * Control Zone
 * Greasers' Graphic Zone
 * STC Pin-Up! - Coconuts Badnik!
 * Q Zone
 * Speedlines