The game wardens are getting serious now.
Sonic The Hedgehog #38
Archie Comic Publications (September, 1996)
COLORIST: Barry Grossman
LETTERER: Vickie Williams
EDITOR: Freddy Mendez-Gabrie
MANAGING EDITOR: Victor Gorelick
I’m only guessing on the shared credits. Only Grossman and Williams are credited in both stories but no listing for who did what on the second story.
“The Rise Of Robotropolis…The Fall Of Sonic!”
WRITER: Kent Taylor
PENCILER: Manny Galan
INKER: Phil Sheehy
“Bedtime Tails!”
Mike Kanterovich & Ken Penders with Jon D’agostino and the shared credits
In the main story a combination of storm and Combots leads to Sonic losing his superspeed. The other Freedom Fighters are captured and Sonic is forced to work with Sally’s former trainees to rescue them while hunting down three power rings to regain his powers.
There’s not really much to say here. Sonic only apologizes once for being a jerk to the former trainees and while it’s understandable given losing his speed is affecting him as it’s part of his mental image, he’s still being a jerk. Sadly the story really doesn’t take the time to really focus on what losing his speed is doing to him and so the story never really gets a chance to really work with its plot. He doesn’t even struggle to get the three rings he needs.
The back-up story has Sonic sick with a cold so Tails creates a comic to read him, about how the Freedom Fighters survive cosmic rays that give them superpowers. Together they have to stop Robotnicus from eating Mobius…which they do with knock-off Twinkies. I don’t think I have to tell you what’s being parodied here, but the Four here never really show off any powers, and Sonic turning the tables on Tails when he gets sick to create Bat-Sonic just does nothing, not even a groan.
Overall this was a very basic set of stories, which is not something Sonic himself would approve of. Drop the useless back-up and use those pages to really show us how Sonic is coping without his power and they might have had something decent. Sadly, that’s not what we got and I sped through this rather quickly. Not sure if that’s irony.
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