INFO BURST

Format: Comic strip
Initial Release Date: 7/8/93
Feature character: Sonic the Hedgehog
Villain: Robo Sonic
Other Characters: Kintobor Computer, Miles “Tails” Prower, Badniks (Clucker)
Locations: West Side Island, Emerald Hill Zone, Doctor Kintobor’s Laboratory, Wing Fortress Zone, Death Egg Zone
Items: Bi-plane, Robotnik’s space shuttle
Continuity: Sonic the Comic
Synopsis: In the laboratory of Doctor Kintobor which Sonic now uses as a secret headquarters, the hedgehog learns of Doctor Robotnik’s Death Egg space satellite’s imminent crash landing in the middle of the Emerald Hill Zone. With no time to lose, Sonic has Tails pilot his bi-plane to bring the pair to Robotnik’s abandoned Wing Fortress Zone. Almost falling afoul of the Wing Fortress’ laser defence system, Sonic allows Tails to join him on a trip into space. Aboard the Death Egg, Sonic finds Robo Sonic, barely functional after his fight with him (in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit)). Sonic takes the opportunity to finish the job and kick the robot’s head off, but the celebration is cut short as the Death Egg is now hurtling towards Mobius’ surface. Sonic decides to steer the Death Egg away from the Emerald Hill Zone manually and tells Tails to get into the escape pod – despite the fact there is only one on board. The pod floats to safety just in time for Tails to see the Death Egg crash land into the sea. Tails mourns the loss of his friend, only to be surprised to find Sonic atop the escape pod, having escaped the Death Egg just in time. As the sun sets, Sonic supposes everyone will want to make a big fuss of him saving the day and throw parties in celebration. Tails tells him they won’t if he doesn’t want them to – to which Sonic retorts that of course he does.
Notes: With no reference material given to him, Ferran Rodriguez was able to piece together the Wing Fortress Zone by playing through the game and pausing as the Wing Fortress came on screen to build up a complete image of the location. This story is the first time Doctor Kintobor (or, rather, the Kintobor Computer) had been visually depicted in British Sonic continuities – his appearance would be revised for his next appearance. Crucially, Doctor Kintobor’s laboratory is situated in the Green Hill Zone in most tellings of that particular take on the Sonic mythos, but it appears here in this continuity in the Emerald Hill Zone – an unfortunate side effect of writer Nigel Kitching preferring to use locations from the more recent Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit) while many of his peers preferred to use locations from the original Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit).

CREDITS

Writer: Nigel Kitching
Artist: Ferran Rodriguez
Letterer: Elitta Fell

Review

With its sixth issue, Sonic the Comic finally feels like it figured out what the lead strips should look like. Even by this early point, it is wholly evident that Nigel Kitching is the standout talent of the original crop of writers assigned to work on Sonic’s adventures as he grasps the characters in a way none of the other writers up to this point have managed. Additionally, Kitching is paired with an artist who matches the story’s energy in Ferran Rodriguez, whose delightful take on Sonic makes the hedgehog almost always wear a cheeky smirk, which suits the cocky yet endearing attitude of this version of the character. Rodriguez’ take on Tails is also suitably cute and captures a lot of the spirit of Sonic’s younger friend.

Kitching’s first story made use of Doctor Robotnik but he’s entirely absent in this one. This isn’t a first for STC, of course, with Mark Millar having penned two stories so far in which the deranged doc isn’t present, but instead of replacing Robotnik with another major antagonist, the real threat in this story is the ever-present danger of the Death Egg plummeting out of orbit. Robo Sonic does make an appearance but the robot is in such a damaged state that he doesn’t even put up a fight before Sonic dispatches of him – it’s not meant to be a cool fight, it’s meant to be Sonic showing off and Kitching uses the moment to inform Sonic’s character.

Similarly, one of Kitching’s best early examples of his character work with Sonic occurs in this story. Sonic and Tails are briefly separated on the Wing Fortress Zone and Sonic finds himself trapped in what readers would likely recognise as the boss room from that Zone in the game. Tails can’t see what’s going on in this sequence as Sonic assures him everything is fine and to stop worrying – while, without an audience present, Sonic kicks himself for being stupid enough to fall into a trap and worries about disarming the defence system before it can blast him with a huge laser. Of course, Tails arrives just as the job is done and Sonic is able to maintain his cool front, pretending everything was alright all along – and Tails need never know any different! It’s an early defining moment for the character as it shows the readers that, despite what Sonic may like you to think, he isn’t a perfect hero and he does make mistakes and have worries and anxieties – but he’s got to keep up appearances all the same, of course!

If any reader thinks Sonic’s being a little brash or cocky, then they’re soon assured that he’s still a selfless hero as he orders Tails into the only escape pod as the Death Egg crash lands. Bearing in mind earlier dialogue suggests Sonic hadn’t originally planned on Tails heading onto the Death Egg with him, there’s a decent chance he knew he’d be put in this position as, of course, Doctor Robotnik would only ever need one escape pod on his satellite. But, of course, we get the happy ending as Sonic manages to avoid being lost at sea, all before we close on another fun little interaction between Sonic and Tails.

By now it was clear: Kitching had staked his claim that he wanted to write stories that did justice to how the readers felt about Sonic. This issue feels like the first one where things all really fell into place. There was just one piece of the puzzle missing – fortunately, readers wouldn’t have to wait long for it to arrive.