This special, I think, was a brilliant idea. By rewinding the clock, the writers had the opportunity to fill in details of the Freedom Fighters’ history and background. And although they perhaps could have done more with the idea, they did at least fill in a few important events…

Cover pencils by Spaz, and colors by J. D. Ray/ Heroic Age. The inker’s signature is a bunch of lines, reminiscent of Japanese and Chinese writing, but not as elaborate. I have no idea whose signature it is…

The art on the cover is good—Spaz draws the young FF cute, and the color is good.

The frontispiece is even better—the crayon-style coloring is a nice touch.

Written by Michael Gallagher, penciled by Manny Galan, inked by Jim Amash, lettered by Vickie Williams, and colored by Barry Grossman.

The setting: Knothole, some time ago… Exactly when is not specified, but I’d guess it’s about three or four years after the coup, judging by Tails’ apparent age.

The story is short and sweet. Sonic, Sally, Rotor, Antoine, and "Miles" play around a bit, then Sonic shows Miles how to use his tails as helicopter blades. They follow Miles and discover a hidden cave-system. Sally decides it’s the perfect headquarters for the "Freedom Fighters"—which she decides is what she and her friends will now be. Why? In Sally’s words, "the winds of change are about to sweep over Mobius…"

Not quite sure what she’s referring to, given that this is several years after the coup. One possibility, though, suggested in passing in the next story, is that Robotnik did not roboticize all Mobians immediately upon assuming power—only those he saw as a threat. The others were allowed to retain their fleshly bodies so long as they obeyed him. However, at some point, he changed his mind, and it’s possible this is that point.

Oh, and Sonic gives Miles the nickname "Tails" in this story, as well.

The story is reasonably well written—the young FF don’t exactly talk like kids, but they look and act like them, which was enough for me to suspend disbelief. The art is also great—Many Galan at his best.

Plotted by Tom Rolston, scripted by Karl Bollers, penciled by Art Mawhinney, inked by Jim Amash, lettered by Jeff Powell, colored by Ken Penders.

We start in the present day, for an unnecessary lead-in by Sonic, before flashing back to "a few years ago". The Freedom Fighters all look a little bit older, and Tails is in school, so I initially assumed it was a year or two after the previous story. However, "Zoneward Bound" (Sonic Kids 2), is set after this story, and in that the characters look young once more, so it’s hard to say.

The FF are throwing a party for Tails, who’s gotten good grades on his report card. Must not be in science, as Rotor said he got horrible marks on the same test.

One scene I love here is when Sally calls him Miles, and he tells her to call him Tails. If only they had written this story before the rest of the series, they could have had Sally, and possible Antoine, continue to call him Miles, while the others used his nickname. Not that big of a thing, but I think it would have been a neat touch…

Cutting to Robotropolis, we watch as Sonic gives a mysterious man a bag of rocks in return for a pair of sneakers—the same style sneakers Tails later wears. Sonic wonders to himself why anyone would want a bag of rocks, and we notice (if we look carefully) the man throwing the bag away. Obviously, it was just a pretense—but why didn’t he choose something more believable as his "payment"?! In any case, he pulls back his hood to reveal the visage of Merlin Prower (last seen in "Knuckles Quest 2" in Sonic Live!), who we now learn is Tails’ uncle.

And in Robotnik’s headquarters, Robotnik bemoans the existence of the Freedom Fighters (which means there's already been a battle or two between Robotnik and the FF…). However, he has a plan (of course!). He’ll use his new "Time Immobilizer Beam" to stop Sonic, and all the Knothole villagers, in their tracks. The obligatory flaw in said plan? Sonic isn’t in Knothole at the moment.

He soon arrives there, though, and discovers all the villagers as stiff as statues. Running back out into the Great Forest, he plays dead, and is carted off to Robotnik’s headquarters, where Robotnik reveals his plans to roboticize all Mobians, and conquer the galaxy.

Sonic decides that’s a good time to reveal that he’s been acting (how did he manage to stand still so long?!) and presses a bunch of buttons at once, causing the computer to overload, and the time-gun to undo its effects. Robotnik sends a squad of Swatbots after Sonic, and when Sonic moves out of the way of their blasts, the ray is hit, destroying it.

Sonic heads back to Knothole, and presents Tails with his sneakers.

Finally, we jump back to the present, to find that Sonic’s audience has all fallen asleep. Not a good sign for Sonic’s storytelling, I think—or Bollers’, for that matter…

Actually, the story wasn’t that bad. But it wasn’t that good, either. Oh, nothing wrong with it, besides the coincidences at the end that allowed Sonic to win (coincidences that are quite common in action stories…) and the beginning and end scenes, which were entirely unnecessary. At the same time, though, I don’t see Tails getting his sneakers as a pivotal event in the lives of the Freedom Fighters. If they’d been doing a Sonic Kids series, this would have been a nice little story. But given that it ended up being one of only a handful of Sonic Kids stories, I think a more important story would have been nice.

The art also leaves something to be desired. Art Mawhinney is a decent artist, but he seemed to have a bit of difficulty adapting to the proportions of the younger FF. Also, Penders and Grossman apparently didn’t communicate over this story—Sally and Antoine are wearing the same style clothing in the two stories, but colored quite differently. In the real world this wouldn’t matter, but as the Sonic cast doesn’t change outfits very often, it’s a bit distracting here..

And now a break to peruse some missives… Nothing much of note… Fan Art—an impressive picture of Sally by Brian Edwards, and an emotional Antoine by Stacy George. Also, a less impressive picture of Sonic, Tails, and a Flicky bird.

Written by Karl Bollers, penciled by Nelson Ribeiro, Art Mawhinney, Sam Maxwell, and John Hebert; inked by Jim Amash, lettered by Vickie Williams, and colored by Barry Grossman.

We now return to the present day Mobius, for a tale that presumably takes place somewhere between Sonic 50 and Sonic & Tails departure to hunt down Naugus.

Not enough happens in this story for much of a summary of events. Essentially, Sonic, Sally, and Antoine battle a Combot, then tell Uncle Chuck about it. What makes it interesting is the way they tell about it. Each of them has their own version of events, playing up their side of things (makes perfect sense for Sonic and Ant, though I was surprise Sal got in on the game as well…).

The best part, though, is that each version of the story is drawn by a different artist! Ribeiro handles the opening and closing sections. His Uncle Chuck is a little off model, but otherwise, he does a good job. Then Art Mawhinney takes the reigns for Sally’s version of the tale, and I must say, the choice was well made. Then we get Sam Maxwell's interpretation of Antoine’s duel. His characters are off model, but the battle itself is well done. Finally, we get Sonic’s version, as drawn by John Hebert. He has an interesting style, but I’m not sure he was the right choice for this one…

My favorite version of the story, though, is Nicole’s. The art doesn’t really look like computer graphics, but it does look cool. Plus, it’s nice to have an objective account!

All in all, a neat little story.

Ever since they wrote this issue, I’ve been wishing they had seen what great potential the Sonic Kids storyline held. In addition to telling more about the FF’s past, if they had made it a regular feature of the comic, they could have used that to give the fans their monthly dose of adventure, and satisfied Sega about having Robotnik around, to boot. Meanwhile, they could have allowed the present day FF to finally enjoy real peace. We could have seen them struggle through school and romance, and eventually marry and live happily ever after… at which point, the Sonic Kids would be nearing the point where issue 0 took place, and Kids would evolve into a re-write of the early issues…

But alas, ‘tis not to be…