Wow. I still say they should have taken the time to tell a detailed version of "The Last Robian", and that timing the climactic events to coincide with the anniversary issues is silly, but… wow.

First off, the cover. Penciled by Spaz, inked by Ribeiro; colorist not identified.

Quite colorful, quite cluttered, a little silly perhaps, but still a major improvement over those "magazine-style" covers. There’s something a little bit odd about the art style, though… It’s signed by Spaz, but it doesn’t really look like his ordinary work. I mean, it’s just as good as the rest of his work, it just seems more cartoon-y than usual for him… Part of that might be the coloring, however—the colorist used brighter colors and softer shading than usual…

Story by Karl Bollers; pencils by Dave Manak, Art Mawhinney, Ron Lim, Dawn Best, Steven Butler, and J. Axer; inks by Andrew Pepoy, Pam Eklund, Nelson Ribeiro, Jim Amash, and Conor Tomas; colors by Jason Jensen; letters by Jeff Powell; and editing by Gabrie, Gorelick, and Goldwater.

Here it is, folks—possibly the best action-based story in the entire series (though it has some stiff competition from "Rage Against the Machine").

We start off with Sally expanding upon her statement from the end of the last issue. It turns out they didn’t just look in some history book and say "Hey, look at this! Mobius used to be called Earth!" No, instead we refer back to the legendary days of Fury, which brought an end to the planet’s previous civilization, that of the ten-fingered "Humans".

Unfortunately for Karl, in the "Forgotten Tribe" trilogy, Ken placed the previous Day of Fury approximately 1200 years ago. However, when you consider the fact that 1200 years before 3236 is 2036, it becomes obvious Ken had the same basic idea; he had just assumed Mobians used the same dating system we do. Actually, I prefer Karl’s chronology—Mammoth Mogul claimed to rule for ages, and Mobian civilization developed after he was dethroned. And all this, of course, after Mobians had evolved… It’s a lot easier to imagine all of this happening in 3000 years than 1200… though, frankly, even 3000 years isn’t enough. (Evolution takes millions of years, fer cryin’ out loud! And Mogul claimed to have ruled for several thousand years, not just one or two thousand…)

Ahem –Getting back to the story at hand… Rotor provides a stripped down version of X-Men’s Cerebro, which Sally uses to contact the Xorda and tell them Humans ain’t in charge any more. There’s a new dominant species now—Mobo Sapiens. (In addition to providing Mobians with a cool scientific name, it also tells us with out any doubt, that all Mobian races are part of the same species.)

Unfortunately, the Xorda don’t care. According to them, "…despite a cute, furry appearance, [the Mobian] species has a sizeable percentage of human DNA." (I don’t know why, but I find this scene quite cool. These truly alien aliens telling the furry but humanoid Sally that she’s part human…)

The Xorda’s declaration tells us two things, besides the obvious fact that there’s something human-like about Mobians. First, and most importantly, the Xorda don’t forgive (but the fact that they’ve held a grudge against humanity for three thousand years could have told us that already). Secondly, and more surprisingly, the Xorda consider Mobians cute!

As the Xorda won’t listen to reason (or at least human/Mobian reason—the Xorda probably think they’re being quite reasonable), the Mobians have no choice but to turn to Robotnik for help. And what help he gives! Giant Robotno has nothing on this baby! Just like that other giant robot, though, it’s up to Sonic to power it.

Meanwhile, Knuckles decides that heaven isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and stops by Aurora’s place. She acts surprised to see him—quite odd behavior for the echidnoid image of capital-"g" God. Either she’s playing dumb, or her divine powers didn’t come with the omniscience. (In other words, she may be all-powerful, but she ain’t all-knowing.)

Knuckles asks if Mobius can survive the Xorda, and she can’t bring herself to answer. (I’m guessing she’s new to the whole "god" business…)

Meanwhile, back on Mobius, Sally tells everyone it’s time to work together to save Mobius, then runs off with Sonic. Guess Sonic and Sally aren’t "everyone".

Oh, we also get a glimpse of Gen. Stryker and his dingo underlings—the first time we’ve seen any of them besides Harry the cabby, since Stryker threatened to take over Echidnaopolis just before the Dark Legion blasted it into another zone…

In Megalopolis, Sonic boards the Giga-bot, and Sally comes along for the ride. The bot walks over to the Xorda ship, and the Xorda blast the bot. Luckily, the bot has a force-field, so it’s unharmed. The bot gives the Xorda ship one good left hook, and the Xorda retreat. Guess these guys are chicken, on top of everything else. (This was the one part of the issue that disappointed me. That bot was so cool looking, it deserved a good battle. And these super-powerful aliens can’t handle a punch?! Come on!)

Robotnik reveals his treachery, trapping Sonic and preparing to use him and the Giga-bot to conquer Mobius. But before Sonic and Sally can pull off a heroic escape, the Xorda reveal that they’re not done being an unstoppable alien menace just yet. They drop a giant sundial made of coral on the Southern Tundra, and explain to their helpless victims that Mobius is about to become a black hole.

Back in the afterlife, Athair tells Knuckles he still has one life left (must’a gotten a 1-up somewhere along the way), but Aurora begs Knuckles to stay. Seems he has some great cosmic destiny, even more important than the survival of Mobius. Knux doesn’t buy it, and heads back to Mobius.

In response to this, Aurora displays her lack of omniscience once more, as she can not comprehend Knuckles’ decision. Athair asks, "Weren’t you ever sixteen?"

Given that she’s supposed to be God, I’d say, probably not.

…All right, we’re almost done here. Everyone rushes to the Dial to stop it, but guns pop out of the snow, forcing them to stop to fight them. Meanwhile, anything technological that approaches the dial falls apart—including Station Square’s missiles, and the Giga-bot.

Sonic and Sally land inside the Dial’s defense perimeter, but the thing has another defensive move—a deadly "quantum wave burst" that threatens to destroy our heroes. Apparently, Sonic can’t run a hundred miles in three seconds without a power ring…

Luckily, this is when Knuckles arrives, using his old "blow everything up with my energy" technique. Everyone is saved for the moment, but that was the last of his power, and the Dial is still about to generate its black hole. The only solution? Sonic must sacrifice himself for the good of Mobius. He and Sally say a tearful goodbye, then Sonic heads off to save the world one last time…

…At last, Mobius is safe (I guess nobody takes Eggman seriously any more) but our heroes do not celebrate—they mourn for the loss of their champion. (And I must say, the statue they gave him this time looked a lot better than the one they made back in issue 20!)

But… far across the galaxy, with a burst of incredible energy, the form of a blue hedgehog appears…

Whew! What a workout! That was definitely one of the most exiting issues in a long time. Unfortunately, as the series is named "Sonic the Hedgehog", they couldn’t really kill off their hero… Not that I want to see Sonic dead, but if it had been the case, we would have been treated to a very interesting story, as our heroes strive to overthrow Robotnik without Sonic… (Hey, that sounds like a good idea for a fanfic! …And speaking about fanfics, the climax of this story really reminded me of "The Temporal Syndrome" by Shawn Wolski… Look in the Universe One section of the Mobian Central Library, if you want to compare the stories.)

The art in this issue was quite good, for a tag-team issue. It’s been a while since we’ve seen Manak’s work, and I’m pleased to see he’s been practicing. It still looks a bit different than what everyone else is doing, but it looks good. All the other art blends together so well that, if it weren’t for the credits, one might not notice when the switches took place. And as for the color, it was done by Jensen. What else need be said?

Finally, the issue ends with a letter from Yuji Naka. Nothing much there to comment on.

All in all, though not perfect, this issue was a wild ride, and a treat for the eyes. Works for me!