In memory of the dearly departed Sonic the Hedgehog… (Hmm… Are you sure this is issue 20, not 126?…)
Editor-in-chief: Richard Goldwater; Managing Editor: Victor Gorelick; Editor: Scott Fulop.
Penciled by Dave Manak, inked by Harvey Mercadoocasio
Sally, Rotor, and Tails stand before a statue of Sonic, mourning his death. (Like I said before, this would go great after issue 125!)
Written by Angelo DeCesare, penciled by Dave Manak, inked by Harvey Mercadoocasio, lettered by Bill Yoshida, colored by Barry Grossman.
Sonic and Sally search for Robotnik’s Anti-Matter device, which will make Robotnik and his bots… invisible…?!
I guess Angelo didn’t major in advanced physics—and doesn’t watch a lot of science fiction! Anti-matter is a form of matter with certain qualities the opposite of that of "normal" matter. When matter and anti-matter meet, both are completely and instantaneously converted into pure energy—thus making anti-matter the ultimate energy source (and extremely dangerous). It has nothing, however, to do with turning invisible…
Returning to the story, Sonic and Sally find the anti-matter device, and Sonic prepares to destroy it. But, suddenly, he’s locked in the room, and Robotnik appears on a view-screen, informing Sonic that as the device wouldn’t work, he had the chamber converted into a trap.
Sonic, of course, has no trouble escaping—or, at least, he wouldn’t, except he trips, and gets caught in his own bomb’s explosion…
An injured and dirty Sally makes her way back to Knothole to pass on the grim news—Sonic is dead!
On the next page, we witness Sonic coming to this same realization when he finds he can walk through walls.
He heads back to Knothole, to say goodbye to his friends, but he’s mute and invisible, in addition to being intangible.
He watches his own memorial service, as Sally eulogizes him, and Rotor reveals a statue of Sonic (it’s not very good—Tails is the team’s artist, and he refuses to admit Sonic’s dead).
Later, Sonic’s walking through the woods, when he finds he’s no longer intangible or inaudible. He leaps to the conclusion that he isn’t dead after all—that Robotnik’s invisibility device actually worked on him!
He races back to Knothole, only to discover the Freedom Fighters have left for a final assault on Robotropolis. (I guess Sonic’s "death" affected Sally pretty badly—she seems to not be thinking very rationally… Hmm, this sounds familiar…)
…
Taking a break from the action, let us consider a "classic cover of everyone’s favorite dynamic duo" for us to color… How can you call it "classic" when it’s never seen print before? Oh well…
…Back to the story, Robotnik and Snively board a "Buzzard Bot", and prepare to attack the approaching Freedom Fighters, but Sonic arrives just in time, and gets the better of Robotnik…
Later, as Sonic’s invisibility wears off, he reunites with the Freedom Fighters.
…
There’s quite a story in here, but as usual, DeCesare plays it for laughs. Although this lessens its impact, it doesn’t erase it—all in all, not bad for the era.
As for the art, it’s also the usual for the era—nothing special, but nothing wrong with it.
Sonic and Knuckles by Daniel Kruger; Knuckles by Keith Grant; a nicely shaded Knux by Britt Roth; Sonic and Tails by Adam Jorgensen; and Sonic and Tails by Andrew Schlackman.
Written by Mike Kanterovich & Ken Penders, penciled by Art Mawhinney, inked by Rich Koslowski.
In a brilliant, virtually "silent" sequence, Sally sneaks into one of Robotnik’s energy sub-stations, plants some explosives, and escapes. She then runs into a mysterious skunk, who claims to be "Geoffrey St. John, late of His Majesty’s Secret Service, current leader of the Rebel Underground."
Sally is suspicious, however… and she’s also right in a Swat-bot’s sights!
Scott gives us a nice half-page ad for the Princess Sally Mini-Series, "on sale in just two weeks"—only that’s not how it happened. (And the cover we see in the preview, part of what would have been the series’ first three-part cover, never saw print…) What happened? Eh, read Dan Drazen’s review of the issue, and the mini-series—he seems to know the low-down. I’m just glad I wasn’t an avid reader back then—having an issue not show up until a month after it was due out would have worried me quite a bit!
Moving on, we have letters by Mark Cooper, Brian Rodriquez, Joshua Bertram, and Bean Leveille.
More of the same. *shrug*