The (first) Return of Robotnik! (Gee, didn't take him long.)
Editor-in-chief: Richard Goldwater; Managing Editor: Victor Gorelick; Editor: Scott Fulop
Credits: By Patrick Spaziante and Jon D'Agastino.
Summary: A shadowy figure blasts a Swat-bot in front of Sonic and Tails. Who is it? As Sonic says, "I'll give you one guess!"
Commentary: These days this cover doesn't look all that special, but back in the day, it was rather impressive. (Back in the day, anything Spaz did was rather impressive.)
Of course, it does rather spoil the big "suprise" of this story.
Credits: Script: Ken Penders; Pencils: Pat Spaziante; Inks: Harvey Mercadoocasio; Lettering: Mindy Eisman; Coloring: Barry Grossman
Description: First shot: Sonic and Sally, married and with two children. At first glance, it seems this is the future, years after Robotnik's demise in the previous issue. A blurb by the editor clarifies that this is the same "possible future" seen in "In Your Face"; later in the story it is revealed that this is "another dimension"; the ret-con in issue 75 would reveal this to be the future of the Mobius of Cyber-Sonic. (How did Sonic and Sally get rid of their cybernetics?)
Moving along, a blast of lightning destroys a tree, and an image of Robotnik appears, freaking out Sonic and Sally. Meanwhile the energy from the blast is harnessed by someone on an orbiting space station, causing it to reform on the station into Robotnik. Robotnik meets the one responsible for his rescue, a computer image of a roboticized Robotnik. (Originally it was implied this was a different Robo-Robotnik than in issue 19, but Karl Bollers either didn't get it, or didn't care.)
Robo-Robotnik explains how he uploaded his mind to the space station when his original body was destroyed, but is now trapped on the station. Robotnik gives his counterpart a pep talk, then Robo-Robotnik sends Robotnik home.
Meanwhile, on our Mobius, the Freedom Fighters are moving crates of spare Swat-bot parts for some reason, while Snively continues to bemoan the defeat of Robotnik - accidentally activating a fail-safe of Robotnik's, putting "Operation: Wasteland" into effect.
As Robotnik's robots spread across Robotropolis causing destruction, with the eventual goal of laying waste to the entire planet, the world seems doomed - until Robotnik returns and shuts down the Operation. (Oddly, after all his complaining about Robotnik's death, Snively doesn't seem all that happy to have him back.)
Comments: If anything, the art is even better in this issue than in the previous. As for the story, I loved the first part - the glimpse of "the future" was really neat. The concept of "Operation: Wasteland" and the fact that the Freedom Fighters weren't able to win on their own also intrigued me.
However, when I first read the issue, I felt rather cheated - one of the things I'd loved about issue 21 was that it seemed Robotnik was finally out of the picture. (Luckily, I believe it was shortly before or after reading this issue that I saw SatAM's "Doomsday Project", and got to witness a defeat of Robotnik that was far more permanent - especially with the series not continuing after the episode.)
Pictures by Jenny Ramos, Eric Stubblefield, and James Yang. The picture by Jenny "Mean-E Cat" Ramos is funny (Sonic and Knuckles switch hair-styles); it's also worth noting because Ramos has a letter published this issue will get a few other pictures into the comic over the next few years.
Credits: Script: Angelo DeCesare; Pencils: Dave Manak; Inks: Jon D'Agastino; Letters: Bill Yoshida.
Description: Sally tells Tails a bedtime story about a knight known as "Sir Runalot."
Comments: Short and silly. It fits right in with the stories Archie'd been publishing until recently; but right after the the action-based "EVE" and "Return", it's quite jarring. Similarly, Manak's pencils are actually rather good in this, but compared to Spaz's incredible work, they look lame at first glance.
Scott uses his introductory half-page to advertise the Sally mini-series. Letters from Richard Hasan, Jennny Ramos, Danny Trested, and Josiah "Pup" McDaniel. A picture of Pup's Sonic-themed birthday cake, and of Angelo DeCesare's daughter Gina dressed up as Sonic for Halloween.
In the responses, Scott hints at the Sonic & Knuckles special and the Tails mini-series. He also reveals that the story about Tails' tails is now that he was born with them. He lists the ages of Sonic, Sally, and Tails; the first two are fifteen, while Tails' age is (oddly) still given as five.