Sonic Spinball adaptation/ Christmas Carol
Edited by Victor Gorelick and Paul Castiglia; Editor-in-Chief: Richard Goldwater.
Penciled by Dave Manak, inked by Henry Scarpelli.
The first cover to relate to events in the issue; Sonic runs out of the Mt. Mobius volcano… wearing a tie! (Don’t ask!)
Written by Mike Gallagher, penciled by Dave Manak, inked by Henry Scarpelli, lettered by Dan Nakrosis, colored by Barry Grossman.
The FF, joined by Bunnie for the first time since ish 3, prepare to attack "Robotnik Inc.", a factory on the outskirts of Robotropolis that is a vital part of Robotnik’s operations… or at least, it was, until he relocated to the Mt. Mobius volcano.
Sonic races alone to the mountain, and fights his way through it, trying to stop Robotnik’s plan to use the power of his "Veg-O-Converter" to roboticize Mobius. Along the way, he meets Hip and Hop the Kangaroos, and discovers a cage of Mobians. Sonic decides to try and beat Robotnik before rescuing them; a mistake, as he takes a wrong turn and ends up being ejected from the volcano.
With the group of Mobians still trapped, and Robotnik posed to roboticize the planet, …the story ends, never to be continued.
Unfortunately, this sort of game adaptation would show up again with Sonic Shuffle and Adventure 2, leaving those of us who like the comic to be a self-contained continuity frustrated by the missing chapters…
Antoine gets a fan letter.
Written by Angelo Decesare, penciled by Dave Manak, inked by Henry Scarpelli.
I don’t think this needs much explaining…
Robotnik = Scrooge
Rotor = Bob Cratchit
Snively = Jacob Marley
Uncle Chuck = himself
Tails = Tiny Tim
Sally, Bunnie, & Muttski = Cratchit family members
Sonic = himself, the Ghost of Christmas Fast, the Ghost of Christmas Presents, and the Ghost of Christmas Future.
Vic and Paul advertise both "Adventures of Sonic" and "SatAM", and explain that they’re changing Boomer’s name to Rotor, to match the show.
Johnny Fuentes asks for Silver Sonic, and the Ed.’s promise "AoS’s" Pseudo-Sonic; Curtis Berard guesses the correct pronunciation of Antoine; and Kim Hoffman wonders whatever happened to Scott Shaw!. The Ed.’s don’t say, but tell her to look for more of his work in the upcoming 48 page specials.
Also, "A fish barrel full of Freedom Fighters".
This one could have been done better. As already stated, their choice to leave the Spinball story without a conclusion really bugs me. Also, introducing Snively and the name Rotor in "Sonic’s Christmas Carol" was a very bizarre choice.