Sonic The Hedgehog Issue #18
January 1995
Love that cover of Tails punching Robotnik in the face!
"Wedding Bell Blues" is up first. Sonic and Sally are getting married!? A bot spies them preparing for the wedding and rushes to tell Robotnik (they weren't in Knothole so they're good there). Robotnik scrounges up a huge army to crash the wedding. Sonic jokes that since he didn't invite them, the bots must come from Sally's side of the family (heh). Anyway, Robotnik came prepared: a bunch of bots invading the barn where they are at, and a bunch more waiting outside in case they try to escape. However, Sonic still proves too much for them, and when all is said and done, it turns out they were just staging a play called "Our Wedding." Sally brings up the possibility of a real marriage, which leads to Sonic hightailing it outta there. He still wants to mingle for awhile longer!
"Sally's Crusade (Pt. 2) - In The Still Of The Night" is next. First appearance by Rosie here (she pretty much took care of the gang when they were kids hiding out from Robotnik). She tells Sally something, which prompts her to set off somewhere alone. She meets with Julayla (Sally's teacher way back in the day), who tells her that she is ready to accept her birthright to become the leader of Mobius. Julayla then passes away. This whole ordeal depresses Sally, and the story ends with Sonic consoling her.
They actually printed a reader mail criticizing the hell out of Dave Manak (who has been the penciler for the past several issues, replacing Scott Shaw). I thought that was pretty cool. Shaw was way better though.
This was another buildup to the first special (In Your Face), but the stories are much better this time around. The wedding issue was terrific,even if Sonic pretty much OHKOed an entire army. I liked how there was a subtle foreshadowing at the beginning of the story hinting that it was a play rather than the real thing. Sally's story got fleshed out a bit more, but I feel they're saving the big stuff for the special. Speaking of which, the main series will take a break as the first Sonic Special will be up next.
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HBJ Dubs
~Project 1000~