Sonic The Hedgehog Issue #20
March 1995
The cover art is absolutely awful even by Manak's standards.
"That's The Spirit" kicks it off. Sonic and Sally are on a mission to destroy Robotnik's Anti-Matter Device. When they find the machine, Sonic gets cocky and waltzes over to destroy it when the door slams behind him, locking him in the room alone. Robotnik reveals that he started a rumor about the device to lure Sonic into the trap. Luckily, Sonic has a bomb (via Rotor invention) that he tosses before Sonic Spinning through the wall. OH **** HE TRIPPED BEFORE THAT HAPPENS AND THE BOMB GOES OFF. Cut to the Great Forest a few hours later where the FF find an injured Sally (from the explosion). Sally tells the crew that there is absolutely no chance in hell that Sonic survived the explosion.
Cut to Sonic, who of course survi--OH **** HE'S A GHOST. He finds the FF erecting a statue in his honor, but none of his words reach their ears. The statue looks like **** by the way (it's different from the one on the cover, which also looks like ****). Sonic sulks off by himself, depressed that he's a ghost. He kicks a rock in frustration, and it actually makes contact, startling a frog in the process. Sonic quickly deduces that rather than being dead he just suffered temporary effects of the Anti-Matter Device (invisibility, silencing, and loss of solidity, with the latter two returning to him). The effects being only temporary does make sense, as when Robotnik was talking about his trap earlier he told Sonic that he couldn't get the device to work properly. Although still invisible, Sonic rushes back to his friends to tell them he's still alive.
However, all he finds is a note from Tails telling them they went to Robotropolis for an assault (funny P.S. from Tails, who was the only one who thought Sonic was still alive: If you are dead, then pay no attention to this letter). Now for a clever "saves the day" segment...Robotnik is about to attack the FF in a giant Buzzard Bot, but Sonic sneaks on the ship and takes over the controls, all while telling Robotnik he actually is a ghost seeking revenge. Robotnik eventually gets spooked enough to surrender, and Sonic tells him to run off, exercise, and get a hairpiece. Robotnik and Snively bail just before Sonic finally regains solid form. Sonic reunites with the crew, explains everything, and that's it. Funny ending where Snively notices Sonic being alive but elects not to tell Robotnik, rather enjoying watching a hairpiece-wearing Robotnik running a treadmill.
All that and we still get another story, "Deadliest Of The Species - Prologue." A prelude to the upcoming Sally Mini-Series, it just shows Sally successfully completing a mission of blowing some **** up in Robotropolis. The main thing here: the first appearance of Geoffrey St. John! I did not know he appeared so early in the comic (I figured mid-30s is when he started coming around). It's only revealed that he leads the Rebel Underground (similar to the FF), so we'll have to find out more in the Mini-Series, which I will be covering next.
Hilarious reader mail where a kid asks Sonic and Sally to have a daughter so she can be his girlfriend. What is wrong with these people
Great story that is sadly marred by the worst artwork I've seen yet. I think Manak has actually pulled off a few earlier issues well, but when you see someone slamming his work, this issue would be a prime example of why they feel that way. A shame because the story is very well-written. Also, GEOFFREY ST JOHN! The guy is a total boss.
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HBJ Dubs
~Project 1000~