Sonic #31 [Feb 1996] "A Robot Rides The Rails" (3 parts) Story and Art: Ken Penders This is Ken Penders' debut at drawing the Sonic characters, and some fans have complained about the artwork, especially in terms of modeling and facial expressions. Still, Penders ends up taking the reader on a pretty wild ride.... Sally jumps a moving train carrying a Dynamac 3000, Robotnik's latest creation. On board, who should she run into but Geoffrey St. John, who with some other commandos are attempting to intercept Dynamac. Their attempt to stop the train, however, only awakens Dynamac. Sonic is airlifted to the train in time to witness Dynamac begin morphing. Nicole informs the group that Dynamac can adapt and react to attacks but cannot anticipate; she also reveals how Dynamac can be deactivated. It takes a bit of doing, including Rotor flying interference in a jet aircraft, but Dynamac gets blasted. Sonic is none too pleased with Geoffrey's farewell to Sally, and considers playing the jealousy card himself. Whatever faults Penders may have as an artist (and these could be smoothed out with practice), he's written a fairly gripping action yarn, though in some ways it feels wrong. More suited to James Bond than Sonic the Hedgehog. And Nicole's "personality" is going off in a wrong direction as well. Still, an entertaining effort. "Lost and Found: Part 1" Story: Mike Kanterovich and Ken Penders; Art: Ken Penders This is supposed to be the beginning of the sequel to "The Hunt Is On" from the Chaotix special. It goes on for 2 pages. TWO LOUSY PAGES! Except for a dropped clue [the words "Grand Conserve"], this may as well have been an ad for the real beginning of "Lost and Found" in Sonic #32! What a waste! "Tundra Road: Part 1" Story: Mike Gallagher; Art: Art Mawhinney Responding to a call for help from his mother(!!), Rotor pilots his bathysphere (which looks like a submarine to me!) to the Frozen North Sea [good thing he didn't think to ask Tails for the use of the Sea Fox, since it was scuttled in Tails #1]. The inclusion of an "audience participation" maze in one panel is a dead giveaway that this story is being pitched to the rugrat readership. Rotor arrives home to find his Mom and little brother Skeeter acting like zombies. They and every other walrus on the ice floe (why am I reminded of all those Far Side cartoons that featured look-alike penguins?) proceed into an ice cave to watch Robotnik on a big screen TV. The Big Guy has abandoned his plan to melt the polar caps, opting instead for a plan to freeze all life on Mobius. Rotor, not having been affected by a "neuron bomb" that made the walrus herd susceptible to Robotnik's broadcasts, tries to escape but is hit with a club by a SWATbot and falls into the sea. To be continued. Sonic-Grams: Dawn Spaziante, Pat's sister, is working at Archie and puts in an appearance in the office humor section. Hey, Scott, I'm from Chicago -- you don't have to explain nepotism to me! Major news: Spaziante and Harvo will be tackling a Knuckles miniseries, with story by Kanterovich and Penders. In order to accomodate them, the roll-out of the miniseries has been delayed until April '96. Isn't this kinda like what happened to the Princess Sally miniseries? Like Leo Durocher said, it's *deja vu* all over again! Two of the three letters concern themselves with game matters; in response to the other, Sonic only goes as far as admitting that he's "in like" with Sally, and states that the guess that Archimedes is Knuckles' father is "real close!" Cute portrait of Sally on that page, BTW.