#34  [May 1996]
     Spaziante cover.  Scott lets it be known, merely in passing,
that Spaziante has been the regular cover artist since #31.  Like
we couldn't have figured that out.
     "To Bot Or Not To Bot"
     Story: Angelo DeCesare; Art: Brian Thomas (debut)
     The story starts out with a jolt, as Uncle Chuck and Muttski
endure yet another failed attempt at being deroboticized. 
Meanwhile, the scene shifts to Robotropolis in a panel which (in
an echo of the opening credits of StH) reminds us that the city
is on the shore of a lake or bay.  Seems to me this is a useful
plot point, but anyway.  Robotnik has watched "Patton" once too
often and has assembled a troop of Combots, camouflaged soldier
bots with which he plans to attack the Great Forest.  Robotnik
loses the element of surprise, however, because Dulcy has
overheard his plans.  She doesn't repeat the message exactly
right but Sally gets the picture.  Sonic, Uncle Chuck and Muttski
return to Robotropolis to take out the Combots.  Once inside the
compound, however, Robotnik zaps Uncle Chuck and Muttski to bring
their minds back under his control.  Uncle Chuck arrests Sonic.
     The next morning, Tails, Bunnie and Antoine return from
patrol to report no sign of Sonic.  The three of them are wearing
the same black turtleneck sweater and knit stocking cap
combination they last wore in "That's The Spirit!" [Sonic #20] --
just the thing for late night commando operations or a casual
evening of stalking your ex-wife [Freedom Fighter outfits
provided by O.J.'s of Brentwood].  Sonic shows up soon enough --
lashed to the front of a tank Robotnik is driving at the head of
his Combots.  Very sadistic touch -- I LOVE IT!  Sally calls
retreat and has the freedom fighters abandon Knothole for an
underground shelter.  Unfortunately, Robotnik cuts them off. 
However, when Robotnik gives the Combots the order to flatten the
Great Forest, they malfunction by turning around and marching off
the nearest cliff.  At the same time Sonic has managed to escape
his bonds and has commandeered Robotnik's tank. Robotnik and
Snively beat a retreat in a hover craft driven by Uncle Chuck.
     Wha' hoppened?  Thanks to Rotor's exposition, we learn that
Rotor had fitted both Uncle Chuck and Muttski with neuro-
overriders -- the same electronic gizmos that DIDN'T work for
Sally in "Steel Belted Sally" [the infamous Sonic #29].  Amazing
what a drop of solder in the right place can do.  So while
pretending to be back under Robotnik's influence, Uncle Chuck was
able to reprogram the Combots and make sure that Sonic could
escape easily from being lashed to the tank.  It also helps
maintain his cover and gets him back in the spy business.
     Brian's artwork isn't seriously off-model, and his rendering
of Dulcy is especially dead-on.  Still, his rendering of the
Mobians (especially the females) has them looking a little too
cute.  No matter; welcome aboard, B.T.!
     A Sense of History, Part I
     Story: Mike Kanterovich and Ken Penders; Art: Penders
     After months of two-page vamps, Kanterovich & Penders start
into the 3-parter prelude to the next Knuckles miniseries.  It
begins with a recap of echidnoid civilization:
     Once upon a time, the echidnas were the top of the Mobian
heap in terms of having an advanced civilization centered in
Echidnapolis, an island city surrounded by the Great River (once
again, for all their advances, they do have a knack for taking
only one adjective, "Great", and running it into the ground). 
Which would have been the fate of Echidnapolis if a couple
distant relatives of Knuckles hadn't determined that a white
comet was going to wipe out the city.  To avert this disaster,
the populace fanned out to gather together a dozen chaos emeralds
and place them in subterranean caverns beneath the city.  This
caused the island city to become a floating island, just in time.
Which was all well and good, according to Knuckles our narrator,
except that this somehow ties in with the creation of Mount Fate
and the appearance of a great menace.  To be continued.
     Was it worth the wait?  For me it was, but then again I'm a
sucker for a good origins story.  You get an idea of how many
hair styles an echidna is capable of, and there's a VERY nice use
of close-up at the top of page 6.  Aside from the fact that the
situation reminded me a little too much of the fate of the planet
Krypton (in a "What if..." sort of way), Kanterovich & Penders
have pulled it off.
     Sonic-Grams: I have a really hard time believing that kids
are writing to ask Scott Fulop to be a pen pal.  It's a little
like saying that, in the heyday of the New Yorker when they were
running cartoons by Thurber, that fan mail was coming in
addressed to Harold Ross!  Then again, recent communiques by Ken
Penders have spoken of Fulop almost as if he were the editor in
the past tense.  So perhaps the guard has changed and we haven't
been told yet.  Let's cut to the chase: Sonic #35 will attempt to
answer questions concerning Sonic and the power rings (the cover
art shows Sonic and what appear to be the masks of the Ancient
Walk-Ons...er, Walkers).  Bunnie fanboy alert: she's scheduled to
do a solo story in Sonic #37 (Rich Koslowski handling both script
and art) and will be a featured player in an upcoming two-parter
(script by Gallagher, art by Spaziante -- talk about your odd
couples!).  Espio will also be getting a solo shot.  Nathan Gropp
of Rochester, Indiana, wants to know if E.V.E. [Sonic #21] will
be coming back into the story; the response indicates that it all
depends on fan response.  OK, all you Fiona Fox fans out there,
you have your work cut out for you!