Sonic #26 [Sep 1995] [Review date: Dec 2000]
     Manak/D'Agostino cover: Sally and Tails duck out of the way
as Sonic gets scrooched.  The perpetrators, however, aren't
Gidney and Cloyd but Snively and Robotnik.  And if you get the
joke in that last sentence you win a free scholarship in Cartoon
Studies to Wassamatta U.

     "Way, Way Past Cool!"
     Story: Angelo DeCesare; Art: Dave Manak; Ink: Jon
D'Agostino; Lettering: Mindy Eisman; Color: Barry Grossman;
Editorial: Fulop, Gorelick and Goldwater.
     OK, Sonic is a runner instead of a swimmer, but by resorting
to a little hydroplaning he's able to help his comrades beat the
heat.  Bunnie has absented herself, maybe because, in the words
of Neil Young, rust never sleeps.  Besides, she's saving herself
for the next story.  Things suddenly get complicated by the
appearance of a mid-summer blizzard.  Having lived in Chicago, I
can see where this sort of thing could happen.  But this isn't
Chicago, and we all know who's REALLY behind this.  And for once,
one of Robotnik's plots actually makes a lot of sense: make
everything in the area so cold that he can more easily detect the
body heat of the Freedom Fighters.
     The Knothole gang head for a nearby cave, with Robotnik
closing in.  But by the time he and Snively arrive they've gone
underground, literally.  There, they meet a group of "Arctic
Mobians": Guntiver (wolf), Augustus (polar bear), Sealia (a seal
wearing a striped t-shirt and beret for no discernable reason),
Erma (ermine, still wearing her summer colors), and a penguin
named Flip.  Seems they were just visiting when Robotnik took
over (never mind that that happened ten year previous) and
they've been laying low ever since.  Thanks to some scavenging
they've managed to cobble together a means to control the
environment in the cave.  The group consensus, sparked by Sonic,
is to take it to The Man, and the Arctics make their cold storage
facility available for conditioning.
     Jump ahead about a week later.  Snively has finally managed
to convince Robotnik to shut down the "weather annihilator"
because there's no chance the Freedom Fighters would still be
alive.  However, the group chooses that moment to send Robotnik a
calling card, though Sonic, ever the loose cannon, prefers the
direct approach.  Before he can do anything, however, Snively
ambushes them and freezes them inside a block of ice.  Thinking
this'll put him in good with Robotnik he begins to take them back
to the boss but Augustus and Guntiver have a few words for
Snively, one of which is "GRROWR!"  While Linux...excuse me,
Flip...puts some SWATbots on ice, Sealia and Erma cut Sonic off
from the others, load him into the catapult and let fly.  Sonic
hits Robotnik instead of his machine, but the impact with
something that bulky is still sufficient to break the ice,
freeing Sonic so he can trash the weather annihilator.  The
Arctics head for home.
     HEAD: We've become so used to convoluted story arcs by this
point that a single issue story like this one can easily be
underestimated.  Yet it contains all the necessary elements: the
Freedom Fighters facing a plausible danger, and come up with an
equally plausible solution.  True, we have a bunch of new Freedom
Fighters to deal with, but they don't overstay their welcome and
they don't make a bid to supplant the regulars.  It's a simpler
story from a simpler time, and one which achieves its objective. 
Head Score: 9.
     EYE: Dave Manak's free-wheeling comic style doesn't look too
out of place here.  His snowstorms on pages 9, [10] and 15 manage
to put those by "Many Hands" in "Naugus Games" (SSS15) to shame. 
It works.  Eye Score: 8.
     HEART: Nothing very compelling about this story; it's a
straight-up action plot.  Heart Score: N/A.

Fan Art: Now THIS is something from the Bad Old Days, before the
big kids started sending in the good stuff.  Joshua McGill gives
us a Metal Sonic who looks a lot like Sharkey the Shark Dog from
"Eek the Cat."

     "Fortified"
     Story: Agnelo Decesare; Art: Art Mawhinney; Ink: Rich
Koslowski; Lettering: Mindy Eisman*; Color: Barry Grossman*;
Editorial: Fulop, Gorelick and Goldwater.[*: I can only assume]
     This modest little 8-pager starts off with a premise that
would be anathema to a lot of Sonic writers: that Sonic is out of
commission due to a sprained ankle.  But the gang's all here,
including an MIA from the previous installment, Bunnie!  ("And
there was great rejoicing.")  As she tries to clear a path in the
forest for her friends and makes the Obligatory Startling
Discovery, we cut away to Robotnik, Snively and a bus full of
SWATbots.  The fact that he has to schlep them along like that
reinforces what I've suspected about the SWATbots: they were
built for urban fighting on level playing fields (streets,
sidewalks) but weren't designed for more rugged and irregular
terrain.  The ComBots would have to fill that bill later on.
     Turns out what Bunnie discovered is a rustic fort.  They
close the doors against Robotnik but that's about the best they
can hope for.  Until Tails finds the forge and Sonic asks Rotor
if he's carrying his "pocket laser."  At least it's not one of
those pointer things.  Even if it was, though, they could still
point it at Robotnik and annoy the heck out of him.
     Instead, when Robotnik's vehicle crashes through the gate
he's confronted by Bunnie, who's been outfitted with
supplementary body armor.  "You made me part of what I am," she
tells him.  Translation: "This is personal."  She manages to bowl
over the SWATbots but when Robotnik orders Snively to run her
over she's got nowhere to go but up, thanks to the old
telescoping legs trick.  Robotnik crashes through the wall, and
gravity does the rest.
     HEAD: Another short and sweet story by Angelo DeCesare. 
Nobody else, not since Rich Koslowski's "Bunnie's Worst
Nightmare" (S37), has really done justice to Bunnie as someone
with lead character potential.  I take that back: Ken Penders and
Jim Fry DID do right by her in "Upgrade" (SSS11), but that sort
of thing is turning out to be the exception to the rule. 
DeCesare is also the only writer I've seen who was really clear
on the concept of writing for Antoine: "Up here we are sitting on
ze ducks for Robotnik!" Antoine says at one point.  The accent is
mild but unmistakable, and the mangled syntax and vocabulary are
actually funny.  Too bad he didn't get more of a chance to show
his stuff.  Rotor's Popeil Pocket Laser was IMHO something of a
plot cheat.  Head Score: 8.
     Eye: The Mawhinney artwork is great, as always, even if
Bunnie does look a little, shall we say, compact.  Looking at the
page art it makes me wonder how Frank Gagliardo would have
handled the coloring.  Great stuff.  Eye Score: 9.
     HEART: Another actioner, but Bunnie gives just enough of a
hint of What Might Have Been with her line to Robotnik.  Sure,
everyone in Knothole lost someone/something when Robotnik took
over, but with Bunnie the loss is close to home.  She's out to
make a point because this IS personal.  Too bad the stories never
stayed this compelling on a regular basis.  Heart Score: 10.

Sonic-Grams: Justin Gabrie's predecessor as Art Director, Joe
Pepitone, and Paul Castiglia are this month's recipients of grief
(it certainly isn't kosher!) at the hands of Fulop and Mendez. 
Well, what goes around....
     Fresh on the heels of the Sonic and Knuckles Special is the
Triple Trouble special.  Remember "Specials"?  Letters: Robbie
Epperson needs a plot point untangled, Peter Hogarth champions
the cause of Bunnie, and Lisa Scalley gets word on the upcoming
Tails miniseries.  Thumbnails for S27 and Triple Trouble.