#276 | December 2018
Hey, Boomers! 
How could we close out the year without an all-new issue of STC? Well, easily, as it turns out- you wouldn’t believe the abuse I’ve had from the Humes. “It’ll wait until the new year!”, they cried. “The readers won’t mind!”, they said. “You can’t bar the doors from the outside, this is illegal!”, they dribbled. But, regardless of that- and the ensuing telephone call I received from the police- the issue was done. And, to prove it, you’re reading it!
So what does Father Megadroid have in his sack of goodies for you? How about a new adventure in which Sonic meets a face from the past- but will he find himself Speedtrapped!!? The Chaotix Crew are back in the thick of it, getting into another mad scrap as they face the might of Anti-Chaotix! Captain Plunder and the Sky Pirates return in Rabbit/Hole as the Captain drags his crew on another adventure and we have a trip to Sonic’s World as we enjoy A Ray in the Life with Sonic Mania star Ray the Flying Squirrel! That’s not all- we’ve got a special Christmassy Double Sonic tale as Sonic learns that It’s the Most Wonderful Time Loop.
Right, I can’t hang about here all day. I’ve got to get back to the office at STC Towers and let the Humes out. I suppose it’s only fair I let them see their families over the holidays!
Merry Christmas, Boomers!
Christmas Shopping Zone
Now, don’t say we don’t look after you Boomers. Time was we’d stick a free gift to our front cover- some pack of sugary goods or what have you. Our marketing people informed us that sellotaping tat to a digital comic simply wasn’t workable, however, so the freebies mostly went away. That said, while we can’t give you a Parp Puffer this Hedgehogmanay (sorry, I always have to work that one in), we can point you in the direction of some neat last-minute pressies!
GoodCopBadCop is by former Sonic the Comic writer Jim Alexander, who wrote for STC way back when we were still a print comic! GoodCopBadCop is Jim’s take on the Jekyll & Hyde story, a police procedural where the lead character has to do his best to crack the cases he’s working on while also trying to stave off some rather grisly violent urges! You can buy GoodCopBadCop via Amazon by clicking here– and the Kindle version is only £4.99! Bargain!
Jan Swidan, another STC alum- this time of the online era- has designed this super cool Wintery Sonic jumper! Allegedly, this is an “ugly sweater” but I beg to differ. Our Humes have been ugly sweaters since I’ve put the heating on full this winter. You can bag yourself this beauty from Geek Store by clicking here!
Lastly, current day Writer Hume L. T. Fletcher-Copeman has penned Sharper Than a Cyber-Razor Cut: The History of Sonic the Comic 1993-2018. And if you think that’s a lot of words, you should see the first draft scripts he hands in to the Hume-in-Charge. This book covers STC‘s first quarter-Century and features contributions from legendary STC alumni like Richard Burton, Nigel Kitching, Lew Stringer, Richard Elson, Nigel Dobbyn, Roberto Corona, Carl Flint, Ferran Rodriguez, Ed Reynolds, Jamie Jones, Zak Simmonds-Hurn- even some of the shaved chimps we have running the comic now gave their two penneth! You can order the book from Blurb in a physical or PDF form here or a digital form here.
The Mania Adventures Continue!
Those Sonic superstars behind Sonic Mania Adventures- including the wonderful Tyson Hesse- have given us all a super Christmas bonus- a sixth episode of Sonic Mania Adventures! The Holiday Special episode picks up where the last episode left off and features Amy Rose! Amy may not be in the Sonic Mania video game, but you’ll find her and the rest of the game’s hero cast in the pages of this issue’s comic adventures (sans Knuckles, I’m afraid- he’s returning in a couple of issues’ time)!
Follow us:
The Story So Far…
For all the scheming and duplicity of the Drakon Empire, the plotting of the Heads of House- Master Scholar, Sister Haggra and Emperor Brokken- was undone by the heroic actions of Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends, who sent a very clear message: don’t mess with Mobius! Using the purified energy of the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic tapped into a level of power previously unseen, liberated planet Drak and brought Mobius back into its correct orbit! Along the way, Sonic’s friends managed to clear his name, which means one thing: the Hero of Mobius is back!
That’s not to say there weren’t some loose ends, however. Most crucially, Doctor Robotnik remains at large. As long as the devious doc roams Mobius, Sonic cannot afford to rest. As it turns out, he won’t have the chance…
Sonic
The Hero of Mobius has his life back on track and things are good! Well, that’s if you ignore all the super villains roaming the planet, Doctor Robotnik being missing and the return of a deadly enemy from the Freedom Fighters’ past. Still, you’ve got to laugh.
Chaotix Crew
The super-team from the Special Zone have found their research into their home’s disappearance has ground to a halt. Life goes on for the Chaotix Crew, however, every bit as crazy- and stupid- as it was in New Tek City!
Captain Plunder
Cursed by an ancient deity, Captain Plunder managed to find a literal lucky rabbit in the form of Cream, the newest member of his Sky Pirates. However, it seems Cream’s good luck charm may be a bit like putting a sticking plaster on a broken arm…
See the rest of the Data Zone! (click here)
Anti-Chaotix
One of Robotnik’s deadliest robots yet- a super-Badnik designed specifically to combat and counter the abilities of the Chaotix Crew. In order to defeat it, the Crew will have to work together- which doesn’t bode well!
Filch
Captain Plunder’s ghostly First Mate and long-time friend, Filch is a poltergeist with the ability to walk through walls and manipulate objects. He’s also very popular with the other Sky Pirates because ghosts don’t need to drink any of the grog.
Simpson the Cat
Simpson is a cartoonish cat with reality-bending abilities. Unfortunately for everyone around him, he only uses them to be excessively silly. Captain Plunder keeps him around partly because he’s cheaper than a cook- but Simpson does have some other uses.
Cream the Rabbit
Sonic fangirl Cream joined the Sky Pirates under the pretense of getting to meet her hero. It all turned out to be a bit of a trick, however, but Cream sees the situation as a chance to play dress-up- luckily she just happened to have a pirate costume in her backpack!
Ray the Flying Squirrel
Ray is just your average, normal, boring, ordinary, everyday inhabitant of planet Mobius. Except, of course, for the undeniable fact that everywhere he goes he seems to stumble into superhero scraps!
Tails
Sonic’s best friend is fully intent on enjoying Christmas this year, he even did his shopping super early. We’re talking mid-April and he was done. Tails does not mess around when it comes to Christmas shopping.
Amy Rose
Amy has travelled through the reaches of space, backwards and forwards in time and even to our world and back. This Christmas she faces her greatest challenge yet: can she convince her friends that vegetarian faux-ham tastes as good as the real thing?
Arrrr, me hearties! It be I, space-time swab Omni-Viewer! It’s always great to see Captain Plunder in STC’s pages, isn’t it? He’s not had much luck lately, between the curses and the evil giant sharks and all that! Time was, Captain Plunder was the most feared pirate on the skyways of Mobius!
I sense a little scepticism from our newer Boomers- not that I can blame you! Of course, when you can delve into the past like I can, it’s no major issue to show you all how it went down! Today we’re covering one of the Captain’s finer foul-ups—err, I mean—forays into adventure!
STC #47-48: Mystery of the Sandopolis Zone
Script: Nigel Kitching
Art: Richard Elson
Lettering: Ellie de’Ville
Flashback Zone Report Filed by: L. T. Fletcher-Copeman
Intending to remove Robotnik’s Death Egg Launch Base Zone from the Floating Island, Sonic made his return to the mystical island courtesy of a Tails-piloted bi-plane. It wasn’t long before Sonic encountered trouble in the form of a Sandworm Badnik, a mechanical monstrosity which burrowed through the sand before leaping out at its prey.
The Sandworm wasn’t the only problem Sonic found himself staring down as he was greeted by long-time rival Knuckles, who was really rather tired of Sonic’s constant intrusions on the Floating Island!
Dealing with the Sandworm in flashy, flipping fashion, Sonic and Knuckles seemed set to team up to take down the Death Egg. That was, of course, until Sonic heard a familiar voice…
It was Captain Plunder himself! Accompanied by his First Mate, the poltergeist Filch, the Captain was also accompanied by a new face- the “Per’fessor” as the Captain pronounced it. Big tusks, you see.
The Per’fessor was a former employee of Metropolis University and he’d been studying an ancient parchments of the Floating Island, which claimed to lead to treasure. By activating a secret switch hidden within the Sandopolis Zone, the Per’fessor was able to uncover something rather magnificent…
The Lost Pyramid of Sandopolis! Though, as Sonic noted, it wasn’t especially lost any more… Entering the pyramid would be no easy feat, however, as it was guarded by a giant stone guardian!
Sonic’s efforts to defeat the guardian were thwarted, however, owing to its amazing ability to pull itself together after being smashed apart! Knuckles, however, was more cunning- he led the guardian to a quicksand pit and allowed it to sink deep below!
Deep inside the pyramid, Captain Plunder, Filch and the Per’fessor had found the Lost Tomb of Sandopolis, a treasure trove fit for a king! Immediately setting to work ransacking the place, the pirates tried to seize as much booty as possible- which, in Filch’s case was nothing at all as he can’t pick things up.
Unluckily for the pea-brained pirates, Knuckles neglected to mention the pyramid’s ancient curse- when the lights get low inside the pyramid, ghoulish spectres come out to attack anyone foolish enough to try and steal the pyramid’s treasure! Fleeing, the pirates accidentally dropped their loot as the pyramid’s door slammed shut behind them. Plunder decided he had better come up with a pretty good tale to feed his men, explaining why his plan had gone sour.
As for the pyramid, Knuckles decided to return it beneath the sands. In order to do this, he smashed an ancient seal which allowed sand to pour into the pyramid from outside, in order to keep the treasures safe from the likes of Captain Plunder. Luckily for Knuckles, he and Sonic were able to find the secret exit out of the pyramid before being suffocated in sand!
So that was that- Plunder returned to his ship with his tail between his legs and Sonic and Knuckles went on to team up against Doctor Robotnik’s Death Egg! But one question remains.
Why are pirates called pirates?
They just arrrrrrrrrrr!
Oh, suit yourselves.
See you next Space-Time!
As a special Christmas treat, have some colouring pages on us! Why not show us your finished pieces via our social media pages?
What did you think?
Cover by Adamis & Claire “Mambocat” Ryan
Editor: Michael “Stiv” Stephenson
Script Editor: L. T. Fletcher-Copeman
Special thanks this issue to:
Charles Ellis, Pete Murphy, Seumidh MacDonald, Hannahdouken, Tom “Okida” Campbell, Adamis, Marc Watson, Ernest Panda, Claire “Mambocat” Ryan
Hume-in-our-Stars:
Matt Dittmer
Hall Decker:
Megadroid
Sonic the Comic is copyright © Egmont Magazines Ltd. Sonic the Hedgehog and all related characters © SEGA.
Other characters belong to their creators. Used without permission. Published by the Sonic the Comic online team. This comic is only available on the internet.
Website by Pretty/Confused ©2018.