Writer: Mike Gallagher
Pencils: Dave Manak
Colors: Barry Grossman
This issue is reference central, folks. It's basically just a long stream of comic superhero parodies for those cultured enough to understand them. (And I'm certainly not cultured enough. I understood like, three of them.)
Robotnik's newest source of inspiration is Crabmeat's collection of illegal (under Robotnik's rule) comic books, prompting him to build a whole bunch of superhero-inspired robots to pit against Sonic. Sonic, of course, rises to the challenge, at first seeming stumped by 'Botman while Robotnik happily televises the entire fight…
After a truly incredible joke at the expense of Sonic's original English voice actor…
…Sonic proceeds to smash his way through Robotnik's entire arsenal of superhero bots, only for Robotnik to, of course, escape at the end, something which Sonic shows quite a bit of self awareness about.
At least this issue will be "highly collectible," as Boomer puts it, due to all the ham-fisted superhero references in it!
A Little Sonic Goes a Long Way
Writer: Mike Gallagher
Pencils: Dave Manak
Colors: Barry Grossman
Ah, nothing beats the sweet tones of a guitar. And the Freedom Fighters certainly seem to agree, as they've decided to have Sonic play some for them! Unfortunately, Robotnik isn't so pleased with this display of merriment.
Oh, hey there, Snively! Nice to see you finally make your appearance in canon proper!
Anyway, the Freedom Fighters decide it's time to bring music back, and they go to raid an old concert hall for some old abandoned instruments, while Bunnie busts out with this absolutely incredible line. How many tiny heads do you think this flew over back in the day?
Anyway, you know how these things go by now. When they get there, Robotnik shows up to ruin their day, and after shrinking them with a device that Snively found for him, he attempts to suck everyone up into a vacuum-slash-roboticizer. Sonic is having none of this, and so he leads Robotnik on a chase into the orchestra pit to smash the contraption. When Robotnik pulls out his trump card - a handheld version of the machine - and sucks Sonic up, the rest of the Freedom Fighters hit back with perhaps one of their greatest weapons:
And once the effects of the shrinking device wear off, they quite literally play him out, having won the day once again!