Issue 8
My first thought on seeing the cover was ‘At least the covers at this stage usually don’t reflect the stories in the comic’. Alas, this was one of the exceptions. And that should be warning enough.
Story 1: Bot’s All Folks
This… is a bad story. And to make matters worse, it’s just the same joke over and over again. Robotnik make a poor imitation robot of some superhero from anther franchise and Sonic trashes it. And… that’s it. No, really.
Okay, there’s the fact Robotnik lures Sonic out by performing a deliberately evil act on TV, a tactic he’ll use again in a later issue. But there’s really little to say about this story. Unless the superhero bots or the in-jokes appel to you, there’s nothing here to recommend.
Story 2: A Little Sonic Goes a Long Way
The second story is an improvement. Well, honestly, almost anything would be!
So Snively makes his first appearance in the story, but interestingly, not his first in the comics, as a variant of him appeared in the Christmas Carol story. Given neither story introduces him though, any readers who didn’t watch SatAM would probably be wondering who the odd, short, big nosed person was.
Anyway, back to the story. Snively has created a shirking machine, the effects of which only last an hour. So when the freedom fighters go to an old concert hall to pick up some instruments, Robotnik ambushes and zaps them. Then proceeds to chase the minute Sonic around with a vacuum cleaner/robotizier combo.
This is where Robotnik’s obsession with Sonic first obviously turns against him, as had he chased after the other Freedom Fighters first, there’s a good chance he’d have captured and robotizied them all. Having said that, it’s also the closest he gets to actually robotizing Sonic, a mere button push away. Before the shrunken Freedom Fighters use a stringed instrument in typical cartoon style as a bow and arrow to knock the Robotizer out of his hands.
And then apparently the hour is up. Despite the fact that the events would have latest…. Oooh, about five minutes as show. But then, time has never been something comics have handled well, not just Sonic ones.
Now back to normal size, the Freedom Fighters use music to drive Robotnik off. Apparently it actually seems to cause him physical pain… Despite…. Or maybe because of, the fact he seems to have cybernetic ears. No wonder he bans it then. Then the shrink ray is used by the Freedom Fighters to shrink the attacking badnik army. Who then throw it into the cupboard and never even think about it again.
How much you enjoy this story depends on two things. First, how you feel about ‘shrunken down’ stories. Second, how willing you are to forgive the ‘an hour is about 5 minutes’ element. Aside from that, and Snively’s proper introduction, it’s an above average story for these early days, but still not a good or standout one.
Overall
With a first story that is dire, and a follow-up which will be hit or miss depending on your tastes, I certainly can’t recommend this one.
English