Issue 8 is the eighth edition of Sonic the Comic, the UK's official SEGA comic. Released on the 4th September 1993, at the price of 95p, the issue contained four original stories, one of them new, as well as several features.
Contents[]
- Control Zone
- Sonic the Hedgehog - The Origin of Sonic
- Review Zone
- Kid Chameleon - Kid Chameleon: Part 2
- News Zone
- Streets of Rage - Streets of Rage: Part 2
- Q Zone
- Wonder Boy - Wonder Boy in Demon World: Part 7
- Speedlines
- Next Issue
Strips[]
Sonic the Hedgehog[]
The Origin of Sonic is a complete story by Nigel Kitching, Richard Elson and Elitta Fell. Tails, Johnny Lightfoot and Porker Lewis are waiting in the Emerald Hill Zone for Sonic to finish up charging a Star Post so that they can travel to the Special Zone, home of the Omni-Viewer. Once there, Omni shows them how Sonic turned blue thanks to the Kinetic Gyratosphere and Doctor Kintobor's experiments with the Retro-Orbital Chaos Compresser that unfortunately turned him into Doctor Robotnik. Suddenly, Omni is forced by Robotnik to send the heroes somewhere into the future where they can't interfere with his plans.
Kid Chameleon[]
Kid Chameleon is a 6-part story by Michael Cook, Brian Williamson, Steve White and Ellie de Ville. Casey continues his adventure through Wildside as Red Stealth, a samurai skilled in martial arts. The hero fights his way through farm creatures, a pterodactyl and a metal tank before being chased to the telepad by a demonic, fiery explosion. His next location is a swamp, guarded by the Fire-Breath, who has captured Suzi.
Streets of Rage[]
Streets of Rage is a 6-part story by Mark Millar, Peter Richardson and Tom Frame. New heroes Blaze Fielding and Max Hatchet are cleaning the streets of crime one gang at a time. Their first target is the protection racket of Ken's Korner Shop, taking out the leader Ziggy before acquiring a bazooka. Max decides to use the souped-up gun on The Safe House and destroys Hawk's 24-hour drug-producing warehouse. In revenge, the businessman sends ninjas to capture Max.
Wonder Boy[]
Wonder Boy in Demon World is an 8-part Wonder Boy story, this part by Mark Eyles, art by M DJ Boyann and John M Burns with lettering from Steve Potter (although it looks more like Frame's lettering). Shion has made his way to Demon World's Pitcastle where Grimomen plans to turn him into his slave. However, after Shion burns his wings off with magic, the demon would rather kill him. Instead, Shion kills his target and is in the middle of freeing his friends when more demons arrive to attack.
Features[]
The Control Zone, hosted by Megadroid, heavily advertises new prize - the Tomy Sonic the Hedgehog Water Fun Game - as a 'wetware' game. Megadroid once again promises the debut of The Mega Challenge despite its delays and uses the last paragraph to talk about current and new stories in STC. Elsewhere, there is mention of Sonic and Tails' visit to the (now defunct) Long Eaton branch of Woolworth's for a charity day and there's news that Issue 1 of Sonic the Comic has sold out, but a Back Issues section is coming soon, as well as a subscription service. The Sega Charts has Jungle Strike and Sonic 2 heading the Mega Drive and Master System/Game Gear charts still, while new entry Night Trap lead in the Mega CD rankings.
Five reviews make up this issue's Review Zone. Bubsy: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind gets 88% from David Gibbon while Tony Takoushi awards Ultimate Soccer 75%, Ranger X 80% and the Mega Drive version of Jurassic Park (whose logo replaces the usual title of the game) also receives 75%. It isn't known who compiled the review for Mega CD title Robo Aleste, but that also garnered 75% (so it was probably Takoushi).
The News Zone spends a good part of a page talking about Metal Sonic, the villain of forthcoming game Sonic the Hedgehog CD, who captures Amy Rose. For some reason, the article lists "specifications" of Metal Sonic, saying he has a similar programming chip to the Mega Drive conversion of Virtua Racing. There's also an accurate list of the game's Zones. Also in the News Zone are Cosmic Spacehead, ports of Jurassic Park and a water safety campaign spearheaded by Ecco the Dolphin with the cast of Baywatch. An aside publicises the EA 4-Way Play adaptor that allows for four players to play several games on the Mega Drive.
This week's Q Zone is a Q Zone Special for Tiny Toon Adventures for the Mega Drive, with Gibbon giving a stage-by-stage walkthrough for the game. Speedlines features the aforementioned prize, given to Boomers with letters about making strips about James Pond, Road Rash and Street Fighter, Megadroid being a cool host, an overpriced comic, someone pretending to be "Dr Kintobor" and someone who actually wanted the Sonic 2 Badge.
The Next Issue teases that "Robotnik Wins", alluding to the forthcoming 81-issue RBR arc, although it does explicitly spoil the fact Robotnik takes over Mobius, something we don't really find out a few pages into Back to Reality.
Staff[]
- Richard Burton - editor
- Deborah Tate - assistant editor
- Clare Gillmore - designer
- Steve MacManus - managing editor
- Chris Power - publisher
- Tom Glenister - advertising
- Carl Flint - cover art
Timeline[]
The previous issue of Sonic the Comic was Issue 7. The next is Issue 9.