Edited by Victor Gorelick and Paul Castiglia; editor-in-chief: Richard Goldwater.
Ah, Sonic issue 11… does this bring back memories. It was the first issue of Sonic I read, let alone owned…
I’d seen a few episodes of SatAM, but not enough to get hooked. Well, one day, my Mom was going to the store, and I asked her to keep an eye out for the latest issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures. They didn’t have it, but for some reason, she got me Sonic 11 instead.
I wasn’t quite sure what to make of this… in those days, Sega and Nintendo were fierce rivals, and I was a loyal Nintendo supporter. Having an issue of a series devoted to their rival’s mascot seemed wrong somehow… But, I read the issue anyway, and was amused by the main story. Because of this (and the fact that I don’t like throwing stuff away), I decided I might as well keep it.
By Dave Manak and Jon D’Agostino.
Robotnik attacks a cutout of Sonic, while the real Sonic hides in the bushes, and in the corner-box, Tails goes "undercover".
Written by Mike Kanterovich and Ken Penders, penciled by Dave Manak, inked by Art Mawhinney, lettered by Bill Yoshida, colored and produced by Barry Grossman.
Sonic is busy fighting Scratch and Grounder, when he gets a call from the other FF, who need his help to destroy one of Robotnik’s factories.
Unfortunately, Sonic is practically on the other side of Mobius at the moment. Not wanting to make the others wait, he decides to take a shortcut through a Secret Zone onto the "Cosmic Interstate". This interdimensional highway apparently has several connections to Mobius, but it isn’t the easiest road to navigate.
Finding himself hopelessly lost, he stops to ask directions, only to find himself back on Mobius. But something’s not quite right…. Sonic can’t put his finger on it, but there’s something… different… about it…
The difference becomes glaringly obvious when Sonic discovers a veterinary hospital in the middle of the Great Forest, run by Dr. Robotnik!
The cute little forest animals at the clinic attack Sonic, leaving him no choice but to run away… right into his doppelganger!
Dark shades… black leather boots and jacket… his outfit says classic "bad boy", and he has an attitude to match. His name’s Sonic the Hedgehog, but his enemies know him as "Evil Sonic"!
Evil has apparently had a bit more experience with the Cosmic Interstate, because when Sonic mentions having taken a wrong turn on it, Evil is able to easily explain that the Interstate allows one to visit other realities—including ones such as this, where good and evil are reversed from the world Sonic is familiar with.
Sonic has inadvertently entered… The Reverse Universe! In this twisted reality, the Freedom Fighters are the oppressors, and Robotnik the only thing standing between them and total world domination. As Evil explains this, we get a glimpse of the reverse FF. Ant wears black leather, just like Sonic, uses a chain as a weapon, and is missing his right eye. Sally is pink at the moment, just like her good counterpart, but she wears black boots and a red jacket, and wields a whip. Rotor wears a black vest and uses a spiked club; while Tails wears gray and has a wooden staff.
Sonic and Evil Sonic have a race, which good Sonic wins by leading Evil into Doc ‘Botnik’s clinic. The forest animals capture Evil, and Good is able to convince Robotnik of his peace-loving nature. Good Robo gives Sonic a device to deal with evil ‘Botnik’s pollution, and sends Good Sonic on his way.
Sonic soon arrives back on his version of Mobius, near the offending factory, and uses the anti-pollution device to destroy the factory.
…Well, another historic story—the introduction of the Reverse Universe, and the debut of the longest-running Sonic writer, the great Ken Penders! Although, I must say, this story wasn’t all that special. It was very much in the same tradition as the other stories of this era. But, well, you have to start somewhere…
Sonic and Tails by Evan Browning, Sonic by Matthew Burke, Tails by Jessica Coe, and Bunnie trashing a Swatbot by Ryan White.
Credits not given. According to issue 13: Written by "Marvelous" Mike Kanterovich and "Creative" Ken Penders, penciled by "Daring" Dave Manak, inked by "Artful" Art Mawhinney.
Sally, Tails, Rotor, and Antoine have been captured by Coconuts. (How the heck ‘d he manage that?!) Coconuts tells us about Robotnik’s top ten list, and his ambition to become ‘Butnik’s favorite ‘bot. Inspired by this, the three guys ask Sally how they rank with her, but she tells them she’s all about Sonic.
Meanwhile, our star is faced with a maze, which only the readers can help him through.
The readers get him through in the nick of time, he rescues his friends, and Coconuts’ bomb blows up in his own face.
…What can I say?
Another two pages of letters. Jeff Grisso likes issue 3 because it introduced Bunnie. J.T. Foster loved "Sonic’s Christmas Carol" in issue 6, but thinks it was based on the movie "Scrooged". (The editors set him straight.)
…Bryan Novak asks if there’ll be a Sonic 4, to which they reply "yes". (Too bad they were wrong—plenty of sequels, but none named "Sonic the Hedgehog 4", to my knowledge.)
Kristopher Magers asks for a time-travel story, and the Ed’s let it be known that his wish will be fulfilled next issue… A huge one-paragraph letter by Mike Ziri; and Micah Guy asks a few questions. The first one the Ed’s answer wrong. Micah asks, "Does Sonic ever take his shoes off?" The Ed’s say it hasn’t been seen, but it could happen—which shows how well they remember the previous issues. Sonic took his shoes off to go swimming back in issue 5’s "Olympic Trials and Errors". (Yes, I have many of the early issues memorized. Comes from having a couple of years with too much time on my hands…)
Also, letters from Alan Rooney, Becky Wilkins, Joey Rozas, Matt Etsenson, David Germano, Brent Witmer, Flynn Lewis, and Andrew Price.
Written by Mike Kanterovich and Ken Penders, penciled and inked by Art Mawhinney.
It’s early morning on Sonic’s birthday (presumably his 15th, as we see his 16th in 72). Sonic fixes some chilidogs as a midnight snack, but eats a few too many, and when he gets back to bed, he has a nightmare. …A nightmare that he is… "Sonic the Chili-dog!"
Princess Sally Ice-cream-cone shows Sonic a video just received from Chef Ivo Robot-burger, threatening the life of his hostage, Tails the Order-of-French-fries.
Sonic races to the rescue, but slips on a banana peel left by Coconuts, and is caught. Just as he is about to be fried… er…
…Well… um, my copy ends… * (Embarrassed silence.) * See, the back of the next page had an order-form for TMNT Adventures, and as I was tired of missing issues of it, I decided to subscribe. Since Sonic wasn’t my thing at the time, I simply cut the page out, filled it out, and sent it in… And though I’ve kept my eye out for copies of this issue since I really got into the series, I haven’t had any luck thus far…
…We can assume, though, that however things turned out for Sonic the Chili-dog, Sonic woke up soon after, and said something clever about the experience…
In one corner, a super-speedy blue Hedgehog… in the other, a fat, mustachioed man in red… No, not Robotnik, Mario! Who shall win the battle of the systems?
Suddenly, a new player enters the ring… No, not Playstation, it’s Evil Sonic! Alongside Evil Mario, he has kidnapped the pink Princess Sally, and the Princess in pink, "Toadstool"!
Can our heroes save the day? No! In the end it is Good Bowser and Good Robotnik who rescue Sonic, Sally, Mario and Toadstool!
…What was that, you ask? Oh, just a summary of my first Sonic fan-fic, inspired by this issue… :D
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