Sonic the Hedgehog 052 (Archie)

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Sonic the Hedgehog #052 "Sonic the Hedgehog"
Writer: Tom Rolston
Pencils: Manny Galan, Jim Amash, Karl Bollers, Jeff Powell, Karl Bollers and Victor Gorelick
Cover artist: Patrick Spaziante & Harvo
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Sonic the Hedgehog 52 is the fifty-second issue of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic.

This comic features two stories: "The Discovery Zone" and "First Contact".

The Discovery Zone

With Robotnik gone and peace restored, Sonic and Tails run free through the land. Tails tries to keep up to Sonic, who is trying to teach him how to run as fast as he can, although Tails requires the use of his tails to even keep pace. From aside, Sonic notices something, so he skids to a stop, followed by Tails. They look over and see a grey tuxedo and a fedora, floating in mid-air with an eerie glow. Wondering what exactly it is, Sonic decides to go investigate, but would rather do it alone. He orders Tails to head back to Knothole Village and tell the others. Tails flies away while Sonic follows the floating suit, which has no problem keeping ahead of the fast hedgehog. As he chases it, he enters an area of the Great Forest which he had never explored before, crossing a pond by hopping on some rocks. After crossing the pond, he notices the floating suit entering a nearby cave. Despite the danger and mystery, he enters the cave slowly. He takes a few steps in, until he is blinded by light...

The scene is replaced by a 1940s-themed dance club, a place where people can go and not worry about the tyranny of Dr. Robotnik. Sonic the Hedgehog, dressed in that same floating suit and fedora, sits at a table with a soda, waiting for his guest to arrive, of which he was told they 'won't be missed' via a phone call. Surely enough, a dazzling woman enters the club attracting the attention of all the men. She approaches Sonic's table, as the wives of the men gawking at her get quite angry. Sonic gets quite intrigued as the woman approaches his table. Indeed, she pulls a seat up, introducing herself as Ms. Acorn, asking if his name is Sonic. He tells her so, as she mentions that she made the phone call earlier. With introductions out of the way, Ms. Acorn tells Sonic that she knows of someone who could get rid of Doctor Robotnik. In a suave way, Sonic tells her to continue, so she offers her price, rubbing his arm, asking that all he does is return her friend NICOLE, thus giving him a juicy reward. She kisses him, instantly making Sonic accept the job. Ms. Acorn tells him the last location she saw NICOLE, the west side of the city. In no time, Sonic zips out of the club to start his mission, knocking everybody off guard by surprise.

While running through the city to get to a factory on the west side of the city, Sonic takes out his watch communicator to contact his informant Uncle Chuck. He asks him to bring up any information he has on the Slippy Dippy Slide Factory from his computer, which Uncle Chuck is more than happy to do. After some time, Sonic arrives at the factory, just as Uncle Chuck recontacts him. He has found out that the factory has not been under control of Robotnik for some time. With that information on hand, Sonic runs up the building side and finds an entrance from the top. He jumps in to find the factory room pretty empty, apart from lots of misplaced slides and junk, obviously damaged by somebody. He then notices a black mark on the floor. He picks some of it up with his finger, noticing that it is oil, but not just any oil; robot oil. Taking out his watch again, Sonic asks Uncle Chuck to scan the area for any robots. While waiting for Uncle Chuck to do his work, Sonic begins to wonder what NICOLE knows, especially since Robotnik is now involved. After finding out some information, Uncle Chuck has determined that there are four robots nearby, which he displays on Sonic's watch. He rushes out of the factory to investigate.

Background Information

• This is the first issue of the main Archie Sonic series to be written by Tom Rolston. The very first issue in the series, as a whole, was the Sonic Super Special 1.
• Although the art in this issue has been developed by artists who have worked on the comic before, the art style in this issue is considerably different than past issues. This could likely be due to the 'old' style required for the story.
• The ending of The Discovery Zone is based off of the 1942 classic film Casablanca.