Sonic the Hedgehog Presents: Princess Sally 1

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Sonic the Hedgehog Presents: Princess Sally #1 "Princess Sally"
Writer: Mike Kanterovich/Ken Penders
Pencils: Art Mawhinney, Rich Koslowski, Bill Yoshida, Barry Grossman, Scott Fulop and Victor Gorelick
Cover artist: Art Mawhinney/Jon D'Agostino
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Princess Sally 1 is the first issue of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series Princess Sally miniseries, the first of three parts. It was released in April 1995.

It takes place after the events of issue 20.

Deadliest of the Species, Part 1

Continued from issue 20.

With Robotnik's forces growing constantly, Princess Sally Acorn of the Freedom Fighters has realized she must do the same with her forces...

NICOLE recalls the events that occurred in issue 20. Sally went to one of Robotnik's power substations and set to destroy it, yet was met with minimal resistance. She did, however, meet up with Geoffrey St. John: a prior member of Elias Acorn's secret service, but now a leader of a rebel underground movement.

Geoffrey notices Swatbots arrive and take aim directly at Sally, knocking her out of the way just as they fires. Their shots barely miss the two, but they continue on to eradicate them. They hide behind some ventilation tubes as more Swatbots arrive from various locations around them. As Geoffrey shoots the Swatbots from before with his bow-and-arrow, Sally takes out some new arrivals with some mud bombs from her slingshot. Sally commends Geoffrey on his skills, but wants him to pick up the pace. Unfortunately, he has run out of bolts for his arrow. She scolds him for his lack of boy scout skills, but he retorts that he flies by the seat of his pants. Reaching into her vest, she tells him that he reminds her of somebody, then taking out a grenade. She throws it at the remaining Swatbots as the two duck for cover. The grenade explodes, ending their present troubles.

The two escape from Robotropolis as Geoffrey commends Sally for her work. She tells him to save the compliments, until he meets up with her new group of Freedom Fighters. In a portion of the Great Forest, Sally's four new Freedom Fighter recruits are sitting around a fire waiting for her return. Hamlin, a pig, grows concerned about Sally, while Arlo, an armadillo, tries to reassure him. Penelope, a duck, is more concerned about their lack of physical training. while Dylan, a porcupine, tells Penelope to be loyal to Sally's orders. Suddenly, they hear a crackling noise nearby, so they remain silent and alert. Geoffrey jumps out of a nearby bush and attacks Hamlin. Sally runs in before Geoffrey can start pummelling him, yelling out that they are her friends. Hamlin, however, is not amused, and is still mad at Geoffrey for the mix up. They go to fight again, but Sally steps in, stopping any further conflict. Sally then introduces Geoffrey to her new Freedom Fighter recruits and vice versa, much to the dismay of Hamlin. She orders everybody to get some sleep while she updates Geoffrey on their plans for the next day.

It is dawn, and Sally has awakened everybody for their briefing. Rotor had theorized that by knocking out various energy substations in Robotropolis would lower its defense system protecting it from ground attacks. Sally had split the other Freedom Fighters to take down certain substations, while she and her band are left with three to take down. With one down from the night before, the second substation is their next target. She asks for questions, in which Hamlin is still angry about Geoffrey, asking why he has to join them. She tries to convince him that he's an asset to the team as he was a former secret service agent, recommending that he watch Geoffrey to learn tactics. He's still not convinced and turns his back to Geoffrey. With no further questions, Sally leads her team to the substation.

They cut through long foliage as they arrived at the edge of the Great Forest to the next substation: located in a large Aztec-like temple. Dylan notices the lack of guards, but Arlo tries to convince him that why he can't see can be the most dangerous. Sally decides to slip into the temple through the back, but before they can proceed, two flaming boulders are launched out of the temple and at the group. With their cover blown, they decide to do the direct approach and charge at the temple. Sally takes the lead, climbing a rock brick infront of the temple and throwing a grenade into the slot where the attack originated. With the defenses taken out, Sally goes to the temple door and cracks the access code with NICOLE.

The door opens and they enter slowly, noticing the room is full of destroyed Swatbots from the grenade attack. She and Geoffrey walk up to the substation control panel. She puts NICOLE in to activate a virus to initiate a self-destruct sequence. After she downloads the virus, the group hears a loud noise. They look over to a large door as two Orb-Bots (large orb bodies with laser cannons placed on two mechanical legs) arrive, firing at the group. Each of the Freedom Fighters split up (except for Geoffrey and Sally) and take cover. With no more grenades, Sally must improvise an attack...going by the seat of her pants. She opens up a control panel near her and takes out some wires. She lassos the wire onto one of the legs of one of the Orb-Bots and ties the other end to a hook on the substation wall. She tugs, causing it to fall. Hamlin, however, gets in the way of the falling Orb-Bot, but is saved by Geoffrey who swings in in the knick of time.

There's still one more Orb-Bot left, but with the self-destruct imminent, the group decide to deal with the threat outside. They run outside, but the Orb-Bot makes it out as well, just as the substation explodes. They continue running, but reach a dead-end at a deep chasm, just as the Orb-Bot arrives. They split up again, but the Orb-Bot makes a mistake: it continues to walk forward. One of its feet steps off the end of the chasm, sending it crashing into the deep canyon.

Sally looks at the destroyed bot from the end of the chasm, realizing that Robotnik has increased his security details and that they must be ready next time. Hamlin, meanwhile, still has his doubts about Geoffrey. This makes Geoffrey angry again, and they prepare to duke it out. Sally steps in, reminding Hamlin that Geoffrey saved his life, and that he should be grateful of him, not suspicious. She then goes on to note that if he can't trust him after that, then he might as well not trust her.

Night time falls, and all the Freedom Fighters are asleep, except Geoffrey. He gets out of his tent. He treads slowly through their camp, hoping to not wake anybody. When he escapes the view of the camp, he takes out a watch and presses a few buttons on it, activating a portal. He walks through the portal and arrives in another area in front of a bunker entrance. He enters the bunker and travels down a long staircase. He arrives at another door and opens it. He walks into the room and up to a glass tube, saying "soon my luv, soon." Inside the glass tube...

...Princess Sally.

Background Information

The old title page of Princess Sally #1 shown in #20's Sonic-Grams.

• Hamlin, Arlo, Dylan and Penelope are introduced. They are the first other Freedom Fighters, outside the main characters, to be introduced in the Archie comic series.
• This is the first mini-series to be created by Archie for a supporting Sonic character.
• The beginning of the comic quickly details Robotnik's rise to power, including one of the first mentions of Mobotropolis.
• This issue's original title page was shown in issue 20's Sonic-Grams section, before being remade to its present image.