Super Sonic vs Hyper Knuckles
From Sonic Retro
Sonic the Hedgehog special #1 "Super Sonic vs Hyper Knuckles" | ||||||||||
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Super Sonic vs Hyper Knuckles is the fifth stand alone 48 page special of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series published by Archie Comics. The issue would be reprinted in Sonic Select Book Two. The story "Crash of the Titans" would also be reprinted in Sonic Super Digest #2.
Contents
Official solicitation
Stories
Crash of the Titans
Sally Acorn and Tails are in a Knothole monitoring station, as they witness Knuckles approaching the forest perimeter. She calls Sonic in, who arrives in a sonic-second. Sonic looks at the monitor, noticing Knuckles, and notes that he never leaves his Floating Island, while Tails also notes that he met his great-grandfather. Sonic gets some bad vibes from his friendly nemesis, but Sally changes the view of the screen, showing Knuckles approaching Robotropolis. This gives Sonic the instant thought that Knuckles wants to cut a deal with Robotnik, so Sonic heads out to meet up with him. Sally yells to him to only talk, but when he leaves, she's doesn't think he will.
Knuckles arrives in Robotropolis, disgusted by the polluted nature, noting that he is glad that his culture ended their dependence on technology and moved to be environmentally-friendly. He recalls the reason that he came to Robotropolis. Having talked to Mighty the Armadillo after witnessing the two-halves of a Chaos Emerald on his island, he realized that the Floating Island is very fragile. Run by only one Chaos Emerald, he knows that it used to be run by 12. If the last emerald fails, the island could be destroyed. Knuckles had used a book of myths he had to find out about the other Chaos Emeralds, which he found was linked to the magic rings found in zones. He also found that the emeralds could be found at the pastoral pond, where magic rings appear. Mighty then noted that rings radiate energy, but the location of the pond itself is unknown. The term radiate gave Knuckles an idea, reminding him of radiation, which relates to Robotnik's Robotropolis. He left the island to Mighty and headed out.
After searching around Robotropolis, the only source of water he could find was a small grotto on the edge of Robotropolis. He looks aside and notices an old video camera set up beside the pond, but it's long out of use. He decides to give the pond a closer look, until he hears somebody clear his throat. He turns around and is hit with a strong upper-cut.
Knuckles comes to and sees Sonic standing in front of him. He prepares to fight but Sonic, holding a scroll, tells him he is obligated to read the scroll first. He opens it up, reading a very long legal notice from Sally Acorn, but skips most of the details. While in the middle of reading, Knuckles ignores the note and punches Sonic through the scroll. With the fight started, Sonic throws the scroll aside and enters into his super peel out, surprising Knuckles with his speed and knocking him in the face. Knuckles is dazed, but continues to watch Sonic, who decides to circle around a tree and hit him on the go-around. Knuckles takes the opportunity and grabs a root of the tree, pulling it toward him with his strength. Sonic can't adjust his direction in time, and slams into the tree.
Sonic, with his quills stuck in the tree, is confronted by Knuckles who yells at Sonic for ambushing him. While Knuckles yells at him, Sonic yanks on the tree and gets enough strength to lift it with his spines. He then quickly takes the tree and knocks Knuckles with it. From aside, a figure tells them to stop...Sally Acorn, who has arrived on a hoverbike, and is also recognized by Knuckles. Once the two started messing with the environment, she felt the need to step in. The two rivals start to blame the other for destroying the tree, when Sally notes that NICOLE has detected a great amount of radiation in the area. She pinpoints it to the hole where the tree was originally located, so she tells the two to look at it with her.
All three of them look in, as they witness a magic zone full of platforms, obstacles, rings and Chaos Emeralds. Upon seeing this, Knuckles jumps in right away, despite Sally telling him to stop by name. She sighs and tells Sonic to go after him, noting that he hasn't changed since they last used to spend summers together. Right before Sonic gets into the hole, he stops and looks at Sally, wanting to reconfirm what Sally had just said. Sally tells him to mind his own business, but Sonic is concerned about the relationship between her and him. She reaffirms her orders and tells him to continue on, as they both think to themselves that they care for each other.
Although Knuckles has a headstart, Sonic's speed allows him to quickly catch up on collecting rings and Chaos Emeralds in the zone. Despite his speed, he watches as Knuckles gets closer to getting fifty rings and 7 Chaos Emeralds, so he takes matters into his own hands. He goes full speed and runs over Knuckles, causing him to lose some of his rings and Chaos Emeralds, which Sonic collect himself. With Knuckles' supplies in hand, Sonic has the necessary items, jumping up and transforming into Super Sonic. Knuckles, meanwhile, looks at his remaining collection. He has 7 Chaos Emeralds still, but is short 4 rings to transform. Sonic orders him to surrender, but Knuckles quickly runs by Sonic, collecting the additional 4 rings he needs. He jumps up and transforms into Hyper Knuckles.
Sonic confronts Knuckles in his new form, calling him out as a copycat. Knuckles punches Sonic with a great amount of force, sending him flying back despite his new power. Sonic gets up, snickering and wiping his face, noting Knuckles' increased strength, but he also notes that his speed has increased. He runs at Knuckles at a fast speed, hitting him with a flurry of punches. Knuckles backs off as Sonic runs at him again. Using his knuckles, he rips a piece of the zone wall off and whacks Sonic in the face with it. Although Sonic is knocked back, he is barely phased, surprising Knuckles. Sonic notes that he is practically invulnerable, and calls out Knuckles for being weak. Now both greatly enraged, they race toward each-other, getting into a match of tug-and-pull with their hands.
With their hands busy, Sonic tries to stop Knuckles with a super peel-out, but the move doesn't affect him. He still keeps up his speed and zooms under Knuckles to get him from behind, but he catches on, throwing Sonic back in front of him. Acting quickly, Sonic enters a super peel-out again and gives Knuckles a double-punch in the face. Knuckles replies by whirling his fists like wheels on the ground for speed, and slamming his feet into Sonic's face. Now over-the-edge in terms of anger, they rush at each other at an immense speed. Just as they hit each other, their energy erupts, bending space and time. This disruption distorts the zone, ruining the walls between the zone and reality, causing the zone to be unable to contain itself...exploding with Sonic and Knuckles in it.
In Robotropolis, Robotnik arrives at a monitor as a SWATbot reports an earthquake near the city. The SWATbot reports immense amounts of power being released from the quake, causing Robotnik to note that the issue is terrible. The SWATbot asks if it is due to the potential loss of the rings and Chaos Emeralds, but, on the other hand, Robotnik is angry that he has only received a one-page cameo in the entire special.
Not far from the special zone, Sonic lays on the ground, disoriented from the explosion. He gets up, asking what has happened. She notes that the zone has been destroyed, meaning no more rings and Chaos Emeralds, and that he had landed at their location: the Lake of Rings, the lake Knuckles had originally found. She then notes the security camera Knuckles had noticed earlier, which is actually working, but Sally had made the camera looked dilapidated. After Sonic had entered the zone, Sally went back to Knothole and monitored his progress, until the zone exploded. Noticing Sonic landing near the lake, she went out with her bike to retrieve him. To keep the secret of the Lake of Rings, she grabs the bike and prepares to go, but Sonic is curious about something. As the two fly away, before Sonic can finish his question, Sally notes that Knuckles flew in the opposite direction, and to drop the issue about her past with Knuckles. Sonic, however, was actually curious if Sally had any chili dogs. She smiles, apologizing that she does not.
Back at the Floating Island, Knuckles returns to meet up with Mighty, who notes that the whole island has heard about his scuffle with Sonic as Hyper Knuckles. Knuckles smiles as Mighty continues on with the story, but he has something more special to show. He brings out a Chaos Emerald, which he was able to snag from the zone.
Fathers & Sons
- Continued from issue 33.
Knuckles thinks back to his past, when he learned of the echidna way with his father. His father had taught him much of what he needed to know, as Knuckles is the heir to his legacy of being the guardian of the island. One day, he took Knuckles down the Zoot Chute, revealing, for the first time, the Chaos Emerald chamber to the young echidna, revealing that it is his legacy, the very thing that keeps the island afloat. He explained that there is a great story to the Chaos Emeralds, but mentioned that he will learn that another time. They start to walk out the chamber, as his father told him that he will have all the pieces of the story once he understood everything.
In the present, Knuckles thinks back to that last conversation, relating it to the same things that Archimedes had told him. He starts to have conflicting thoughts, thinking the person he's dealing with, and who kidnapped the Chaotix, is his father. He thinks back to what his father taught him again, so he can save his friends.
He remembers his father telling him to use his head, think of the situation, and study the problem at hand. He remembers encountering a strange spherical with his father, where they have no idea of the origin of it. He asked the young Knuckles to solve the mystery of the orb. He started off calm, relying on his brain at first and watched the orb to study it. The orb then approached Knuckles closely, where he had to make a split second decision. Not wanting to take any chances, he punched the orb, destroying it. The punch sent out a flurry of smoke which incapacitated Knuckles for a moment, showing him the error in his mistake. After coming to, his father told him to know his enemy.
Knuckles would always rely on his father, but there was that one day that he could not forget. On one of their journeys, they arrived at the edge of the Forbidden Zone. At that point, his father had handed over the reigns and entered the Forbidden Zone to perform his own task, ordering him not to follow. Knuckles could do nothing but watch as his father jumped into the zone, disappearing from sight. It was through his father's wishes that he did his job to the best of his ability. However, the issues after his father leaving didn't help, notably when Robotnik duped Knuckles into believing him, and how he eventually teamed up with Sonic to fight Robotnik on the island.
He also recalls when Sonic said that he and the other Chaotix should join a team, and he refused to do so. He now realizes the error in his decision. He let his own pride get in the way. He realizes his father had done his best to teach him what he needed to know, but some things just couldn't be taught. Some of the answers to these things, he thinks, could be learned through Archimedes. In the name of his father, and the Chaotix, he vows to learn these answers.
- Continued in issue 34.
Production credits
- Script: Mike Gallagher,
- Penciling: Art Mawhinney
- Inking: Rich Koslowski
- Lettering: Mindy Eisman
- Coloring: Barry Grossman
- Script: Mike Kanterovich & Ken Penders
- Penciling: Ken Penders
- Inking: Harvo
- Lettering: Mindy Eisman
- Coloring: Barry Grossman
- Cover art: Patrick Spaziante
- Cover inking: Harvo
- Cover Colors: Heroic Age Colors
- Table of Contents art: Patrick Spaziante
- Editor: Scott Fulop
- Managing Editor: Victor Gorelick
- Editor-in-Chief: Richard Goldwater
- Special Thanks to: Jennifer Hunn at Sega
- Source: Page xx
Variants
References
- ↑ https://groups.google.com/g/rec.arts.comics.info/c/wj7WczZeoKc/m/WxlAVOH7H74J (Wayback Machine: 2022-05-15 09:47)
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