"Attack from Area 99!" Part one
Writer: Joe "Eddy" Edkin

Artist Tim "The arts not as bad as usual" Smith

Sonic's bored!! Look out! He's bugging everyone around him. He goes to angel island to hang out with Knuckles, but finds that extemley boring. He wants Knuckles to leave the island and hang out with him, but Knuckles gives him the "sacred duty to guard the master emerald" speech, so Sonic heads off. He asks Tails to go flying with him, but he's too busy upgrading the plane. He tries to get in on Chris soccer match, but Chris informs him it's for kids only. (Geez! The one time he actually shows up to one of Chris sports and he gets the brush off.)In the end he ends up hanging with Sam Speed and his crew.

Meanwhile, G.U.N. comes to Tails and asks for his help on a top secret matter. In the meantime, Sonic is racing along Sams car as they are trying to thwart some illegal street racing. In the heat of the chase, the racers accidentally hit a baby stoller. The baby comes flying out and almost hits the side of the bulding. Sonic saves the kid from becoming window-pane pizza. Sonic, angry at the driver jumps on his car and rips the engine out. He leaves the perp to the cops while Sams chases after the other race car. Sam shoots a harpoon from his car and stops the racer dead in his tracks. Sonic nabs the perp before he can go anywhere. For two rivals, they make a good team.

Meanwhile, Eggman is seen in prison plotting his next scheme. Two of them actually, and I think one of them was used in the anime if I'm not mistaken. (Involves
repairing appliances). Tails meanwhile, is sent to G.U.N. headquarters. There scheeming Agent Westwood greets him and informs Tails, that they need his help in unlocking the secrets to the ancient robot that Westwood and Sonic found. (Sonic re-buried it, but I guess westwood got G.U.N. to dig it up again.) Tails just whips out a remote control device from his little tot bag he brought along and easily opens up the inside of the robot. Westwood is amazed (as am I. I mean WTH?! Instant plot device?) They go inside. Tails gets the robot moving, but Westwood is too anxious to try everything out, and all the weapons on the robot start going haywire!!

Meanwhile (the most popular word used in comicdom), Sonic is waiting impatiently, for his and Sams next mission. He doesn't have long to wait, as an emergency call comes in about a robot running amuck through the city! And believe you me, those Mucks run pretty fast!! Sonic and Sam head out.

Sure enough, the Alien robot is making a mess of the city with tails and Westwood inside. They can't seem to stop it from the inside at all. On the outside Sonic and Sam are having a heck of time trying to stop it too. Sonic comes up with a pretty clever plan though. Using Sams harpoon, Sonic manages to rerout the robots lasers and shields so that they hit each other and bounce back on the robot sending it crashing down. Sonic goes to kick the butt of however was behind this but stops when he finds out it's Tails and Westwood. He wonders how and why this is.

To be continued:

Review:

Story: Well, well, a backstory that's been going on for six issues is brought to the surface and looks to be concluded next issue. It's been a long time building up to this story. There were some good moments here and there. We see what Sonic's like when he's bored out of his skull. We see that Sam and Sonic aren't as much of major rivals as we once thought. When it comes to helping others, they actaully get along quite well. Moreso than even Sonic and Knuckles. I'm interested to see what becomes of Tails in the next ish. Having been suckered into this fiasco thanks to Westwood, he could be in trouble with the law.

It's also interesting to see that Sonic kinda needs Eggman around to thwart. When he's locked in prison, Sonic's bored outta his mind, and when Sam calls the emergency call an "Eggman Attack", Sonic replys "cool!" I think deep down Eggman needs him too. There's been many a time when he could've gotten rid of Sonic easily, but didn't because it wasn't "fun". For him, trying to take over the world is Eggmans fun. That's my take on those characters anyway.
Story = 8.

Cover Art: Spaz puts in another great cover, but it's not as fun, or whimsical as alot of his previous covers. Still very nice though.
Cover art = 8

Comic art: Someone's been practicing. Compared to prevous issues, Tim's art is quite improved. No blank faces in faraway shots, or awkward looking panels. Tim's really improving. Tracy and David still do a better job, but he's getting there.
Comic art = 7

Overall 8

A solid, if not spectacular story, with solid, if not spectacular art.