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The subject of this article appeared before the Super Genesis Wave.
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This issue takes place roughly between Sonic the Hedgehog #72Sonic the Hedgehog #73
Sss12
Sonic Super Special
Publication Details
Issue 

12

Date Published 

January 2000

Publishing Company 

Archie Comics

Production Staff
Cover Artist
Cover Colorist
Frontispiece
Writer
Pencils
Inks
Letters
Colors
Editor
  • Justin Freddy Gabrie
Managing Editor
  • Victor Gorelick
Editor in Chief
  • Richard Goldwater
First Appearances
Characters
Groups
Locations
Vehicles
Only Appearance
  

Archie Sonic Super Special Issue 12 was the twelfth issue of the Sonic Super Specials.

Summary[]

Story One[]

"Turnabout Heroes"

In Mobotropolis, Sonic wakes up, sees Sally, King Acorn and Doctor Quack, and finds out that he is in Knuckles' body. Meanwhile, in Haven, Knuckles wakes up, sees Julie-SuLocke and Sabre, and finds out he is in Sonic's body. Elsewhere, Dr. Robotnik and Dimitri revel in the irony that their memory erasing device accidentally swapped the memories of Sonic and Knuckles. The fiendish duo decide that they'll have fun defeating their mind-swapped enemies.

The Knothole Freedom Fighters head for the Floating Island in the Freedom Fighter Special, seeking answers. They're surprised to find that NICOLE and Nate Morgan aren't able to detect any trace of Sonic in "Knuckles" despite his claims when they are attacked by a horde of SWATbots and are forced to crash land in Echidnaopolis. Meanwhile, Knuckles and Julie-Su crash land their escape shuttle in Echidnaopolis, having been gunned down by Dark Legionnaires. Knuckles realizes Dimitri must be behind this and tries to to glide back to Haven, but lands on his face.

Knuckles uses the super speed of Sonic's body to rush Julie-Su over to the Freedom Fighter Special's crash site. With the two groups united, they fend off the SWATbots and Legionnaires. Their scuffle is interrupted when holograms of Robotnik and Dimitri order them to stop resisting. They demand that Sonic and Knuckles surrender, threatening to obliterate their friends and never let them return to their original bodies if they refuse. Sonic and Knuckles surrender and are teleported to Robotnik and Dimitri's hideout.

The villains reveal the Chaos Cannon, which can roboticize anything it blasts. They intend to test it on the Great Forest, but need the Master Emerald to power it. The heroes are teleported to the Chaos Chamber, where the Master Emerald lies. They determine that they can't risk enabling the plans of their arch-enemies. Meanwhile, Robotnik and Dimitri watch from their spy cameras as Sonic and Knuckles grab the Master Emerald. The transmission suddenly cuts out and they teleport the heroes back, surprised to see that they are actually took the emerald.

The emerald is put into place and the Chaos Cannon is activated, but the weapon explodes. Realizing they've been duped, the villains order their SWATbots and Legionnaires to attack. Sonic and Knuckles easily defeat the minions and explain that they brought back a fake Master Emerald. The villains warn that they will remain trapped in swapped bodies, but Sonic and Knuckles reveal that touching the Master Emerald reversed the mind swap. The heroes prepare to attack, but Dimitri teleports away and Robotnik explodes, revealing himself as a robotic duplicate. The heroes congratulate each other, but end up arguing over whether hedgehogs or echidnas are better.

Story Two[]

"Zone Wars: Giant Robotno" - Chapter 1

Sonic enjoys a relaxing afternoon, fishing at a pond in Knothole Village, when an alternate Zone version of Sally Acorn arrives in a battleship and asks for Sonic's help. Sonic begins to agree when Zonic arrives, revealing that this Sally is the evil Sallactor from the Sentai Zone. Sallactor opens fire on the heroes and Zonic summons her mortal enemies: the Chaos Ninja Team Sonicaman.

While the Sonicaman team handles Sallactor, Sonic tells Zonic that he's tired of all the Zone hopping adventures and asks how and why Zonic keeps track of it all. Zonic tells him that it's his duty, but Sonic snidely implies that he's just using people. Zonic retorts that he just keeps order in the cosmos and asks Sonic for help because his world is the hub of all realities. Sonic tells him that he wants out, but Zonic detects a major emergency in another Zone. Begrudgingly, Sonic heads to another world and is surprised to see Overlanders fleeing in terror.

"Zone Wars: Giant Robotno" - Chapter 2

Sonic turns around and sees the Rabbot-Zilla terrorizing the city. Sonic is shocked, wondering how a hero like Bunnie would do something like this, but Zonic reminds him that "good" and "evil" are relative. Sonic spins around on the streets super fast, causing the road to melt into tar. The Rabbot slips on the tar and is stuck in its sticky clutches. The citizens of Kintopolis and their ruler, Dr. J. Kintobor, thank Sonic for his help. Kintobor apologetically explains that he had developed a Robo-Virus to halt the titans from attacking his city, but the Rabbot seemed mostly immune to it. Sonic spots a previous victim of the Robo-Virus, Chuck-Zilla, paralyzed on the edge of the city.

Sonic demands an explanation and, blaming himself for everything, Kintobor tells him how the monsters came to be. Kintobor tried to harness the energy of a Chaos Emerald by splitting it, testing his theory on Knothole Island. The chaotic fallout mutated the local wildlife, such as Espio, Mighty and Vector. The beasts raided Kintopolis, crushing its army with ease. Kintobor created giant robots to fight the monsters, but the only energy sources powerful enough to fuel them were the two Chaos Emerald halves left on Knothole Island. Hearing his story, Sonic devises a plan to save Kintopolis.

Sonic volunteers to use his super speed to power a robot, the Giant Robotno, and grab the emerald pieces on Knothole Island. Kintobor asks Sonic what his alternate Zone counterpart did, and Sonic tells him about Dr. Robotnik's reign of terror. Kintobor apologizes for his other self, but Sonic brushes it off. Soon, Sonic makes his way to Knothole Island and is taken aback when the monsters of the island are horribly mutated versions of Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Rotor and Sally.

"Zone Wars: Giant Robotno" - Chapter 3

Sonic manages to fend off the attacking super monsters, but quickly realizes that he's becoming exhausted and fighting his loved ones is putting a strain on his emotions. As he continues to defend himself, he's horrified to see a mutated version of his father, Jules, with one of the Chaos Emerald halves lodged in his sternum.

Unable to bring himself to fight his father, Sonic recoils and pleads for his father to stop before raising his hands up in self-defense. As he looks back at the monster, he realizes that he instinctively ripped the emerald shard off of Jules by accident. With the emerald ripped out of his chest, falls to the ground and dies. Sonic, overcome with anguish, screams as he flies away from the radioactive island. When Sonic leaves, the Zone's own, mutated version version of Sonic appears with the other half of the emerald lodged in his chest. He sees his father lying lifelessly on the ground and mourns his loss.

In Kintopolis, Dr. Kintobor and his citizens celebrate Sonic's success. Zonic appears and offers Sonic a way back home while Kintobor announces that he'll be dedicating their robot protector to their hero. He turns to ask for Sonic's name before realizing that the hedgehog was already gone. Back on Mobius, Zonic congratulates Sonic for a job well done. Sonic is still upset, asking how Zonic knew he would be able to do what he thought was right when it meant killing an alternate version of his father. Zonic tries to explain that he understands, but Sonic lashes out at him, saying there's no way he could ever understand how he feels when he's just some no-name cop. Zonic reveals he's an alternate Sonic, apologizes once more, and leaves Sonic to his thoughts.

Bonus Features[]

Pinup Pages[]

Instructional Zonic Pinup

Full page illustration of Zonic telling readers that they have to flip their book sideways to read "Turnabout Heroes". Art by Patrick Spaziante.

Gag Strips[]

Off Panel

The editor is surprised to see Zonic appear in the Archie Comics offices. He offers to give him the tour, but Zonic tells him that he only came to use the bathroom. Zonic uses the restroom while the editor realizes that he doesn't want to think about how a guy who's always parallel uses the restroom. Written by Michael Gallagher, Pencils by Dave Manak, Inks by Jim Amash.

Quotes[]

  • Sonic: "You better start wishing you were a hedgehog again!"
  • Knuckles: "In your dreams!"
  • Sonic: "Hedgehogs can spin way cool!"
  • Knuckles: "Echidnas can glide!"
  • Sonic: "Hedgehogs have real sharp spines!"
  • Knuckles: "Echidnas have hip dreadlocks!"

Key Events[]

  • Dimitri and a robot duplicate of Robotnik manage to transfer the minds of Sonic into Knuckles and vice versa
  • Sonic and Knuckles are restored by the power of the Master Emerald
  • The robotic duplicate of Robotnik is destroyed and Dimitri escapes
  • Sonic encounters the inhabitants of the Giant Robotno Mobius for the first and thus far only time. 
  • Zonic reveals his identity to Sonic for the first time.

Background Information[]

  • "Turnabout Heroes" is printed entirely on a 90° axis from normal which, while giving the reader an idea of Zonic's perspective, was actually in keeping with the original printed format the story saw in the pages of Comic Shop News Issues 619-632.

Cameos & References[]

  • An alternate Zone version of Charmy Bee makes a brief cameo in "Giant Robotno".
  • "Giant Robotno" contains several references to Japanese media.
    • The bobber on Sonic's fishing pole is drawn to resemble a Pokéball.
    • The Sonicaman team and Sallactor are meant to resemble the characters from Science Ninja Team Gatchaman.
    • The various Mobian-Zilla monsters are references to Godzilla and the various kaiju featured in his movie franchise.
    • Knothole Island serves as a shout out to Monster Island, the setting of many of Toho's Godzilla and other kaiju movies.
    • The name of Giant Robotno, as well as the story of Dr. Kintobor's attempts to solve the energy crisis causing a catastrophe, is based on the OVA series Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still.
    • Tails-Zilla's face is based on the iconic look of Devilman.

Errors & Mistakes[]

  • This issue's Sonic-Grams states that "Turnabout Heroes" takes place between StH #71 - #72 and KtE #28 - #29. However, this time frame does not work, as SSS #10 takes place in that time frame, as does Julie-Su's backstory in SSS #11. It was announced in a few prior issues that the main story takes place between StH #73 - #74 and KtE #25 - #26, but that time frame doesn't work well either as it would imply that Julie-Su was actually with Knuckles and Locke in Haven and this incident would be after Sonic learns that the Robians had vanished from Knothole, but before Sonic reports it.
    • Writer Ian Flynn has stated previously that he believes this story could not have possibly have happened. It is apparently considered canon, however, as StH #183 includes Dimitri mentioning a previous meeting with Robotnik. Unless an unknown encounter between the two villains is implied, this mention refers to the story of this issue.
  • Dr. Robotnik's line, "Then we can test it on the Great Forest.", is mistakenly rendered as "Then we can -est it on the Great Forest." due to a printing error.

Reprint History[]

This issue has been reprinted in the following places:

External Links[]

Archie Sonic Super Special Issue 12 at Sonic Wiki Zone, the Sonic wiki.

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