Issue 18

Issue 18 is the eighteenth edition of Sonic the Comic, the UK's official SEGA comic. Released on the 22nd of January 1994, at the price of £1.10, the issue contained four original stories (two of them new) and several features. This issue is the first to have all four strips be multi-parters, since Sonic's is a two-parter rather than a complete story.

Contents[]

Control Zone
Sonic the Hedgehog - Casino Night: Part 1
Review Zone
Ecco the Dolphin - Ecco the Dolphin: Part 6
News Zone
The Legend of the Golden Axe - Plague of Serpents: Part 6
Q Zone
Tails - The Land Beyond: Part 1
Speedlines
Subscription
Data Strip
Next Issue

Strips[]

Sonic the Hedgehog[]

Casino Night is a 2-part story by the team of Nigel Kitching, Richard Elson and Elitta Fell. Sonic and Porker Lewis have come to the Casino Night Zone to destroy a computer that is hypnotising residents into spending all their money on rigged machines. A shirtless dog is amazed that Sonic is here, particularly since Doctor Robotnik has told the Marxio Brothers to expect him. Sure enough, Sonic's rash decisions get him in a fight with some Troopers, while Porker gets captured. In the end, both are strapped to a rollercoaster track, with a cart coming to meet them rather quickly...

Ecco the Dolphin[]

Ecco the Dolphin is a 6-part story written by Woodrow Phoenix, drawn by Steve White and letered by Tom Frame. Given amazing powers by the people of Atlantis, Ecco heads out to destroy devices left by The Vortex. Unfortunately, his first attempt is a failure as it is being protected by alien The Asterite. The two debate their purposes, with Ecco using brute force to make his point clear. The Asterite, impressed by Ecco's strength, offers to teach Ecco the Vortex language if the dolphin heads to the ocean floor to retrieve its Black Pearl, lost on The Asterite's recon mission. Eager to save his family, Ecco heads out.

The Legend of the Golden Axe[]

Plague of Serpents is a 6-part Golden Axe story, with this part being the last ever Golden Axe installment. Produced by Mark Eyles, drawn by Mike White and lettered by Ellie de Ville, the adventure sees the arrival of the dragons to Hammerynth, summoned by Queen Silpantia-Dragontamer. As Silpantia boards old friend Cloudburner, Cobraxis orders the death of all his enemies. Viprax summons a snake ball to fend off his foes while Cobraxis calls on the power of the Serpent God, transforming into his image. Gilius-Thunderhead easily finishes him off and saves sister Yuki-Plantcharmer from the advancing Viprax. With Ax-Battler feeling better and Tyris-Flare recovered from her wounds, the party go to the funeral of Gilius' father.

Tails[]

The Land Beyond is a 4-part story by Kitching, Dave Windett, John M Burns and Fell. Tails has been summoned to the Nameless Zone once again, his Magic Armour forming around him on entry. The Enchanter Kings want Tails to rescue fellow King Shirob, once presumed dead but now faintly seen in the Magic Crystal of Communication as a prisoner of Trogg. For this quest, Tails will have warrior Errol Blackthorn as company, since the fox has extensive knowledge of their destination, The Land Beyond. As they cross the Dimension Bridge, Tails wonders if they'll need to fight a champion to gain access. Errol responds on the negative, yet there is still a party of goblins waiting for their arrival...

Features[]

The Control Zone, hosted by Megadroid, eagerly anticipates the arrival of the Eternal Champions in Issue 19, as well as teasing the Eternal Champions Special. Also in Issue 19 is the return of Shinobi Joe Musashi, with the action moving to Tokyo this time. There's the sad news of the end of two other Sega Superstars strips for now (although one is for good) and Tails' new story begins this issue. Apparently, that leaves no room to talk about the next Sonic the Poster Mag for now. "STC News" goes into more depth about the two new stories next issue. The Sega Charts has new entries across the board; FIFA International Soccer tops the Mega Drive chart, Sonic CD is the new Mega-CD leader and Sonic Chaos replaces Mortal Kombat on both 8-bit lists.

This week's Review Zone features five Mega Drive games over three pages; Vincent Low handles the first three games, with Greatest Heavyweights receiving 80%, Pebble Beach Golf' another 80% and Ren & Stimpy 88%. David Gibbon rates his games similarly, the difficult Gods making 86% and Zool just 83%. The News Zone is dedicated to forthcoming software; the Mega-CD section looks forward to Double Switch, Wonderdog, Dracula Unleashed and Jurassic Park. Newshound Garry Penn looks into the games offered by companies Acclaim, Flying Edge, Core Design, Domark, Empire, Gametek, Gremlin, Konami, Rage, Sony Imagesoft, Tengen and Virgin.

Gibbon returns to compile tips in the Q Zone for games like Jungle Strike, Rocket Knight Adventures, Super Monaco Grand Prix 2 (all MD) and Thunderhawk (MCD). The Game Genie Update returns (although now for the Game Gear) with codes for Chuck Rock, James Pond 2 and Star Wars. Speedlines round things off with letters on a Sonic Fan Club, a six-button controller, a Decap Attack video game adaptation based on the comic strip, rotting teeth and the idea of making a map of Mobius (for some reason including Knothole from Archie Comics). All Speedlines letters and pictures win a Tomy Sonic the Hedgehog Water Fun Game.