Issue 87

Issue 87 is the eighty-seventh edition of Sonic the Comic. Released on the 18th of September 1996 at the price of £1.20, the issue contains four original stories (three of them new), several features, a NiGHTS pin-up and a free gift of some stickers.

Contents[]

Control Zone
Sonic the Hedgehog - Mister Shifter
Review Zone
Knuckles the Echidna - The Good, The Bad and The Echidna: Part 1
NiGHTS News!
Tails - Easy Target
Q Zone
Sonic's World - Future Shock: Part 2
Speedlines
Next Issue
Pin-up

Strips[]

Sonic the Hedgehog[]

Mister Shifter is a complete story by Nigel Kitching, Richard Elson and Tom Frame. Stuck in the Special Zone, Sonic jumps to the rescue of Agent X19, a lady being robbed by Mister Shifter. After catching his bullet, Sonic is forced to battle with the Black Zone resident and his Radioactive Meta-Clay body. Sonic struggles, almost passing from continued blows. Fortunately, he catches Shifter at the last minute and stretches him across the New Tek City alley. Back in Citadel Robotnik, Agent X19 informs Doctor Robotnik of Sonic's whereabouts.

Knuckles the Echidna[]

The Good, The Bad and The Echidna is a 4-part story written by Kitching, drawn by Nigel Dobbyn and lettered by Elitta Fell. During Knuckles' World Tour of Mobius, the echidna comes across the Great Mobian Prairie but is almost stampeded by a herd of Apterix. Believing the hero to be responsible for trying to murder Rooster, Chito electrocutes Knuckles and drags him off to Backwater for questioning.

Tails[]

Easy Target is a complete story written by Lew Stringer, with art from Carl Flint (and help from Pre-Press) and letters by Frame. Tails jumps to the help of a Mobian citizen under attack from new Badniks but finds himself being squashed by the heaviest. The unicorn frees Tails and reveals himself to be Forelock, a "visitor" that can grant Tails one wish. When he wishes for Mobius to be free from Robotnik, Forelock takes Tails to a window with a gun primed to shoot the passing dictator. The fox refuses and Forelock admits it was an illusion to test the hero.

Sonic's World[]

Future Shock is a 3-part story by Stringer, Roberto Corona, Andy Pritchett and Frame. Sonic has just learned that an elderly imposter is really a future version of himself. The old hedgehog reveals that the future Freedom Fighters headed to the Candlewick Green Zone to destroy a weapon and, apart from Sonic, all got killed by its flamethrower. "Sonic" offered no resistance and was imprisoned by Robotnik for years, only to escape and break the time barrier by running fast. Eager to change history, the elderly Sonic takes the Freedom Fighters underneath Candlewick Green, but leads them right into a trap.

Features[]

Megadroid welcomes Boomers to the Control Zone, introducing the stories, features and free gift presented with the issue. There is also a list of 80 winners of a competition from Issue 79. The Sega Charts sees Brian Lara Cricket '96 still at the top of the Mega Drive chart. It's all change elsewhere as The Need For Speed, Brutal: Paws of Fury and The Lion King all move to the top of their respective charts (Saturn, Mega-CD and Game Gear).

David Gibbon is in charge of the Review Zone, awarding Saturn title Shining Wisdom 84% and Mega Drive's Tin Tin in Tibet 81%. Chris Jones is responsible for NiGHTS News!, an article dedicated to NiGHTS Into Dreams. This issue's Q Zone features the second part of the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 revisited, presenting cheats for all three versions of the game.

Speedlines features letters about the inability to subscribe to the Knuckles Knock-Out Special, Megadroid's shades and the return of Decap Attack.