"Gettin' strong now, won't be long now..."
Just Like Old Crimes is a two-part Tails story published in Issue 224 and Issue 225 of Sonic the Comic Online. It is one of STC-O's inaugeral strips, being featured in the first issue of the online edition. As well as renewing established heroes for a new generation of comic-readers it is also an early indication of new creative directions that STC-O would build up to, introducing the original character Bodger.
Staff[]
- Ed Reynolds - Script.
- Thalia Evans - Art.
- Jamie Botham - Lettering (Part One).
- Michael Stewart - Lettering (Part Two).
Story[]
"We now go live to the operational commander, Sergeant Murphy..."
The Metropolis Zone is suffering under a severe crime spree, with numerous break-ins and thefts of technical equipment conducted by Nack The Weasel. Nack confounds the Zone's police to continue his spate of robberies, but finds a more determined foe when Tails is drafted in to assist with the dragnet operation to pin the villain down. Hearing over the police radio that Nack has been sighted in Liberty Park fleeing from the scene of his latest heist, Tails takes to the air and confronts Nack in his own aerial vehicle. Nack fails to be intimidated by the arrival of a hero - in fact, recognising Tails as one of Sonic's comrades only makes him furious - and he shoots Tails. Tails is wounded and plummets out of the air to crash through a tree in Liberty Park, passing out from his ordeal.
Nack continues his criminal campaign unabated while Tails recovers - but despite his bruising encounter with Nack, Tails is in no way deterred - he has grown in his years as one of the Freedom Fighters and this is a vital matter which will prove that he is a hero in his own right, and not merely a sidekick. He continues his pursuit, and tracks down Nack to a condemned warehouse in the Metropolis Zone's harbour district - only to discover that it is a trap. Nack has mined the warehouse, and the whole structure explodes in a massive fireball...
...Tails is flung into the river by the force of the blast, but he recovers and swims to a pier on the far bank rather than drowning. Still his spirit is undimmed (despite the incredulity of bystanders who witnessed the explosion), and as Tails looks to the sky to muster himself, who should he see but Nack, framed against the moon, departing with his ship laden down with even more swag from a successful robbery. Tails launches off after him, and with his fortitude reinforced (and wise to Nack's tricks), he successfully wrestles with Nack, knocking the villain's ship out of control and sending it falling down towards to river. Nack kicks Tails away, but it is too late to change the ship's course and it plunges into the water, being dragged under in a fast current.
It is assumed that Nack drowned in the crash, but he actually survived. He has no more than a sneer for Tails as he watches the fox be lauded by the news cameras - even if Tails has extracted some kudos out of the event, Nack believes that things actually worked out best for himself. Now that Nack is believed dead no-one will be looking for him as he conducts his various dastardly enterprises, and even if he lost one load of goods he still has large quantities of equipment from his earlier robberies to bring his plots to fruition. Tails is the hero of the hour, but Nack is determined to extract a high price from him for the gloss of fame from the victory.
Trivia[]
- The Metropolis Zone is called "Metropolis City" in an example of tautology.
- The Doctor Robotnik Appreciation Tribe is referenced in dialogue.
- As an early strip, this story features transparent speech bubbles. Originally introduced so as to not obscure artwork, this convention was rapidly dropped from STC-O owing to reader dissatisfaction, with complaints that it was distracting, made pages look messy, and text hard to read.
Timeline[]
The story takes place shortly after the events of Point of No Return!, with Doctor Ivo Robotnik's sectioning for insanity being referenced in dialogue. The next Tails adventure was Journey To The Crossroads.