Wonder Boy in Demon World is an 8-part Wonder Boy story beginning in Issue 2 of Sonic the Comic. It is the longest ever STC story in terms of installments, although The Return of Chaotix has more pages.
Staff[]
- Mark Eyles - script
- M DJ Boyann - art
- Steve Potter - letters (parts 1-6)
- Tom Frame - letters (parts 7-8)
Story[]
Monster World[]
Monster World may be free of monsters, but Shion still can't get any peace when a demon attacks him from nowhere. Fitted with an axe, the demon fights well, but Shion gets the upper hand with his shield. The demon reveals he has been sent by Grimomen of Demon World on a "sales trip", to convince humans that Demon World is a happy place with considerate hosts that treat the people well. Shion doesn't believe this story and the demon is ready to attack, but the demon disappears for no reason. Realising this was a diversion, Shion returns to find his village in flames and that nobody is around. A voice rings out from a well and Shion pulls out Old Kevin, who hid until the demons left. They apparently came and kidnapped the people of the town, so Shion tells him to go to Alsedo for help from the Queen. Shion vows to get the villagers back and Old Kevin calls him the "Wonder Boy", much to Shion's disgust. That night, on the coast road, Shion finds the villagers and hides in a haystack, only for Grimomen to set it on fire. Shion leaps out and tries to rescue the people, but is spotted.
As Shion battles the demons, the boy laments his nickname further (wanting to be called "Slayer" or "Monster Mangler") but decides to flee when things get too rough. He continues to run from the demons who want to eat him but only gets as far as a cliff. Shion uses a magic spell to repel the threats but ends up using too powerful a spell, sending him plummeting down the cliff. Next morning, Shion is woken by an annoying monkey. Grabbing his weapon, Shion traverses the beach, watching out for poison crabs and jellyfish before arriving at Fisherton, just in time to protect a little girl from Grimomen.
Shion is forced into battle again and doesn't come out any better than last time, with Grimomen using a magic spell on Shion's arm. As a demon thumps him round the back of the head, the warrior is rescued by a young girl while Grimomen orders the destruction of Fisherton and the capture of its inhabitants. As the town begins to collapse around them, the girl revives a groggy Shion and leads them into a Smuggler's Tunnel, guarded by a worm (which is quickly disposed of by Shion). The pair reach the shore and see the wagons preparing for underwater travel. The girl reveals herself to be called Baila and provides Shion with a magic amulet that lets him breathe underwater. Shion follows the underwater wagons but is accosted by an octopus.
Shion makes light work of the new danger but his hand is starting to feel really weird thanks to Grimomen. Completely shocked, Shion looks at his hand and finds it to be a claw, with the magic slowly turning him into a demon. Two mermaids, Lauren and Hardy, arrive and ask about Shion. They say they saw wagons heading for "The Great Deep", a jungle world protected by a giant bubble. Following the wagon tracks, Shion cuts his way through but is attacked by "killer toadstools" like the ones from Jungle World. However, a giant mushroom is alerted to Shion's danger through his ancestral roots, but doesn't live long thanks to Shion's fire spell. An explosion sends Shion flying towards a dimensional portal, one he must walk through...
Demon World[]
As soon as he steps out of the portal, Shion meets Schwartz and Egger of immigration control. With no papers, Shion is quickly attacked by them but he uses thunder magic to get rid of them. Outside the cave, Shion gets his first glimpse of Demonopolis and makes his way to The Shame Inn as his whole arm starts to feel odd. In the pub, Shion feels the ire of the demon kind but bartender Drum soon changes his mind when he hears Shion is looking for Grimomen. The landlord reveals he is Grimomen's most loyal servant and that he will be in his Pitcastle lair. Before Shion can act on this information, his demon arm rises up to try and strangle him, with Grimomen's mark shining on...
Shion manages to force his way out of the pub and, before it can kill him, straps his arm down so it can do no more damage. Heading towards the Pitcastle, Shion kicks the owner of a fleet of floating boats into an abyss and steals one. As he floats down, a group of human slaves happily announce the whereabouts of the Wonder Boy, but Shion guesses they already know he's there. Further annoyed by his nickname, he is interrupted by the melancholy ramblings of a raven and that human warriors are chained to the wall, slowly turning into demons. One reveals he is building up a demon army, so Shion rushes to the pit bottom and confronts Grimomen. Shion declares he is here to take his friends back, but Grimomen has other ideas, planning to have a demon Shion kill at his command.
Shion resists and launches a spell that completely burns Grimomen's wings off. Furious, Grimomen decides he'd rather kill Shion for what he's done, but Shion has also gained control of his demonic arm, giving him extra power. Grimomen rushes forwards but Shion uses a power spell to add even more power to his arm. The resultant punch sends him up and out of the pit before coming down with a crash through the floor. With Grimomen dead, the people begin losing their demon parts and start to free each other, but are interrupted by a group of demon assassins angry at the loss of Grimomen.
The Wonder Boy begins to struggle against all the evil forces, but he is soon assisted by the warriors free from their demon spells who join in the fight. The heroes march up the stairs, smiting all they see and the raven harks on about the end of Grimomen's era. As all the villagers are freed, the troupe travel to the dimension portal, where Schwartz and Egger are more than happy to let the looming figures go free. The portal drops them back off in the village - which has been completely rebuilt! Old Kevin reveals that the Queen of Alsedo sent workmen to repair the houses. Baila catches up with Shion later, asking him to live with her for a while. Shion refuses, saying he heard of some trouble in the Skyrock Mountains and that he is a traveller.
Trivia[]
- The story ends on a sequel hook, leading almost directly on to second story Wonder Boy in Ghost World.
- As noted, this story is 32 pages long, the longest non-Sonic story by two pages (most were 6 parts of 5 pages). Nevertheless, a few Sonic the Hedgehog stories were longer, with The Sonic Terminator being an early example of a 35 page story. Still, this story was the longest until then and is still the only story with eight numbered parts.
- This is the only story to be drawn by M DJ Boyann, the sequel being taken by Bojan Djukac (although the names are rather similar.
Timeline[]
This is the first Wonder Boy story. The next is Wonder Boy in Ghost World.