Energy readings are off the charts. Run for it!note
| Written by: | Ian Flynn, Evan Stanley Nigel Kitching, Daniel Barnes, Aaron Hammerstrom, Caleb Goellner |
| Year: | Six |
| Release Date: | September 13, 2023 |
| Story Count: | 1 |
Feeling nostalgic, Tails decides to check how many times Sonic has saved the world, and finds that as of the Metal Virus, he's saved the world 899 times. Right on cue, the Warp Topaz, long-thought to be destroyed following Sonic being transported to the Sol Dimension, manifests itself into Tails' workshop, with its energy levels going out of control following the warping of the Metal Virus and conjuring up portals all over the world. Now, Sonic must find the original spot that Dr. Starline found the Warp Topaz in and place it there to stabilize it, while making sure he's not warped away in the process, and save the world for the 900th time.
This comic celebrates it being the release of the 900th English-language Sonic the Hedgehog comic (including reprints) ever released. This one-shot has writers and artists from across the series' run, even bringing in writer Nigel Kitching and artist Richard Elson (who previously worked on Sonic the Comic) on-board for a Round Robin collaborative one-shotnote .
Sonic the Hedgehog's 900th Adventure contains examples of:
- Bat Family Crossover: Per Tails sending out a distress signal, most of Sonic's friends show up to help him keep the Warp Topaz under control.
- Big Damn Heroes: Just as soon as Sonic is about to be attacked by an orca, Amy comes in at the last second and saves him with her Piko Piko Hammer.
- Call-Back:
- When Tails is counting up Sonic's world-saving adventures, he brings up Neo Metal Sonic's takeover of Angel Island and the Metal Virus crisis.
- Tails is quick to remind Sonic that the last time he handled the overloaded Warp Topaz, he was sent to Blaze's world with amnesia. Blaze also notes that she understands why the Topaz had that kind of effect on Sonic when she takes hold of it.
- When Sonic and the Warp Topaz escape Eggman's grasp, all Orbot can remark is, "Big oof." This was Sonic's (rather infamous) response to being informed of Starline's death in Escaping the Empire.
- Sonic initially has misgivings about entering the decommissioned Eggman mine, given that he was infected with the Metal Virus when he and Amy investigated Echo Mine in Issue #15.
- A Day in the Limelight: With the exception of Dr. Starline (who's mentioned, but never appears in-person), the IDW-original cast take a backseat for this adventure, with Sonic's friends and foes from the games being the focus this time around.
- Dude, Not Funny!: Even Tails is offended by Sonic making Knuckles feel as though his service wasn't needed.
- The Ghost: Dr. Starline. He gets several mentions since the Warp Topaz once belonged to him, but never actually appears in the story, having been (indirectly) killed by Eggman in Battle for the Empire. As this issue shows, the platypus' Villainous Legacy continues to be a problem for Sonic and co.
- He Who Must Not Be Seen: Eggman is never visibly seen throughout the story, being inside of the Egg Shogun Z for the entirety of it.
- I Just Want to Be Badass: Cream is initially shown quiet and dejected, until she says to Sonic and Blaze that she wants to be part of a mission to save the world for once, and out of respect for her bravery, they decide to let her join.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: The Babylon Rogues initially show up to take the Warp Topaz and sell it for a profit, but upon seeing how unstable it is, they decide to forgo that goal and shift their focus to the mine's gold instead.
- Monster Whale: As is tradition with modern Sonic, the Warp Topaz's portals bring in an orca to Green Hill Zone, which Sonic is powerless to stop. Luckily for him, Amy saves him using her Piko Piko Hammer.
- Motor Mouth: Cream's request to join the 900th Adventure is framed like this, where she gets an entire paragraph out in a single speech bubble.
- Mythology Gag:
- Evan Stanley's segment of the book sees the Warp Topaz teleport in the distinctive, dragon-shaped pathway of Dragon Road from Sonic Unleashed, as well as an orca whale, which Sonic has run into multiple times since Emerald Coast in Sonic Adventure.
- Continuing a tendency of his established with Scrapnik Island, Daniel Barnes' segment is a near-whole-hog
reference to Sonic's battle with Metal Robotnik from Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie — the Egg Shogun Z takes design cues from Metal Robotnik, the segment is set in a dilapidated, abandoned cityscape overrun with foliage, and Sonic both gets the Egg Shogun Z to punch itself in the face and rides a redirected missile straight into it. - When attempting to use the Warp Topaz, Cubot quotes two lines of Shadow's dialogue from the first encounter between him and Sonic from Sonic Adventure 2.
- Aaron Hammerstrom's segment pairs Blaze up with Cream and Cheese, a friendship established in Blaze's debut game, Sonic Rush.
- Also in Hammerstrom's segment, the Warp Topaz teleports our heroes to Tropical Jungle, Water Palace, Monopole, and Red Mountain.
- Not So Above It All: Shadow's been characterized as the stoic, mostly no-nonsense foil to Sonic, which is shown in this one-shot as well, thinking the reckless Sonic is not responsible enough to handle the power of the Warp Topaz. When Sonic slips by him and the Babylon Rogues that were also in the mine, Jet decides to call Shadow a "wannabe ultimate lifeform". Shadow actually takes offense to Jet's insult, evidenced by his angry silhouette, along with a panel that has him tower over Jet with a Twitchy Eye. This is one of the few times Shadow's stoicism being broken is played for laughs, where he takes the opportunity to blast the Rogues through the portal Sonic left behind.
- Put on a Bus: The Warp Topaz is finally put to rest after Sonic takes it to its origin point where Dr. Starline first found it. With its last power surge burying itself in the cave, there is a good chance no one will ever find it again.
- Round Robin: This one-shot is a collaborative effort between multiple different writers, artists, and colorists (nearly all of whom have been officially involved with Sonic comics at some point), with each segment (save the intro and outro) being handled by a different set of creators. Creative duties are divided up as follows:
- The intro and outro segments are written by longtime Sonic comic writer Ian Flynn, drawn by Adam Bryce Thomas, and colored by Valentina Pinto.
- Evan Stanley writes and draws the segment starring Amy, with Gigi Dutreix coloring her work in.
- Sonic the Comic scribe Nigel Kitching returns to official Sonic comics after a decades-long absence to pen the segment starring Knuckles and Metal Sonic, with Mauro Fonseca (pencils), Rik Mack (inks), and Reggie Graham (colors) handling the art.
- Scrapnik Island writer Daniel Barnes teams with artist Min Ho Kim and coloring assistant Evan Maly for Sonic's confrontation with Eggman, Orbot, and Cubot.
- Aaron Hammerstrom of "Seasons of Chaos" and Tails' 30th Anniversary Special fame writes and does the pencils for Blaze and Cream's segment, with Matt Froese handling the inks and coloring duties handed over to Nathalie Fourdraine of Scrapnik Island (and several RI covers) fame.
- Finally, Sonic's encounters with the Babylon Rogues, Rouge, and Shadow are written by Caleb Goellner ("Jet Set Tornado", "Reflections"), drawn by Abby Bulmer, and colored by Heather Breckel.
- Scenery Porn: The multicolored desert Sonic meets up with Blaze and Cream in is noted to be especially beautiful, with Blaze mentioning that she came there for sightseeing.
- Shout-Out: The Egg Shogun Z, Eggman's new mech, is pretty blatantly inspired by the titular Super Robot from Mazinger Z. Min Ho Kim cites a number of other fictional robots as influences on Shogun Z's design, including Gigantor, Astro Boy, Hyper Mega Man, and the RX 78-2.
- With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: Shadow operates under this mindset, telling Sonic that he doesn't trust him or the Babylon Rogues with power as uncontrollable as the Warp Topaz, and urges Sonic to give the stone to him. Sonic, verbatim, decides to Take a Third Option and flees the scene.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Sonic pretends to be overloaded by the Warp Topaz's power and losing consciousness so that Metal Sonic can take the brunt of the force of the Topaz's next energy surge and warp back to Knuckles unharmed.
- Wrong Context Magic: Cubot tries to warp away by holding the Warp Topaz and exclaiming "Topaz Control", but fails to understand that its warping capabilities don't work the same way as a Chaos Emerald.
