Team Heroes back on the scene!note
| Written by: | Ian Flynn, David Mariotte |
| Year: | Five |
| Release Date: | May 7, 2022 |
| Story Count: | 2 |
A one-shot issue released on Free Comic Book Day 2022, containing two short stories.
- Deep Trouble (Written by Ian Flynn): Knuckles senses something wrong with Angel Island and, against his better judgement, invites Sonic and Tails to help come and investigate. Their journey takes them through the lower parts of the island that remain uncharted to Knuckles chagrin. Sure enough the three find the disturbances are in fact caused by Eggman drilling for minerals. After a brief fight, they chase him off and Knuckles decides he needs to look into more of the unknown sections of the island as well.
- Prelude to Disaster (Written by David Mariotte): A short recap of the comic up to the Imposter Syndrome mini-series. It is told from the perspective of Dr. Starline to his subordinates, Surge and Kit, as a debriefing about their current objectives.
Tropes
- Big Damn Heroes: Sonic nearly falls into a crack in the ground, but Tails manages to save him.
- Big "NO!": Eggman shouts this (after two smaller "No!"s) as the heroes spin-dash his driller mech to pieces.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Knuckles claims Angel Island was safe from the Metal Virus until Sonic unwittingly brought it there, with the Zeti following after. Sonic, however, refutes that it was an "end-of-the-world situation" and the virus was going to come to the island eventually if it wasn't stopped, Tails adding in that everyone did manage to end its threat by working together. This is enough to get Knuckles to concede and drop the argument.
- The Bus Came Back: Knuckles finally makes an appearance after having been absent from the comic since the climax of the Metal Virus Saga (if one discounts his classic self appearing in the 30th Anniversary story "Seasons of Chaos").
- Continuity Nod: Knuckles still blames Sonic for bringing the Zombot Apocalypse to the island.
- Drill Tank: A driller mech piloted by Eggman turns out to be what's causing the tremors on Angel Island.
- Innocuously Important Episode: While "Deep Trouble" initially seems to be a standalone story, towards the end, Knuckles realizes there’s still mysteries on the island to uncover…
- Mythology Gag:
- The shortcut is designed like Hidden Palace Zone, though Knuckles claims he isn't familiar with it.
- Where the shortcut leads is to Marble Garden Zone from Sonic 3. Sonic comments on it being unstable the last time they were there due to the quakes caused by Eggman's drilling which indeed happened in the game and kept shifting the landscape.
- Eggman attacks the trio with his driller machine, which was his boss mech in that Marble Garden Zone stage.
- Pretentious Pronunciation: Sonic and Tails get into an disagreement on how Hydrocity is pronounced. Sonic thinks it's two words and called "Hydro City" while while Tails just thinks it's the one, which was a topic of discussion in the fandom itself.
- Recycled Animation: Or rather "recycled panels". "Prelude to Disaster" doesn't have any new art, instead using panels from the previous comics while having sidebars with new dialogue to give the illusion Starline is talking to Kit and Surge while recounting the events on a computer screen. Even the scene of him knocking out the two was from the first issue of "Impostor Syndrome".
- Saying Too Much: In "Prelude to Disaster", Starline gets too caught up in his ranting that he calls Surge and Kit his "pawns". When they start to question him, he uses his hypno-glove to knock them out.
- Sequel Hook: Sonic and Tails try to get Knuckles to at least come visit Restoration HQ to see how it's holding up, but he declines, wanting to stay on the island and discover if there's any more mysteries he wasn't aware of.
- This Is a Drill: Eggman uses a drill machine to fight against the heroes.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: After his drills are busted, Eggman decides to beat a retreat, claiming victory since he destroyed some of the ground. Tails counters that they decisively beat him with Sonic adding that Eggman's causing trouble and they sent him packing, knowing they’re victorious and had Eggman defeated from his real plans on finding rare materials followed by destroying the heroes in battle.
