Archie Sonic X Issue 19

Archie Sonic X Issue 19 is the nineteenth issue of the Sonic X comic series published by Archie Comics.

Official solicitation

 * "Muerta! Las Vegas!": Ever seeking ways to raise capital to finance more evil robots, Dr. Eggman takes a "gamble" that the new Throndyke Casino, owned by Sonic's best friend Chris' parents, might provide the "jackpot" he's looking for. Will Sonic, Tails and his friends be able to stop Eggman or will there be a new "king" in town complete with his own deadly two-armed bandit? You'll have to read this issue to see what happens because "what happens in this issue stays in this issue!"

Muerta! Las Vegas!

 * Writer: Joe Edkin
 * Pencils: Tracy Yardley
 * Inks: Terry Austin
 * Letters: John Workman
 * Colors: Josh Ray
 * Editor: Mike Pellerito
 * Managing editor: Victor Gorelick
 * Editor-in-Chief: Richard Goldwater
 * Special thanks to SEGA: Robert Leffler and Dyna Lopez at SEGA Licensing and SEGA Studio USA

Synopsis
The story begins with Doctor Eggman and his servants Decoe, Bocoe and Bokkun flying above the streets of Las Vegas. While flying above the city of Las Vegas, Eggman tells Bokkun, who is astounded by all the lights produced by the city, to enjoy them while he can because if the people of Las Vegas refuse to give him what he wants, he would wipe the city off the face of the Earth. Bocoe then asks Eggman why they had come to Las Vegas, in which Eggman responds that people in Las Vegas trade "little plastic disks" for cash money, and that they're going to steal a truck full of those disks and use them to acquire the money to buy the parts he needs to build his next generation of world-conquering robots. Decoe then asks Eggman what the disks are called, and Eggman tells them that they are called "poker chips", and that the Earthlings win and lose poker chips by playing a "needlessly complicated card game called poker". Bocoe then asks Eggman how he plans to convince the people to give them their poker chips, to which Eggman responds that he'll do it by force by building a robot to terrorize the locals in a warehouse filled with unused slot machines. Bocoe then asks Eggman when he had the time to find the warehouse, and Eggman responds that he had time to do so while him, Decoe, and Bokkun were at the Celine Dion concert, to which Bokkun comments that she's "dreamy!"

Meanwhile, Sonic and co., who are also in Las Vegas, go to the "Thorndyke Crest Casino". Outside, Chris comments that the casino is cool to his father and Amy Rose thanks Mister Thorndyke for inviting them to his casino. Mister Thorndyke responds by telling her that they are going to have a party for "tomorrow night's grand opening". Chris asks Sonic if the casino was great, and Sonic responds by saying that he'd prefer to be outside where he can run, while Mister Thorndyke takes Tails to the casino's video arcade, which an eager Tails responds by saying "I can't wait to try it!". When Sonic and co. arrive in the video arcade, Sonic comments that he hates pinball machines while remembering the time Eggman placed him inside a giant pinball machine after Sonic sees a regular sized one inside the video arcade. Chris then insists that he and Sonic should try out the "Speed Team Virtual Racing Game" his father created and Sonic comments that he'd rather have a real adventure instead of a virtual one, and wonders what Eggman is up to.

At the warehouse, Eggman has Decoe and Bocoe pour a giant container of cherries inside what appears to be a giant robot that looks like a slot machine. After telling Decoe that they aren't making a cherry pie and that they are instead making a deadly weapon, Eggman comments that Vegas will quake in fear before his two-armed bandit.

Back at the video arcade, Chris and Sonic play the racing game, in which Sonic loses to Chris. Amy then comments that Chris wouldn't have won against Sonic if it was a real race, but when Sonic congratulates Chris for his victory, Amy changes her attitude towards Chris and congratulates him for his victory. Afterwards, Tails asks Sonic if he would want to race him next, but Sonic refuses and Chris asks Tails if he could race him instead. Tails then asks Sonic what he and Amy were going to do and Amy says that they could go out for a picnic. Obviously reluctant to go with Amy's suggestion, Sonic tells Chris and Amy that he's going to stretch his legs and go for a run, and Chris tells Sonic to make sure that he isn't late for his father's party before Sonic himself dashes out of the casino. While running through the city streets, Sonic thinks how he could ever be late, considering that he can run at supersonic speed.

At the warehouse, Eggman orders his giant robot to go to the city and steal the city's poker chips, which immediately causes chaos when the robot enters the city itself. Eggman then orders the humans to pay attention to his demands. Meanwhile in the video arcade, Amy and Tails race each other on the racing game, which ends in Tails victory over Amy. Chris hears the commotion outside and tells Tails and Amy that they should check it out. When Chris found out that Eggman is causing trouble again, Amy and the others decide to handle Eggman themselves. Outside, Eggman demands that the citizens of Las Vegas surrender their poker chips to him by putting them in a truck being driven by Decoe and Bocoe, or else he will destroy Las Vegas with his robot. When Chris and co. show up outside the casino, they tell Eggman that they are going to stop him themselves since Sonic wasn't around, and Eggman taunts them. When Amy and Tails attack the giant robot, it dumps a large pile of cherries on top of them, trapping them. Amy then tells Chris, who was wishing that Sonic was around, that Sonic will come when they really need him. Meanwhile, in a field in Wisconsin, Sonic decides that Chris and the others have probably gotten into trouble considering how long he's been gone, and heads back to Las Vegas in order to "save the day". Back at the city, Amy and Tails continue to fight Eggman's robot, only to be met with failure in their attempts to destroy it. Before the robot could crush them, Sonic appears and moves Amy and Tails out of the robot's path, and then proceeds to attack the robot itself, only to get covered with lemonade. When the robot captures Sonic Amy frees him and Tails give Sonic a Ring. However, before Sonic could use its power, Eggman's robot dumps out a large pile of fake Rings, which forces Sonic to continue battling the robot without the real Ring.

When Sonic, Amy and Tails defeat the robot, Eggman once again announces that he will return to seek vengeance on Sonic and Sonic responds by saying that no matter how many times Eggman returns, Sonic and the others will defeat him again every time. Sonic and co. are then greeted by a cheering crowd, with several people in the crowd believing that the fight was part of Nelson Thorndyke's grand opening extravaganza.

Appearances
Characters:
 * Amy Rose
 * Bertha
 * Bocoe
 * Bokkun
 * Christopher Thorndyke
 * Chuck Thorndyke
 * Decoe
 * Doctor Eggman
 * Lindsey Thorndyke
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Mister Tanaka
 * Nelson Thorndyke
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Speed Team
 * Sam Speed

Locations:
 * Earth
 * Las Vegas
 * Thorndyke Crest Casino
 * Station Square
 * Wisconsin

Items:
 * Piko Piko Hammer
 * Ring
 * Speed Team Racing

Vehicles:
 * Egg Mobile

Trivia

 * In the arcade, Chris shows Sonic a pinball machine, in which Sonic angrily responds "I hate pinball...", while thinking of Eggman trapping him inside a pinball machine. This is reminicent of the pinball levels that have appeared in numerous Sonic games; particularly Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball. It is also a nod to Sonic the Hedgehog #1, where Robotnik did just that.
 * One of the pinball machines is called "Pinball Wizard", most likely a reference to the The Who song of the same name.
 * While Eggman's slot-machine robot is destroying the city, a pair of C.S.I. operatives arrive at the scene of a crushed car. One of them says "Why is it always dark whenever we investigate a crime scene? Even in the middle of the day?". This is a nod to the television show C.S.I.
 * Starting from this issue, the cover drops the "Based on the hit cartoon" tagline, most likely because the Sonic X anime series had stopped running at this point. The new tagline "The most way past X-cellent comic!" is a nod to the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series' tagline "The world's most way past cool comic!".
 * On the second page (excluding pages showing advertisements), Eggman mentions Celine Dion, who is a real life Canadian singer, an occasional songwriter, actress and entrepreneur.
 * Eggman is dressed as famous rock and roll singer Elvis Presley on the cover.
 * A background citygoer mentions real world pop singer Madonna.