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This character exists primarily or exclusively within the Sonic the Comic continuity.
Information in this article may not be canonical to the storyline of the games or any other Sonic continuity.

Doctor Zachary is a character that appears in the Sonic the Comic series published by Fleetway Editions. He is an elderly, white-furred male echidna, and an enemy of Knuckles the Echidna. He is one of only two echidnas known to still be alive. He has secret knowledge of the Echidna people, and may even know where they went.

Concept and creation[]

The original design for Doctor Zachary was created by artist Richard Elson[1], who named the character after Doctor Zachary Smith from the television series Lost in Space.[citation needed] Elson intended to collaborate with writer Nigel Kitching as a means of introducing Zachary to the series in Sonic the Comic #65-#68's "The Homecoming" arc. However, prior working commitments prevented Elson from drawing the artwork for the story, and as a result Nigel Dobbyn was assigned to the task instead. Because Elson did not show Dobbyn his sketches of Zachary, and only specified aspects such as the character being old and having white fur, Dobbyn drew his own design for the character, with a younger, less-wrinkled, and less-"evil" look compared to Elson's.[1]

Zachary's cyborg design was created at the suggestion of Nigel Dobbyn, who had found the character's original appearance boring to draw. The new design also served as a tribute to one of Dobbyn's favorite childhood characters, Marvel Comics' Deathlok.[2]

History[]

STC65-Zachary

Zachary's first appearance, from Sonic the Comic #65. Art by Nigel Dobbyn.

When he first returned to the Floating Island, he claimed he was being hunted by a dangerous robot (in actuality an Echidna Guardian robot he had reprogrammed);[3] the surprised Knuckles was tricked into taking him to the Emerald Chamber. Zachary then had the robot invade the Chamber and destroy the Master Emerald,[4] absorbing its chaos energy into itself. He then boarded the super-charged robot and set off to devastate Mobius and get an unknown revenge on the other Echidnas, leaving the Floating Island to crash. However, Knuckles caught him before he could escape[5] and decapitated Zachary's robot.

However, before Knuckles could take him prisoner, an inopportune earthquake threw Zachary from the island, sending him plummeting towards Mobius.[6] While falling, Zachary grabbed the decapitated robot's body and activated its flight system. However, one of the robot's wings was damaged, so Zachary was only able to soften his landing and it left him horribly injured. He would have died if he hadn't been found by a Badnik patrol.

Dr. Robotnik took a special interest in Zachary, having previously believed that Knuckles was the only Echidna on Mobius, and saved Zachary's life by integrating him with Badnik technology, replacing his right arm with a laser cannon and the entire right side of his head and face. In return, Zachary was able to provide Robotnik with important information, namely that the Emerald Hill Folk were hiding out on the Floating Island.[7]

Zachary and Robotnik infiltrated the island (its forcefield having been damaged some time earlier[8]). Zachary tracked down the place where the Floating Island's other Guardian Robots were stored and reprogrammed them with a piece of software that made them his "unstoppable slaves".[9] With this new army, Robotnik and Zachary came to the Mushroom Hill Zone in the night and captured all of the Emerald Hill Folk (except Porker Lewis, who eluded them in the Island's tunnel network). When Knuckles returned to the island after a long journey away, Robotnik and Zachary managed to ambush both Knuckles and Porker in the Emerald Chamber, capturing them as well.[10]

Robotnik intended to use the Emerald Hill Folk (along with Knuckles and Porker) as organic components in a vast supercomputer that ran on living brains instead of microchips.[7] Although Knuckles was able to escape, he failed to prevent Robotnik from carrying out this scheme.[9] Before the computer could be activated, an electromagnetic pulse caused by Super Sonic surged across the planet shutting down all of Robotnik's computer networks and Badniks. The Guardian robots, products of ancient echidna science, were unaffected, but the software that Zachary used to control them was destroyed and they ceased obeying him. Knuckles fought Zachary one-on-one, although Sonic the Hedgehog arrived halfway through to assist Knuckles against Zachary. Zachary tried to run away, but Knuckles struck a fault line in the ground, causing Zachary to fall into a chasm.[11] In the ensuing confusion over arresting Robotnik, Zachary burrowed into the heart of the Floating Island and disappeared. His final fate remains a mystery.[12]

Future plans[]

On the sonicthecomic E-group, Nigel Kitching revealed that an unused plan for Zachary was that he was still on the Island when it sunk (during the last storyline) and was trying to release a gang of Echidna criminals that had been placed in suspended animations.[13] Kitching admitted elsewhere that he hadn't taken Zachary into consideration when he wrote the island's submergence.

Personality[]

In his first appearance, Zachary appeared to be polite and well-spoken, if somewhat emotionally distant. However, this was merely a front to hide his sociopathic and genocidal tendencies. He is completely mad and has zero empathy for others, even enjoying the prospect of killing and wreaking carnage on a global scale. He desires revenge on Knuckles' lost people for unknown reasons and is not above eliminating any that get in his way. He specifically stated his intention to "warm up by destroying the people of Planet Mobius" and was willing to let the Floating Island fall out of the sky and crash onto the planet below "as a monument to [his] genius!"[5]

Prior to receiving his cybernetics, Zachary preferred to act through intermediaries like his re-programmed Guardian Robots.

Powers and abilities[]

Zachary is a well-educated and highly intelligent person, capable of advanced computer programming and software engineering. Zachary also possesses extensive knowledge of the Floating Island and the lost echidna people, beyond even that of Knuckles.

Initially due to his incredibly high age, Zachary was quite frail. After being rebuilt as a cyborg following his fall from the Floating Island, he gained increased stamina and strength, and his arm cannon allowed him to take a more active role in his pursuit for revenge.

Relationships[]

Allies[]

Enemies[]

Trivia[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Adamis . Interview with Richard Elson at Sonic the Comic - Online!. Sonic the Comic Online. Archived from the original on 16 January, 2008. "Adamis: Have you created characters for STC? I've heard you created Dr Zachary but I never saw him drawn in your style, except for a little picture of him in issue 100. Did you create the characters based on the scripts? / Richard Elson: I came up with the entire plot for the first Zachary story, with the robot, the crushing of the emerald and the departed Echidna race, and I also did a design for Zachary. Due to the amount of work I was doing elsewhere, Nigel asked if he could do the story with Nigel Dobbyn. I said that was fine. I didn't show my design to Nigel Dobbyn, who came up with his own interpretation of the character. I do remember saying that Zachary should be white as he was, in my original plot, a very old Echidna. He was a lot older in my design; he looked a lot more wrinkled and evil."
  2. Manic Man (19 November, 2010). Interview - Nigel Dobbyn. The Emerald Star Post. Archived from the original on 18 July, 2015. "Nigel Dobbyn: I suggested bringing Dr Zachary back as a cyborg because I found him boring to draw and wanted to pay tribute to Marvel's Deathlok character, one of my favourites growing up."
  3. Sonic the Comic #65, "The Homecoming, Part 1"
  4. Sonic the Comic #66, "The Homecoming, Part 2"
  5. 5.0 5.1 Sonic the Comic #67, "The Homecoming, Part 3"
  6. Sonic the Comic #68, "The Homecoming, Part 4"
  7. 7.0 7.1 Sonic the Comic #98, "Victims, Part 2"
  8. Sonic the Comic #73, "New Master Emerald"
  9. 9.0 9.1 Sonic the Comic #99, "Victims, Part 3"
  10. Sonic the Comic #97, "Victims, Part 1"
  11. Sonic the Comic #100, "The Final Victory"
  12. Sonic the Comic #101, "Loose Ends"
  13. sonicthecomic Yahoo! Groups

External links[]

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