Sonic the Comic

Sonic the Comic was a British children's comic published fortnightly by Fleetway Editions between 1993 and 2002. It was the United Kingdom's official Sega comic, featuring stories about its mascot Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters, as well as comic strips based on other Sega video games. The comic had two Golden Axe stories:

The Legend of the Golden Axe: Citadel of Dead Souls
Citadel of Dead Souls is a six part story printed in Sonic the Comic issues 1-6 in 1993. After the events of Golden Axe II, the sorcerer Blackspell sends his minions to capture the trio that defeated Dark Guld, including lizard men and minotaurs. They manage to capture Tyris Flare and Gilius Thunderhead, but Ax Battler apparently died when he was hit by a large rock in his head and is left behind. They are taken to the Citadel of Dead Souls, where the Sorcerer Blackspell shows that he has the Golden Axe and Dark Guld's corpse. Blackspell plans to sacrifice the warriors to revive Dark Guld so he can serve him.
 * Script: Mark Eyles
 * Art: Mike White
 * Lettering: Ellita Fell (part 1), Richard Bird (parts 2-4), Tom Frame (parts 5-6)

In the village they were attacked, the villagers wonder what to do with Ax Battler's body and decide to let him rot to be used as food for the animals. While carrying him at night, he awakens with an awful headache and asks what happened. After learning where Tyris and Gilius are, he leaves in the morning with a Green Dragon. In the Citadel of Dead Souls, Ax Battler falls in a trap that costs the life of his Bizarrian and almost his own. He manages to enter, but Blackspell discovers his presence and sends Rigia, one of his minions, to take care of him with a sleeping potion. Defeated, Ax Battler is held prisoner alongside Tyris and Gilius.

Sorcerer Blackspell finished the preparations to revive Dark Guld, and chooses Tyris to be used as the sacrifice to bring him back, ordering Rigia to kill the other two. Due to Gilius's small size, his legs were not locked in the chains and he kicked Rigia when she was about to kill him, making the sword hit Ax Battler's chain. With his arm free, he takes the key from Rigia and knocks out the Lizard Woman. After freeing themselves, they lock Rigia in the chains and go after Tyris, but the citadel is desert. A trader-wizard, Proffit, says he saw the future and got two Fire Dragons for the warriors, for the price of 20 gold pieces. They asks why they would need them, and Proffit informs that Blackspell took Tyris to the Corpselands, where he will sacrifice her to revive Dark Guld, and they will only get there on time with the Fire Dragons. They rush to the place, but one of Blackspell's minions, the sorceress Ul-tima, is protecting the entrance of the Corpselands and summons skeletons to deal with them.

With a Rock Magic, Gilius defeats the sorceresses and the skeletons. and enter the place. Meanwhile, Blackspell is about to complete the revival, but when he is about to kill Tyris with the Golden Axe, she manages to burn the ropes holding her with her magic just in time to dodge the strike. Dark Guld rises and attacks Blackspell, while Tyris takes the Golden Axe and uses it to counter Blackspell's minions. When Ax and Gilius arrive, they easily take care of most minions. Dark Guld is furious with Blackspell because he took him out of his rest, but with the spell incomplete, Dark Guld merged with Blackspell's body, and the two headed magician orders his remaining minions to kill the three heroes so Dark Guld's revival can be completed and Blackspell can have his body back.

The minions are all knocked down by Ax Battler's Wind Magic. Angry with Blackspell, Dark Guld punches him to knock him out and have full control of the body. Tyris tries to kill Dark Guld with her strongest Fire Magic, but it does not affect him. With the heroes tired, Dark Guld transforms into a two-headed eagle and takes Ax Battler to the Firedrake Fell volcano. Tyris and Gilius take two Green Dragons to go after them. In the volcano, Dark Guld orders four of his Death Armors to hold Ax Battler. Taking Ax inside his former lair, Dark Guld says that as soon as Blackspell awakens, the spell will be completed and Ax Battler will be sacrificed.

In their way to Firedrake Fell, Tyris and Gilius find some thieves and get their Magic Potions. They get inside in time to save Ax Battler, and Tyris injures Dark Guld with the Golden Axe. While the trio takes care of the Death Armors, Dark Guld summons demons of lava to assist him. Tyris and Gilius use their magic to take care of them, and it causes the volcano to erupt, apparently killing Dark Guld and Blackspell. The three heroes manage to escape and return the Golden Axe to the king of Yuria.

The Legend of the Golden Axe: Plague of Serpents
Plague of Serpents is a six part story printed in Sonic the Comic issues 13-18 between 1993-1994. Following the Citadel of Dead Souls, the three heroes are on their way to return the Golden Axe to the king of Yuria. They decide to take a break at Gilius home, the dwarfish stronghold of Rockguard, where they are suddenly attacked by a giant snake. Tyris easily takes care of it with the Golden Axe, and Gilius wonders what is happening in his home. Seeing many dwarves lying around and several normal sized snakes, Tyris notes it must be serious as Gilius dropped his food. Inside the fort, the high priest Cobraxis and his men are attacking the dwarves. While Gilius fights alongside the other dwarves, Tyris and Ax battle the men controlling the snakes in other part of the area. The men try to use their snakes to hypnotize the duo. Tyris manages to avoid it, but Ax falls under the effect of the hypnotize, but as he accidentally kills the snake, he is not controlled and wanders away. Gilius sees his father being hit by one of the men with a poisonous snake-like staff and goes to his assistance, killing the man and have a brief talk with his father, deciding to use his magic to end the conflict.
 * Script: Mark Eyles
 * Art: Mike White
 * Lettering: Ellie de Ville

Tyris tries to avoid killing two dwarves controlled by snakes, and although she manages to knock down one of them, she is injured and has no choice but to kill the other to avoid further damage. One of the priests of the snake god attack Tyris from behind, but she avoids his poisonous staff and kills him with Fire Magic. Gilius uses his Rock Magic and defeats several priests. After the battle, Gilius tries to take his father to the infirmary, but he insists he is fine and prefers to see a chef rather than a doctor. Tyris asks Gilius if he saw Ax, but he is nowhere to be found. Two tunnels below the fortress, Ax is wandering without aim.

Later, in Rockguard's Chamber of Elders, Growlus-Stormbreaker reunites the dwarf elders, alongside Gilius and Tyris, to discuss what happened. Growlus explains that the priests of the serpent god attacked the fortress two days ago, led by the high priest Cobraxis, and attempted to reach the Hammerynth maze of caverns below the fort. While they are talking, the priests are wrecking the caves below where the dwarves lived for thousands of years, and Cobraxis captured their queen, Silpantia-Dragontamer, so she could lead him to their secret horde of enchanted metal. Only the queen knows the location of the stash of the metal infused with magic, which can be used to make powerful materials and weapons, such as the Golden Axe. Gilius decides to go alone to rescue the queen, as sending a full force assault too soon may result in her being killed by the snake cult. As Tyris is injured and can't go, she gives the Golden Axe to Gilius and tells him to be careful, and he asks to watch his father.

Gilius is surprised when Yuki-Plantcharmer, a female dwarf, overheard everything and insists that she go with him. She casts an innofensive plant spell on Gilius and Tyris holds her, but Gilius says it is alright, as that's his "quiet" little sister. The two dwarves use a service shaft to enter the maze unnoticed, but a snake sees them and inform of their coming to Cobraxis. Cobraxis orders the wizard-priest Viprax to capture the two intruders. Vibrax finds them in the tunnel and sends several magically created snakes with arms to capture the dwarves. While Gilius keeps them busy, Yuki summons brambles around the snakes, and before they get free, Gilius uses his rock magic to finish them.

Angry, Vibrax turns his hands into snakes and advances, biting the dwarves and knocking them out with the poison. Vibrax leaves to call hypnotized dwarves to carry them to Cobraxis. Ax Battler, still wandering the tunnels, stumbles across Gilius and leaves singing without noticing him. After Vibrax returns, the dwarves start carring them, but while passing a stone bridge, Gilius and Yuki awaken. Dizzy, Gilius falls from the bridge, barely surviving the fall by using the Golden Axe to strike the bridge and hold on it. Believing that Gilius died in the chasm, Vibrax knocks down Yuki and continues. Gilius climbs the bridge and follows Vibrax to save his sister. When he arrives, he sees Cobraxis threatening to kill Yuki, who is trying to convince the queen to tell where the enchanted metals are.

Gilius advances and attack the cage of snakes holding the queen. Angry, Cobraxis orders the snakes making the cage to squeeze the queen, saying he will figure out how to find the magic metals without her. Gilius kills all the snakes before it is late, and advances to Cobraxis, hitting him with a headbutt. Cobraxis orders the three snakes with him to attack, and they transform into large humanoid snakes. Yuki uses her Plant Magic to summon a bamboo garden, the bamboo piercing the snakes like spears. Cobraxis and all his men and snakes advance to kill the three dwarves, but the queen says that now that she is free from him, she can use her magic, summoning poweful dragons. As nothing happens, Cobraxis laughs, but rocks start falling.

The dragons smashed their way through the mountain to reach the queen, and a talking dragon, Cloudburner, acts as her ride. Windscream and other dragons take care of the snakes, and Yuki finishes most priests with a killer cactus. Cornered, Cobraxis transforms into a giant snake and attacks the queen, but Gilius cuts him in half with the Golden Axe, and the dragons burn his remains. It appears to be over, but Vibrax appears and tries to kill Yuki from behind. Gilius notices and throws the Golden Axe on him, saving Yuki. Gilius finds Ax Battler, who is a bit confused, and the queen thanks Gilius and Yuki by giving each a golden dagger as reward, noting that the two daggers together are more powerful than the Golden Axe. Back to the surface, Gilius and Ax meet with Tyris, who recovered from her wounds. Unfortunatelly, Gilius learns that his father didn't made it. His last words were, "I hope they have good food where I'm going.", and he died with a fork in his hand. Gilius says that's how he's wished to go, and with tears, says he can't stay in the funeral long or all the good food will be gone. He calls everyone to the feasting hall, saying that's where his father would be.

Errors

 * In Plague of Serpents Part 1, Gilius says he will use "Thunder Magic", but he uses Rock Magic in Part 2.
 * Ax-Battler's name is written as "Axe-Battler" in one part from Plague of Serpents.