“Did I mention that Sonny’s claustrophobic and would rather sit through a marathon of THE HILLS than be locked up in a tiny cell?” asks executive editor Richard M. Simms. “Not surprisingly, his best buddy, Jason, has come up with a plan to get Sonny out of the country if things don’t go well. And let that be a life lesson to you all: If you’re in the mood for a pal, always choose the leather-clad, emotionally-impaired hitman. He’ll totally help you out of any jam.”
Ironically, Sonny isn’t actually on trial for shooting his son, but rather for killing his late wife, Claudia. “Of all the crimes Sonny has committed over the years, and there have been a lot, it looks like he might wind up being brought down by one he didn’t commit!” Turns out, Sonny is claiming to have whacked Claudia in order to protect the real killer, son Michael. “The police in Port Charles are really, really bad at their job,” admits Simms. “How bad are they? Michael went to them and confessed he did it, but they didn’t believe him!”
Meanwhile, Claudia’s grieving brother, Johnny, is determined to get revenge against the man he believes to be her killer. “Which is really convenient,” continues the editor, “because Johnny’s girlfriend, Olivia, happens to be the mother of Sonny’s son, Dante. Which means that if Sonny’s out of the picture, Johnny gets both vengeance and the girl!”
As part of the magazine’s on-going Supercouple Smackdown, they recently asked whether fans wanted to see Olivia with Johnny or Sonny, and the results are revealed in the new issue. “It was a tight race,” says Simms, admitting that another race whose results are revealed in the issue wasn’t even close. “When we asked whether people wanted to see ALL MY CHILDREN’s Ryan with Greenlee or Erica, you could see the word ‘landslide’ written on the wall. And it’s kinda cool that the show realizes how big a mistake Erica and Ryan were and have already rectified that situation.” The ONE LIFE TO LIVE competition saw Marty and Natalie battling for John’s affection. “That one was closer than I expected,” says the editor coyly.
The new issue features the third and final preliminary round of the Smackdown. “Since GH’s Liz is pregnant and doesn’t know who the father is, we figured it was a great time to ask whether fans want her with Lucky or Nikolas. And with OLTL’s Stacy dead, we wanted to know if people were hoping to see Gigi reuite with Rex or continue to fall for Schuyler. And while we’re all loving the fantastic chemistry between AMC’s Tad and Liza, a lot of people remember how much fun he and Krystal were before they got bogged down by a lot of drama.” To vote for your favorites, pick up the new ABC issue and submit the ballot by Friday, March 5. 
