Megathread Archie Sonic Main Discussion

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

You know what’s funny? I remember these stories perfectly well up from this point, and yet they’re completely irrelevant in the long run. I can’t say I hate them, because I came back into these comics around this time, but they’re sadly forgettable for the most part—just like Sonic randomly phasing into Caterkiller’s hill, this period is essentially “random bullshit go!” in terms of what stories they could make of at the time.

Really shows a difference in impact they have compared to what comes next. 
 

Also, just a heads up, Dr. Detective Mike, but issues post-125 where Sonic is lost in space is likely to be just as forgettable until the final part of the arc when Sonic returns to Mobius. I’m saying this because those issues are personal guilty pleasure of mine because sci-if. They mostly just clean up a few things from older arcs, but yeah, just a heads up. You’ll be wondering just what the fuck the comic team at the time was smoking in some places—and I’m betting it probably wasn’t any of the good shit either.

[Shadow Chaos Control]

On 12/6/2020 at 6:20 PM, Coz456 said:

Man I've only read around 30 issues, and they weren't in any order. I've gotta catch up but I don't really know where to start. 

Start with Sonic Firsts Special. 

 

[Dr. Detective]

12 hours ago, Silvereyes said:

I've said this before but I am enjoying your reviews. Really, it makes me think that I need to get back on reading Archie Sonic, I think I stopped around #225 and I really need to hop back and just finish everything. I don't know if you have done this already, but at some point, I hope you take the time to maybe archive your reviews somewhere so they can be kept safe and easy to find.

Well, thank you. I appreciate that. I'm not entirely sure I have the free time to worry about archiving them right now of course. This is a great deal of fun and I'm glad everyone's enjoying the deep dive but if it all goes up in smoke, I'll be fine in the end. 

[SBR2]

Spoiler

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

It looks as though Spaz went crazy on those curves though. My goodness.

I see no problem with it. *Bonk* Ok ok I'll go to Horny Jail.

 

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

I like this sequence. The lack of dialogue is a great choice especially since Edkin had a bad habit of filling pages with Narration boxes. It's all about the Atmosphere y'know.

 

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Sonic is staring at the TV like it owes him money and proclaims that he doesn’t buy that this is Rouge, citing the time these yahoos thought he was Shadow and did a similar thing.

I'm not...totally sure why Sonic just assumes this is a fake but my Sonouge shipper mentality is willing to overlook it.

 

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

even holding up the lip-stick laser thing that she conveniently dropped at the scene as physical evidence.

I love the lipstick Laser thingy is apparently standard equipment. Does GUN have their own Q? Do Westwood and Topaz carry these too?

 

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

I can't not read that in Christian Bale's Batman voice. SWEAR TO ME!

 

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Like, you didn’t need to crash through their window at all mate.

"Well well I see you took my advice on theatricality quite literally."

 

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

Rouge's line about putting her robot duplicates head on her mantel makes think 2 things. 1. GUN apparently pays well enough that Rouge has a house instead of an Apartment and 2. That would be an interesting conversation. "So Rouge...um...why do you have your own head mounted on the wall?"

 

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

he also lets her keep the giant Cubic Zirconium thing. Nice.

Just what every jewel thief wants. Fake jewelry.

 

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

This cover makes a “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” joke despite it having nothing to do with Christmas in an issue that was released in January 2003.

I think it is a reference to a song. I vaguely remember a song called like "Ely's coming" or maybe it was "Leroy's coming" or something like that.

 

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

He tells the inhabitants to run and hide before IT gets here. What’s IT? The bloodthirsty HYDRA… no, I mean, the dangerous, railroading CATER-KILLER!

Y'know all jokes aside the premise of a giant Train sized Caterkiller is not really that bad of an idea. Honestly I'm just glad to see an enemy from the games.

 

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

"Now that Robotnik's Human again he remembers the location of Knothole." I'm sorry....what? How does that remotely make even the smallest bit of sense?

 

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Like what? What the fuck did he just say? What the fuck did he just DO?!

I can explain. He became the Flash again. I really don't know why they keep making Sonic the Flash but they do.

 

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

nothing’s happened for a really long time

Unfortunatley that's how it's going to be for a bit longer. I think about #122-123 is the next major plot movement...if you consider the Sonic/Sally/Mina love triangle a major story.

 

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

Oof. Butler's in that period between the previous designs and their post-time jump redesigns for the Archie/SattAM characters and it shows. I mean Bunnie doesn't look terrible but she looks a little off honestly.

 

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

I know Bunnie is Sonic’ friend but Sonic does kind of have a little bit to answer for in terms of how he just abandoned that city of sycophants. Then again, she’s right in that their behavior was definitely over the top and worth trying to stay as far away from as possible.

That's why I kinda like them. They're a neat grey area where yeah Sonic probably shouldn't have just left them like he did and technically they are fighting to stop Eggman but they're also dangerous extremists who later on don't even view derobotisized people as people. They're a generally pretty interesting concept.

 

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

The art is done by the wonderful Art Mawhinney too.

Fun fact while Art did do the pencils the inks were done by Nelson Riberio and as I've mentioned in the past he's a massive Gewunner when it comes to Transformers and hidden in the first panel of this story he expressed those views by putting the phrase "Beast Wars Are 4 Babies" among Rotor's books. He clearly never actually watched the show though because that statement is definitely untrue.

 

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

The mystery is immediately ruined and the answer it gave us is so… dumb.

I don't know if you remember the In Your Face Special since that was a while ago but there is no mystery. This is all information they previously shared with the biggest piece of new info being Future Rotor made her unable to be hacked.

 

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Anyway, it’s pretty clear that Mina is taking the Amy Rose position in this book, which is funny considering we’re in 2003 now.

Yeah it's kinda weird they're still doing this. But on the other hand at least it didn't give fuel to that bullshit "Sally and Amy would hate each other because they both love Sonic" argument.

 

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

This is about Mina wanting to join to catch Sonic’s attention. She tries with a nice looking eastern style dress

Said dress has become a favored look for her in many a piece of fanart. I'd assume Axer's frontpiece also helped it's popularity. Apparently it's based off the dress MJ wears in Spider-Man 1 so that's something.

 

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

So are we going to acknowledge it's a little creepy Sonic's just going to be standing outside of her bathroom listening to her sing?

 

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

For some reason, Sonic’s arms are blue in these flashback scenes. 

Tonight the part of Archie Sonic will be played by Boom Sonic.

 

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

You’d think someone would have caught that but considering someone colored in Sonic’s Mom to look like Amy down the line I guess it’s nothing too shocking.

Kinda funny you mention it because it's the same guy who colored this one.

 

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

I ship it.

 

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Alicia notices the ring inside the vest and is surprised to see it there. She gave it to Julayla to give to her and when she wasn’t wearing it she assumed she’d never gotten it.

Ok I have to give Chacon credit again. The Royal Signet is a one off thing from SatAM. It's literally only seen on Sally's finger once in Blast to the Past so that King Acorn would know that she's actually his daughter from the future. It's kinda cool they keep putting these little SatAM touches in. It's weird this is the person who did Titan Tails.

 

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

At first I thought this character may have just been a lost Robian or something but that’s mostly because the complete picture was never really something I was let in on.

Julayala was introduced and died in #18 following that was the In Your Face Special that detailed how she left Sally's vest to her when she died.

 

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 11:43 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

That said, it’s not bad.

I kinda how they incorporated the Signet into the original story where she was introduced.

 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

As long as I’ve been reading the comics, I never once knew who this Julayla character was.

Was she in the previous issues before #116? Because that might explain why...

[SBR2]

21 hours ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

As long as I’ve been reading the comics, I never once knew who this Julayla character was.

Was she in the previous issues before #116? Because that might explain why...

Yes she debuted in #18. The issue here is she was introduced as Sally's wise old teacher who helped her through everything in her like...but that same issue was also where she died. She kept being featured and referenced but the problem is we barely even got to know her. She was later made Rosie's cousin despite her being a cat. She's also kinda redundant as a lot of her role could really have been given to Rosie an well she dies anyway so why not just make Rosie Sally's mentor. It's a particularly bad story or anything (this was back when Mike Kanterovich co-wrote scripts with Penders) it's just weird that they created this character to fill a role that kinda was already filled.

Incidentally the flashback to her death in #120 is pretty much the same as the story with her first appearance but with the addition of the nut opening and revealing the Royal Signet. 

[Cuz]

Well Julayla show up when the books still weren't one to one with SatAM, so it's not all that surprising they'd pickup some redundancies,

... and now I can picture is a Yoda-esce, kong-fu Rosie and my hair is standing on end. HELP!

[SBR2]

6 hours ago, Cuz said:

Well Julayla show up when the books still weren't one to one with SatAM, so it's not all that surprising they'd pickup some redundancies,

... and now I can picture is a Yoda-esce, kong-fu Rosie and my hair is standing on end. HELP!

Yeah but the other thing is that Rosie made her first appearance in the same story.

[Dr. Detective]

Archie Sonic the Hedgehog - Issue #121: The Prince and the Revolution

Spoiler

 

Story: Karl Bollers
Penciler: Ron Lim
Inkers: Jim Amash, Pam Eklund
Letterer: Jeff Powell
Colorist: Jensen
Editor: J.F. Gabrie

What’s that? You want more good art? Well, too bad. You can’t have any. It’s time for more Ron Lim. 

As usual, this first story is by Karl Bollers and it starts with the king and queen sending Sonic and Sally off to help Geoffrey and Hershey in their quest to find Elias. They don’t beat around the bush at all here. It’s literally just a scene of them saying that Elias has been gone too long and that they need to go help find him and ends with Sonic’s off carrying Sally. I guess with three stories in the book, the usual preamble isn’t considered necessary.

Geoffrey and Hershey are in a bi-plane, having made it to Feral Forest where they’ve somehow managed to track Elias down but Eggman’s flying robots appear to be in the area for a currently unknown reason and decide to just fire on them with reckless abandon. Hershey claims Geoffrey’s doing great maneuvering but they end up crashing so I guess she was being sarcastic. It would make Geoffrey’s reply of not being Miles Prower make sense. Sarcasm is best displayed in a comic through facial expression and Hershey’s line was said in a panel where you couldn’t see either of their faces so…

Anyway, they crash and a bunch of people in this small village see it and start to gather around with one girl’s father heading off as well. This girl in question is married and is pregnant and goes off to tell her husband of the news. That’s when I was greeted with this.

Fucking what mate?

I knew Elias had a wife character down the line but I figured that was WAY down the line because it just seems a bit weird to… I mean…

...HOW LONG has he been gone? 

I don’t… the sense of time here is warped beyond belief. There’d better be some sort of explanation for this because if there’s not I’m not sure this issue will be able to recover from it.

Geoffrey and Hershey are fine. They have zero scratches on them and are dressed in spiffy tuxedos. Geoffrey stands on a stump and tells the people of the village that Eggman’s coming and asks them to fight with him. It seems strange that he’d ask a bunch of random villagers to take up arms though. Especially considering how he’s always been about the soldiers and training and stuff. Elias isn’t amused either.

The past he refuses to speak of…? Why are they talking like 20 fucking years have gone by?! What’s going on?!

Before this story it honestly felt like a few weeks had passed at most. I’m willing to buy that it’s actually been several months. However, the scene taking place here is being written like a decade has gone by. Or at least half a decade.

Geoffrey and Hershey find Elias’ house and bow before him… the next shot is Elias packing his bags for him and his girl Meg, which is a funny transition.

When Meg asks him what he’s doing, he says he’s packing their bags so they can get as far away from here as possible. Then Geoffrey says this shit.

Elias punches the skunk back, super pissed off and really goddamn sick of listening to what he has to say. I gotta admit, my sympathy still totally lies with Elias on this one.

I’ve yet to see a reason as to why he’d be obligated to come back. He wasn’t even necessary for all this royal shit up until this point, why on Earth would he be now? The majority of his life was spent away from it and now he’s being called a prince and being forced to accept a responsibility he didn’t even know he was supposed to have. It’s also one he doesn’t want.

Of course, life is going to force him to accept it just like it did when it came to Charmy. Eggman’s robots burst into the room to kick the escape attempt in the ass.

Of course, that’s when Sonic shows up.

There’s a few things to note in that little exchange Eggman just had though. One is the confirmation that this is indeed Elias’ child which… I KNEW was obvious from the context the comic was giving me but I refused to believe it until someone flat out said so.

Now that Eggman has my reaction is HOLY SHIT, WHAT???

HOW?! Elias ran off, found a village, found a girlfriend, got engaged, got married, had tons of sex with her, and got his wife pregnant ALL IN THE SPAN OF TIME HE WAS GONE?!

Again, I must ask, HOW LONG HAS HE BEEN GONE?!

Is everyone still the same age? Even if I buy that it’s only been a few months… how fast does this comic think relationships happen? I used to think it thought they took for fucking ever because of how much it likes to tease the Sonic and Sally shippers but then Rob and Mary Ann got married freaking immediately. That at least I could wave off a bit more easily as being a fairy tale like romance with fairy tale like characters but this is just weird.

Maybe relationships really do be this fast on Mobius and the weird ones are Sonic and Sally for being so fucking slow. Same with Knuckles and Julie-Su. Maybe this is a sign that these romantic pairings are slow because they actually don’t belong together. Oh dear.

The second thing I need to comment on is Eggman talking about his army of E-105 robots. At first, I pondered if that was the comic continuing from his E-Series line but then I remembered that there was, for sure, the E-105 robot was Zeta from Sonic Adventure. I had to look it up to make sure I didn’t get the number wrong but I was right. Zeta was E-105.

Those things standing behind Eggman don’t exactly look like Zeta.

Also, why an army of Zetas? Wouldn’t the Chaos Gammas make more sense? This is after Sonic Adventure 2 came out. Those exist.

Ugh. Whatever. 

They win. Here’s the entire battle.

It turns out that Geoffrey’s idea of rallying these villagers together was a good one. Apparently all of them can punch and destroy his advanced robot weaponry. Also, Eggman is running off and Sonic with his insane speed is just letting him go for no reason. I guess because him running away is a funny image. 

Sally and Elias hug, happy to see one another after Elias never properly said goodbye. She’s elated that she’s going to be an aunt which… how old is Sally again? 

… How old is Elias?!

Elias says he’s not gonna come back but he invites the four of them to dinner and Sonic accepts. The end.

God, I don’t even know what to make of that. Whether or not that story was fine is being clouded by the confusion concerning everything happening with Elias right now.

Archie Sonic the Hedgehog - Issue #121: Afterlife - Part One

Script & Inks: Ken Penders
Pencils: Art Mawhinney
Letters: Vickie Williams
Colors: J. Jensen
Editor: Justin Gabrie

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~!

Oh man.

Oh God. Way to start the issue. With unintentional comedy. Good job Penders. Sometimes you know how to tickle me just right.

Mawhinney’s art is good but it’s cartoonish nature did not do this image any favors. It also doesn’t seem to be doing Vector any favors here.

He looks like a very shriveled up grandpa here. Knuckles’ death aged him several years. Either that or Elias being married with an expected child did. Also, Mighty’s line at the bottom makes no sense. Even when read backwards it still makes no sense. I expected it to continue on the next page but it’s just more of the priest talking so… yeah, what?

She literally calls Knuckles a “Man-Child” here and then the term “Reasoning Status” is thrown at us with a caption box that tells us that he’s of Legal Age. Why is that necessary? What is… how do you view your writing as anything approaching normal Penders?

We’re treated to another full page of this bitch reading off a eulogy until finally we see Knuckles’ ghost watching his own funeral with all his other dead ancestors and taking all this shockingly well.

UGGGGGH! 

Yes, of course if you’re a member of the Brotherhood you don’t simply DIE but you “ascend to a higher plane”. 

No mate, you’re fucking dead. Ain’t nothing crude about it. It’s the truth.

If this truly is some special privilege that only the echidnas have then it’s incredibly sickening. Not only were they given higher than higher intelligence during the time when those beta bitch hedgehogs were still acting like cavemen but when they die they get special holy ghost privileges for they are the collective Jesus of Mobius. 

More exposition happens where ghosts like Steppenwolf and newly departed Tobor explain all the convoluted nonsense about how their super special version of the afterlife works. It’s the Chaos Force and if you live within it you’re like Brother Athair and the Ancient Walkers. However, the echidnas who are not dead at this funeral can’t see the others because they exist on a different plane of existence and shit. Also, the mother that lives at the center of the Chaos Force is Aurora and when she heralds then they can claim their final reward. Or whatever.

It’s all a bunch of words, most of which are meaningless. Basically, they’ve got Super Heaven and it's run by some lady.

Knuckles is understandably confused and remarks that this all sounds like something his mom might have tried to teach him. Upon hearing this, one of the ghosts lies to him about his dad again.

“FUCK OFF…! FUCK YOU…!” - Me, outloud, when I read this panel.

Anyway, these ghosts are waiting around to be chosen to ascend to the Chaos Force, whatever that is, and that’s when the sky opens up and Aurora’s heralds come flying down. Also, there’s a scene where they talk about how totally sad about this Locke is. Whatever. Anyway, the heralds are here and they’re creepy looking chao.

For some reason, Knuckles, even though he just died, is being chosen immediately to be a part of the Chaos Force.

This all happens as the woman finishes her eulogy and we end with the light carrying him off to Super Heaven.

It’s astonishing to me that there was a time where SEGA just didn’t give a single fucking shit about the comics so much that these books could get away with doing literally whatever. 

It’s very unsettling literally watching Knuckles just get beamed off to heaven but it’s also really funny. My emotions are in a confusing, rotating spin-cycle of madness right now.

Archie Sonic the Hedgehog - Issue #121: Song Bird

Writer: Romy Chacon
Pencils: Steven Butler
Inks: Jim Amash
Letterer: Jeff Powell
Colorist: Jensen
Editor: J.F. Gabrie

This story begins with Mina standing on stage, confused and with a ton of stage fright. Sonic put her up to this against her will in the only way the douchebag Sonic  would.

I made this decision FOR her because that’s what good guys do.

So, I didn’t even put it together that Mina singing last time was what was going to lead her into her singing career. I just thought it was a cute way to end the issue but apparently Sonic didn’t. He saw this as an opportunity to play the sleazy manager of a pop star for a bit I guess.

Anyway, Sonic says that she’s got this and Mina, because Sonic said so, sucks it up and begins singing. Because it’s a song you can’t hear in a comic book, it’s incredibly awkward. I can’t ever imagine good songs in my head. It always sounds awful and trite.

However, it’s apparently really good, to the point where Sally stops working to listen to it.

I really don’t know why Nicole chose the word “overrated” here. It doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense. I guess it was literally for the sake of Sally having a set-up for this supposed gut-punch of an ending line when Sonic and Mina end up embracing in celebration.

It’s like some kind of a sick joke.=

I know Mina still has a thing for Sonic but I at least thought the nonsense of Sally being jealous was over. Goddammit. I don’t want it.

EDIT: The initial credits I posted here credited this story to Ken Penders. That was wrong. This story was actually written by Romy Chacon. So Penders isn't my only enemy here apparently. Everyone's trying to make sure I have a bad time.

 

This was a terrible issue. All three of these stories were their own varying levels of bad. The Elias story was mostly fine but the confusion on display when it came to the amount of time passed just threw the entire thing’s equilibrium off for me. The second story was pure echidna wank, the likes of which we haven’t seen happen in quite a long time. It’s almost impressive just how fucking full of itself it is. The final one was just someone seeing the scab of an old wound and taking a knife to it for no reason. God. This wheel spinning is reaching an unbearable level of ridiculousness.

 

Archie Sonic the Hedgehog - Issue #122: Heart Held Hostage - Part 1

Nack is back to interrupt Sonic’s love triangle trouble? Thank goodness. We thought it was over but apparently, due to the whims of Ken Penders, it’s back on again. Nack is the hero we need right now. I also appreciate this cover a little better than the less couple of magazine ones we’ve had. I dunno why. I guess the art and color scheme hit home a bit better here. I really can’t wait for them to realize the horrible mistake they’ve made with these covers though.

Spoiler

 

Writer: Karl Bollers
Penciler: J. Axer
Inker: Conor Tomas
Letterer: Jeff Powell
Colorist: Jason Jensen
Editor: J.F. Gabrie

My prayers have been answered.  Karl Bollers is teaming up with Jeff Axer in a story again. Hallelujah.

The issue begins with Sonic playing around with a guitar that he got from his dad. Tails asks why Sonic’s dad never plays it anymore and he says, “I’m a fucking clunky ass robot mate” and leaves it at that.

Sonic begins playing and attracts a crowd.

Aww. Look at him. He’s so cute with his little tongue sticking out, reminding me of Wakko Warner. Also, there’s Amy, in a dress that looks almost orange.

Unfortunately for her, she’s not needed as a character again just yet despite all that time we randomly dedicated to her magically getting older and junk. Mina has miraculously taken up her position as the one who’s in love with him.

She refers to Sonic’s guitar skill as something “So suave, so skilled, so Sonic!” and decides to take a chance at something. Before we see what that something is, we cut to Sally who has decided to head out on her own when she hears guitar playing and instantly knows it’s Sonic because she calls it, “So raw, so passionate, so Sonic!” in a manner very similar but still different to how Mina said it.

Interesting call to make the two of them say two different things about how his music feels to them.

Anyway, the point is that Mina is now singing with Sonic and when Sally sees this she turns right the fuck around. Luckily, her Freedom Fighter friends spot this and head after her to stop her, wondering why she looks so down in the dumps. Before Sally, I’m guessing, just turns around and says “I’m jealous and my hormones are going C-C-C-CRAZY!” they literally get rammed into by a bunch of weasels on motorcycles.

Not since “Card games on motorcycles” has there been such a deadly, motorcycle related foe.

I’ll admit, despite how well drawn this is, seeing Sally laid out like this still looks funny.

Yes, Sonic. He got Sal. She’s a rag-doll draped over a rock now. Ain’t it pretty? It’s like the ending to “What’s Opera, Doc?” right?

You’d think Sonic being upset would lead him to coming up with better insults but it doesn’t.

So, they’ve taken Sally away. 

Back at the castle, the weasel that Sonic knocked the fuck out is being interrogated… very badly by the goodie goodies of the Freedom Fighters. The worst that Bunnie manages to do here is correct the weasel’s grammar and dangle him out a window which just gets him to yawn and pretend that he’s scared. He clearly isn’t.

They’re goal is to hold Sally ransom for money obviously, so they bring him to the king. This is where the weasel fucked up. If there’s anything you don’t do, it’s underestimate how fucking cruel King Max can be.

DAMN!

It still amazes me that every once in a while the king bumblefucks his way into looking incredibly badass.

Everyone stands outside, confused by why the king asked them to leave, further emphasizing how bad they are at interrogation. Max rolls his ass outside and tells them exactly where Sally is, down to the longitude and latitude coordinates. He literally says he got this information by making him an offer he couldn’t refuse, like he’s the goddamn Godfather.

Sonic is gone before the king can properly ask him to go after her.

Hopefully the others catch up.

Archie Sonic the Hedgehog - Issue #122: Afterlife - Part 2

Script & Inks: Ken Penders
Pencils: Art Mawhinney
Letterer: Vickie Williams
Colorist: J. Jensen
Editor: Justin Gabrie

So Penders is back to take me on another weird as hell ride through his mountain of garbage and not but a few pages in do we get smacked across the face with something incredibly juicy and yet hilariously expected of this insane man.

The creepy chao that act as grim reapers (one of them even has sharp teeth) bring him to Aurora, the leader of Super Heaven that was talked about earlier. Here we’re treated to this wonderful scene.

Oh my God. Where do I begin?

Okay, well, first of all, let’s talk about how all those other ghost echidna were fucking wrong. They were all talking like this was a special privilege of those within the brotherhood but according to Aurora here, anyone of any species, whether they be a fox, chameleon, overlander, or even those beta bitch hedgehogs, has the privilege of seeing her. Apparently, the only reason they saw her as an echidna is because they all just envisioned her that way. 

What’s extra hilarious about this is the fact that all those ghost echidna somehow KNOW about Aurora despite seemingly never meeting her. After all, if they did they’d have seen her figure and gotten this talk the same as Knuckles right? She would have TOLD them that anyone can see her right? Yet they all acted like what they were saying was common knowledge for just echidnas.

How the fuck did they figure any of this out if they were just waiting all this time to be picked by her? Did she tell them that she was planning on doing it? Did she whisper from Super Heaven that one day she was going to pick them to ascend. Why hasn’t she done that with the others yet? Are they not worthy? Is she waiting for them to be worthy? How can they eventually become worthy if they’re dead? Knuckles got picked literally as soon as he died. If you haven’t been chosen already, you’re probably not going to be.

I also really like the idea that these echidnas are so full of themselves that it’s quite possible she told them all this but they ignored the part about other species’ being able to see her too and just went with the narrative that she was an echidna and only members of the brotherhood could ascend to see her. It fits within their nature to be egocentric assholes.

Secondly, Aurora appears to all the people she meets as the things they understand and can easily perceive. To all the echidnas, she appears as an echidna. However, to Locke, specifically, she appeared as an ARMAGEDDON!

That is brilliant.

Because of course she did.

I guess she just appeared in their dreams for no reason and that’s how they know about her? I’m having to do a lot of mental gymnastics here despite this being one, long exposition dump. Perhaps Penders should spend less time retelling the same story. A reminder is nice enough and I’m grateful when they happen so my forgetful ass can feel empowered again but you also need room for the part that helps make this make sense.

Locke saw the future and set about to try and avoid that future by doing everything wrong. Even though the figure in his dream clearly looks like a giant effigy of Dr. Eggman, he and his people refused to help Sally and the Freedom Fighters in the fight against him. Even after Eggman attacked their island, killed tons of people, and broke their prized Master Emerald, they STILL refused to help. 

Also, if he saw a vision of SALVATION in the form of his son then why the hell did he think he had to do something about it? Now, in the present day, instead of being on the path to salvation, his son is dead. Fucking oops? 

She retells the entire story we already know about all the horrible things Locke did to his son, including naming him after a deceased tribe of echidnas that horribly feuded with the people of the Cat Country over land that didn’t belong to them and the ever popular microwaving of the baby without the wife’s consent. Aurora adds in a pointless line about how much in love his parents were at the time as though it mattered. 

As the story goes, Knuckles developed rapidly, the likes of which isn’t normal for an echidna. Apparently, his mind is supposed to be better developed even though he’s a bit of an idiot. I dunno. This story doesn’t really track as an origin for the Knuckles character I grew up with. Who’d have thought, right?

Lara-Le voices her concern to her shit awful husband about his desire to force him into learning and growing up too soon. Locke says he’s destined for greatness and therefore isn’t allowed to be happy.

“She bowed to the inevitable” is such a horrible way of putting it. It’s strange that this Aurora character isn’t really providing us with her opinion on WHY she did what she did. I would very much love to know the reason why you appeared to Locke as a dream of Armageddon and then did nothing when he set about fucking everything up. Maybe reappear as another dream to clarify a few things? Maybe stop him from microwaving his baby? I dunno.

Perhaps an explanation is coming but it’s not happening here so… right now she’s just another awful person that Penders has created. 

 

Archie Sonic the Hedgehog - Issue #122: When There Was Only One Guardian

Script & Inks: Ken Penders
Pencils: Dawn Best
Letters: Vickie Williams
Colorist: Jensen
Editor: Justin Gabrie

I hope you didn’t relax yet because we’ve got a double pose of Penders today, with Dawn Best taking on this story for him in terms of art.

We begin with Julie-Su rummaging through Knuckles’ stuff, which is okay to do now because Knuckles is dead. Thank God. Anyway, Vector comes in when Julie-Su is in the middle of realizing that Knuckles liked to read and has a framed picture of her.

All Vector does is ask her what she’s doing and Julie-Su decides to attack him.

Thankfully, Vector is in rare form here and blasts music in her face to get her to fall over.

He apologizes and holds out a hand for her.

She then kicks him in the fucking face.

But you know, I’m supposed to like this character apparently. 

They’re both really bad but despite that the book is managing to make her look worse. I guess it was too much to ask that Vector get one over on her for once.

Anyway, the point of this is to tell the story of how Vector and Knuckles met. It’s pretty simple.

Vector was laying in the grass, listening to his music when Knuckles tripped over his body and fell on top of him.

Vector, because he’s the opposite of the softy he’ll eventually become, punches Knuckles in the face. Knuckles punches him back. Then immediately tries to bury the hatchet, which Vector accepts.

I’d swear Penders hated Vector, this character he was responsible for giving a personality to, if he didn’t keep bringing him back.

Catweazle, that bird that I hate whose now a completely different color, shows up, and takes a dump on Vector’s head. Knuckles and that bird laugh at him. We then fade out to Vector saying “And Knux and I have been best buds ever since”.

That story didn’t seem all that worthy of a “best buds ever since” ending. Julie-Su’s response to this is that he’s more mouth than fighter.

It’s so endearing witnessing everyone talk about how much they hate Vector and seeing him get repeatedly punched and kicked in the face. Even when he’s trying to be nice. It’s like when C-3PO said he was taking one last look at his “friends” right before his memory got wiped.

Friends who HATE you, you mean.

They HATE you.

Vector admits to not being much of a fighter too which kind of kills me inside. I don’t even know how to process this. God, the Chaotix in this book are awful. They suck. Hurry up and turn them into the good version! I can’t take it anymore!

The story ends on them realizing that the only thing they had in common was their love of Knuckles, which would have been a nice sentiment had the story that preceded it been any good.

 

The first story was good. It was well written and really well drawn thanks to Axer. The other stories were horrible. Penders continues to not know how to properly develop this crazy echidna nonsense without it coming off as trite and needlessly self-important. His treatment of Vector, this character he didn’t create, by Julie-Su, a character he DID create just continues to infuriate me. I wish I could go back to the time when I was ignorant of what Vector and Julie-Su were talking about when they said it was ridiculous to suggest that they could ever like each other back in Issue 199. It was such a strange line to me but now I’ve been given numerous face fulls of how bad their relationship is. It isn’t even a rivalry. It’s just Julie-Su beating on him and it sucks. I just want it to end!

 

Sonic X - Issue #19: Muerta! Las Vegas!

What another beautiful cover. Sonic is cringing so hard at Elvis Eggman that his mouth looks like it's about to break off his face. Ah, but Eggman and his bots know how to style so hard and so well. It’s fantastic. What a wonderful man.

Spoiler

 

Writer: Joe Edkin
Pencils: Tracy Yardley
Inks: Terry Austin
Letters: John Workman
Colors: Josh Ray
Editor: Mike Pellerito

Eggman, Bocoe, Decoe, and Bokkun are having an evil family night on the town in Las Vegas!

Night time is truly the best time of the day. I just feel that rush whenever it comes around. I love being a Night Owl. Wouldn’t have it any other way.
Also, we get more Tracey Yardley. Hooray! We haven’t reached a point in either of these comics where he’s been normalized yet unfortunately.
Anyway, Eggman is here to get plastic disks to exchange for cash money that he can use to buy parts to make new robots. Bocoe asks why he doesn’t just sell his old robots and Eggman says that no one would buy Bocoe and Decoe, which is funny but that’s not the question I would have asked.

I was more wondering why he wouldn’t simply steal the weaponry he needs.

I guess then we wouldn’t have a goofy story of Eggman fucking around in Las Vegas though.

We get more panels of Eggman explaining weird human customs to them, like how complicated and pointless Poker is and the existence of slot machines. He also talks about how he found a warehouse of old slot machines that he plans to use and rebuild to terrorize the locals. It’s the birth of the Egg Dealer people. Get hype.

Love the explanation provided for when he managed to do this without his lackies knowing too.

They’re really going all out with this world being the same as ours.

Anyway, as this is going on, OF COURSE, Sonic and the others are here at the exact same time. The casino that Eggman is hovering over is owned by the Thorndykes because of course it is. This kid’s got a family casino. What the…? I want one! 

I don’t even gamble but goddammit, the idea of just going to a place at night and being surrounded by beautiful flashing lights and not having to worry about losing money on it due to already being rich sounds like a dream.

Meanwhile, Sonic’s more interested in being outside so he can run in the desert I guess. Also he hates pinball machines.

Sonic does not enjoy having fun with games and shit apparently. What’s funny is that I could totally see Sonic messing around with this stuff no problem. Just a little tweak in his mood would result in him reacting completely differently and yet could still stand as a perfectly viable and expected thing of his character. It speaks a lot to how strong of a character he is that I could see him reacting to this the exact opposite way and not have it feel contradictory. People don’t give him enough credit for that, honestly.

Back at the warehouse where Eggman is, his robots are unloading a bunch of cherries into his giant slot machine robot thinking they’re making a cherry pie. Eggman says that’s stupid and proceeds to act like dumping a bunch of cherries into a robot because the slot machine has a picture of a cherry on it isn’t stupid.

We then cut back to Sonic who is having a battle for the ages against Chris in the one thing that he’d ever lose in a race against him in.

See? I love how into it Sonic ended up getting and how “serious business” the loss is treated as for him. It’s a little silly that Amy switches moods depending on how Sonic is feeling but I guess this was that era of her being like that so whatever.

This also goes to show why it’s more fair having Sonic drive a vehicle. There’s an equal chance of him losing against Big the Cat that way. 
So anyway, after that, Tails wants to go next and Chris happily obliges him since Sonic is deciding that now is the time he wants to go out for his run. He goes and does that at the exact moment Eggman decides he’s going to attack. Naturally. It wouldn’t be Sonic X without that.

The book proceeds to shoot rapid fire jokes at you, one after the other, to the point where your head would be forgiven if it started to spin.

The CSI joke at the bottom has to be my favorite though.

Back with Amy, Tails and Chris, they’re having a fun time on the racing machine… or at least as much fun as you can have when up against a genius like Tails, when Chris takes note of the strange noise happening outside and says they should go and investigate. Amy loses to Tails twice in the racing game and smashes it to pieces with her hammer, which is okay to do since it's owned by Chris’ dad. What’s he gonna do about it? His son canonically can kick his ass.

They head off and Grandpa Chuck informs them that Eggman is acting up again and whines that it happened when he got three aces. Apparently the game is off now because of Eggman’s attack… and I’m not sure why. He hasn’t directly attacked the casino yet. Chuck, you can still win your money back. Just continue the game!

I mean, seriously though, this book is goofy enough that you could totally do that and no one would bat an eye. Just look at this scene of Eggman laying out his plan.

It’s so ridiculous, you can’t help but laugh.

Dude crushed a bus for Poker chips. 

Tails, Amy, and Chris show up to shout at Eggman to knock it off and Eggman asks where Sonic is. Of course, he isn’t here, so they take the challenge of facing off against him in his stead.

Tails attacks with a wrench and Amy with her hammer. They manage to land on the jackpot of bells but it doesn’t lead to anything good for them, for indeed, they get their bells rung instead of money.

Fortunately, this is just a matter of them not having enough power rather than them being completely useless. When Sonic shows up and tries to help, he doesn’t really fare too much better on his own.

There’s even a part where he asks for his Power Ring but then the slots hit the rings jackpot and they get covered in them. The only thing missing there was Eggman going “NO! My beautiful RINGS!”

So instead, they decide to handle it the old fashion way, with a team blast from the three of them. They wail on the robot together and Sonic spins the slots to have three Eggman symbols which, as we all know, means you lose.

Which he does.

Eggman leaves with his robots throwing shade about how needlessly complicated his plans are. The people standing around have enjoyed the show for the most part but one old man complains that Eggman isn’t as good to look at as Celine Dion. 
I dunno. Between the two of them, Eggman does make for quite the handsome mongrel.
 

 

That was really fun. I’m increasingly taken in by how weirder and more convoluted Eggman’s plans continue to get. He doesn’t even realize how he’s devolved to doing things that make literally no sense now. It’s presented in such a funny way that you can’t help but find his lack of knowledge concerning all this stuff endearing. His tendency to try and fiddle with the rules of the world rather than ignoring them to simply do what he wants leads to situations like this where he’s crushing people’s cars so he can steal Poker chips to then exchange them for money. The added silliness of doing something super destructive and illegal just so he can do something comparatively more legal just floors me every time. Keep being weird, you beautiful egg-shaped bastard.

[SBR2]

Spoiler

7 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

So I've been horny for Rouge a lot...Totally as a joke  >_> but now it's time to be horny for Elias because good God almighty Axer renders him so friggin hot! Like goodness gracious he has no right being this attractive. ...Sorry for making everyone uncomfortable.

 

7 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

It’s literally just a scene of them saying that Elias has been gone too long and that they need to go help find him and ends with Sonic’s off carrying Sally.

Elias is off living his own life. That's not allowed! Go find him We only got like 14 pages!

 

7 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

Oh, I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok. I sleep all night cuz I fight all day.

 

7 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Fucking what mate?

I knew Elias had a wife character down the line but I figured that was WAY down the line because it just seems a bit weird to… I mean…

...HOW LONG has he been gone? 

I don’t… the sense of time here is warped beyond belief. There’d better be some sort of explanation for this because if there’s not I’m not sure this issue will be able to recover from it.

Later on Penders will retcon Meg to having been pregnant when Elias met her which was to preserve his precious family tree yes but...it does make some sense. I mean I have no problem believing Elias settled down and got married even if trying to figure out the time frame is a bit of a headache but this is on the same level as Rob and Mari-An being married and having a baby months after they met if not weeks. Like take your time people!

 

7 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

The past he refuses to speak of…? Why are they talking like 20 fucking years have gone by?! What’s going on?!

Also...he's the prince of Mobius. You'd think maybe his face would have been plastered somewhere. Is Feral Forest that backwoods?

 

7 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

Elias punches the skunk back, super pissed off and really goddamn sick of listening to what he has to say. I gotta admit, my sympathy still totally lies with Elias on this one.

Same. Kick his ass Eli!

 

7 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Of course, that’s when Sonic shows up.

1. E-105's? I'm pretty sure they meant E-1000's since those were the foot soldier ones but whatever more game elements! Thank God. Better than Shadowbots at least. 2. Holy shit Sonic The Hedgehog is in this Sonic The Hedgehog comic.

 

7 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

One is the confirmation that this is indeed Elias’ child which… I KNEW was obvious from the context the comic was giving me but I refused to believe it until someone flat out said so.

Well it was until Penders flat out ignores it because again Family tree. but yeah this was clearly Bollers intention regardless of how much sense it actually makes.

 

7 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Now that Eggman has my reaction is HOLY SHIT, WHAT???

HOW?! Elias ran off, found a village, found a girlfriend, got engaged, got married, had tons of sex with her, and got his wife pregnant ALL IN THE SPAN OF TIME HE WAS GONE?!

Again, I must ask, HOW LONG HAS HE BEEN GONE?!

Ok this is going into stuff that happens after Tossed in Space but I think this is the best time for my rambling nonsense. The wiki claims that since Sonic was in space for a year of Mobius time that he's 17 after #160 because he was 16 after #68. I don't buy that. Personally I think a few months passed and stuff like this issue and the next ones are actually the third year of canonical time. My thinking is that if Sonic was gone for a full year then he returns on the Anniversary of his death (Sally is even at his grave morning still) and a good 30 issues after he returns he has a birthday. So that must mean that at least the events of 124-125 have to happen before Sonic's 17th birthday which means the birthday he's back for is his 18th. Though I guess physically he's still 17 but still.

 

7 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

… How old is Elias?!

I think Elias is supposed to be in his Twenties. He was a baby during the Great War though and he and Alicia vanished during it after Sally was born so IDK.

 

7 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

Knuckles body is surprisingly well preserved despite y'know exploding!

 

7 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

She literally calls Knuckles a “Man-Child” here and then the term “Reasoning Status” is thrown at us with a caption box that tells us that he’s of Legal Age. Why is that necessary? What is… how do you view your writing as anything approaching normal Penders?

Hee Hee Ha Ha Ha!!!! "This proud Man-Child" Fucking hell. Also I guess the fact Knuckles is supposed to be 16 but is "Of reasoning age" kinda goes to confirm Penders comments about Mobian Legal age I guess.

 

7 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Also, the mother that lives at the center of the Chaos Force is Aurora and when she heralds then they can claim their final reward. Or whatever.

It’s all a bunch of words, most of which are meaningless. Basically, they’ve got Super Heaven and it's run by some lady.

Penders tried to backpeddle this once by saying Aurora isn't just an Echidna God but the God of all of Mobius and she'd appear in the form of whatever species is looking at her. Though we only ever see her as an Echidna. To be fair she was first mentioned in the backup of #98 by Professor Gerald so it's not a total bullshit explanation I guess.

 

8 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

Y'know I'll try to give Bollers credit for the Chaos Gamma's/E-1000's but Penders...no. This isn't how you incorporate game material dude.

 

8 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Archie Sonic the Hedgehog - Issue #121: Song Bird

Script & Inks: Ken Penders
Pencils: Art Mawhinney
Letters: Vickie Williams
Colors: J. Jensen
Editor: Justin Gabrie

This story begins with Mina standing on stage, confused and with a ton of stage fright. Sonic put her up to this against her will in the only way the douchebag Sonic written by Ken Penders would.

Wait...What? Ken Penders didn't write this one Romy Chacon did. Here's the Sonic News Networks page on it. https://sonic.fandom.com/wiki/Archie_Sonic_the_Hedgehog_Issue_121

 

8 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

Ok...maybe I'm reading too much into it and she's just really enjoying the music but that face Sally is pulling is just screaming "There is no Heterosexual explanation for this" to me.

 

8 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

And this is why people think Romy Chacon was actually Justin Gabrie. Since apparently the love triangle was his idea and this is the most...actively involved in it Sonic has ever been. I mean he shot her some bedroom eyes once but this is the most outwardly attracted to Mina Sonic has ever been and it's notably not under Bollers pen.

 

8 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

I really don't want to sound like I'm shitting on his art because it is really good but this is kinda what I mean about Axer being great at single page stuff but I have issues with his Panel work. There's just...too many people here. They're all very well drawn but this is a cramped panel.

 

8 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Interesting call to make the two of them say two different things about how his music feels to them.

And I kinda like it. It shows that they both have very different views of Sonic that attracted them to him in different ways. It's a nice touch.

 

8 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

I’ll admit, despite how well drawn this is, seeing Sally laid out like this still looks funny.

Her spine is friggin' pulverized! Yikes.

 

8 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

They’re goal is to hold Sally ransom for money obviously, so they bring him to the king. This is where the weasel fucked up. If there’s anything you don’t do, it’s underestimate how fucking cruel King Max can be.

Ian's wife and former Sonic writer Aleah Baker once said about this scene on Bumbleking how ridiculous it is. That Max tortures people and Alicia just rolls her eyes like her silly husband forgot to put the toilet seat down.

 

8 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

I guess she just appeared in their dreams for no reason and that’s how they know about her?

I mean I'd assume she's just a part of the lore of the undefined religion of Mobius like the Ancient Walkers. Though Ian hd plans to demystify her a bit and make her not really a Deity but those plans never really came to fruition.

 

8 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Perhaps Penders should spend less time retelling the same story. A reminder is nice enough and I’m grateful when they happen so my forgetful ass can feel empowered again but you also need room for the part that helps make this make sense.

I'm really thinking that the only reason people remember all the Echidna lore isn't because it's particularly memorable but because Penders literally never quit beating you over the head with it. FYI this is basically the entire rest of this backup arc.  

 

8 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

As the story goes, Knuckles developed rapidly, the likes of which isn’t normal for an echidna. Apparently, his mind is supposed to be better developed even though he’s a bit of an idiot. I dunno. This story doesn’t really track as an origin for the Knuckles character I grew up with. Who’d have thought, right?

Hell it barely tracks with this version of Knuckles. He has never once shown this supposed genius level intellect.

 

8 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

She bowed to the inevitable” is such a horrible way of putting it. It’s strange that this Aurora character isn’t really providing us with her opinion on WHY she did what she did. I would very much love to know the reason why you appeared to Locke as a dream of Armageddon and then did nothing when he set about fucking everything up. Maybe reappear as another dream to clarify a few things? Maybe stop him from microwaving his baby? I dunno.

I do like that to justify Locke's shitty parenting Penders has God say he was right despite presenting us with evidence that he completely misinterpreted every single vision she sent him.

 

8 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Vector was laying in the grass, listening to his music when Knuckles tripped over his body and fell on top of him.

Vector, because he’s the opposite of the softy he’ll eventually become, punches Knuckles in the face. Knuckles punches him back. Then immediately tries to bury the hatchet, which Vector accepts.

Pendsers is only capable of having characters converse through punching I swear.

 

8 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Vector admits to not being much of a fighter too which kind of kills me inside. I don’t even know how to process this. God, the Chaotix in this book are awful. They suck. Hurry up and turn them into the good version! I can’t take it anymore!

I know you aren't overall a fan of how Ian did them pre-reboot but you gotta admit at least it's not...this.

 

8 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Also, we get more Tracey Yardley. Hooray! We haven’t reached a point in either of these comics where he’s been normalized yet unfortunately.

He's not really a normal artist on Sonic X honestly. He did a few issues but like Ian his contribution is nowhere near the size of the main book.

 

8 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

I love this is literally the exact opposite of the running gag in the last Futurama movie "Into The Wild Green Yonder" where they had like a vendetta against Celine Dion. Also Jackie Chan and Celine Dion exist in Sonic X comic continuity.

 

8 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Just a little tweak in his mood would result in him reacting completely differently and yet could still stand as a perfectly viable and expected thing of his character. It speaks a lot to how strong of a character he is that I could see him reacting to this the exact opposite way and not have it feel contradictory. People don’t give him enough credit for that, honestly.

I'm glad I'm not alone in that. Sonic has more depth than people think.

 

8 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

The CSI joke at the bottom has to be my favorite though.

It is funny but I have to admit I don't get what it has to do specifically with Vegas. Is there a CSI spinoff set there? 

 

[Dr. Detective]

I posted the wrong credits for Song Bird. Apologizes everyone. I'll punish myself by jumping into the ocean. 

No, but seriously, I made the appropriate edits to the post. 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I have to say, this retrospective more than anything makes me think that Bollers had a solid plan for how he wanted to shake up the Status Quo with Issue 125, and how he had this whole big plan for it, but for whatever reason, there was no actual plan laid out for how things happen between Issue 100-125, and thus they kind of went with whatever.

Part of me feels like it's editorial, like they had this whole massive plan for a status quo shake-up that would change the course of the comic, and introduce a ton of important arcs following #125, but Bollers was told to put a pin in it until the landmark issue, so they can sell a ton of copies or something. Idk if it comes down to bad planning, bad editorial decisions, or what, but it shows the best here.

There's no plan for any kind of any plot progression. Things kind of happen at the whims, and I think Thanks Ken Penders brought up the theory that this was a period of time where they were burning through a backlog of stories that had been paid for, but never released, which is why we have some goofy stories during comparatively more serious time periods, and we know this was a seriously bad thing, because this practice lasted right up to Ian's first 20 or so issue tenure, even as late as Eggman Empire in #175.

Robotropolis gets nuked to the ground, a massive plot point, something the characters were fighting towards for the first 100 issues, and there's no sense of plot with it. It's a MAJOR event, and it's treated as if Sonic and Tails just watched a random robot factory get destroyed. This is where they grew up, what they fought for, the representation of all of Robotnik's corruption, and yet no one makes even the slightest deal out of it. 

Benny Lee (Or Bollers trying to be lighthearted) failed at his job from the start. It was created to make lighter stories to prove critics wrong, and yet we also had Benny Lee writing stories with serious stakes behind them, stakes that had to be treated seriously. This is a massive example with Robotropolis. If Bollers had written under his own name, and just let what came natural to him through, perhaps we could've given this story the respect it needed, like with the Robians being freed, or Eggman's revival in #75, but instead - he's trying to be Benny Lee, which means he's trying to have this dark plot-driven story with serious consequences for the characters, and also try to be light-hearted, funny, and not remotely dwelling on it.

A lot of these stories are just absolutely pointless, in a period where they should be the most important. The robians are freed, but Eggman's on the rise, there's an invasion about to come relatively soon, Robotropolis has been nuked, and Sonic's role has been displaced, and yet we have stories about him finding genies, chasing giant Cater-Killers, and dressing up as a rabbit. It doesn't gel well at all, and ironically, I think it makes Heart Held Hostage come off better than it would otherwise. It goes back to the love-triangle nonsense, but it's a story that has a decent pacing, stakes, and resolution, in an era where everything is crappy unfitting comedy.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

@Dr. Detective Mike

Also to clarify - Bollers has always gone on record that the future stories he does, and he considers M25YL in the same category - is only a potential future path for the Freedom Fighters, and has always said things can change. Penders is the one who came out and decided that this future (the one that Bollers set up) was the 100% canonical future because he wanted M25YL to be fully canon, and to be the final future for these characters. He was in fact building to this with the Knuckles series, as he planned to have Locke's vision fully realised, and have Knuckles fight Dr. Ian Droid - a shitty villain from his crappy Lost Ones book.

I agree that this origin for Nicole is absolutely idiotic, and doesn't fit (Honestly, I don't think ANYONE had a good origin for Nicole until Ian gave her one with Spark of Life, even the planned SatAM origin reeks of being grimdark for the hell of it), but at least in Bollers' case, I don't think he was trying to put down a definitive canonical future for Archie Sonic.

[Dr. Detective]

1 hour ago, Ryannumber1Santa said:

@Dr. Detective Mike

Also to clarify - Bollers has always gone on record that the future stories he does, and he considers M25YL in the same category - is only a potential future path for the Freedom Fighters, and has always said things can change. Penders is the one who came out and decided that this future (the one that Bollers set up) was the 100% canonical future because he wanted M25YL to be fully canon, and to be the final future for these characters. He was in fact building to this with the Knuckles series, as he planned to have Locke's vision fully realised, and have Knuckles fight Dr. Ian Droid - a shitty villain from his crappy Lost Ones book.

I agree that this origin for Nicole is absolutely idiotic, and doesn't fit (Honestly, I don't think ANYONE had a good origin for Nicole until Ian gave her one with Spark of Life, even the planned SatAM origin reeks of being grimdark for the hell of it), but at least in Bollers' case, I don't think he was trying to put down a definitive canonical future for Archie Sonic.

Oh no, I was aware of all this. I know Penders is the one who wanted the M25YL story to be the canonical future. I wasn't claiming that it was specifically Bollers that did. At least, I don't recall doing that. 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

1 minute ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Oh no, I was aware of all this. I know Penders is the one who wanted the M25YL story to be the canonical future. I wasn't claiming that it was specifically Bollers that did. At least, I don't recall doing that. 

It was more so the discussion on how having a canonical future ruins things because we know how things play out (IE - Eggman won't win, etc). I was just explaining that Bollers hadn't intended that to be the case (or at least - that's what he claims). 

I do think IIRC - this was when the arguments between Bollers and Penders really kicked off, because someone asked Bollers if M25YL was canon, and Bollers responded that he considered all future stuff to only be potential futures, and not a definitive one. This really pissed Penders off, due to wanting M25YL to be fully canon (because of course, he'd want the final definitive say on characters he doesn't own). 

[Shadow Chaos Control]

“Nack is back to interrupt Sonic’s Love Triangle.” Boy that sounds so soap operaesque. 

[Dr. Detective]

1 hour ago, Ryannumber1Santa said:

It was more so the discussion on how having a canonical future ruins things because we know how things play out (IE - Eggman won't win, etc). I was just explaining that Bollers hadn't intended that to be the case (or at least - that's what he claims). 

I do think IIRC - this was when the arguments between Bollers and Penders really kicked off, because someone asked Bollers if M25YL was canon, and Bollers responded that he considered all future stuff to only be potential futures, and not a definitive one. This really pissed Penders off, due to wanting M25YL to be fully canon (because of course, he'd want the final definitive say on characters he doesn't own). 

Right. I went back to check on what I wrote. I did clarify that it was specifically what Penders wanted. But thanks for clearing up any doubts that Bollers may have been okay with it. 

Honestly, I don't know a whole lot about what happened behind the scenes or even where to dig up most of this information. I wouldn't really know when the arguments between the two are supposed to kick off. I feel like I can sort of tell considering some of these stories feel like they're making diss tracks against each other with how different their approaches are. It's like what the directors for those new Star Wars films did by ignoring or throwing out what the other one did before them. 

[Dr. Detective]

Archie Sonic the Hedgehog - Issue #123: Heart Held Hostage - Part 2

The only thing to really say about this cover is the fact that I’ve seen this image of Sally before in one of the wikis. That’s it. It’s just a picture of Sonic laughing alongside Sally. These covers are doing nothing for me. There’s not a ton of them left thankfully.

Spoiler

 

Writer: Karl Bollers
Pencils: J. Axer
Inker: Conor Tomas
Colorist: Jason Jensen
Letterer: Jeff Powell
Editor: J.F. Gabrie

Thankfully, it’s another Axer story and we continue where we left off with Sonic on his way to rescue Sally from the Fang Gang over at the house from Goosebumps.

Mina Mongoose is here also. It turns out she followed after Sonic when he blasted off because she’s got Mongoose speed. Sonic asks her where the Freedom Fighters are and she says she just took off without thinking about waiting for them. Then Sonic admits to doing the same thing, apparently just realizing he did that. Whoopsie doodles.

Anyway, Sally is sitting inside with Nack. For some reason, she isn’t restrained at all and when she asks Nack what his genius plan is, he just reiterates that the King and Queen will pay to have her back and that’s it.

Sally retaliates by saying this.

I liked the idea of this honestly. I mean, with what she’s had to put up with because of her father, seeing her actually, legitimately offer this and mean it would be fun. I know that anyone who actually likes and cares about Sally wouldn’t buy it but hey, I can’t help wanting to restructure things so that I can enjoy myself better.

Also, turns out not restraining her was a bad idea because she attacks Nack and takes his gun.

If I could say anything about the earlier issues it’s that they did a lot to make Nack way more competent than this. Usually, when he lost, it was mostly because of dumb luck. It’s still great just how many times he was able to knock Sonic out cold. Here he’s just been unceremoniously kneed in the groin by his hostage. Now we’ve got an image of Sally sauntering around with a gun in her hand to look and laugh at. 

Sonic and Mina are inside at this point and eventually they hear gunshots from the weasels firing warning shots at her. You know they’re good boys because of that though. If I were them, I’d have at least shot her in the leg. Or, if that had killed her, I’d have lied to the King and Queen about her still being alive and took the money and ran.

Then again, holding the princess of an entire kingdom with its own secret service and military wouldn’t turn out well for me anyway. The only good reason you’d probably have to kidnap someone like this would be if you were Eggman and could get away with it because you had a more fearsome army at your beck and call.

The weasels tell Sally to surrender before they do something stupid, basically setting themselves up for the expected sick burn Sally brings when she says they don’t need her help to do that. 

Sally tries to fire back at them but she’s out of bullets… somehow. I don’t know how. She didn’t fire any bullets. The only way that gun could be out of bullets is if she fired them off-screen or Nack didn’t have any bullets in his gun for some odd reason.

Anyway, the two weasels have their guns trained on Sally at the bottom of one page but on the next, they’re gone because Sonic is here and he used his super ultra mega speed powers to spirit them away.

He then beats the two weasel goons up in a panel that doesn’t show anything except them making a bunch of “I’m in pain” faces.

But they got beaten. Trust us. It happened.

Then a really over-dramatic, unintentionally funny scene happens.

Perhaps I overestimated how much Mina knew already but for some reason I thought she was already aware that Sonic had feelings for Sally. I mean… I’m pretty sure she at least had an inkling that he did. I could maybe understand if she thought there might still have been a chance but seeing the image of them kissing while surrounded by hearts followed by her world literally being shattered kind of says there wasn't one.

It’s definitely telling how little of a chance she had though. When Mina kissed Sonic, Sonic’s reaction was, “Whoa, that was weird. Don’t do that again.” and yet here, Sonic and Sally outright say they love each other and plant a kissy kiss on their mouths. Sally’s reaction to seeing Mina with Sonic the first time had to be fabricated based on a dumbass assumption she made. A “dumbassumption” if you will.

Here though, it’s obvious she’s got no hope of ever being with him.

It’s fine though. Romance is seldom ever a situation where you meet one person and stay with them forever. That’s why dating is a thing. At least, I assume that’s how it works. I’ve never been on a date and don’t ever plan to.

Anyway, she says she’s still gonna be there for Sonic and just as she looks up she sees Nack, standing there with his gun trained on Sally.

WHY is Nack standing right in front of Mina like this? I’ve no clue. I guess it might have been the best angle to get a headshot in on Sally but I have a feeling his dumbass somehow doesn’t know that he stepped right in front of Mina even though I don’t know how it’s possible to miss an entire person in the lit hallway you’re standing in.

Well, either way, his idiocy or negligence (take your pick) doesn’t catch up with him here. Most likely feeling a tad more suicidal then she just did, Mina decides to use her super speed to get in the way of the bullet Nack fires rather than use it to attack Nack himself.

Based on their positions, Nack was closer to Mina then his gun or the bullet but I’ll give the book the benefit of the doubt and say she just noticed him when he was literally about to fire the gun and made a choice to deal with the bullet that rang out instead. 

I love Nack’s little “See ya!” at the end there. Like, he knows they’re not gonna bother chasing after him because he just shot this girl so he ducks out like Zoidberg when he scuttles away.

If she were to actually die here though it would have been incredibly tragic but of course she doesn’t. She wakes up in the hospital and Sonic says what she did was dumb but cool and Mina kind of just takes it. 

I do feel for Mina here, even if this is just a young teenage crush. Loving someone enough to take a bullet for the person they’re ACTUALLY in love with just to make sure they stay happy is an incredibly admirable thing to do. 

Honestly, she probably deserves someone a bit better for her then Archie Sonic, as mean as that sounds.

 

Archie Sonic the Hedgehog - Issue #123: Afterlife - Part 3

Script & Inks: Ken Penders
Pencils: Art Mawhinney
Letterer: Vickie Williams
Colorist: J. Jensen
Editor: Justin Gabrie

Oh Kenny boy. The pipes, the pipes, are calling~!

We’re in a flashback scene with young Sally and our boy Knuckles. They sit and talk about how great their current time together is but we pan out to see Green Apple Knuckles talking with Aurora. He’s still a ghost and is, for some reason, reliving the past with her. 

We get a recount of the moment where Knuckles’ shitty dad abandoned him by walking into a holographic wall of fire. Then we see the moment that took place immediately after where he heard the crocodile he met before and ran out to go do a playful tackle with him in a desperate bid to not be alone and make a new friend.

I’ll admit, this sells me a lot more on his relationship with Vector than the part of the story Vector told. Having that initial spark where Knuckles saw fit to seek out his companionship works a lot better in this context.

He then starts to recount how everything changed when he showed up… or rather THEY. 

Sonic and Tails.

Ever since he met them, constant adventures and weird shit kept befalling Knuckles, sometimes because of him, and sometimes independent of him. It does seem like it was mostly independent of Sonic though as he starts to just recount all the events that happened to him up to this point.

Remember when Archimedes held that stupid test to see if Knuckles knew enough about friendship by pretending to kidnap the Chaotix? 

Remember when Enerjak showed up to hijack that lesson?

Remember when Enerjak got launched into space and was laughing as it happened but the next time we saw him he ends up getting out of that situation through something completely unplanned, thus making it all the more confusing why he found his exile to space so hilarious?

Remember when he met Kragok and the Dark Legion during those extremely painful Knuckles comics that I still haven’t stopped dancing on the grave of?

Remember when he first met Julie-Su in a story that made no sense and is still informing how confusing the existence of her character’s standing in the book is?

Remember when Enerjak tried to reduce Knuckles down to a neuron but was saved at the last minute by Athair and the Ancient Walkers because of magic or whatever?

Pepperidge Farm remembers. 

We end on Knuckles as he starts to recount the time when he learned he wasn’t a normal echidna. It’s a scene where Knuckles’ injuries are literally healing before the very eyes of a person he’s talking to. 

This is already some rank ass Jesus Christ the Savior bullshit and its about to get a megaton worse. I can feel it.

Thanks for the refresher, I guess, but honestly, I think I wouldn’t have minded had we ended after Knuckles finished talking about seeking kinship with Vector after his craptastic dad left him. Technically, nothing has advanced for Knuckles in this story. I’m sure nothing important will happen in this final story that’ll warrant desperately needing more time to dedicate to it than this though.

Surely, nothing monumental is going to just randomly happen next that could have instead served as a means of telling a story-arc in this wide expanse of issues where almost nothing has been happening. 

 

Archie Sonic the Hedgehog - Issue #123: The Last Robian

Story: Karl Bollers
Penciler: Art Mawhinney
Inker: Pam Eklund
Letterer: Vickie Williams
Colorist: J. Jensen
Editor: J.F. Gabrie

So, the formula for this comic as of late has pretty much been to have issues with three stories in them. Two of the stories will be padding or slice-of-life filler while one of them may, or may not, have something huge that just randomly happens at the end of it. 

This feels like a very strange strategy. You usually want to have your big, life-altering story moments to have the room to breathe to focus on rather than be scrunched up in an issue with two other stories that don’t mean anything right? Even if the story has something huge happen at the end, the story that’s told is often one that doesn’t feel important until the important thing happens.

A good example is when Eggman and Snively got their original bodies back. That story began in such an incredibly random way. They got abducted by some aliens who weren’t given a proper introduction or even a name. Yeah, I figured they’d probably show up later but the story doesn’t really properly present them as creatures to watch out for in any sense. They’re treated like some sort of episodic hazard that just floated by the planet. Usually, when you want to introduce a new element or character to a story that you’ve got plans for you want to make a big, strong, impactful showcase of who they are and what they’re about. Even if they're supposed to be mysterious and you're not supposed to know their names or what they're about yet, the impact should at least be there and not feel random as hell.

Sometimes it’s accomplished with as little as showing Dr. Starline at the end of the issue he first appears in with his wicked gauntlet. Other times, you could just dedicate a story to a character and do your very best to make them stand out like with the Skunk brothers, Rough and Tumble. 

This comic knows how to do that too which makes the times when it doesn’t extremely baffling and weird.

This story begins with Sonic staring silently at a picture. Already we’ve got a really nice starting image. 

Instantly, I want to know what’s up and why Sonic the Hedgehog is making such a sad face. It helps that he looks adorable in this image too.

Obviously, it’s an image of his family. The problem, as we find out in the caption box, is that his family is missing. They’re all just gone.

The narration continues and so far it’s doing a really good job of building up the atmosphere. This is very much a well-done start to a story. It’s a nice set-up for a mystery as well as a neat way to establish a sad and foreboding atmosphere.

Yes, Sonic can cry. He’s done it before and he’ll do it again, even in Ian’s run. Just don’t hold your breath for it in the games.

Anyway, after establishing things, this is where the narration should probably start to wrap up so that we can focus on the intrigue of what the plot wants to offer us. 

Truthfully, this should have been the story we started off with in the next issue after this issue finished with it’s three, mostly inconsequential, stories of varying quality. However, wishing to start off here can work if they leave off on a vague enough point that’ll grip you and suck you into the mystery of what happened so that you can be on board for the heart-pounding journey that’s ahead.

All the narration needs to do is stop so that we can get back into the thick of our characters within real time and better take in what they’re thinking and feeling at this moment.

Instead, it keeps going.

It’s at this point where it sinks in that… oh no wait. This is just another story where something just HAPPENS. 

Something monumental and huge that changes the scope of what this comic has been since it’s literal conception is happening RIGHT goddamn now and it’s been shoved to the back corner of an issue of the comic that has had no preamble or proper time dedicated to this specific conflict in a really long ass time.

It’s so rushed that the story isn’t even allowing you to follow the characters AS this monumental event is happening. It’s literally just being told to you like a graphic novelization of someone’s cliff notes.

The emotional catharsis that you’re supposed to be getting from this scene can only be expressed through what little we can gleam on the faces of the characters. The rest is literally being told to you. 

This isn’t some recap of some historical event long in the past. This is supposed to be something that our main characters are currently going through and it’s subject matter is the BIGGEST conflict the comics have had since the beginning and it’s resolution is being told to us entirely through narration.

It’s so quick and disjointed that I thought this scene above me was showing that it was Uncle Chuck and Rotor who were behind the derobotization of everyone, which would have made the “sudden disappearance” angle make no sense. It wasn’t until a page later where Sonic is talking with Eggman where I found out it wasn’t.

Oh, by the way, even though he was supposedly nowhere to be found, Sonic can apparently just contact Eggman by shouting his name out to the sky and he’ll appear on a television screen to answer him.

At least I think that’s what’s going on here. I don’t see Sonic messing with a console nor do I even spot the presence of a keyboard or any buttons. He literally just screamed and Eggman showed up on the TV.

I tried doing that just now and Eggman didn’t show up. Where do I get the special TVs where Eggman shows up when you shout his name?

This is the very first instance of actual conversational dialogue within this story by the way and it’s on the very last page of the book. After this we just cut to a scene where Sonic and his family are all sat together wondering who could have done this and why. Jules, eventually, tells Uncle Chuck to stop working himself to death trying to fix him and focus on celebrating the fact that everyone else is back to normal.

The issue ends with Sonic looking off to the side, swearing he’ll find out why this happened.

The story is definitely not over, of course, but my God, does it do little to help with the intense disappointment concerning how this was handled. I don’t know if the book thinks leaving us wondering HOW this happened is a good enough reason to justify skipping all the parts to this story that would have sold it as something big but it absolutely does not.

This issue started fine enough, despite the ludicrous nature of the weasels. The ending was certainly strong enough to leave me with an overall positive impression. The second story sucked but at least it had one scene in it that I liked, which is more than I can usually say for Penders, despite the story being overall a boring recap of some of the comics' less than stellar moments. However, any good will that could have resulted from it was squeezed dry after that last story. On its own, it probably wouldn’t have been all that bad had the subject matter it was dealing with had not been the biggest situational conflict the comic has had since the very beginning. 

If there’s anything you need to stick the landing on it's a story that finally deals with the Robian conflict and they absolutely did not do that. Given the confusing nature of this comic and the wackass weirdness that was happening behind the scenes, I have no idea who to even blame for this but things have to have hit a really bleak place in order for something like this to happen with no one stepping in and thinking that maybe a do-over was in order. 

I’m struggling for the proper word to call that last story. Embarrassing. Disappointing. Shameful. Weird. Lazy. All of the above? Whether you go with one of those or all of them it’s pretty clear to me that we’ve reached a point where the comic is gasping for air, trapped in a noose that’s hanging from a tree and desperately hoping for someone to cut it down so that it can breathe again before it dies. What are we even doing here?

 

Archie Sonic the Hedgehog - Issue #124: Sonic Adventure 2.5: Alpha

You know, when I saw this cover I didn’t really bat an eye at it. It took me until I saw the opening page of the comic that I realized, “Holy Shit. Shadow the Hedgehog is here.” Yeah, Shadow’s making another appearance. It kind of feels like that should have happened already but I guess I shouldn’t underestimate how old these comics still are. It boggles the mind that Sonic Heroes is like 18 years old now.

Spoiler

Story: Karl Bollers
Pencils: J. Axer (pp. 1–5), Steven Butler (pp. 6–19)
Inks: Conor Tomas (pp. 1–5), Jim Amash (pp. 6–19)
Colors: Jason Jensen
Letterer: Jeff Powell
Editor: J. F. Gabrie

Hopefully this trend of J. Axer and Steven Butler taking up the reigns as far as the art is concerned is going to continue. I’m not sad to see Ron Lim go if he truly is starting to fizzle out. Fingers crossed.

We begin with Super Shadow, floating in space, overlooking two ships in the vicinity. One is coming closer while the other is going away. For some reason this sparks a memory in him about how he’s Shadow the Hedgehog and he recounts the events of Sonic Adventure 2 for us. It’s a necessary evil for those who didn’t play the game or would at least appreciate the narrative support itself with this context for the sake of feeling complete.

I gotta say, Gerald never looked so intense before.

Look at those old man wrinkles. Each one was bio-engineered to make him look scary as fuck.

I do also get a kick out of how Maria getting shot looks like she took a fucking cannon blast to the back.

Shadow then starts to recount what happened after he supposedly died. 

So, saying that Eggman did a little quick contact with one of his robots and had one of them rescue him is an easy enough pill to swallow. It’s obviously a retcon but whatever. What they go with here is a tad harder to swallow if only because you’d have to buy that an entire spaceship full of aliens was just right there the whole time during the Finalhazard event of SA2 and no one mentioned it or spotted it. 

Those aliens that randomly turned Eggman and Snively back into flesh beings after making them fight for no reason also deus ex machina’d their way into this story and abducted Shadow as he was falling to Earth. 

The image of Shadow being floated up to their space ship is funny enough but it’s even funnier imagining it happening right behind Sonic and the others as they mourn Shadow aboard the arc before the credits roll. 

These aliens finally are given a name. They’re called the Bem. 

Shadow says they restored him to full health and that he doesn’t know why, right before explaining to us the reason why.

If Shadow’s hunch is correct, they basically saw what he did, saved him, turned him Super, sicked him on the oncoming ship, and then peaced out. So far, these guys aren’t looking the best in terms of benevolent aliens. I guess I can’t say they seem outright evil either though.

Also, when Shadow’s explaining that he gets saved, the sentence he says is “Saved from Doom” which is a level of irony that I have to just French kiss at.

The next part is even funnier honestly.

He goes to fly at the ship, gets shot immediately, and starts to plummet BACK down to Earth while going “Here I go again.”

Cue the music.

After this, we cut to Sonic and Tails in their home. After Sonic and Tails wake up, Tails, for some reason, starts asking Sonic about going on an adventure like he’s the little yapping dog talking to the big bull dog from that one Looney Tunes short.

It’s very strange. Still, it’s nice seeing that childish side of him come out. 

I would also like to reiterate that he’s in full Modern Tails mode. He transitioned a bit before but they were still going back and forth a bit and even kept his fur mostly brownish. He’s just straight up bright orange now though. He didn’t even need a weird Flash outfit and some cosmic voodoo to get there either.

Anyway, they go down to breakfast but only Tails stays to eat. Sonic’s got something to mack on at a royal date.

Eehhhh…

I’m not going to say that this escalated quickly, because this has been anything but quick, however, I do feel it’s a bit strange that they’re THIS kissy wissy with each other all of a sudden when they were a lot more subdued before. I guess the situation with Mina just really brought the fire out of the both of them. 

Turns out they’re actually about to do something important, which I guess speaks to how good they’re feeling recently. I suppose if I look at it that way, it makes sense. Sonic’s family did just randomly get returned to normal, aside from his dad, so who knows?

The alien ship from earlier hovers over the mountain entrance to Station Square. Inside the city, Eggman is talking with the president over a tablet about proposing their two cities join forces, promising an army of robots in their city.

Oh yeah. I’m sure the locals will sleep soundly at night with those hanging out and about.

Obviously, the President refuses, knowing full well he’s just going to end up inviting this man to invade and take over his precious city if he does.

Eggman doesn’t like being rejected though so he immediately takes control of the President’s car, and tries to swerve it into an oncoming truck… except he doesn’t do that? He makes it swerve again and instead it falls off the bridge and towards the water. I guess Eggman didn’t want to kill too many people all at once…?

Well, either way, The President and his driver are about to die but Rouge swoops in to save him in a scene that’s almost heroic.

The fact that the driver is still in that car kind of makes this feel like only a small relief. Rouge says she’s gonna go save him too but her first priority is the President which… I dunno. I mean, I guess it would be but I feel like she could have grabbed both for some reason. We also never see her actually go back and save him so I guess we're left to assume she had the time.

The next panel was an explosion, which startled me when I saw it. At first I thought the car the driver was inside exploded and I was like “JESUS! Shit just got DARK!” but no, it was actually the sky.

The sky exploded.

The aliens are attacking and they blew open the artificial sky. This isn’t going so well for them, I gotta say. Maybe they should have taken that deal. The great hero Eggman would have saved them for sure before immediately ruining their lives.

So we cut back to Sonic and Sally who are confronting Sally’s parents. When Sally asked Sonic earlier when they were kissing if he was ready to pop the question, I thought that was code for something other than the obvious.

Turns out it was actually the obvious. They’re here to have Sonic be Sally’s consort for marriage when they get older.

The response?

The exact opposite of what it would have been under Ken Pender’s pen.

You know, now that Penders is totally engrossed in his echidna fanfiction I think he may just not give a shit about Max and Sally anymore. That’s good because it means Bollers can write them better but it’s still astonishing just how at odds the writing is here. With Evan Stanley writing for IDW at the moment, it seems obvious that care was put into making sure the characters felt consistent with what Ian was doing but this king is literally a different person when he’s being written by Bollers.

I think it might not be a stretch to say that there’s no creative input to or from one another on this front anymore. I don’t know if it’s because tensions were reaching a fever pitch here or what. It would certainly make me upset if I wanted to write a proper story about the people of Knothole fixing their Robian problem but couldn’t because the previous story was Penders doing a “Greatest Hits” of his echidna bullshit.

Again, this is me just guessing. I could be totally wrong to speculate as such but I don’t feel like I’m hitting too out of the ballpark here.

Anyway, the whole kingdom shakes because something, or someone, crashed nearby.

They head out, and wouldn’t you know it, it’s Shadow.

He made a crater in the Earth ANYWAY it seems.

Also when he wakes up, the first thing he does is deck Sonic in the face.

Oh, I love it so much.

Shadow does apologize and says he thought he was still being attacked but Sonic doesn’t care and wants to beat him up… thankfully, Sally gets in the way. I do appreciate it when she comes in during moments like these.

Their reaction to seeing Shadow alive again is somehow even LESS of one than it was in Sonic Heroes. 

For some reason Shadow’s chest hair is this weird gold color. At first I thought that was the super form still being on him slightly but no. It persists throughout the remainder of the issue and I don’t know why. His color scheme is correct on the front color so I don’t know what the golden fur is for. Nor do I get the red eyelids. Only the tips of his eyes are that color. 

Ignoring that though, I have to wonder… what was the point of saying that the reason Shadow survived was because he got beamed up by the Bem if he was literally just going to plummet to the planet the same exact way he did at the end of SA2? Kind of seems like a bit of a strange move to make, immediately retconning your retconn in the story you introduced it. I guess it was so that the Bem could be given a proper name and more hints as to who they were but couldn’t that have been done in the story where they first showed up?

Of course it could have. It didn’t because this comic is obsessed with just having impactful moments just happen without the proper staging.

Well, anyway, the thing that was supposedly going to kill Shadow just… doesn’t and we move on to Nicole showing us a distress signal from back at the castle.

Wouldn’t you know it? It’s Dr. Eggman, whom, I guess could NOT handle the aliens like I thought he could.

Now this is a BIG deal. 

He looks positively scared as he explains how the aliens came down and demolished all his stuff, with tech on par with his own. Now Snively is missing, Megaopolis is in ruins, and prom is tomorrow. This is quite a risk, telling your worst enemies that all your stuff has been destroyed and that you’re defenseless. He must be really scared.

Also, this is the first time we’ve heard of there being a place called Megaopolis that Eggman was hiding out in and it’s ALREADY in ruins before we even got to properly visit it. 

Eggman’s shit just keeps getting blown up at a faster and faster rate. It’s almost a running joke.

However, what’s happening now isn’t a joke.

For the first time in a long, LONG ass time, something huge and monumental feels like its happening and it’s being given the proper time and attention focused on it to act as a well-handled build up.

We haven’t seen who these aliens are or what they look like up to this point but they’ve made an impact with the wanton destruction and how instant shit just got fucked. With Shadow, Eggman, and now Rouge beaming in to add onto the news of what’s happened, we then shift to a broadcast that goes around the world.

When this happened, it hit me like a brick to the face that something big was going down and when I turned the page I got a nice surprise.

We were being introduced to something I had heard was a thing but have never gotten a chance to actually see what it was about… until now.

Ladies and Gentlemen; the Xorda.

Jesus Christ, look at that.

Those are some visceral and imposing looking squid beings right there. 

I was actually really excited when this reveal happened. The comic, for ONCE, took it’s goddamn time and properly built up to something to sell the pay-off.

However, the Xorda quickly starts to dive into the backstory of why this attack is happening and as I follow along, ANOTHER realization hits me. This one is a far less pleasant one but it hit me like yet another brick to the face. No, several bricks to the face. Soaked in gasoline and lit on fire.

They mention the Gene-Bombs.

Instantly, I’m like “Oh no… I know where this is going…”

The Xorda called the planet Earth.

I KNOW where this is going!

Admittedly, a lot of what follows is doing a good job of sucking me in despite knowing where one particular aspect of this story is going and being strangely hyped to shake my head at it.

For one, the scene where Eggman tries to plead to Max for a partnership is golden.

Max knows that the only reason Eggman wants to cooperate now is because he’s no longer a robot and is scared of the unrelenting embrace of death so he cut off the feed literally just to be a dick to him and let him sweat for now.

Granted, that might not have been the best choice to make given the circumstances but fuck it. It’s still a nice fuck you to the guy. 

He asks Rotor to instead try and get into contact with the Xorda while Sonic makes a hilarious proclamation as though he knows better than an alien that visited the planet long before he was a thought in his parents’ heads.

Oh Sonic. You naive bitch.

Welcome to Urf.

Anyway, Max and the Brotherhood of Echidnas make contact with one another and… I guess they’re meeting for the first time since they greet one another like they are. God, what a bunch of dumb fucks. I guess NOW is as good a time as any to contact the Acorn Kingdom right? Not when Eggman had taken the world over before. Nope, we’ll show up for a chance at that tentacle porn I guess.

Oh, and Sonic asks to see Knuckles and he’s just told by Locke that Knuckles is dead. 

I had to double check and see if that was Locke because even though they say his name, the echidnas there look exactly the same. I confirmed it when I saw the white beard under his muzzle though. It’s literally the only way to tell.

Now, this moment of being informed of Knuckles’ death couldn’t have happened at a worse time for the characters and when turning the page, I was really looking forward to the reaction… however the reaction isn’t there. They made a surprised face but then immediately, Max is just like “There’s no time to grieve over your dead friend” which I understand coming from him because of course he wouldn’t care that much but then Sally is just like “He’s right. Me and Nicole are gonna do some history research so we can prove the Xorda wrong” which feels wrong.

Like, literally, this is the panel where Sally finds out Knuckles is dead.

Then when her father says “Hey, knock that sad shit off!” on the next page, in the very next panel Sally is in she’s like this.

Not only does she look way too composed but she’s posing in a full-body shot with boobs and curves all over the page. Like, she grew seven feet all of a sudden here. It’s really weird.

Also, I don’t know why the priority is to prove the Xorda wrong. One of the brotherhood said that all that mattered was that the Xorda believed what they were saying to be true. I’m not sure why they think an entire race of aliens just wouldn’t have proper knowledge of an event THEY were there for and NONE of the people who are here right now were. 

Maybe the intention behind the research should just be to figure things out rather than specifically to just prove them wrong. Then again, I guess you’re fucked if you can’t prove them wrong so might as well go in with the expectation that history will be on your side, right?

Sonic is still pressing x to doubt though and wondering why it took them three thousand years to figure out the job to wipe out the inhabitants of Earth was botched but then Hope walks out and says, “Well… actually…they may have found out when they came across the ship carrying my people on it.” 

They came across the Xorda and thought they managed to escape but apparently not. They were followed. I guess one of the Xorda saw one of the Overlanders and did a double take out the window with a “Wait… wait, what the FUCK! Aww, HELL NAW!” and swerved to go make sure they went extinct. 

These guys have a really good, collective memory that stretches three thousand years it seems. 

Also, Hope is wondering why Shadow is staring at her. Shadow recounts for us in his head that it’s because she looks like Maria. It’s obvious but its still an important thing to set-up. 

Anyway, Sally walks back in immediately, doing some INCREDIBLY FAST research, and confirms for everyone that the Xorda are right. Mobius used to be Earth.

It seems a bit strange that research that could have been done in the span of a few panels that their planet used to be an entirely different planet wasn’t done before now but okay… 

… I mean what? NONE of them knew this? What kind of research was Nicole doing? Like, was her research just the kind that only Nicole could do? Is Nicole made of magic because she’s from the future? How did no one know about this if the research could be done THAT quickly? 

Well, fuck it, it doesn’t matter. The point is SOMETHING HUGE IS HAPPENING! FINALLY!

 

Archie Sonic the Hedgehog - Issue #124: Afterlife - Part 4

Script & Inks: Ken Penders
Pencils: Art Mawhinney
Letterer: Vickie Williams
Colorist: J. Jensen
Editor: Justin Gabrie

Alright. I don’t want to spend too much time on this bullshit. I’m actually eager to get to the next issue and see what happens with the stuff I care about so I’ll make this quick.

Aurora explains to Knuckles that his father made him a dangerous weapon filled to the brim with fucking dangerous chemicals that shot off unconsciously whenever he was in danger and Dimirti accelerated the process of his body coming into his own power when he captured him that one time.

Knuckles asks, “What now?” and Aurora says that he’s coming into power that rivals the Ancient Walkers but he went supernova so now he’s dead and has to become one with the Chaos Force.

Knuckles, again, complains that he doesn’t have any agency in this situation and asks if he gets a say. Aurora says he doesn’t and he just accepts that like usual.

Fuck me.

Knuckles seems really nonchalant about the fact that he’s fucking dead by the way. I meant to mention this before but good God. He’s been making the same dumb face in each of these stories where he’s just got these big, naïve eyes that say “Man, I don’t even know what’s happening right now” and is just asking a bunch of questions and accepting the answers to them really easily. Even when it seems like he might try to reach and grab for some agency for his character he just doesn’t.

Aurora tells him to walk through the portal to join the Chaos Force and he does but not after making it so that his body turns red again, thank God. He didn’t know he could just turn the green off which… fair enough I guess.

When he leaves, Athair shows up in his Chaos Force form and asks why Aurora just spat a shit load of lies into Knuckles’ face about only having one life. Aurora basically replies with the equivalent of “No you” and then the story ends.

Phew. Done.

Praise be to the Xorda! Thank God, an alien invasion is happening! An honest to goodness alien invasion! I could kiss these disgusting, gross tentacle monsters. It’d been so long since something with this much gravitas had been given time to build itself up. Things didn’t just randomly happen that changed the status quo of the book without any fanfare. I love it when comics make me feel this way. I’m well aware of the status quo changing event that’s going to happen… I just completely forgot about it because it’s one that surprisingly doesn’t get talked about that often. I’ll have to wait and see it in its full context before I make any judgment calls but for now, I’m just excited to see something potentially bonkers.

 

Archie Sonic the Hedgehog - Issue #125: Sonic Adventure 2.5: Omega

It’s Issue 125 and as such we’ve reached another milestone! Hooray! I guess for this they couldn’t just go with the boring magazine covers they’ve been doing, which is fine by me. I’ve seen this cover before and I actually do think it’s a pretty good one. I usually tend to like the covers that draw a ton of characters on it. It really does give you the sense that a lot of stuff has happened leading up to where we are now, even if a lot of it’s been some bullshit. There’s definitely been some good times too. I’ll definitely give the book credit where it's due on that. 

Spoiler

Story: Karl Bollers
Pencils: Dave Manak (page 1-3), Art Mawhinney (pages 4–5, 7-10), Ron Lim (page 11-14), Dawn Best (pages 6, 15, 21-22), Steven Butler (page 16-20), J. Axer (page 23-27)
Inks: Andrew Pepoy (page 1-3), Pam Eklund (pages 5, 8-9), Nelson Ribeiro (pages 4, 10-11), The Rays (page 11-15), Jim Amash (page 16-22), Conor Tomas (page 23-27)
Colors: Jason Jensen
Letterer: Jeff Powell
Editor: J.F. Gabrie

Wow. Look at those credits.

Not only is this a milestone issue but it’s being treated like one too.

This story is the only story in the book and it’s being shared between the most relevant artists that the book has had during this era of Sonic comics. Also, not a hint of Ken Penders anywhere to be seen. This truly is a magnificent celebration.

For however silly the things ahead may be, I gotta admit I’m getting really excited. 

I guess no matter how ridiculous, badly written, or different it is, Sonic content is still Sonic content and it’s always going to have the chance to make me excited.

Chapter 1 is being drawn by Dave Manak. His style is the one I’m least familiar with as of recent but it’s not too bad. I believe he did mostly a lot of the earlier issues. We begin on Sonic reacting to the bombshell Sally just dropped on them all about the fact that Mobius used to be this shitty little planet called Urf.

Sally says that the reasoning is that the days the Xorda gave them correspond to the Days of Fury that happened at around that time and that somehow means there’s a 99% chance of Mobius being Earth.

You pulled that number out of your ass. It’d be like if you said “This anti-alien spray bottle kills 99.9% of Xorda” or something like an infomercial.

So anyway, I guess during this time Rotor just happened to invent a thing that’ll allow them to communicate with the Xorda. Or maybe he just modified a helmet he already had. Whatever. The point is that it looks like the Mega Man helmet. He put the Mega Man helmet in the comic long before the Archie crossover folks. It’s happening.

They were gonna have King Max go and plead with the aliens to spare them but Sally thrusts the helmet onto her head instead. It honestly looks pretty silly.

She looks like she’d speak with her nose all nazzley.

Anyway, Sally attempts to explain to them that the Gene Bombs they launched onto the planet (such a strange, specific kind of bomb to use but sure) instead of wiping all the humans out, mostly gave rise to lower life forms. She calls her and her ilk Mobosapiens which ALMOST made me do the Picard face-palm. Almost. 

It’s one of those things you read and you stop and wonder if maybe Sonic MIGHT be a bit stupid sometimes.

Anyway, her point is that the animal people are the dominant species now. I’m not really sure when that became the case. I guess right the fuck now it did. I assume she means “dominant” as in “abundance” and not necessarily that the Mobians rule over the Overlanders because that wouldn’t be accurate to what the book has been saying all this time. It’s definitely been more like a clash of species for the right to claim dominance if anything.

The Xorda, regardless, say to Sally “No, fuck you. You’ve still got human DNA in you, therefore you die. Bye bitch.” and cut her off. Sally reports that they won’t listen back to the others.

You know, I gotta say, Sally’s appeal probably shouldn’t be taken all that seriously from an ethical standpoint. I mean, when you really think about it, the Mobians haven’t been acting all that different from the Overlanders in terms of how they responded to the chance to go to war… but then again, for some reason, this book spent a shit ton of time trying to make it sink in that the Overlanders were just power-hungry, war-hungry mongrels that didn’t even want oil, food, or even religious persecution. They just killed because they liked it for the most part.

Locke is trying to speak to everyone but the call is being interfered with due to Eggman trying to contact Max.

I gotta say, I really love stuff like this. 

You can feel the desperation oozing off the page as the entire world is being spun into a panic. The fact that the echidnas are actually trying to properly communicate with the kingdom is one thing but then you have Eggman doing his best to stay within the fold as well. There’s nothing that gets the heart pumping more than the alliance of convenience. 

Yes, I know, Eggman is often put into situations where it’s necessary for him but I can’t help but be excited almost every time it happens. It does go a long way towards helping me feel like something monumental is happening that could decide whether they’re all even around the next day.

Chapter 1 ends and Chapter 2 begins with Art Mawhinney’s style taking over. Here, we begin with Eggman making a promising declaration.

Alright, so, already this is a little dumb. I don’t mean the part where Eggman calls Max his “best pal”. That’s actually funny. No, I mean the part where Eggman makes a giant robot that he doesn’t have the means to properly power without Sonic. I’m guessing the reason is because Megapolis was mostly destroyed so he doesn’t have access to a proper power source at the moment. Either that or it's a trick.

Even if I grant him that, how did he find time to make this robot? Did he JUST make it right this instant? Or was this robot somehow the one thing that was left untouched? 

Also, it does seem pretty sus to just contact your former enemies and be like, “Hey, buddy why don’t you voluntarily step inside this DANGEROUS fucking robot I created eh?”

Still, Eggman is being serious. He even laments the fact that his greatest creation has to be used by his greatest enemy. Sonic is about to go up and do it but then Max stops him and says Sonic’s services aren’t for free and that Eggman needs to pay a price.

He uh… haggles with Eggman in a very strange… way...

… Is… Is this how furry politics work? 

I mean, what?

“You own the whole planet. Gimmie half.”
“Okay, fine.”

WHAT?!

Haha~! Seriously?

Eggman, you’re a bit of a shit haggler. You could have easily pointed out that they’re sunk without you too. I guess this is me assuming he even plans to keep his end of the bargain though. In that case, it's Max who's super bad at this. Everyone's reacting like what Max did was super cool but I don't see why. I’m not sure why any of them would expect that he would really acquiesce to that ridiculous proposal once this blows over.

I also find it hard to believe that Eggman currently owns 99.9% of the entire planet. That just doesn’t track with me. He really shouldn’t have a problem wiping Knothole off the map overnight if he owns that much of the world. I’d buy it if he didn’t know the location but he does so… 

Also, did none of Eggman’s assets get taken from him during the time he was absent? What about when Robotropolis blew up? Did no one just go around dismantling all his shit? Come on guys, step your game up. 

We cut to a realm outside of Space-time, aka, a place that’s hard as balls to describe, aka, the only place Knuckles the Echidna would be due to Penders’ nonsense.

There we see Aurora wondering what the hell is happening right before Knuckles pops back in front of her.

Yeah, remember that ending where Knuckles went into the Chaos Force to become one with it? Well, he’s back. He just popped out of it.

Dawn Best is put to drawing this single page with Knuckles and Aurora before the comic cuts back to Art Mawhinney drawing everyone over in Knothole. I’m not entirely sure why you wouldn’t just stick to one artist per chapter like I originally thought but I guess some concessions were made.

Either way, this all-powerful being stammers in the face of Knuckles’ question because, like all echidna shaped beings, she can’t just tell Knuckles the goddamn truth.

Back in Knothole, Sally is giving everyone a speech that basically amounts to “Don’t worry, Sonic will handle it…” and goes with Sonic towards Eggman’s base. In this scene you can see Shadow sitting on a tree branch, just overlooking the situation. 

I guess he’s just here to stay now. 

God, it’s so weird. This comic came out in July of 2003. Sonic Heroes didn’t come out in Japan until December of the same year and January 6 of 2004 for North America. The comic basically did the whole “Shadow wasn’t actually dead” thing before the games did. Either that or it had access to early info. What a trip.

It’s even stranger that they’re launching into a plot that basically has fuck all to do with him too. He’s just hanging out. 

Locke and Max, the shitty dad duo, have a conversation over the TV screen about how desperation is bringing people together. Locke is surprised to hear that Eggman took the deal but notions that the dingos are helping them now because of this too so I guess anything is possible.

The dingos aren’t a one-to-one comparison of course. They literally live with you.

Also, they’re fucking stupid if they seriously believe Eggman’s gonna stick to this absurd deal. 

“I’ll help you help us all not die if you give me half the world.”
“Deal.”

Fuck off Max. You idiot.

Sonic and Sally arrive and go into the giant robot Eggman made and strap in to control it. The Xorda see this and attempt to stop it but get nowhere fast when a single punch from this robot wrecks their entire shit.

I’m going to assume that isn’t it for the Xorda because if it is, I’m going to have to take back all the praise I laid onto the comic for all this really well done build up. 

After this, we jump into Chapter 4 where Ron Lim takes up the art.

So, of course, when the Xorda are trying to temporarily retreat, Eggman jumps the gun and assumes that his robot punching their ship once means they’ve won and it’s cool to betray them now. He latches shackles onto Sonic’s feet and claims that he’s gonna be his battery for life now.

I like the idea of Eggman betraying them and making shit worse, however, I do feel like it happening after the robot just gave the ship a single solitary punch is kind of silly. It’s like Eggman couldn’t keep his betrayal boner in check for just a few more seconds before waiting to see if the Xorda would counterattack.

Which they do. Immediately.

YES! Now this is what I’m talking about. A star system destroying doomsday weapon being launched at the planet with various shots of the faces of the planet's current inhabitants being used to sell us on what’s at stake. Ah, the blood is flowing now. 

Eggman says this is poppycock. He’s just gonna use his Giga to go and demolish the large device before that happens and proceeds to have Sonic start to move them there. Sonic is shocked that he’s moving on his own and Eggman says “You bet your blue butt-cheeks they are” to which I chuckle and then wince at the idea of having just imagined Sonic with butt cheeks.

Anyway, we’re shown Antoine leading a bunch of troops out to try and stop this menace from happening as well as a shot of Tails flying the tornado out there along with the other Freedom Fighters on order of the king.

We cut back to the Knuckles part of the story that's being exclusively drawn by Dawn Best. I don’t quite get the point of segregating the Knuckles stuff from the rest of it by this one artist since the rest of the book is shifting artists by chapter. It’s not like the Knuckles stuff, in this case, isn’t part of the same story.

Either way, it boils down to Knuckles saying Aurora is full of crap for saying that he’s dead and has to bond with the Chaos Force. Some people do get a second chance at life and it’s only if they’re worthy which… sucks as an idea, I won’t lie. I kind of wish that if you were dead, you were dead. Otherwise, I’m going to have to assume that if Sonic or Tails were to die, they could come back too.

Surely, Penders wouldn’t be so up his own ass as to suggest that Knuckles is worthy of a second life but Sonic and Tails weren’t. He wouldn’t be that conceited with the echidna shit right…?

… Right?

*Crickets*

Oh dear…

Athair shows up and says that Knuckles is plenty worthy which is good enough for Knuckles. He demands to be given the know-how on how to return to his friends and family.

I do love that this bitch is unable to understand why Knuckles would give up a chance to become “cloaked within the very fabric of eternity” and “to unlock the secrets of the universe” for the sake of saving everyone and everything he knows within life. Despite Athair’s final line about how young Knuckles is, it shouldn’t matter. If being worthy means abandoning all the people you loved to a gruesome death then there’s something seriously fucked about your system lady.

The image of her cloaked in shadow as she says “Your friends will eventually die no matter what you do” kind of goes to sell just how wrong her line of thinking is. If any being, godly or otherwise, told me to forsake my family and friends because I’d be missing the chance to unlock the secrets of something I didn’t even ask for in the first place I’d tell them to fuck off too. Yeah, it’d be nice to know the secrets of the universe but fuck it; it ain’t worth letting the planet die over.

I do also appreciate how Knuckles has been taking all this in stride now. Honestly, the way he’s been treating his own death has been a little strange. He never seemed as though he cared all that much. It’s almost as if the soul crushing weight of his life made him comfortable with his death, which is haunting to think about… but I love even more that he doesn’t really give a shit about all this nonsense Aurora’s blabbing on about and literally just used the brief time he was bonded with the Chaos Force to confirm that he could get a second chance at life so he could go back.

Knuckles never talks about this experience in any of the stories I’ve read so I like to think dying left a very small impression on him.

We’ve reached part 5, this one drawn by Steven Butler, and the doomsday device is doing it’s duty by proving to us all just how fucking scary it is.

Maybe that only works on technology but seriously imagine that working on a Mobian or an Overlander. YEESH.

Commander Brass is overlooking this scene with Tails as all the characters from the book, the world over, heroes and villains, converge on this single point like it’s the ending of Pokemon the Movie 2000.

The best part, though, is seeing Tails lead the charge with Sonic’s line.

AHHHH! IT’S SO COOL! 

AVENGERS...! ... Assemble!

It’d be even better if Shadow’s chest hair was the RIGHT COLOR! Seriously! Why is Jason Jenson coloring it gold? It’s distracting.

We get a nice bombardment of action shots here as they try to approach. A defense grid for the doomsday weapon is activated and starts firing on everyone. We even get a shot of Tails protecting Fiona in one panel, which might be their first actual interaction in the book now that I’m thinking about it.

The Giga flies in at this very moment and does the thing I realized it was going to do when they said that technology dismantles itself when it approaches the device.

The Giga falls the fuck apart the instant it’s in range, with both Sonic and Sally inside… but all that does is cause them to land safely on the snow, so… I guess it just fixed a problem rather then create a new one.

Sally has Nicole connect back to Rotor in Knothole and he says the doomsday weapon can’t be shut off when it starts but if they create a force to reverse it’s gears they could destroy it. Sounds simple enough I guess. Sonic volunteers to create that force but Nicole advises against it because it would implode and take out anyone near it, which, in this case, would be Sonic.

Sonic still wants to do it if it means saving everyone but just then, Nicole warns them that a Quantum Wave burst that’ll incinerate everything within a hundred miles is about to go off in 3.5 seconds…

...Well… thanks for the imminent warning I guess. 

It’ll never not be funny when fictional stories have systems that warn you of something highly destructive that’s seconds away from happening.

The artstyle switches to Dawn Best again at this point and I was momentarily confused as to why since Knuckles wasn’t here… but then the Quantum Wave energy was stopped and I find out on the next page that the one who stopped it was in fact, Knuckles!

He shows up right in front of Julie-Su and they embrace… but then Knuckles trips and falls on his face. His powers are gone. Thank God. Although, Knuckles is a little broken up about it since he can’t go god mode on the doomsday device like he wants to anymore. He also falls right by Rouge’s feet, which prompts her to say “Hey handsome, you okay?” which is kind of funny.

The SA2 arc couldn’t have happened the same way it did in the game, even if the comic says to go play the game for the details on how it happened, so I have to assume this is their first meeting.

Anyway, Knuckles leaves it up to Sonic now that he’s saved everyone from being instantly obliterated.

It’s here where we enter the final chapter of this story, drawn by J. Axer, who is, to me at least, the best artist currently working on the book. He really sells the devastating atmosphere here at the start of his section in just a single page. 

It’s a good sign when I’m feeling those Adventure story resolution jitters. The ones that show up when you’re watching something like Avengers Endgame or the end of pretty much any arc in One Piece. 

The strange dialogue of Sally calling Sonic “Sweetie” and Sonic calling Sally “Darlin” aside, this is a pretty well-done scene. I’d imagine it made the hearts of the people who like this pairing soar when they saw it. I, at the very least, can appreciate what it’s doing a lot.

For as down on this book as I can get, it does occasionally know how to knock it out of the park and despite some minor hiccups, this has been the best issue of the comic in quite a long, long ass time. I’d be bouncing off the walls in excitement were I reading this as a kid. 

If only they had been given a little bit more room to let this play out.

It took me until just this moment to realize that when Knuckles dramatically said “And Goodbye” at the end of his part, it was because Sonic was about to die and not him. I thought it was weird but I assumed Knuckles was just being dramatic about his own self because I didn’t think he heard the stuff about Sonic needing to reverse the gears to set off the explosion. I guess he somehow knew about that though.

As for this scene, it’s good on its own but it could have been way better. Here in the final part, everything comes to a head in a really fast way. The narration takes over when it really doesn’t have to. It would have been so much more effective had I watched Sonic rush up to the thing and set off the explosion without those narration boxes hovering all around his various, determined facial expressions. 

Then the smash cut to this statue would have been even more impactful. Just imagine this shot with no words being spoken. It speaks for itself, loud and clear.

The last page of this story is of everyone gathering around Sonic’s casket… and Eggman laughing like a maniac in the bottom panel, which got a laugh out of me, I’ll be honest.

But don't worry guys. Eggman's totally gonna give you half the planet.

Again, this would have been way more effective with the narration boxes gone. I just want to look at the image and feel the mourning and the silence followed by the uproarious laughter of the insane maniac who got his wish to close us off.

How weird must Shadow be feeling right now though? He was the one who was supposed to die and yet he comes back just fine while Sonic goes to immediately kill himself off? No wonder this is called Sonic Adventure 2.5.

Alright, so what’s the rub? Sonic’s obviously not dead so where the hell is he?

Well folks. It’s time.

After years and years and years of it being talked about, I’ve finally reached it. 

That’s right. I’m finally about to learn all there is to know about Sonic’s adventure in space.

Whoo’ boy.

The end of the issue has a nice little message from Yuji Naka about the state of the series and how things are moving along. He talks about a new McDonalds Promotion and how a new series “Sonic X” just debuted in Japan. 

Goodness. We’re catching up to the present now. We’re starting to reach the point in my life where my interest in Sonic begins to skyrocket and I become the indoctrinated little fool I am today.

Fantastic.

This was a wonderful issue. It was exciting. It was fun. It REALLY did a good goddamn job of getting the blood pumping. I loved the alliances that happened. Despite my criticism, I love Eggman being a douche. I loved all the battle and devastation and the sacrifice. It wasn’t perfect. There are things to critique, sure, but fuck it man. This is just peak Sonic the Hedgehog right here. Action, adventure, drama, suspense; all the shit a good Sonic story should have. Yeah, this book can definitely pull it off when it fucking tries (and when Penders isn’t given a single solitary credit) and it shows. I’m… SO happy.

What a great milestone issue.

[Sonictrainer]

Does anyone feel like the last couple pages of #125 are out of order?

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Huh...I’m actually surprised you liked issue 125.

I had a very strong hunch you were gonna hate it.  

It’s a guilty pleasure of mine, but I’m not gonna pretend it wasn’t weird. Then again, it’s not the first to pull weird things given AoSTH did even more bizarre stories.

[Dr. Detective]

3 hours ago, Sonictrainer said:

Does anyone feel like the last couple pages of #125 are out of order?

A little bit, yeah. The shot of Sally at home followed by them back at the snowy grounds followed by them around Sonic's casket was weird. 

1 hour ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

Huh...I’m actually surprised you liked issue 125.

I had a very strong hunch you were gonna hate it.  

It’s a guilty pleasure of mine, but I’m not gonna pretend it wasn’t weird. Then again, it’s not the first to pull weird things given AoSTH did even more bizarre stories.

I'm a sucker for these kinds of stories. It's a monumentally huge reason why I love this series in the first place. Crazy, weird nonsense is something I'm more than willing to embrace should it make sense within context. You know, I'm cool with the Ancient Babylonians being magic carpet riding genies from space or whatever. I eat weirdness like that for breakfast. Sonic just does it in a way that's so wonderfully attractive and really awesome. When the comic hits that equilibrium, it's gonna hook me. 

[VO.SUPER]

As a kid I heard about people hating 125, but honestly reading it now it seems fine to me. A bit batshit crazy, but definitely the good kind of crazy. 

Its not all that different from gigantic water monsters, or giant space lizards. 

Of course, being that this is the current state of the comic you have all the normal character quirks in the way at points. 

[SBR2]

Spoiler

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

I'm like 99% certain that Sally render is used for a Data File in a couple issues.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

Oh, man I loved these stages in Mario World.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

I liked the idea of this honestly. I mean, with what she’s had to put up with because of her father, seeing her actually, legitimately offer this and mean it would be fun. I know that anyone who actually likes and cares about Sally wouldn’t buy it but hey, I can’t help wanting to restructure things so that I can enjoy myself better.

Also, turns out not restraining her was a bad idea because she attacks Nack and takes his gun.

Ironically stuff like this is why people like Sally. She's a tactical thinker and played  Nack. It's pretty rad.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Sally tries to fire back at them but she’s out of bullets… somehow. I don’t know how. She didn’t fire any bullets.

Nack was bluffing. ...That's not the actual explanation it's just what I think makes the most sense.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

Sonic going all Han Solo to Sally's declaration of love is pretty spot on characterization for a version of Sonic more interested in romance TBH. Also I...guess this is officially the start of Sonic and Sally being a couple? Even though they've definitely kissed and been all huggy on each other before now but whatever.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Oh Kenny boy. The pipes, the pipes, are calling~!

Just 36 more issues until you never have to see his name in the credits ever again. Well barring inks and letter for one backup.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

He’s still a ghost and is, for some reason, reliving the past with her. 

Because Penders can't stop recapping shit! Again I say nobody actually remembers his stories he just beat the details into your head so much it's almost impossible to forget. At the end there is only Echidnas.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Sonic and Tails.

Ever since he met them, constant adventures and weird shit kept befalling Knuckles, sometimes because of him, and sometimes independent of him. It does seem like it was mostly independent of Sonic though as he starts to just recount all the events that happened to him up to this point.

Remember when Archimedes held that stupid test to see if Knuckles knew enough about friendship by pretending to kidnap the Chaotix? 

Remember when Enerjak showed up to hijack that lesson?

Remember when Enerjak got launched into space and was laughing as it happened but the next time we saw him he ends up getting out of that situation through something completely unplanned, thus making it all the more confusing why he found his exile to space so hilarious?

Remember when he met Kragok and the Dark Legion during those extremely painful Knuckles comics that I still haven’t stopped dancing on the grave of?

Remember when he first met Julie-Su in a story that made no sense and is still informing how confusing the existence of her character’s standing in the book is?

Remember when Enerjak tried to reduce Knuckles down to a neuron but was saved at the last minute by Athair and the Ancient Walkers because of magic or whatever?

"WHAT ELSE DO I HAVTA SAY!? You'll never stop the Echidnas. Never fear we have stories for years like Maybe Locke becomes a Robot? Maybe Harry gets a cell phone? Has Knuckles ever owned a bear? Or how bought a crazy wedding? Where something happens and doo dee do do. Sorry for the Clip Show. have no fears we got stories for years."

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Obviously, it’s an image of his family. The problem, as we find out in the caption box, is that his family is missing. They’re all just gone.

The narration continues and so far it’s doing a really good job of building up the atmosphere. This is very much a well-done start to a story. It’s a nice set-up for a mystery as well as a neat way to establish a sad and foreboding atmosphere.

This story is often written off as the "One day everyone stopped being a Robot. Except Jules." one (Side note I wish the one page version of this someone made because it is very funny) but I do think the focus on narration boxes and little dialogue does help the mood it's going for.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Yes, Sonic can cry. He’s done it before and he’ll do it again, even in Ian’s run. Just don’t hold your breath for it in the games.

I really think people overblow that guideline. He cries (hell from what I hear he bawls his eyes out all the fucking time in the novelization of the movie) it's just that he prefers to work past tears.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

I’m not sad to see Ron Lim go if he truly is starting to fizzle out.

I'm going to have to be a downer here and say that Ron Lim won't leave until #159. So there's still going to be bits and pieces of him.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

"Nearly a Century ago." I mean it's accurate but what a weird way to say 50 years ago.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

See this is what I mean. I like Axer's pencils but I swear he can be a bit...much.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Anyway, they go down to breakfast but only Tails stays to eat. Sonic’s got something to mack on at a royal date.

Eehhhh…

I’m not going to say that this escalated quickly, because this has been anything but quick, however, I do feel it’s a bit strange that they’re THIS kissy wissy with each other all of a sudden when they were a lot more subdued before. I guess the situation with Mina just really brought the fire out of the both of them. 

I mean who doesn't get turned on by their friends almost dying? In all seriousness though like I said earlier I think the idea is supposed to be that after years of poking at the idea they're officially a couple now so that's why they're cramming their tongues down each other's throats so much. Also considering they're planning on getting married I'd honestly hope there was a bit of a time jump because that is crazy fast moving.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

*Insert John Williams Superman Theme here*

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

The response?

The exact opposite of what it would have been under Ken Pender’s pen.

HAHAHAHA Remember this around #155.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

For some reason Shadow’s chest hair is this weird gold color. At first I thought that was the super form still being on him slightly but no. It persists throughout the remainder of the issue and I don’t know why. His color scheme is correct on the front color so I don’t know what the golden fur is for. Nor do I get the red eyelids. Only the tips of his eyes are that color. 

Yeah the problem with Jason Jensen is he's a good colorist but this was so obviously a gig and little more to him.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Also, this is the first time we’ve heard of there being a place called Megaopolis that Eggman was hiding out in and it’s ALREADY in ruins before we even got to properly visit it. 

It's where he was hiding in the Rouge and Bunnie cat fight issue. It used to be New York and was the home of the Overlanders.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

WE ARE THE DALEKS! YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED! EX-TERM-I-NATE!

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

However, the Xorda quickly starts to dive into the backstory of why this attack is happening and as I follow along, ANOTHER realization hits me. This one is a far less pleasant one but it hit me like yet another brick to the face. No, several bricks to the face. Soaked in gasoline and lit on fire.

They mention the Gene-Bombs.

Instantly, I’m like “Oh no… I know where this is going…”

The Xorda called the planet Earth.

I KNOW where this is going!

Yup. We're fullblown Planet of the Apes here. Funnily enough despite having Knuckles reading 2001 Penders hated the idea that Mobius is a Post-Apocalyptic Earth. Personally I kinda agree with him that it's a direction that didn't need to be done but I'm also numb to it after years of having to accept it.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Also, Hope is wondering why Shadow is staring at her. Shadow recounts for us in his head that it’s because she looks like Maria. It’s obvious but its still an important thing to set-up. 

I do actually like that they realized this amazing coincidence and actually decided to do something with it.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Knuckles asks, “What now?” and Aurora says that he’s coming into power that rivals the Ancient Walkers but he went supernova so now he’s dead and has to become one with the Chaos Force

Knuckles was a God but used his powers too hard and died. Seems legit.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Pencils: Dave Manak (page 1-3), Art Mawhinney (pages 4–5, 7-10), Ron Lim (page 11-14), Dawn Best (pages 6, 15, 21-22), Steven Butler (page 16-20), J. Axer (page 23-27)
Inks: Andrew Pepoy (page 1-3), Pam Eklund (pages 5, 8-9), Nelson Ribeiro (pages 4, 10-11), The Rays (page 11-15), Jim Amash (page 16-22), Conor Tomas (page 23-27)

Some people tend to not like there being so many artists but personally I love these Jam Session style comics. It's a good celebration of all the talent involved.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

The point is that it looks like the Mega Man helmet. He put the Mega Man helmet in the comic long before the Archie crossover folks. It’s happening.

They were gonna have King Max go and plead with the aliens to spare them but Sally thrusts the helmet onto her head instead. It honestly looks pretty silly.

Looks more like Cerebro from X-Men to me. Which also kinda makes sense considering they are trying to make telepathic contact.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

I love how Eggman just keeps pulling out fucking Gundams.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

… Is… Is this how furry politics work? 

I mean, what?

“You own the whole planet. Gimmie half.”
“Okay, fine.”

WHAT?!

Haha~! Seriously?

Eggman, you’re a bit of a shit haggler. You could have easily pointed out that they’re sunk without you too. I guess this is me assuming he even plans to keep his end of the bargain though. In that case, it's Max who's super bad at this. Everyone's reacting like what Max did was super cool but I don't see why. I’m not sure why any of them would expect that he would really acquiesce to that ridiculous proposal once this blows over.

I...disagree. This actually might be the smartest thing Max ever did. Eggman is sorta at the end of his rope now so taking advantage to even try to get a fraction of what he controls back is a really good move.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Dawn Best is put to drawing this single page with Knuckles and Aurora before the comic cuts back to Art Mawhinney drawing everyone over in Knothole. I’m not entirely sure why you wouldn’t just stick to one artist per chapter like I originally thought but I guess some concessions were made.

My best guess is they wanted her doing all the Echidna stuff since she was becoming so associated with it.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

“You bet your blue butt-cheeks they are” to which I chuckle and then wince at the idea of having just imagined Sonic with butt cheeks.

That is Mobius's Ass.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

AHHHH! IT’S SO COOL! 

Amy has a hammer...Not the right color or shape but...they're getting there.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

He shows up right in front of Julie-Su and they embrace… but then Knuckles trips and falls on his face. His powers are gone. Thank God. Although, Knuckles is a little broken up about it since he can’t go god mode on the doomsday device like he wants to anymore. He also falls right by Rouge’s feet, which prompts her to say “Hey handsome, you okay?” which is kind of funny.

The SA2 arc couldn’t have happened the same way it did in the game, even if the comic says to go play the game for the details on how it happened, so I have to assume this is their first meeting.

Couple things. 1. This isn't just his God powers but his Strength and gliding too. 2 Yes this is canonically the first time they met. I guess Rouge just really wants that Echidna D.

 

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

I don't know if it's an intentional nod or not but Sonic's headstone is similar to Buffy's in Buffy The Vampire Slayer. At the end of Season 5 Buffy dies (She gets better) and the last shot is her headstone which reads "Here Lies Buffy Summers. She saved the world. A Lot"

 

22 hours ago, Sonictrainer said:

Does anyone feel like the last couple pages of #125 are out of order?

 

19 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

A little bit, yeah. The shot of Sally at home followed by them back at the snowy grounds followed by them around Sonic's casket was weird

IIRC they actually were. I think there was a printing error and all the Sonic's funeral pages got flipped around.

 

[VO.SUPER]

So learning from "Thanks Ken Penders" he won't be around until the future story starts.

 

Apparently the bosses wanted Knuckles depowered and he didn't. So he threw a hissy fit and only came back when he was allowed to write M25YL.

[SBR2]

40 minutes ago, VisionaryofSUPER said:

So learning from "Thanks Ken Penders" he won't be around until the future story starts.

 

Apparently the bosses wanted Knuckles depowered and he didn't. So he threw a hissy fit and only came back when he was allowed to write M25YL.

Which isn't really that far down the line. Like 5 issues from now.

That would also explain why he allowed, barely, Bollers to use his characters and do like the only good arc about the Echidna's pre-Flynn. Also explains why when he becomes head writer again he barely uses Knuckles but made a point of undoing Bollers interesting ideas for the Echidna's.