YAY! My subscription issue finally resolved, I got #162 in the mail today!
<Here starts the spoilers. Don't say you weren't warned.>
Starts off with a monologue from Anonymous... Glad THAT's finally being dealt with. Sonic gets re-knighted, King Elias begins to rebuild the Court of Acorn.
Merlin Prower and a big horsey show up at Tails' workshop where he is diligently helping fight Eggman by repairing a Sega Master System. Keep up the good work, soldier!
Merlin brings Mammoth M in his emerald prison and asks to see the king.
Jump to Eggman and the Egg Grapes. Eggman conviniently reveals that he intends to use the soulless bodies of the Egg Grape victims to store and purify energy from the Zone of Silence... I thought that place was basically destroyed... and where would such energy come from, anyway? That place was just a bunch of rocks and empty space, last I checked. Huh. Oh, well.
ADAM and Eggman recap on Anonymous for anyone who didn't read #135, so you won't feel TOO lost. Aaaaand Arachnis' kids show up! YES! Spiderninjas!
Cut to Athair, Aurora and the Ancient Walkers. (Sounds like a bad name for a band...
) We are told once again that they are dying.
Aaaaaaaaand back to Merlin, Tails and the horsey, who introduces himself as Sir Connery. Can't help thinking he was in a flashback long ago. Anyone remember? I don't. Suddenly, the Destructix show up! TAAAADAAA! It's basically the Fearsome Foursome plus Drago and Sleuth Dog. Fighting ensues (Including Knuckles, thank GOD he's actually getting to DO something...) and the Destructix get the crud kicked out of them. So much for a "Destructive new force", LOL.
Merlin and Connery (and the Freedom Fighers) get to Elias. Connery explains (actually, Elias explains- the stem of the word bubble was misplaced) a little bit of Connery's history that isn't really that important yet. Ancient Walkers gave him a sword. That's about it. Merlin tells how the Ancient Walkers cursed Mammoth long ago which eventually led to his downfall to Tails, but not before MM brutally wounded the Walkers. So THAT's why they're dying.
The Source of All is apparently key to saving the walkers, so Elias gives Merlin the crown and Sally tells how the spiderninja kids have the sword in "safe...keeping..." Yeeeeeeeeeeeeah.
Just at that moment, the spider kids attack Eggman and the Egg Grapes. The Egg Grapes unexpectedly activate, and Eggman tries to make a getaway. Desparate (and apparently through some manipulation by Anonymous) the Spiderkids use the Sword of Acorns, which reacts with the Egg Grapes and the breach they're creating with the Zone of Silence. We don't really know if it helped them at all, but they did manage to destroy the Ancient Walkers. Yeah. Good going, kids.
With the Walkers gone, the curse on Mogul was lifted, and he busts out of the emerald right into Elias' throne room.
TO BE CONTINUED!
There's a Snively backstory too, but I'm too tired to review that right now. Someone else's turn, LOL.
Nice pencils by FRY... Some spots were better than others, but overall good.
Ian's writing is incredible. I can't wait until next issue, when Ixis joins the scene.
That's it from me. Too tired to write more. Good issue.
wow. the destructix sound incredibly dissapointing.
i'm really hoping doc finitevus is anonymous, if he wasn't then i don't know what i'll do.
overall this issue sounds better than some of the crap we've gotten, but that doesn't say alot. maybe i'll just have to read it for myself.
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the horsey ... introduces himself as Sir Connery
He's The Man Now, Dog
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Aaaaaaaaand back to Merlin, Tails and the horsey, who introduces himself as Sir Connery. Can't help thinking he was in a flashback long ago. Anyone remember? I don't.
Knuckles back up story from way back when. It was part of that prophecy that lead to him being enslaved by that bunny witch and cat sorceror.
Sir Connery.... holy crap. That was from way back in issue 45! For those who can remember correctly, the Zone of Silnce was sealed by Nate and then again by Sonic in "Naugus Games." A source of energy in the Zone of Silence eh? Well gee whiz, can anyone else think of something that doesn't sound like Naugus? Of course, there's always that giant skunk he met in there with fire coming out of his eyes.... Wasn't his name Feist or something like that? Regardless, this still begs the all important question of who could Anonymous be that he knows all this stuff and has so much power?!
Ah! I remember that now. I seriously need to go back and look at some of the older issues... I hid them away somewhere when my collection got too big for it's box. 
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Desparate (and apparently through some manipulation by Anonymous) the Spiderkids use the Sword of Acorns, which reacts with the Egg Grapes and the breach they're creating with the Zone of Silence. We don't really know if it helped them at all, but they did manage to destroy the Ancient Walkers. Yeah. Good going, kids.
Wait I am confused, how can the sword, the Egg Grapes and the breach from the Zone of Silence kill the Ancient Walkers? Were they near the area or were they in their zone?
i was curious about that too.
That'll be cleared up/stated plainly next issue. Promise!
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I thought that place was basically destroyed... and where would such energy come from, anyway? That place was just a bunch of rocks and empty space, last I checked. Huh. Oh, well.
Perhaps the monsters living there, like the the gargoyles we saw during issue #36, maybe even Toady. 
Don't forget the Original Freedom Fighters are there too, but I doubt they'll have anything to do with this story.
Although Naugus is the likely canidate.
Yeah... I looked back to those issues, specifically the issue right before the Death Egg Saga when the king was recovered from the Zone... The last time our heroes visited there was in that issue (correct me if I'm wrong) and it ended in a massive insane stormy breach of time and space. Yay.
Since then, Ixis has emerged from the zone, Ixis tried to merge Mobius with the zone, and then the zone was basically forgotten. We haven't been back IN the zone since that issue... so a number of things could have happened.
Honestly, I have mixed feelings about this issue.
Exciting things are happening. And I like it when exciting things happen. and I want to see what's gonna happen next.
But Ian's eagerness to tie up every loose end of the last seven or eight years in three issues has left the story somewhat of a... mess. Things happen abruptly and without apparent reason.
I like the direction Ian's taking things in. I like it better than I liked Karl's or Ken's. But Ian's stories don't show the level of technical writing skill that's evident in the best from Ken and Karl. That stuff will come with time. But for now, perhaps Ian was biting off a bit more than he could chew.
I've been slacking off with reviews, but I think this may be the next issue I bother with. Because as I said, I find it exciting. And I have stuff to say about it.
One thing I'm wondering though... AFTER the Bem mass deroboticization, Anonymous roboticized the Destructix... all six of them, only the six of them.
Sonic beat the crud out of several of them, and the Robo-decoy Tommy SERIOUSLY MANGLED robo-Drago and at least one or two others...
SO: How did the Destructix get repaired, deroboticized, and prepared to attack Knothole yet again?
It'll probably be addressed within the Darkest Storm arc, I guess, but it's a mystery to me.
If I recall correctly, the Robo-Destructix were mere duplicates made by Anonymous, somewhat like Robo-Tommy but closer in resemblance to Robians. Or am I wrong?
I don't remember anything like that... and Eggman accessed Drago's memory of right before roboticization in that same issue. ADAM scanned all their memories, looking for Anonymous' identity...
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If I recall correctly, the Robo-Destructix were mere duplicates made by Anonymous, somewhat like Robo-Tommy but closer in resemblance to Robians. Or am I wrong?
That's what I seem to remember. Like more Infiltrators.
But if they're just robotic dupes of the real ones, how did Eggman extract memories from them from BEFORE they were roboticized? (Which would not exist if they had not been furries before)
(Which would not exist if they had not been furries before)
I'm sure Infiltrators could contain the memories/mental data of the original. See the SatAM episode "Sonic and Sally."
Well I'm hyped up.. Definetly looks like they're tying up about 100 issues' worth of loose ends, and that can't be a bad thing.
Well, I'm glad that Tails finally found out that Merlin was his uncle. I must say that I'm surprised that Snively betrayed the FF's not in that he did betray them, but I figured he wouldn't betray them until down on the line. Also I was glad to see he was trying to get his half-sister (or is that step-sis) outta of harm's way, it shows he has some heart for family. I love Sniv's new outfit as well.^_^
Seconded. Sniv has always been my favorite villain because of his utter unpredicitibility. As I was reading the story, I didn't know whether he was going to stay with the FFs, go with Robotnik, or take Hope's plane and make a run for it.
The irony is that Snively said the FF kindness to him was weakness (which wouldn't be tolerated), yet he indirectly tired to get Hope outta harm's way! What a walking conundrum!
i liked the snively story. it shows what kind of character he truly is. plus i like the new outfit. the green turtleneck started to bother me after awhile.
Well, I FINALLY found the newest issue, but I didn't buy it because all the issues on the rack had this one page with a badly folded crease mark. Something must have happened with the shipping with this order, so I'm just gonna wait until it comes out at one of the other book stores around town. I had a terrible time reading the text in this issue, too! Usually it's all nice and smooth, but I think someone might have over photoshoped it and made things a little too pixely. (Some parts of the letters just seem to vanish!) o___o;
I'm glad we are tying up loose ends here Ian, but that was waaaaaaaaaaaay too many characters for one issue. You could have easily stuffed all this stuff in two issues worth and gave the people a breather. I got so confused! I can imagine that a new reader would be like who the heck are all these people?! I just wish there could have been more family time with Merlin and Tails, but I'm totally glad that they're finally one big happy family! It probably wasn't just your writing, but sometimes Fry's art to me seems a bit hard to follow...
Key Point of Interest:
When the Walker's said that Athiair, Aurora, and Merlin would replace their roles when they were gone! I'm so excited! Doesn't that like give you the power to go through all of the spiritual zones on Mobius?! OooOOoooo...
Point of Most Confusion:
Where the spiderninjas come in...I'll have to buy it and reread that part a couple of times. I know they had the sword, but I couldn't tell what the things swarming around it where when they pulled it out. Was it the pods or was it magic or did I just totally miss something here? .__.
Biggest Question of the Issue:
Okay, I DO NOT have issue 45. (5 issues too late.) *sob* So the AWers put a curse on Mogul, but then he like backfires and seriously wounds them? When did all this happen? Then the Destructix start coming in and kicking everybody's butts, but I'm confused to know why they did it exactly? What was they're goal in getting the emerald with Mogul in it? I suppose it was Anonymous. (Like I said I need to reread it to catch certain things like this. It probably stated it, but I can't remember.) Even the Spiderninjas attacked Robotnik? WHY?! Do they just like hate him with the passion of a million burning suns or is all of this Anonymous's fault, too? Guess I'll find out next issue.
I can fully say though you made Snively, in my eyes, a potential villain from now on! I could never take him seriously in the past for some reason, but he was just so believable here! And Tracy by far is the greatest Snively artist of ALL TIME! 
Gotta love his new suit at the end there, too!
I'll have to come back and add more thought when I actually buy the issue later this week. (In other words, major editing of this post.)
And Tracy by far is the greatest Snively artist of ALL TIME!
Once again, seconded. This is the best rendering of Snively we've seen since Fry was the main penciller.
God bless the "Ian" all over the world. The Sonic comic is reviving !
The sense of the narrative rythm, the quality of the stories, the creativity are back !
The writers have stopped beating around the bush about the characters, their relations ! Except about Sonic and Fiona: their "love affair" sounds like irrelevant and hopeless. The triangle "Sonic-Fiona-Sally" will never be constructed as well as "Sonic-Sally-Mina".
"The Gathering Tempest"
Story: 9
Pencil: 10
"Ties that bind"
Story: 8
Pencil: 9
is there any scans of the comic available? I have curiosity!... I anticipate greatly upon receiving this issue... Snively is better than Eggman in my book.. I have excitement upon this comic.. please I hope there is some scans soon or my comic comes in da mail soon
Ok ok. Tigs brung up somethng I totally forgot about.
I read this issue what, an hour ago? Ok, I forgot what page, but we see the whole monologue about Mogul backslapping the AW to kill them since they put that curse on him from the beginning. Ok, I can see that. They did talk about that in 45.
NOW. The AW were chilling in the Astral world. Right?
Aurora is the Echidna representation of the Astral world. Right?
Isin't the Source of all the Physical Representation of the Astral plane? Or did I read what Sally learned about it long ago {what issue was that, like 100? I want to say 100, I just know it was long ago, maybe it was 97 or something.} all backwards.
What I'm getting at, is that will the Freedom fighters see Athair, Merlin....and a big ball of folding goop? While Knuckles sees Athair, Merlin...and Aurora?
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Second. Snivley is a punk. He's not as two faced as it might seem. He's weaker now. He thinks he cunning, but in the end, he's going to falter and help the Freedom Fighters. Hope will be that reason. Watch. He'll end up killing Hope for his maniacal ways, realize the heartlessness, do something to save everyone and die. Wait. I give it till what, 225 
. That story shall be ShadowSnivley. I'm serous, xD.
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I'm happy Mogul is back-but now I have to reread the issue. How exactly did Mogul get free? I know Anonymous controlled the Ninja X-team to attack the pods, and Eggman--Tigs-they did attack the pods so Anonymous could use the Swords power in conjunction with the Zone of Silence that he remotely accessed using Eggamns own machinery.
Yeah I missed something. Mogul sent a Chaos wave to finish off the Walkers {Which made me cry. I love them u_u} and then...he was free? What?
Aurora told Knuckles upon heir first (and to date only) meeting that he just perceived her as an echidna flatly because that's all he could make her/it out to be to him.
I'd assume that if the FFs were to ever meet Aurora and Athair (don't know quite HOW they would), they may just see Aurora each individualy as one of their own species like Knuckles did.
She doesn't have an objective true form it seems, at least from what has been revealed about her...
As for Mogul getting free, Merlin stated himself in the issue that the Ancient Walker's were binding Mogul with their energies into that sphere and that when the Ancient Walker's died than that binding would cease.
And alias the AW's bit the dust and the Mammoth is free.
Looking forward to the next issue and finding out wth Anoymous is & what's up with the Ninja Kids and that Sword!
H'okie-doke, it looks like there's a bit of confusion, so let me straighten this up (without spoilers for next issue, of course 
)
Here's a basic time-line. This is everything Merlin told us plus past events, just reorganized:
1) Mogul gets the emerald. The Walkers curse it so that Mogul flubs in all his endeavors.
2) Mogul gets sealed in the Master Emerald. Durn that curse.
3) Mogul escapes the Master Emeral (SA-Adapt).
4) Mogul uses Tails as a bit of a battery to get himself back up to snuff, but he needs alot more juice.
5) Mogul lures Green Knuckles into a trap and, when Knuckles goes boom, takes in all that energy.
6) On his way out to do evil, Mogul blasted the Walkers. (Yes, the continuity gets a little wonky, but I'm working with what we were given in S#149).
7) Mogul does the Zone-smashing thing until Titan Tails, with the aid of the curse, seals Mogul in his own emerald.
8 ) The Ancient Walkers - the source of the curse's power - are destroyed. No Walkers, no curse, nothing to hold Mogul back anymore.
And now we wait three weeks =D
Oh...kay..
oNo Walkers, No curse...
Until Merlin puts a curse on Mogul's new Emerald and then it begins all over and we have a new time paradox. I'm just awaiting the inevitable here >>
If it weren't for the fact that I'm saving money on a subscription, I would ditch it and pick up the book at my local store...I JUST GOT THE DARN THING TODAY... I've stopped coming here to the Knothole Village because of this. I hate being spoiled, yet I always end up reading the topics...
ANYWAYs... I LOVED the story! The comic is back on track! Art wasn't 100%, but I'll be more than glad to forgive you because the story is A+ work.
You seriously just got it today? That IS weird... that the comic stores get it before you, and some of us have had the issue for two weeks now.
If you don't mind my asking, where are you geographically? I've always had a thought that subscription-recieving time may be based on location. I'm only about two to three hours from the main Archie office, and I get mine the first day anyone here at the HQ seems to get them. (Or, at least, I get them before or the same day as a topic starts here.)
I'd call them about it, you can get a live person pretty easily.
*hastily apologizes for diving way off-topic*
I'm in Minnesota...
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I'm in Minnesota...
me too, but i got mine a couple weeks ago.
I used to read Sonic a llooonnnggg time ago but haven't in years, but I picked up this issue after my friend told me it was like a new beginning for the series. That true?
Anyway, it was kind of confusing. I had to read it twice to understand what was going on, but a day later I've forgotten most of it and am confused again, lol. But it was good, I think I'll start picking each issue up in the grocery store again.
