About time we concluded this arc...

Anywho...the first couple of pages start with everyone watching an enormous chaotic fueled explosion as Enerjak finally meets his match with Super Sonic. Needless to say, the trash talking has begun! Enerjak is not amused and blasts Sonic with an energy blast but of course Sonic is NOT fazed.

Julie and the others are a bit shocked Sonic survived such a blast but why not? He's Super Sonic!! Locke is still emo that Sonic destroyed the giant wrench but Julie-Su and Archy layeth the verbal smackdown, going off to find a way to help Sonic and Knuckles, leaving Locke to his devices.

The Destructix is enjoying the show...but Snoop decides its time to become scarce since their job is done. Scourge meanwhile has other ideas, still thinking back to what Sonic told him waaaaaaaaaaay back in issue 172 (You know the quote) and decides he's going to find the answers. Yes he wants to go on a road trip, arguing that Mobius is royally screwed thanks to the clash of the energy filled titans...and of course Fiona tags along. Drat, there goes trouble...

Enerjak resorts to burying Sonic underground...though that proves pretty useful for a scant second...or two. They trade blows once again though Sonic realizes that he isn't making much progress in beating the living snot out of Enerjak...d'oh!

Julie and Archy contront Fini, who stands on a small floating isle with the Master Emerald...and demand he put a stop to this. Fini is amused, but explains that thanks to that hex he put on, Knuckles will became bent to his ideals. He doesn't know how Sonic got past that (Let's hear it for the power of GOODNESS!!) but he'll figure it out later. He also says the only way to break the hex is for someone to sacrifice their own life...cunning rat...

Julie decides to do it but of course Archy stops her and says he'll do it...everyone wants to die here! Of course Locke shows up and says that it's his responsibility to make things right...

Fini won't be having that and lays a short beatdown on both Locke and Julie before Archy bamfs him away...so much for him. Locke gets all emotion because we ALL know he's going to bite the dust (Though in this comic, is that a sure thing?). He hops on the giant battery and begans to chant to break the spell, even while Sonic is still tossing blows. Few panels later, Knuckles is back to normal...that was quick. Julie tries to explain what Locke did but it seems Fini is back and he's TICKED his plan is done. He also worries that Knux may remember...

...judging by the uppercut Knux delivers, he does. Fini of course has another ring and warps out...to the frustration of all. Knuckles refuses to leave the island, swearing to protect it, even by his lonesome...ahhh just like old times...

Review of side story coming later...unless someone else wants to do the honors...

EDIT: Okay I'm back and here's the backup story...

Lien-Da is in full wank mode as she explains...the history of the Dark Legion, what they...does anyone really care about being told the history of the DL again? Yea, exactly...ENOUGH exposition. Lien-Da gets to the point which is she is named Grandmaster in turn for being a loyal subject to...

...Eggman?! Why yes, joining the fat one seems to be all the rage now (He's probably hurting for help too thanks to Enerjak). Of course Eggman drops the other bombshell, stating that...Dimitri is rather the true grandmaster...only because he asked first...and what is with his E.V.E. looking transformation?

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Thanks. 🙂

Can we possibly get some scans of the Scourge/Fiona scene? I'm not sure when I'll be able to get my hands on my own copy, and I want to see if it fits with a theory I was batting around...

I'll get that up once I return from work later this afternoon.

Thanks. 🙂

so someone dies and everything goes back to normal, kinda sounds like typical ian. is the backup even slightly interesting?

Backup...includes...wait for it...

...more exposition! Sorry

too bad everyone saw the "death" of locke coming from a mile away, and with the brotherhood floating around half alive in the twilight zone, is there any point to having echidnas anymore?!?!?!?!

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"death" of locke

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feels alot like the identity of enerjak is knuckles doesn't it? seriously, we had like 11 pages of echidnas that enerjak could be when it was the most obvious one.

I read on bumbleking that this issue showed the covers of 187 and 188. Could you please post it if you could?

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so someone dies and everything goes back to normal

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Well, sure, I suppose if you ignore minor stuff like...

- the Legion no longer being split
- the Legion losing their cybernetics
- the echidnas being relocated to Albion
- Remington being restored and taking care of the echidnas
- Kage being killed
- the dingoes losing their power on the island
- Eggman losing most of his city and ground forces
- the Egg Fleet being destroyed
- Scourge and Fiona leaving with plans
- a small chunk of the island being blown up
- Locke coming to terms and dying
- the remains of the legion allying with Eggman to get their cybernetics back
- Knuckles, who'd been with the FF since Sonic's return from space, now refusing to leave the island

...yeah, aside from that, nothing's changed at all.

Needs more "Fun with Mina" love triangles.

Cuz everybody loves love triangles - amirite?!?!?!?

Especially when they involve Mina!!

Looks Locke got what he truly wanted, and that's his son back on the islnad (not alone that is, but with Julie-Su and the Chaotix) at the expense of his own "life"

Boy talk about hard endings. It's sad Locke ended the way he did but I've sorta seen this coming for some time now since Ian joined the team. Though I gotta say the Enerjak
role being discarded so easily and quickly was slightly disappointing. To be honest my attention is on Scourge, as always. Give you 3 guesses where he's going, and the first 2 don't count. For any disappointed at the dropping of Antimobius, we may just have one heck of a story coming up. Here's to hoping he smacks around his FFs for good measure. Go lean mean green machine!

*chases Dubs out of the topic with a broom*

Shoo! Shoo! Get outta here or I'll unban Miko.

~Tobe

**runs away screaming curses** YOU HAVEN'T HEARD THE LAST OF ME!!!!

I feel kinda sad. I really, really liked that Father's Day story in Mobius 20 Years Later. I sort of wanted Locke to go out quietly like that...

But if he went down fighting to save his son and everyone else, that works too.

The Dark Legion joining up with Eggman?

I called it! *grins*

^if you called it anytime after issue 180 or the short preview of 184's back story, it does not count due to the incredible obviousness around it.

If you called it before, good call.

That royally sucks. Why did Locke have to be the one killed off? Why not Archy? He was more useless than Locke.

As for the Dark Legion, way to go Knuckles. Now not only do they have to worry about Eggman, but also the Dark Legion will probably be even more a threat, since Eggman will undoubtedly give them even stronger cybernetics. So, what, everything that happened in the Knuckles series is erased? 'Cause that's what it's looking like to me, what with the echidnas getting killed off, the Brotherhood being MIA, and Locke dying. And I was just starting to like the comics again.

I'm really disappointed with this issue, because once again Ian has messed up STH a little bit more with each new story arc that he he does! I mean just look at what he's done in the last six months to make things this bad. In fact Ian is not taking the comic foword, he's taking it backwords. I bet that he doesn't even know that he has a story arc that could be played out somewhere down the road?

Because like I said a while back about Sonic 181! Enerjak will return in either Tails or Sonic's body. Truthfully I kind of hope that it's Tails. Because after 15 years I think a lot of us are fed up with the same old ideas like just how many more times are they going to use Sonic vs Knuckles or even have Sonic and/or Knuckles to be the bad guy for a story arc. Just for once I kind of would like to see Tails as the bad guy in a upcoming story arc.

Plus I've noticed one thing about the second scan. Just take a close look at Scourge's face, you could just tell by that look, that he's going to dump Fiona Fox sooner or later and then somehow. If and when she finally does get back to her Mobius, heartbroking and feeling like a real big heel for how she treated Tails.

I really don't understand what all the commotion is. All I see is Ian getting rid of baggage that's plagued the comic for far too long.
I guess if I was actually able to get attached to these characters that are being killed off, I'd be upset too, but the likes of Locke, and the echidnas never gave me one good reason to care even just a tiny bit about them.

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In fact Ian is not taking the comic foword, he's taking it backwords.

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You mean off the path of impending failure and back to something resembling unfail?

Just as planned.

You're telling me the game universe has been unfailing recently?

I think he's saying the echidnas were fail. I second that notion.

Locke's death gives a little emotion to the story. Overall, my thoughts on this storyline, in the words of Randy Jackson "It was ok, dude."

I'm still waiting for my copy, but from what I've read of the spoilers my biggest disappointment involves Scourge. At the end of the back story in S183 I honestly thought that he'd intervene somehow to undercut Fin, which would at least add a little complexity to what had mostly been a one-note villain. Instead he ditches the story! It's in keeping with his character, sure, but the arc as a whole suffers. And from the sound of it, Locke's demise sounds so off-handed that I wonder if it will have any real emotional impact. We'll see.

U'm Toby, I think you misunderstood what I mean't. But first I take back what I said about Ian. It's not him, it's Archie that needs to change. Because no matter which writer it's been. They keep using ideas that are anywhere from five to ten years old. Just how many times have they had Robotnik/Eggman take over Sonic's mind and had him be the bad guy or Knuckles being the bad guy.

Lets see first it was Green Knuckles and now Enerjak/Knuxjak. In fact I'm just guessing here, but that must of been the 17.2530 time we have seen Sonic vs Knuckles fight in the Sonic comic book! (Truthfully I lost count, a long time ago. But you get the idea?)

How many of you would like to see Tails or even Amy be the bad guy/gal, every now and then for a story arc. Instead of Sonic, Knuckles and Shadow. But there's one person, that needs to be killed off, more then anyone else right now and that would be Max Acorn. In fact it's long over due.

You can't do that. Tails would win. And the comic would be over.

And we wouldn't get anymore more Mina love triangles!

~Tobe (Well I chased Dubs off so someone had to say it)

I want to take Locke's death seriously but this is a comic book and one that is notorious for death cheats...booo

Given that comment in 172, it wouldn't have shocked me if we'd seen Super Scourge, or Scourge decide to step up to the plate and do the sacrificial honours himself.

But if Ian's actually making that plot point more of a long haul than a quick fix, it's fine by me.

I can maybe see Fiona and Scourge splitting up, but not necessarily her getting (at least, not with malice). Remember that it was Sonic's morality that put her off him and pushed her towards Scourge - if Scourge starts to recognise that he basically is Sonic and he can change, then it wouldn't surprise me if either:

i. She threw a hissy fit and left him if he started changing and not being as much "fun".

ii. He had an epiphany, changed his mind about finding that voluntary darkness "hot", dumped her in a reversal of what she did to Sonic.

Although if Scourge decides that he's going to completely embrace his dark side, it might frighten her off, since that's not what she is deep down.

Any of the above would leave her needing a serious think about how someone from the anti-Mobius can choose to change when she can choose to do herself out of good things all the time, and possibly leave her in that horribly out in the cold scenario with both the FFs and the Destructix that I described earlier this month.

Although the interesting thing would be if there's something in Scourge that can change her where Sonic couldn't and they both stick together. Since he's basically Sonic, it puts the sneaker on the other foot in terms of thinking like one another.

To be honest, as soon as I saw that exchange in 172, I thought about the potential of Scourge and Fiona being set up as a hedgehog and fox pairing to mirror Sonic and Tails (note their initial posing in 183), and that'd make a lot of sense if they went freelance.

I could easily see them as an equivalent of Shortfuse in the Fleetway continuity: basically good, but selfish in picking and choosing their causes and not necessarily playing nice the whole of the time to make things happen. I'm reminded of a quote from Aladdin and the King of Thieves: "You're a good guy... But not too good".

I'd just find it all so ironic if Scourge gets to grow up, get the girl and get the balanced lifestyle and inner peace with himself, and the eponymous hero is left wondering what the difference is that means that he can't get that.

I've got an additional theory about how Fiona and Scourge even got together in the first place, but I'll save that for now rather than bore anyone too much.

You do know that there a real down side to getting rid of Locke and all of the other Echidna and that would be. Now that Knuckles is alone, he's come full circle. I mean think about it, Knuckles started out being alone way back in STH #13. And now he's maybe he's all alone once again in STH #184. So in a odd way, what I said was true about Sonic's Comic going backwards. Not only that, but in some kind of odd way Knuckles himself has been killed off yet again. He's now just another pointless character. I mean that's just the way I kind of see it.

If anything, Knuckles actually HAS a point now, now that he must guard the Master Emerald once again.

Not read 184 yet, but...

Taking most of his supporting cast away actually gives him more of an identity as a loner to me, rather than just as another Sonic clone family soap opera.

the echidnas had the most interesting and extensive history of all the character sets, and thats pretty much gone now. Which really bites, because next in line is the house of acorn and we've all been sick of max for how long now?

Of course, its all easily reversible, if you have knux use his sooperpowerz to get the brotherhood back, and locke's death could be made equally as temporary, but i dont see it happening.

Serves him right. I wonder who's gonna trick him next. That's all he's good for lately.

He can't bring his father back. His father probably won't allow it. He needs to save the Brotherhood, but its like retribution. All the year of the Dl being in the Zone, and now its the Brotherhood's turn. They are prolly gonna be able to watch how events unfold.

Albion is just..who cares now. I'm miffed Spectre got written out dangit -.- I need to read this issue.

Oh, did the actual fight last 8 pages or more?

EDIT 1: WHAT? Where did Scourge go now? WHAT?

Maybe getting Penders' echidna baggage out of the way could get the House of Acorn - the supporting cast of the actual eponymous hero more room for development.

Even taking the way that Penders tried to have it take over te entire continuity with Echidnas: 25 Issues Later (and my own general dislike of the man as both a professional and a person) out of the equation, the echidna mythology was fine when it had an entire title of its own to expand into.

Now, it just feels cluttered, overblown and rather self important as far as I'm concerned.

Not even Princess Mary-Sue Acorn has such an extended supporting familial cast, let alone either of the other two great heroes.

I can't help feeling as though it's a busted flush. There's no need to forget about it completely, but I think it's time to put it away.

Oh lets see once they get rid Max Acorn? Sally's mom and brother, Tails mom, dad and uncle will be next. And then after that Antione loose's his mind and end's up as he once was in the early days of Sonic. Because that's the way things are heading just from the looks of it. And like I've said it's kind of pointless to take STH comic backwards. I mean if we want to read SATAM Sonic. Most of us can just dig out the old issue's of the STH comic book!

Fight lasted 15 pages...and I too have no issue with a bit of clean up regarding the echidnas...at least the ones that are remaining might be able to better integrate with the rest of Mobius instead of just hiding off somewhere on a floating island.

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Oh lets see once they get rid Max Acorn? Sally's mom and brother, Tails mom, dad and uncle will be next. And then after that Antione loose's his mind and end's up as he once was in the early days of Sonic. Because that's the way things are heading just from the looks of it.

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Really? 'Cause from what I've seen, many of those characters have recently received development. Amadeus and Rosemary have shown some personality and personal agendas that were absent when they were first introduced. Elias has gained a lot of confidence and is planning his own actions rather than listen to his father or St. John. Antoine's gotten a lot braver and had a lot of personal and romantic growth. Also, if Tails' parents were needed to be written out they didn't have to be brought back in the first place.

But hey, apparently you're the one with the crystal ball here.

^he's not saying they need to be written out. He's saying that he feels as though the comic is downsizing to a smaller scope. He is against such downsizing, and in support of such supporting characters.

The echidna history was so extensive because, i believe, they were the oldest species and had the closest ties to the ancient walkers and emeralds. The house of acorn is a younger history and smaller in scope. I still feel like the big picture was sacrificed for something sadly narrow, king max style.

No no. After reading the logic from what seems to be both sides of the argument about the shrinking of the Echidna world, I think it is better.

WARNING: Long overdone explanation post ahead!

Sam's correct-when Knux had his own comic, it was much more plausible to upgrade his life. We can't just have Knuckles the Barbarian (starring Archy!)-so they threw us alot of gimme's. We happened to fall in love with (some of) them-and their plot points were plausible and powerful.

When the comic's run ended, and they all got shoved forcefully into Sonic's main comic again, we got trouble. Sure, Knux has had major effects on the world (101 thru end of Chaos Knux saga) but his family did not. The DL did not. they're still concerned over the island.

Over a piddly island...man, after all this time, Athair was right.

while Eggman is busy demolishing the world. Sonic went poof and we get to see how futile their little family tryst was-Eggman did a full out sweep-takes out most everyone.

So, yes. While I'm sad to see the Brotherhood go, and to a lesser extent the DL, I'm happy about that. They're still around, just in very smaller denominations. It makes the Echidnas useful again, aside from being the oldest/smartest/snobbish race.

It also puts Knux back at the helm of being the only true Protector of the Master emerald; for only he has the kind of power needed to protect it.

Maybe someday he'll free the Brotherhood. Maybe someday we'll get a Spectre story. But for now, I'm glad we got some Echidnas on Mobius now from the Isle, give them a taste of Brave New World.

Now, he also gives Eggman a new force with foot soldiers ready to demolish anything without a care in the world.

Now all we need is for Ian to destruct the whole King Max family. The OLD King can die kthx. That council idea is kinda blah kthx, cause its gonna be Council Assemble and Sonic going "HAHA I don't wait" *Speedsaveday*

If they render things to an awesome point like they did in 175....then I wouldn't mind so much. Dun need to kill every other Archie Char, just remove a good portion-balance it out, and then the stories will get much better.

And for god sakes bring back the Downunda & Forty Fathom Freefom Fighters. Barby x Tailz!

I much rather have Max kick the bucket than Locke. What good has any of the royal family besides Sally and Elias been good for?

I really hate Knuckles right now.

I can't say much, because I haven't got my issue yet, but reading everyone's comments has just got me really depressed...

You'd feel the same way too if you were a loyal reader to the comics for 10+ years and found your favorite characters being killed off or considered useless baggage by other fans. I feel like...things are just going backwards, and some things I really care about are no longer there. (Minus Dimitri...) I do like how Ian handled this story, but the overall the handling of Locke, the Brotherhood and all of the other "useless" echidnas has left me feeling rather blah.

I need an issue to confirm this, but it sounds like Knuckles and his father never got to make up from their previous argument. That is just messed up...What's even worse is I don't even know if Fini was lying about the Hex killing Locke off or not. He's such a twisted liar.

It may sound harsh, but this is how I feel. It was a good run, but to me felt like an overall let down.

Please...no more killing off characters...

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You'd feel the same way too if you were a loyal reader to the comics for 10+ years and found your favorite characters being killed off or considered useless baggage by other fans. I feel like...things are just going backwards, and some things I really care about are no longer there. (Minus Dimitri...)

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I know what you're saying, Tigsie. I've been a subscriber for nine years now, myself.

But I've spent most of those years watching posters on this forum say that the cast needs pruning - and whichever characters Ian decided to prune was going to wind somebody up. Everyone's likes and dislike're different (as you just said yourself), so he couldn't please everyone.

I'm willing to see if pruning the cast down'll result in quality over quantity before I decide if I think it's a step backwards or not.

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I need an issue to confirm this, but it sounds like Knuckles and his father never got to make up from their previous argument. That is just messed up...

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True - but things in life're rarely packaged neatly, and it's also narrative drama. Unfortunately, narrative tensions, discoveries and reversals're what shake up a plot. An entire comic of characters hugging, smelling the flowers and saying what a beautiful day it was'd get samey awfully quickly.

Now, we get to see how Knux and Julie-su cope.

And besides, I think that it was a more appropriate way to go than Locke dying peacefully in his bed (again, Ian has my unending thanks for driving a stake through the heart of Penders' bloated ego child and ending the Echidnas: 25 Freakin' Issues Later-related speculation of anybody who isn't going to be constantly hoping for a death cheat - and Ian doesn't strike me as a writer who'd write a death cheat after a scene like that unless he was ordered to).

Spoilers (Select To Read): As Archy and Julie-Su said, he'd done an awful lot of messed up things in the past, most of them to Knux.

When Julie-su accuses him of hating Knux, he's honestly shocked. There was never any malice in him, but it's an epiphany when he finally realises that whatever he thought he was doing for Knux's benefit, he's NOT the brilliant father he thought he was and thought the rest of the world would recognise him for in time, and the Brotherhood's way isn't necessarily the best.

In doing what he did, Locke showed that he really did love his son in the clearest way possible, and was willing to punish himself for his own mistakes. It was a matter of redemption.

I found the dialogue "Give him his own life to lead!" as Locke broke the hex symbolic. Yes, the DL're still out there as a castrated rump, but with the Brotherhood broken, Knux is finally free for the first time in his life.

Ironically, he'll have the weight of being unreconciled with Locke and being the last Guardian on his shoulders for however long he decides that he's going to shoulder it rather than properly make his peace his with it. And that's tragic.

But whenever he realises that Locke's actions show that he had Daddy's approval rather than should be pining about not having the chance to earn it before Daddy died is his decision now, and his alone.

we might as well request an obituaries in the comic for now on...

Oh you mean something like this.

1993-2013 or even sooner?

Here lies Sonic the Hedgehog, The World's Most Way Past Cool (Or as of now, Dead Fast) Comic Book! He was Slowly killed off. All thanks in part to Ian Flynn and Archie Comics, who are both to blame for it.

I'm not saying that the STH Comic! Is going to be killed off. But I'm saying that, I've just got this bad feeling that it, might be killed off?

You know...I think Tigsie is the first poster in this forum to make me almost cry.

You seem so hurt, that it shows in your post :O. Like, wow. I utterly forgot how much you loved the echidnas. ButI agree. I feel the same way, I'm really, REALLY ticked off my main dude's gone, and that Knux is turned back to a recluse right now. We're seriously not gonna see Julie and Knux again for a while. They're gonna turn into Tarzan/Jane status.

>>I'm buying this issue today. In fact, I'm out. I'll post when I've read the whole thing.