Time to make up for lost times. Technically, Id have done this sooner, but with two other fanfics, gazillions of arts, and a job now, these reviews are gonna take a while. Okay, #146.
COVER:
After last issues ungodly terrible, lazy, pseudo 3D mixed with 2D, we get something much simpler, but all the more dramatic and fitting. Shadow practically trying to leap outta the comic (geez, are you that desperate to leave Archie?) surrounded by glowing white light and an empty black BG. Its simple, it works. Its Shadow the hedgehog I dont like with a heated passion, but it works. Its also noted this is probably the first Sonic comic cover with the blue hog nowhere in sight (that logo on the top left dont count). But he would have distracted what I think is the top contender for cover of 2005, and thats saying a LOT considering my views on Shadow.
10/10
The Good, The Bad, and the Unknown
Part 1: Prototype
WRITER/INKER: Ken Penders
ARTIST: Steven Butler
COLORIST: Jason Jenson
LETTERIST: JOHN WORKMAM
The first three pages has Sonic and Shadow pummeling each other with Shadow literally a wet blanket. That leaves Sonic plenty of time to make haste and run while Shadow wonders around, saying in smart talk on how he hears more then one person. Geez, penders, wouldnt it be simpler to just make him say, I hear more then one voice/step? Shadow decides to make haste as well to deal with more pressing matter while Bunnie, Tails, and Tommy freakin turtle enters the scene, wondering who they heard.
As the two freedom fighters, plus one freakin turtle ponders on Sonic, Shadow thinks to himself and meets with Isaac, the E-102 look-alike. They speak, Shadow talks of his encounter in last issue, flashbacks to his trip to Angel Island where he sips a pina colada and ponders on what title to call his book of angst poetry. Then he commits suicide by leaping off the island and landing harshly on the ground. Sucks to be him because he survived and discovered Isaac. Releasing him, the two have a friendly chat with teacups and butterflies.
Isaac revealed he was made by Professor Clarke, well, his hardware at least while Professor Niven made his software, and not Gerald as Shadow previously theorized. Shadow wants them, but Isaac dont quite deliver. Shadow then uses a computer nearby where Isaac stood frozen (So, Shadows somehow a computer genius all of a sudden?) where he discovered Isaac is an old man of 10 millennias. Thatll be a lot of birthday cakes. Shadow then explained how Professor Gerald had no involvement whatsoever on Isaac. All together now: NO DUH, Captain Obvious! As Isaac so poetically explained that that name does not compute.
Meanwhile, Fiona and Rotor finds a hurt Sonic (the former donning a fugly form fitting swimsuit of some sort). Rotor contacts Bunnie explaining Sonic needs a medi-kit (medi-kit? First Aid would have been just fine). Bunnie gets to it while Tails tries to stop her. Tommy freakin turtle stops Tails who explains that none of them (including Bunnie) knows where Sonic, Rotor, and Fiona are.
As Sonic is helped by Rotor and Fiona, Sonic explains how he met Shadow freakin hedgehog. They met and argue in less then .5 seconds. Shadow, somehow forgetting that they worked together in #124/125 (sorta) immediately processes to deck Sonic for some reason. As Sonic finishes his tale, Rotor theorizes that Shadow is not related to Sonic or even a Mobian. So what else is new?
Eggman spies on Sonic and gangs (more specifically Bunnie) from his camera infused Bat Brain robot thingie where he theorizes that the FFs might very well think Eggman is involved in whatever the heck is going on in this comic. Eggman proceeds to talk to himself some more before revealing yet another Metal Sonic. I feel sorry for the Metal Sonic of #86/87 who had to end up having his sacrifice ruined...well, sorta.
REVIEW:
So we basically get some actiony scenes and Shadow talking about what he has been doing since #145. If not for Sonic recapping how he met Shadow, Id been left confuzzled on what the heck is going on, not that Im already not confused. Perhaps because I havent read the comics in a while, but I generally didnt 100% knew what was going on or whats gonna happen, even though I have the future issues and have read them. Its off to a confusing start with one party not knowing what to do with the other party. Shadow punching Sonic for no good reason doesnt help either. Isaac could play the role of useful character for the current story its in before being cast aside as another useless character, and Penders seriously needs to work on his dialogue. Hes either overanalyzing the speeches the characters say or filling it with some corny dialogue. I mean, I was cringing on Shadows speech throughout ranging from overcomplicated I can distinguish two vocal patterns, but the footsteps echoing off the floor indicate the presence of more to just plain laughable, I am not accountable to you! Its not a terribly bad story, but its filled with flaws a plenty and truth be told, kinda boring, even with all the action going around.
6/10
ART:
I still have to explain how much Butler rules. Fantastic artwork, excellent proportions. The only thing I dont like is Fionas fugly swimsuit body fit or whatever its suppose to be.
9/10
Tommy The Turtle in Out of Your Shell
WRITER: Romy Chacon
ARTIST: Ron Lim
INKER: Rich Koslowski
COLORIST: Jason Jenson
LETTERER: Vickie Williams
Oh joy, a Romy Chacon story with Tommy freakin Turtle. Everybody in Archie just loves me, dont they? Well, better get this over with.
A nekkid Rotor (or is that redundant?) wakes up and tries to get Tommy to do the same. It takes nearly 2 freakin pages out of the six in order for Tommy to wake up (the first panel on page two where Rotor thinks Tommy has literally lost his head, which would have made about 98% of the readers happy). Tommy is pretty durn upset and shy over something, refusing to get up, but Rotor is a persistent walrus. Trust me, I know the pains of having someone wake me up early in the friggin morning. Then again, Im just not a morning person. Rotor finally gives up and goes to get dressed (or is that redundant?)
Rotor goes off to work, and then comes back later on the day wondering where he put whatever it is hes looking for. Tommy freakin turtle (calling him Boomer which I havent heard used in a LONG time), asks whats the dealio? Then Tommy goes on his sob story on how lonely he is. Rotor then expresses Tommy has talents as well and that it time, itll be revealed.
Rotor then continues to find his files, only to find it missing. Tommy freakin turtle proceeds to explain to Rotor he organized everything in his room sans his clothes (clothes? He wears a yellow hat, a green belt, and a brown jacket, thats ALL he wears). Rotor is relieved and Tommy lets him know hes been reading Rotors files (geez, Tommy, what if they were private, eh?) and offers an explanation on what to do. Rotor takes it into account and dumps the turtle to organize more stuff.
REVIEW:
This is it; Archies way of making us feel sorry for Tommy freakin turtle. Im afraid theyre over 15 something issues too late as I simply started to not care for Tommy freakin turtle when he was brought back from the supposed death some few issues ago. Seeing as I despise cheap deaths and that he had 15 something issues to try and make me won him over, they failed. Granted, I know the rule that as long as a body isnt found, theres a high chance a character could be alive. Heck, Ill even give the character a second chance if they do a bang up job expanding on their roles and NOT making them useless. Unfortunately, this story does little justice. Tommys basically stuck organizing, something he can do off screen from the comic (and most likely does). His current role in the comic is just him either squeezed into the backgrounds and saying like a grand total of like 3 lines, all with no real meaning of importance. Even when they try to make him important, it doesnt work. Maybe it would to newbies, but since Tommy has had many chances to redeem himself, I say its too little, too late.
The story doesnt do a good job of making me feel sorry for him. It felt a bit rushed and unconvincing. He only had like one panel to be emotional while the rest was him standing there while Rotor panicked over where his files have gone.
ART:
Lims gotten better. His Rotor actually looks like Rotor, complete with the blubber and everything when Lim is usually notorious for making characters ridiculously skinny. That said, his Tommy freakin Turtle looks more like an alien or at least if his head has been sucked out dry with a straw. Its dangerously scary, man.
8/10
CIRCUIT ME, Starring Sally and Nicole
WRITER: Romy Chacon
ARTIST: Al Bigley
INKER: Michael Higgins
COLORIST: Jason Jenson
LETTERER: Vickie Willams
Sally wonders why she was called over by Rotor who merely wants Nicole as he thought of a new way of using the Power Rings, even though he could be risking the entire Knothole City as a result. Geez, doncha just LOVE having this guy on your side? Sally gets Nicole to diagnose the situations on the power ring, but the hybrid princess gets clumsy and trips over wires and gets electrocuted while Rotor does nothing but shout her name.
Rotor tries to help Sally and Nicole and discovers the two have switched, so Sally (as Nicole) demands Rotor to fix them up, post haste! Rotor tells Sally to do some computer business in order to fix this. Sally tries, but ends up getting dizzy. Nicole (as Sally) meanwhile, ends up walking away where she understands the life of a flesh and blood. Nicole also understands the feeling of love, but before she could express it any further, Sally and Nicole are back once in their body. Sonic wonders what the dealio is and turns to Nicole who merely flirts with the confused hedgehog.
REVIEW:
This story, couldve, wouldve, shouldve been a great story, but squeezed in four pages didnt do anything justice. Id have gladly taken a possibly nicer 12 pager of this then having it squeezed four pages for Tommy freakin Turtles side story. As a result, this great potential to see Sally as Nicole and vice versa was COMPLETELY wasted. I could think of SO many ways this couldve worked. Romy was on the right path on making Nicole feel what Sally feels and vice versa, but because it was four freakin pages, it was hasten up so drastically that it holds absolutely no meaning to me.
It doesnt help that they never really explained how the electric shock made Sally and Nicole switch bodies and how they were returned. Rotors explanation on the effects being temporary is just a poor, hasten excuse to end this short story. Heck, Sonic and Knuckles switch-a-roo was better then this. Such a shame. So much potential (this could have been a good cover story on its own if done right), but left to waste.
3/10
ART:
Well, Als improving, but hes still not a fave artist of mine. Particularly, hes Sally is beautiful in one scene (like the first panel on the last page), then horribly disfigured in others. Her reaction when getting electrocuted doesnt exactly do a great job convincing me. Good, but flawed. He makes a better first impression then Lim did.
7/10
EDITORS:
Nice fanart of Sally and Sonic from Sarah Davies, more letters and shameless plugs, the preview of next issue, Mika talking about #144s Love and Loss, the Sonic X mini-series, and #150. Plus the usual off-panel with Sonic finally doing what the fans wanted to do every time he mentions Shameless Plugs.
~Neo
Sonic the Hedgehog 152
Editor in Chief: Richard Goldwater, as always
Managing Editor: still Victor Gorelick
Editor: Mike Pellerito
Special thanks to Robert Leffler and Dyna Lopez at Sega Licensing
Cover: "Play on Playa"
Signed by Spaz
"Playa"...?! I can't believe they actually put that on the cover!
Sonic is surrounded by his and Evil Sonic's Mobius Prime girlfriends. He looks happy, but none of the girls do.
From this, one would think the story was about all the girls being angry at him for his evil-self's two-timing.
However...
"Engage!"
Written by Ken Penders, penciled by James Fry, inked by *Al Milgrom*, lettered by John Workman, colored by Josh
and Aimee Ray.
At last, the return of Fry! I thought we had lost him... I like the inking in this story... I also notice
there's a lack of J. Ray's trademark shininess -- either he didn't give it the normal time, or Aimee saw to it
being more subtle...
We also see the return of Lupe and the Wolfpack. Cool, though they don't get speaking parts. ...It's odd that
Ariel and Athena are wearing overalls -- I would have expected them to be wearing wolfpack outfits by now.
Speaking of time, the story claims it has been "eleven years, two months," and some-odd weeks, days, hours, and
seconds since the coup... Either another ret-con, or a glaring mistake. The coup was said to be eleven years
ago in Endgame (and several times since then), and Sonic spent a year in space. Thus, even omitting the months
that passed in continuity between Endgame and 125, we should be at least twelve years after the coup...
...Another mistake is that a group so in tune with nature would not mistake a "klak-klak" sound for birds or
bees!
"Sonic's Angels"
Written by Ken Penders, penciled by Jon Gray and Al Bigley, inked by Al Milgrom, colored by Josh Ray, and
lettered by Jeff Powell.
ADAM has unleashed an army of nanites to conquer the world... Sonic, Mina, Fiona, Bunnie, and Amy are sent into
the machine/city the nanites have created to stop it. (Since when was Mina a fighter?)
Bunnie is captured, and the nanites try to assimilate her.
Snivley is discovered laying EMP generators in the structure, to deactivate the nanites, and the group decides
to adopt his plan.
Sonic finds Bunnie, and explains to the avatar of the nanites that Bunnie isn't a robot, she's a cyborg.
Unfamiliar with the concept of machines and living things coexisting, it decides it has to think about this.
It releases Bunnie, as well as everyone else, and halts all assimilation of Mobius while it thinks.
Deciding this is good enough, the Acorn warriors and Brain Trust abandon the EMP idea, and head back to
Knothole (with Snivley!)...
I'm sure many people will find their own problems with this story. I only had two that stick out enough to
mention -- one, the Bigley art wasn't very good. The characters were all off-model, but none more noticeably
(to me) than Snivley... (Also, were the nanites supposed to destroy Bunnie's hat and jacket, and turn her shoulder
organic?)
Two, why did Sonic make no comment on Bunnie's kiss?!
...
There's no Sonic-Grams again, but as the final blurb advertises the next issue, the issue's ending doesn't seem
quite as abrupt and unplanned as it could otherwise feel.
Score:
I give this issue a 5.5 out of 10. More good than bad, but nothing to brag about.
Final Thoughts:
Evil Sonic's still on the loose, and his conquests still don't know it was him, while now we've got the
Nanite city sitting there, thinking about cybernetics -- we've got a lot of unresolved plot threads building up
here... Let's hope there's a payoff, or at least a resolution...
Also, I found myself hoping the Bunnie re-design was on purpose. Not only do I enjoy design changes in general
(when they're explained), but I think it looks good, and it would be interesting if the nanites could build
organic parts...
Of course, it would have been even more interesting (and it wouldn't have created another plot point to be
resolved) if they'd just used the EMP. Bunnie might have had to deal with being handicapped again (never mind
the EMP disabling her parts -- she'd mostly lost them already by time Sonic showed up), but only temporarily --
with the Brain Trust at work, it wouldn't be too long before new cybernetic parts could have been constructed
for her...
Issue 153
Editor in Chief: Richard Goldwater; Managing Editor: Victor Gorelick; Editor: Mike Pellerito; Special Thanks: Robert Leffler and Dyna Lopez of SEGA Licensing.
Cover
By "Sanford"
The pencils/inks are a little rough, but I like the detail on the gloves, and the colors.
"Songoose" Part 1
Written by Karl Bollers, penciled by Ron Lim, inked by Jim Amash, lettered by John Workman, colored by Jason Jensen.
Eggman sends Nack to assasinate Mina, but he messes up and is captured. Meanwhile, General Decoolete is taken down by a mysterious illness, and the girls continue to get on Sonic's case for what Evil Sonic did.
Lim does an adequate job on the art, while the colors have Jensen's trademark shininess...
"Fairy Tale" or the adventure of Pirate Sally
Written by Romy Chacon ("Walk the Plank"), penciled by Art Mawhinney ("Swab the Deck"), colored by Josh Ray ("Shiver Me Timbers"). Inked and lettered by Vickie Williams ("Hoist the Sails") and Rich Koslowski ("All Hands on Deck").
Rosie tells a tale of "Pirate Sally" fighting the evil wizard Kintobor.
Rosie says at the beginning that she's not very good at telling stories; I'd have to agree... I also wouldn't be surprised if many other readers agreed with Romy's credit blurb.
Final Thoughts
The first story was interesting, but not particularly impressive. The second story was disapointing -- such an imaginative tale could have been much more entertaining... Over all, it was an okay issue to lead into others, but not much on its' own.
        Review of Sonic the Hedgehog #164
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Cover Art: 8/10
Why not 10: It did not give such deep detail like most of Spazs works.
Storyline summary:         It once again starts off with the infamous Anonymous, Talking about the Spider Ninjas, The death of the Ancient Walkers, & Ixis Nagus. Then it goes to Sonic & Pals Fighting the enemy. Sonic nabs the crown & puts it on Eliass head, but hurts them both with a green gas. Then Sir Connery Fights with Mogul, & later, Dies. But, at least he destroyed Moguls "Toys". Then Eggman swoops in & starts shooting them down, suprisingly, evading hitting Sonic!!! He not after him, & Lost a lot from today. But he used the Teleportation device (Remember Hunter?) & are now his captives.
Time passes, & They are at Sir Connerys funeral now, mourning. Elias takes it the hardest, & nearly leaves the throne. Sonic talks him out of it, & Elias stays king. As they walk away, sonic tries to build them up some, & later, they go to Chucks. Meanwhile, Eggman is Biofeilding & Deleting everyone, & Trying to on Mogul. Moguls fighting it, & thats the end.
RATING: 7/10
+ Same old sonic
+ Mogul is taken down.
- Connery dies.
-Same old, Same old.
? Seriously, isnt this Mogul thing getting old?
Why it didnt get a 10: They plot is almost predictable. Archie, Give us something new.
                SubStoryline summary: SONIC RIDERS Part 2 of 2.:
Sonic returns home, battered & Bruised. Knuckles is worried, & Tails is helping out. As Sonic explains about the Babylon Rouges, Tails brings out hoverboards. Theyre prototype, but theyll have to work. As the Babylon Rouges draw closer to Knothole, they are suprised by Sonic, Knuckles & Tails on hover boards. The Babylon Rouges & The Good Guys Battle it out As So: Sonic vs. Jet, Knuckles vs. Storm, & Tails Vs. Wave. The race is on!!!
Rating 9/10.
+ Improved graphics
+ Story borrowed from the Actual Sonic Riders.
- Story borrowed from the Actual Sonic Riders.
-Too many Blurred out images. Like one of the characters legs.
?Wheres Tails 2nd Tail?
HOW DO I MAKE COMICS!?!?!?!?!
you don't.
we have this thing called sonic preview association. i haven't done it for years. but it's got some very specific rules so i wouldn't get my hopes up for making a fanfic for it.
