So this issue brings to a close certain things that have been building for quite a while. We are shown the vaporization of the good hearted but essentially annoying Tommy the Turtle, who volunteers himself for destruction to ensure that ADAM and his nanite infection are forever eliminated. Presumably, everything else goes back to "normal" (as far as we can say that at this point). Ian does set up two specific plot points that may echo far in the future, however, with the consignment of _all_ chaos emeralds save the master emerald to the zone of silence where they can be "unified", and the revelation that Locke and Finitevus have cooperated to ensure that the Master Emerald remains on Angel Island, in what seems to be a clear case of enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend.
The back story features the destruction-by-sabotage of the Golden Hive Castle that now serves as Eggman's regional headquarters. This is accomplished mainly through Espio's l33t ninja skillz0rz and Nicole's cute anthro-fox-hacking techniques. As Eggman has successfully subverted "all holdings and structures" in the bee kingdom, Espio sees no ethical problem with destryong the lot. What seems curiously problematic is that this was accomplished while Knuckles, Julie, Charmy, and Saffron were out on a double date - and presumably unaware of the mission, and that Vector seems acutely uncomfortable with the prospect. Implicit in all this is Sally's cooperation, since she lent Nicole to the Chaotix. Knowing Ian, this is the setup for some interesting character conflict in the future.
My overall impressions of this issue are that it's not outrageously fantastic, but pretty serviceable. The main story settles once and for all the thorny question of ADAM and Anonymous, paring Eggman's group down to just him and Snively. Likewise, it brings to a close the issue of the nanites, which has been hanging over the comic's head for a while now. As with Sir Connery, Ian manages to simultaneously eliminate a character and exalt him in the process, with the tiresome turtle going out with a very large bang. He shall always be remembered for his sacrifice. Tails fans also get to see the powerful, decisive side of him that rarely gets put on the page. Vaguely foreboding is the little sentence at the end of the main story that goes "Sonic must journey to the end of the universe to prevent another tragedy!", but perhaps I should reserve judgement on that for when the story actually comes up.
In my opinion, the backstory is surprisingly effective. It's a subtle little thing that works on several levels. At the surface, it's an action packed ride-along with our favorite purple chameleon and his aforementioned ninja skills. But if one stops and thinks about it for a bit, the issue of whether or not the palace should have been destroyed, by whom, and under which circumstances, start to become curiously problematic. Has a line been crossed by this action? Is it a somewhat meaningless (in a broader sense) bit of sabotage, or does it quietly reveal something about the characters involved? Or, of course, I may be reading far too much into the story. Ultimately though, the back story made me think rather hard, and i'm still thinking. In my book, that is reason enough to conclude that it's pretty good.
A minor note on the cover: Does anyone else think that the expressions of the characters are rather odd? Sonic looks *exactly* like Scourge does a few issues back, what with the smirk and all. Shadow just looks plain constipated, or perhaps it's just heartburn and he's left his Rolaids in his other fur. Tails is, for his part, just too grimly cheerful, which is enough to be a bit disconcerting.
Other than that I would say that the art's better than golden for the issue - both for the main story and the back story. Tracy and Butler both did an excellent job. It is curious though, to see Ray wearing a jacket at the end of the back story although he doesn't have one at the beginning. Anyone know what's up with that?
Good Review my Friend, but can you give more detail.
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Nicole's cute anthro-fox-hacking techniques
You mean a return of Nicole's Mobian form from like #152 or something? Cause if so, YAY.
Also, Ray's on-again off-again jacket seems to be a staple of his character now =p.
Thanks, Pundit. Now I'm definitely looking forward to this. =D
ADAM/Anonymous is dealt with, as is Tommy. Close of Business. NEXT STORY PLZ.
And now, the backstory, this is better thn what we had several issues ago with the Groundhog Day thing, as it's not just a filler, but it provides useful information, especially something which concerns Angel Island, which is another plus.
And then there's Espio and his l33t ninja skillz, and the return of anthro Nicole, which I'm definitely looking forward to.
Awesome.
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It is curious though, to see Ray wearing a jacket at the end of the back story although he doesn't have one at the beginning. Anyone know what's up with that?
One artist is using Ray's re-design while the other isn't most likely. Of course it's possible that the back-up is an "old" story (like the Axer one recently published) that's just been placed at this point.
So, do they show what happened to Bunnie? And what about Nicole's new "Cute-anthro-fox" form?
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can you give more detail
A summary of the plot points in the main story is available here: bumbleking.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=183
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what about Nicole's new "Cute-anthro-fox" form?
Well, what I was referring to is the way Nicole now portrays herself in her fox form on the screen, instead of the green phosphor squiggle like we're used to. It's not like she's actually walking around doing stuff. Sorry if I gave anyone the wrong impression ;p
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So, do they show what happened to Bunnie?
Not at all. Perhaps next issue :/
So, Tommy the Turtle is officially, 100% dead (seeing as I remember Ian saying he doesn't really use cheap death sometime before)?
Well Pundit, I've been banned from that forum, can you showcase the summary here.
Summary reposted, credited to misspuar from Ian's TSoM forum:
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Order From Chaos Pt. 2: The Great Harmony
After using Jules to lure Sonic/capture Tails, ADAM tells him to self-destruct. But by not saying when, he's givin Papa Hedgie a loophole. Silly robot, deadlines are for comic writers!
While Sonic rushes to save the day, ADAM uses chaos energy from Super Shad 'n Turbo Tails to collect emeralds from cross the universe. And they're color coded!
Green Chaos Emeralds come from Mobius, Light Blue from Wheet, Blue from Xorda, Red from Thoraxia, Yellow from star that destroyed EVE, 'n Gray from Argentum.
However, Locke and his "helper"OMG! Finitivus
manage to keep the Master Emerald safely on Angel Island.
ADAM admits that he came up with the whole scheme to impress dear ol dad but Eggy is so creeped out he's actually siding with Sonic on this one.
Sonic tries to attack ADAM but hesitates knowing Tommy is also in there. Which is precisely why ADAM possesed the turtle.
Sonic gets a power boost from the emeralds and goes super, but still isn't strong enough to win.
Eggy frees Super Shad 'n Turbo Tails then begs for their help since defeating ADAM is beyond even his Egg Fleet's in power.
Turbo Tails comes up with a plan. Using Shad's Chaos Control a portal to the Zone of Silence is opened and the energy is stored inside (for now).
Sonic tells ADAM that without the chaos energy he's beat but ADAM disagrees. Suddenly Tommy regain control...
but it's only temprary. Knowing ADAM will so be the boss again, Tommy decides that they both have to be destroyed
Sonic wants to find another way but there isn't time. Eggy has already commanded the Egg Cannons to fire.
Tears are shed, goodbyes are said, and Faded Myth's probly still camped out on Ian's bed.Backup story:Espio in ...For A Friend (small note: Penders is inker for this story sugesting inventry statis)
The Chaotix have a mission. With Charmy/Saffron and Knux/JulieSu dating, job falls to the lonely hearts club. Vec radios Mighty and Ray (who st-still st-stutters at times) to see how its going. Mercifuly he doesn't ask anyone to find the computer room.
They assign Espio to do a stealthy invesagation of Golden Hive Colony. He slices a Egg Robo in half, skitters up a wall, goes invisible, all those l33t ninja things. He uses Nicole to hack into the mainframe. Close-ups of her monitor show she's uses her Neo-form onscreen now. She and Espy talk about Eggy's robot obsession while she searches for info. All the insects have fled the hive but exact number who survives in unknown. Espy decides to blow up the base reasoning that if Charmy and pals can't have it, neither should Eggman. Espio then rejoins his team-mates who wisely don't sugest he get Anger Management.
If it turns out that misspuar objects to the reposting of her summary, I shall have to remove this ;o
I don't mind in the least. ^__^
You only listed six emerald colors. Didn't ADAM say there were seven?
Also, who else here realizes that Mogul has all but been eliminated permanently from the list of active vilains since he no longer has that emerald in his chest?
I think I'm getting an idea as to what Finitevus is up to now, but its purely speculation.
If there's anyone here who knows, is there any way for writer's like Ian to legally take and use our ideas for stories in the future, or at least as springboards for their own plans? I have a couple I'd really like to let him think about.
Terogosa 6 are where purple emeralds come from. Thanks for telling me on Ian's forum, Miss Puar.
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Mercifuly he doesn't ask anyone to find the computer room.
Oh my god, but how awesome would it have been if he did?
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If there's anyone here who knows, is there any way for writer's like Ian to legally take and use our ideas for stories in the future, or at least as springboards for their own plans? I have a couple I'd really like to let him think about.
Ian put the kibosh on that a long time ago. Creative and legal issues, mostly.
YES. Chaotix backstory (which sounds like some very good writing with characterizations and moral questions), major continuity cleanup, and segasonic'd emeralds. Sounds like an awesome comic. Was tommy handled in a properly serious way? His original death scene was pretty significant, then Chacon and Penders screwed it up, so is this one at least as good?
Who wrote the backstory? It sounds too awesome to be Chacon, but wasn't penders fired right after Ian joined?
Ian wrote, Butler penciled, Penders inked (his last assignment for the book).
Tommy's demise was sudden and somewhat understated. It would be poignant if it weren't for the fact that we pretty much hate his guts and have seen him die and come back several times. It seems final now, though.
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Also, who else here realizes that Mogul has all but been eliminated permanently from the list of active vilains since he no longer has that emerald in his chest?
I think that's the reason why Ian connected Mogul to the Circle of Ixis.. Without the Chaos Emerald, Mogul's gonna need a new shtick, and Immortal Sorceror sounds like a good one, with Naugus as his apprentice...
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Without the Chaos Emerald, Mogul's gonna need a new shtick, and Immortal Sorceror sounds like a good one, with Naugus as his apprentice...
I'm pretty hazy about this, but doesn't most of Mogul's power come from the emerald in his chest? Is he going to even be able to act as leader of the Circle without it? In my opinion, the immediately obvious rationale for linking Mogul to the Circle of Ixis is so that Ian can get rid of all of these bothersome villians in one go ;p I could be completely wrong, of course...
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Was tommy handled in a properly serious way?
I don't think anyone could argue that it was anything but deadly serious. As much as I despise the whole premise behind Tommy, I would say that KP made as much of it as he could. As far as "somewhat understated" goes, I would say that I have a different interpretation. The death scene might only have been observed by a few, but it was nevertheless very dramatic (or as dramatic as a PG comic could manage).
Here we go with scans of the big scene so everyone can come to their own conclusions:
Seems a bit too quick for a death, just exploding out of nowhere and all, but at least it gets the job done.
EDIT: And I just noticed that that is not one whole page. Looks like there's more to it than that. Nevermind, then.
Ah they might be a trifle confusing then. These three images are taken from three different pages, and each represents at most about a third of each page. I cherry-picked the dramatic bits, and it just seems rather coincidental that they don't look out of place right next to each other ;o
either way, it looks like a decent issue nonetheless, i still think it would've had more emotional punch if it had been jules that ADAM possessed.
By understated I meant dramatic understatement used as an artistic device... The lack of unnecessary dialogue or pomp, and the silhouetted depiction of the small figures against a large sound.
Compare with Sir Connery's demise: Tommy's is more understated, but far more dramatic in spite of (or, because of) this.
I remember Ian saying a few months ago that Feist was going to be brought into comic some time next year. He's only ever been seen in the Zone of Silence. All the chaos emeralds are in the Zone of Silence now. Mogul, Naugus' master, needs a source of energy to keep him alive and restore his powers. Feist appears to be a servant of Naugus just like King Max, Kodos, and Arachnis were.
I've got a very bad feeling about this....
Who the heck is feist? I've never even heard of him. AND THE GOOGLES! THEY DO NOTHING!
Feist showed up in the past, IIRC when Sonic, Sally and St. John went to recover the king from the zone. I think he had one or two more appearances.
Feist.. Oh yeah, I rememberf now, he was that giant skunk-like furry in the Zone of Silence..
Interesting story except for ADAM summoning the Emeralds of the Universe. There something about it that rub me the wrong way. Maybe cause sound too deux ex machina for me. Farewell Tommy you will not be missed.
(LAUGHS)
, MAN you guys sure hated that turtle's guts didn't ya. 
too deux ex machina for me
I guess we have to consider that he had to use the power of both Shadow and Tails to do so - and that's Mr Chaos Control and Mr Chosen One.
What i'm wondering now is how he "makes the both of them act as a beacon" against their will as they're trapped in those tanks.
Based on this topic, clearly Ian should've left Tommy alive just to annoy everyone.
I'm gonna burn in hell...
I got home and skipped up the stairs after I opened the mailbox only to discover my comic had arrived. Oh yeah, so I opened it wanting to see who was gonna die. So it wasn't Jules thank Ian. Besides slightly disliking the way that Sonic was drawn (face looks weird) I really enjoyes this issue. I liked how Ian brought up old chars. Oh, and I laughed when Tommy died. Yeah, I did. It was just funny how he was there and then Kra-Koom the next page. But kudos to Ian for finding a decent way for this turtle to go. I mean, he was a Fredom Fighter 'til the end and made a good story. I just have a weird sense of humor.
Yeah. Anyways, I loved the backstory. Great way to bring the Chaotix back. 
I'm a happy Sonic Fan this month ^^
i just picked up the issue today at my LCS and i was VERY pleased with the entire book. Just a beautiful piece. And no one's yet mentioned it but Steven Butler's art looks very interesting under the Ken Penders inks. Its all the perks of Butler with dashes of Penders strong points here and there. I'm impressed.
Great issue! Best issue of STH this year. We got many things resolved. Ian has wrapped up the Nanites and Anonimous, and "chosen one" story arcs and given us what we wanted most. Tommy Turtle dead.
The backstory was also exellent. We got to see Espio really kick some butt. Nice to see Ray, but what's with that jacket popping up all of the sudden. BTW is he younger than Tails?
Was anyone else suprised to see Ken Penders name in the credits? (He inked and lettered the backstory FYI) Just when you think he's gone from the book for good.
Not really surprised. I think he had mentioned this was coming, but it's his last hurrah.
i got the issue yesterday, it was by far the best issue since RTAI.
i loved ADAM and was kind of sad to see a villain of his caliber go. and ian actually made me CARE about tommy by the end of the issue.
Ray IS wearing his jacket on the first age of the backup story! Only the armcuffs are colored blue!!!
I personally found the issue to be a bit of a disappointment. I mean, if Super Sonic is to appear in an issue, then that issue must have a lot of action. What was the purpose of Sonic going super if he's not the one who's going to take down A.D.A.M.?
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I personally found the issue to be a bit of a disappointment. I mean, if Super Sonic is to appear in an issue, then that issue must have a lot of action. What was the purpose of Sonic going super if he's not the one who's going to take down A.D.A.M.?
i get your point, but you've got to remember that ADAM went super too. so if you really think about it their was action, just not too much detail.
since ADAM was stronger than Sonic in regular form, you can only imagine that ADAM was stronger than him in super form.
and do to that, they were ALMOST equal meaning not so much action. also there is page restraints.
or i could be wrong and they are all just the same infinite power level.
but overall, i think the purpose of him going super was because it made the issue just that more awesome. (atleast i thought it did.)
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What was the purpose of Sonic going super if he's not the one who's going to take down A.D.A.M.?
So the way I see it, the issue's not really supposed to be about Sonic. Like it or not, the writers have invested a certain amount of time and space into building up as a character. By making sure that Tommy's sacrifice is suitably dramatic, of which making the characters go super is a big component, we at least are supposed to feel some major impact when we see him die. So Sonic doesn't go super to save the day this time, but to show us that Tommy's decision to sacrifice himself to save the day was hugely important and significant.
Personally, I found it a bit of a letdown. It just feels like there should have been more to it. It all comes down to ADAM simply getting blasted by Eggman's fleet. And that's it. How did ADAM gain sentience in the first place? Where exactly did he come from? Why did he try to kill Eggman and then suddenly decide he wanted to "make daddy proud"? I don't think ADAM was fleshed out nearly as much as he could have been. Ah well, it's all over now.
Another thing: since the spire helped gather all of the Chaos Emeralds on Mobius, what exactly were those emerald-like objects he was using with the machine?
well, i imagine they were actual chaos emeralds, because he needed to transform Shadow and Tails.
I have no idea, but I will say that it was fairly decent, I mean give Ian credit, he did some of us a favor, He killed Tommy finally, I must say, and he did for now put a close on the chosen one arc and the anynomous arc, but there is one question I have always been wondering, Was ADAM really of Mobius Prime, cause he seemed a little too knowledgeable about everything and the way he did things in Darkest Storm, makes me wonder if maybe he came from somewhere else.
But overall I said before it was fairly decent story.
8/10 Stars!
ADAM seemed knowledgeable because he was able to access Robotnik's data files, which - assuming he also had access to the original Robotnik's data files - gives him full access to two different zones worth of information.
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ADAM seemed knowledgeable because he was able to access Robotnik's data files, which - assuming he also had access to the original Robotnik's data files - gives him full access to two different zones worth of information.
And someone apart from Eggman had to make use of that valuable information. =P
We can all agree that, at the very least, this issue put an end to...
No word from Mr. Turtle's running mate, Mr. Christopher Thorndyke, on his plans now that Mr. Turtle has passed away.
^LOL!
Uh...did anyone else find the tossing of the Chaos Emeralds into the Zone of Silence a little to, uh, convenient?
kind of, but it really (i personally think) is to bring more plot points into play, this way, either Ixis or faust can tap into that power.
or anyone for that matter as it's pretty much proven that anyone, machine, furry or cyborg can tap into that power.
and really from what we've seen, faust isn't a pushover. although we don't know what his agenda is, or has been or whether or not he even NEEDS the power or wants it.
Ian still needs to write a story about all those echidnas in the Egg Grapes who were lost to the zone during "Darkest Hour." That's another potential plot.
I'm thinking that's the something wonderful that Tails believes will happen with all those emeralds in the zone. Either that they will revive and return the Echidnas, or at least stabilize the Zone... but I could imagine the emeralds helping to empower Fiest as well and make him a future threat. guess we'll see
Ian stated awhile ago that all but one of the mobians in the egg grapes that were taken to the Zone of Silence, have been permanently written out. Of course this means a large number of one-shot characters and Archimedes' ancestors, the Council of Ants, are dead. On the positive side, as has been constantly argued over the past few months, Ian is accomplishing one goal of removing individuals that have long outlived their usefulness in order to have a less cluttered cast list.
Anyway, I'm just reminding any and everyone that Ian wants to follow a dead=dead policy unless a special situation arises.
