Just got it today too. I have to say I'm pretty impressed by what I saw. However the parts in the Zone of Silence and Argentum went a bit too fast and too smoothly even for a Sonic story. As for game tie-ins besides the Black Arms, who else noticed the sphere worlds and tube tracks in the Zone of Silence were tributes to the hidden stages in the Sonic 2,3, & Knuckles games? As for Sonic commenting on Fiona's absence, I think we can all guess just what this will lead to by issue 172. On the downside, I didn't like how Yardley drew Feist to look more like giant panda instead of a skunk(we still need to exlore his character more). I also didn't like the chaos emeralds being condensed into seven super emeralds of their respective colors. It completely destroys the emerald mythology I was accustomed to for years and only brings the series slightly closer to the games(but wouldn't you say it was a little convient for Feist to give them the super emerald made of Argentum's emeralds and then use it to go to Argentum itself?). The backup story was great too, despite being drawn by Manak. I was feeling totally retro by the end of it.

i got it today as well.

i personally am starting to think of feist as the kind of Galactus/Watcher character for this comic. but yeah it was a tad conveinient that he gave them the grey emerald but atleast he said that he'd challenge them if they wanted another one.

this was a good issue, with the zone of silence being stabilized and given a new look (not that it actually had a look before) also, the chaos emerald thing being resolved (anybody get the feeling that feist is giving away the chaos emeralds the same way that galactus gave away the power cosmic?)

also, we have General D coolette's replacement in tails' dad, (who IMO is a better character)
as well as the guiding star gem being brought back into the picture.
ian did all of these without making it look rushed as he did with TDS (meaning hanging plot lines weren't just resolved with one quick sentence)

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Feist to look more like giant panda instead of a skunk

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Skunk? I thought he looked more like a badger?

Chaos Emeralds of the universe condensed into only seven of varying colors... would they be more potent this way? Is Feist hoarding them or protecting them from those who might use them for ill? Because last I remember he seemed like a jerk.

Marvel parallels, huh... I can't help but see another with the Chaos Emeralds.

This seems more like an attempt to turn the zone of silence into the special zone and make chaos emmeralds more game-like than a nod to Galactus. However, wasn't Feist a villain serving Naugus? Now he's an emerald guardian? Ian handled another plot point with Tails' parents and I like the intro of Black Arms as an alien fighting another alien villain. It intros them without them seeming like a slap-on.

The entire issue was basically just a set up piece. Ian was basically opening the doors on a bevy of potential new plot lines. I also have mixed feelings over the blending of the classic (starposts, badniks) with the contemporary (Shadow and the Black Arms). We'll just have to see how that turns out.

i forgot about the infinity gems! they are very much alike the chaos emeralds, although they are arguably more powerful as they each have an effect on the universe.

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However, wasn't Feist a villain serving Naugus?

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Yeah, he was serving Naugus, but who said he was actually evil. Remember, the king also was a servant of Naugus, but he, as well as the others, had to swear allegence to him in return to be turn into the emerald-like form so they wouldn't go insane in the Zone. Whose to say that Feist wasn't good and didn't like Naugus anymore than the king did, or Kudos for that matter. That very reason alone could explain Feist's attitude when first we saw him.

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Feist to look more like giant panda instead of a skunk

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Skunk? I thought he looked more like a badger?

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Heh, myself, I always thought he did look like a panda because I don't remember him having a skunk's tail in the dream reality.

Behold the tail-less wonder! Am I ever glad I saved some early issues.

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we have General D coolette's replacement in tails' dad, (who IMO is a better character)

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Am curious why you say that hypershadow. I felt it kinda presumptive on Elias' part- here's a dude who hasn't seen battle in at least 10 farkin' years and from what little we've gleamed of his personality is a bit reckless (leaping against Julian without backup netted him a trip to the Roboticizer). A general needs to think ahead. As I recall, D'Coolette didn't trust Julian either but he planned a secret village (in case of coup d'tat, please use slide) not a one-on-one confrontation. That and it's gotta be a kick in the teeth for poor Ant. "Hey man, sorry your dad's gone and mine's still here. By the way, you're getting skipped for promotions..." I swear it's like the crown cuts off circulation to their brains.

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Am I ever glad I saved some early issues.

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I have the self same issue; I was just to lazy to pull it out.

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it's gotta be a kick in the teeth for poor Ant. "Hey man, sorry your dad's gone and mine's still here. By the way, you're getting skipped for promotions..." I swear it's like the crown cuts off circulation to their brains.

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Sure, I'm sure it makes Ant even more sad knowing his dad won't be able to join, but Elias would have had Amadeus join the court whether le General kicked the bucket or not remember he's trying to assemble the whole court that was around before the coup and probably add more to it as well. Besides, whose to say that Ant won't be put into the court; I wouldn't be surprised if he asks Sonic to join, either.

I also have issue 43 but don't feel like pulling it out given the huge pile of other issues its under. The same goes with issue 66 which has the only other appearance of Feist up until now. Given the previous scan, I do feel he looked like a badger then and will still argue Yardley's drawing.

As for the "general" rank concern, why would there be only one general to lead the military? From the looks of it, both Antione and Tails' fathers were generals at the same time before the coup.

On a side note, I wonder if the Bem were wiped out in the fighting?

I know Feist is a fairly ambiguous animal. Ian's script asked for a panda, so I drew a panda.

Tracy!

Actually SS9 "Eve Of Destruction" identified Mr. Prower was a Lt. As going all the way to Gen means a heckuva promotion, I think I'd best take it up with the Ianster.
To end on a happy note, nifty little SEGA touch having 7 multicolor Chaos Emeralds obtained from a Special Stage.
EDIT: 500th post. Hooray!

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Actually SS9 "Eve Of Destruction" identified Mr. Prower was a Lt.

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Puar, where do you get that he's a Lt.? I got the issue right in front of me and Amadeus refers to himself as the Second in Command of the Royal Guard and 'Buttnik(the only other character to reference his rank) refers to him as "Commander."

I don't know alot about military ranks in the US or any monarchy military especially, but I seriously doubt that being Second in Command of the Royal Guard would constitute the rank of Lt. as a matter of fact I would say that would be more suited to the rank of general.

Typing fast, meant Lt. Col. Which is still wrong but less so (dunno why I got the impression Stripe ranked slighty higher, age I guess) maybe I oughtta whine then about Commander not being a military rank? I should never try to be clever, it leaves me begging for a fall.
*shrugs* At least you stopped short of saying "neener neener". That's class right there.

Heh, maybe you should. I guess Commander is just a title then since it ain't a rank.

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Heh, maybe you should. I guess Commander is just a title then since it ain't a rank.

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that depends. you could be a battalion commander, which i'm not sure if that's the case at all but still. i'm sure it wasn't a title for amadeus otherwise Robotnik wouldn't have reffered to him as such.

No, Commander is a rank. It just happens to be more for the Air Force and the Navy than the Army.

Now THIS is more LIKE it! Ian is starting to build onto the continuity rather than showing some useless characters the door. 2007 may see him actually doing some storytelling on his own rather than retrofitting the works of Ken and Karl. Will be watching.

I've got mixed feelings on Tails parents coming back.

On one hand, part of the appeal of Tails character is that he was an orphan. It helps bring up sympathy for the character. Just ask almost any Disney chracter. Besides, would would little "girl" Annie have been as popular as little "orphan" Annie? Plus, I like the fact that he had Sonic and his folks as his foster family of sorts.

However, IMHO there seems to be a little forbouding-ness (is that even a word?)on Amadeus (Tails' dad)'s part. That line; "Our time abroad has exposed me to some wonderful ideas. I hope to share them with the KINGDOM soon." The way the shadows fall on him, and his grin. I don't trust him. One of two things are happening here. Either;

1.) He wants to take over the kingdom somehow. OR

2.) Those are not Tails actual parents, and may be possible Xorda or Black Arms replicas preparing to bring the war to Mobius. Don't you think it's awfull convenient how fast Sonic found them on a war torn planet?

Just a shot in the dark.

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That line; "Our time abroad has exposed me to some wonderful ideas. I hope to share them with the KINGDOM soon." The way the shadows fall on him, and his grin. I don't trust him. One of two things are happening here. Either;

1.) He wants to take over the kingdom somehow. OR

2.) Those are not Tails actual parents, and may be possible Xorda or Black Arms replicas preparing to bring the war to Mobius. Don't you think it's awfull convenient how fast Sonic found them on a war torn planet?

Just a shot in the dark.

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Well if you read the pevious page where Merlin told Tails to reach with heart and soul for his parents may help you figure this out.

And secondly, who to say they weren't seeking cover and suddenly saw the bright flash that brought Tails and Co. there.

But you do bring up a good point about Tails dad, maybe the black arms perhaps got to him and injected something into his body or brain to control like when A.D.A.M. did it to Tommy in a recent story.

Maybe Shigamado you should talk to Ian Potto or Dan Drazan about this. Hey it might help

You do bring up a good point about Tail's Dad, Shigamado. I remember Ian saying something about Tail's reunion with his parent might not be happy.

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You do bring up a good point about Tail's Dad, Shigamado. I remember Ian saying something about Tail's reunion with his parent might not be happy

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Hey DC can you quote that since Ian banned me from his direct forum, I would to know exactly what he said, because it seems Rosemary (Tails) was very happy to see him.

Bw1979, I believe the quote is somewhere on this board's "Ask Ian about Sonic the Hedgehog thread." Sorry I don't have time to look though all the pages now.

Sounds like a really good issue. I might just start back picking up the comics again because of this.

Finally got around to getting #169, and #170. And since this thread isn't about #169, I'll move onto my thoughts of #170.

BTW, lolz, spoilers.

It seemed rushed and fast paced, as if trying to jam a lot of events into the one story. I'm sure more of this could've been expanded. And the backup story?

Pfft.

My heart flitted at seeing the old Badniks again, because I can't deny that I love them, but, the story itself... Ugh.

But back to the main story.

~We're off to the Zone of Silence, we're gonna save the King!~
As I mentioned before, it could've been more expanded. Like, this being the main story of the issue instead of being mushed in together with the other one. Our heroes Sonic & Tails sent on a mission to the Zone of Silence to retreive a Chaos Emerald to save the king? Now that's all fine and dandy, but upon their entrance to the Zone of Silence, I was kinda disappointed. It's pretty much been turned into the "Special Zones", because of access to it through the Star Posts, which I swear have been used in the comics before - remember all the way back in the early issues when Sonic first went Super Sonic? Yeah.

And then the idea of mashing all the Chaos Emeralds into seven separate ones kind of disappointed me. I was half expecting to see Chaos Emeralds floating around when Sonic and Tails arrived, but no, there's this giant panda (lolz), boasting awesome power. I probably would've preferred to keep all the Chaos Emeralds there, but stictly limit their usage. But, of all the Chaos Emeralds they got, it had to be the silver/grey one!? Sheesh. They could've gotten a sexy green one, or a hot red one.

As far as I'm concerned, when Sonic and Tails get back with the Chaos Emerald, and King Max is saved, the story's over.

Now, we move onto the next part - Saving Private Power.
Merlin - I was wondering when we were going to see the old coot again - summons Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, and is all like "lolz, tails, wer gonna save ur parents." It's finally at this point that it finally clicks that Ian's getting things set up for #175. So yeah, The group transport to the Bem's homeworld, which is being ravaged with war by - surprise, surprise - the Xorda. But who's this who's also joined the fray? Oh noes, it's the Black Arms. And before too much is delved into, we get whisked away again, back to Knothole.

Tails' dad is appointed to the King's Court - Elias's court - because silly me forgot that he was king and not ol' Maxy. There's also something unnerving about Amadeus in that last picture of him, something evil and foreboding doom for everyone. Turn the page. Sonic at a cemetary! Tommy and Connery (lolz, rhyhmes, yo!)! But, here we having Sonic and Knuckles socialising like teenages towards each other - this I like - and then it gets all serious. But it was good to see that side of Sonic and Knuckles.

And finally, we end with Shadow confronting Eggman about his past. Truly classic.

Thus, the build-up towards #175 continues. Nice work, Ian!

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There's also something unnerving about Amadeus in that last picture of him, something evil and foreboding doom for everyone

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Well so far everyone has been saying that, and I have to agree Spiner, my thoughts are that maybe, just maybe The Black Arms got to him, and maybe Rosemary knows this and is keeping it hidden for Tails sake and safety.

But what do you think?

Finally got this issue and loved it. Ian's really changing the landscape of the world the stories take place in, and he's doing it through storytelling, rather than cheap gimmicks ::coughcough::tossedinspace::cough::.

I have a request, though. Since I started reading the book at issue 48, I missed Feist's first appearance. This issue is hinting in a not-so-subtle manner that we haven't seen the last of Feist, and Ian has shown so far that when he leaves a gun on ther mantle it is typically fired within a couple months. As such, I think Feist ought to be given some sort of bio in the SHQ encyclopedia, but before I do that I'd like a little background info on him, the sort of stuff that might go in his bio. Can anyone help me out?

Ah, so you just missed Feist intro. He came in #43. We met him when Sonic tried out Dr. Quack's machine that allowed Sonic to enter King Max' mind. As Sonic was semi-living King Max' time in the Zone, all we learned about Feist then was that he interrupted Max and Kodos' fight (Kodos was trying to kill Max for some reason or the other). Feist zapped Kodos (as he was talking some nonsense about hurting Feist) but we never did find out what happened between Feist & Max because Sonic managed to convince Max that this is a dream. ;p

Basically we've found out that Feist was one of Naugus' underlings later on. Feist wasn't all that developed. I don't know what Ian just did with Feist that builds on that minor stuff really.

I wish he'd just ignored the character so that we wouldn't have some giant panda making special stages.

The fact that a sentence like that makes complete sense is positively frightening.

Thanks, TR. I'll get on that one soon.

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I wish he'd just ignored the character so that we wouldn't have some giant panda making special stages.

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Is it any less strange to have a blue hedgehog running through them? ;P

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There's also something unnerving about Amadeus in that last picture of him, something evil and foreboding doom for everyone

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Ah, glad to see I ain't the only one to be wary about Amadeus' smile, though I wasn't sure if that was supposed to mean anything or if it was just the way it looked, but it was a similar feeling when I saw Terra's face at the end of the Teen Titan's episode when she became a titan and if you watched the show, you know how that turned out.

That last panel with Amadeus is almost impossible to analyze...on one hand, the whole thing feels like a setup, but is it really in good taste to bring characters who haven't appeared in over three years (and only in non-present stories prior) back and immediately turn them into potential villains after just three pages?

If I had to bet, I'd say this is leading to something bad, though I wish it had received a better setup than just being tossed in the middle of the story. Tails reuniting with his parents IS kind of a big thing...which means he probably has yet to get the REAL thing.

We still need Bunnie's parents too, don't we?

Oh, and here's a thought...the whole obvious foreshadowing regarding Fiona...perhaps a clever ruse? After all, what kind of person blatantly draws suspicion to a character already under suspicion, unless it were to make one rethink the situation?

I thought that the shading on that panel was about as subtle as a sledgehammer when it came to foreboding, as well.

But I have a query for you guys:

Must say that I've asked a couple of friends on the Archie staff if they knew how Ian might've sneaked the insult "You spaz!" through the censor.

I'm sure I remember that being about as acceptable a word over in the US as it is over here - ie. not at all. I seem to remember Sandra Bullock using it about even just herself on a talk show a couple of years ago and getting mauled by disabilities advocates later.

I've never heard anyone complain about it in the US. One of Archie's artists even goes by the name. It's never even occurred to me that it might not be acceptable.

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It's never even occurred to me that it might not be acceptable.

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unfortunately, we live in a time where the phrase " i want a grilled cheese" can become a taboo for some reason or another.

Uh, I can't say I've ever heard "spaz" being used as some monstrous insult. It just means someone's being eccentric. As Dirk said, with one of the best-known artists of the comic going by Spaz, I doubt it was a matter of "sneaking" in anything.

Of course I know about Pat/Spaz. I just wasn't sure what the opinion was on the term over there.

Actually, I'm more than willing to put my hands up and say that I made the wrong call on this one. It seems that my memory was playing up, and she accidentally outraged the UK rather than the US.

So maybe it is just a taboo over here.