"Pet-astrophe": If Sonic thinks he has a hard time with Eggman, wait until he sees the trouble Chris' rival Milan Ramada dishes out! This spoiled daughter of a rich businessman could give Veronica Lodge a run for her money (literally)! Determined to win the title of "richest kid in town," Milan travels in style in a souped-up limo made of special components her father's company dreamt up. Eggman promptly steals those components to build a new robot, but still needs a chaos emerald to complete the task. Lucky for him, first prize in the pet show is chaos emerald-encrusted collar! Can Bokkun dressed as a cat really win the judges' hearts in any category other than "worst in show?!"
Script: Joe Edkin.
Art: James Fry (pencils) and Terry Austin (inks).
"Fine furry friends" cover by Pat "I brake for fuzzy animals" Spaziante!
Shipping Date: August 20th, 2008
On Sale at Comic Specialty Shops: August 27th, 2008
On Sale on Newsstands: September 9th, 2008
32-page,
Full Color comic
$2.25 US.

Sonic X #36 REVIEW!

"Petastrophie" (I would have also accepted "Pest in Show" and "What's new, Bokkuncat?")

Story by: Joe "Unleashed" Edkin

Art by: James "Feline" Fry

Cover by: Patrick "Speak!" Spazniate

STORY:

I'm assuming you've all read up to page six, so I'll start from there.

After saving Milan Ramada's ungrateful butt, Sonic and the kids head to the mall where they run into her again. She's still upset with Sonic not saving the limo 'cuz it's a special limo with a unique engine part built in. Hence, why Eggman is interested in the limo. She leaves them after telling them she's entering her "precious" in a pet show.

So next, of course, we see Eggman gutting the engine apart to find the experimental recombobulator. "Why build my own, when I can steal one already made?" Eggman explains. His explanation is so full of gibberish that even the robots can't figure out what he's saying. "I knew I shouldn't have stopped reading that dictionary" says Bocoe. (A nod to a previous issue Joe wrote.) Now all he needs is the longest running plot device in Sonic history to run his "Destructotron 3000". (And yes, that would be a Chaos Emerald.) But where to find one? Bokkun shows Eggman a poster for the pet show Ramada is going to. The main prize is a collar studded with a Chaos Emerald. What a coinkeydink!

Eggman wants to win that contest to get the Emerald. He said he didn't want to just steal it, as that would be too predictable, and no fun. So, what does he do?... This.

LOL!! Poor kid-bot-thing.

Back at the mall, Sonic decides to try and one up Ramanda, by entering the contest himself as Chris' pet. (Kinda humiliating, don't cha think?) Later that afternoon, they arrive at the pet show with Tails along with "Little miss moral of the story" Cream and Cheese. Sonic runs into a real world (so to speak) hedgehog, and wonders where his gloves and sneakers are. Cream says she hates the idea of the animals being on leashes and locked up in cages, and says that Cheese is her friend, not her pet. Milan Ramada arrives and says that Sonic shouldn't count as her Chiuaua has pedigrees a mile long, and Sonic isn't even from this planet. Eggman then shows up with kitty Bokkun, and tells Sonic that he'll finally know what it's like to lose. The contest then begins.

The judges check out the pets. Precious does fine. The judges ask what breed Bokkun is. Eggman replys "Mobian Molecat" (Does this mean Sonic's planet is now officially called Mobius?) They ask if Sonic's fur is a natural blue or dyed. Later, when they ask Sonic to speak, he gets out a sofa, a smoking pipe (with bubbles) and a grad cap, and asks "What particular subject would you like to hear?"

A Fred Willard lookalike (Taken after the docu-comedy "Best in Show") announces that Precious, Bokkun, and Sonic are the finalists. To speed things along, Sonic and Eggman start fighting, and crash into a bunch of the animal cages. The animals break loose and go wild on the crowd. Sonic and the others start to wrangle them up. Cream spots a woman and her little cat about to be attacked by some Dobermans. Cheese saves the cat, while Cream saves the woman by showing a previously unknown power, a huge, siren-like wail! Given her already ridiculously high-pitched voice, it's super effective.

Sonic wrangles up the other loose pets and gives them back to their owners. "I ask you, what other pet can do what I just did. Doesn't that make me 'best in show'?" The judges say.....no. If Sonic and Eggman hadn't been fighting, the animals would have never gotten loose. The judges instead, award it to Cream and her pet Cheese. Cream tries to explain that Cheese is not her pet per se, but they interrupt her, and give her the Chaos Emerald collar.

Then, Cream gives a South Park "I've learned something today" speech. She admits she was wrong about leashing or caging pets, and that it is for their own protection, and the protection of others that they are constrained. A straightforward morale that doesn't interfere with the story. Well done! Unfortunately, she then makes a huge blunder, by donating the emerald to the "Station Square Society for the protection of animals". Um, hey Cream, don't you need that thing to, oh say .....HELP GET YOU HOME?!!

Eggman leaves defeated, but gives the best line in the comic.

Eggman: "Let's get out of here, and prepare for tomorrow night."

Bokkun: "Why? What are we going to do tomorrow night?"

Eggman: "The same thing we do every night, Bokkun."

Ramada calls them losers for giving away that prize. (So do I.) Cream tells her that a real winner is kind and generous. Then, her and the rest head out for Chocolate Milkshakes. ~Fin.

REVIEW: While not one of Joe's best, it's miles better than the trainwreck that was #33. There were some moments that were pretty funny, and any issue that makes me LOL gets at least a 7.5. Bokkun in a cat suit is both adorable, and hilarious. There are quite a few funny bits of dialogue as well. Cream was a little annoying, but gave the morale well, without it feeling tacked on at the last minute. (*COUGH!* #35 *COUGH*) Jim Fry's art is excellent as always. However, I did notice a serious lack of background in certain scenes. He's usually so good with details.

There were at least two "Joe No-No's". But this time, I was fine with them. Having Eggman call Bokkun a "Mobian Molecat" finally givfe me an excuse to call Sonic's other planet Mobius, even if it's not 100% true. As for Cream's extra new power. I like it! And considering her high-pitched voice as it is, it makes a ton more sense than her being able to fly by flapping her ears. (I always hated that.)

My only real complaints, is that we don't know if this is an "Earth" Emerald (as seen in #33) or a "Mobius" Emerald. I do like the idea that Earth might have it's own Chaos Emeralds. We know there is at least one. However, that doesn't mean that Cream would be stupid enough to give it away. Sonic and the others need those Emeralds, not only to go home, but to protect them from Eggman. It's a dumb move.

OVERALL: 7.5/10 Not Joe's best issue, but much better than his last ish. Maybe he was a little rusty, 'cuz he's more true to form now. (Well, depending if you liked Joe's other issues.)

NOTE: Oddly enough, this is my second comic in a month that has Superheroes at a pet show. Marvel Ages: Superheroes #1 Had Spider-Man, Iron Man and Hulk "Dogsitting" Cerebus and Odeibus for Hercules. Just of note, those are the giant, three and two headed guard dogs of Hades. That's a funny kids comic as well.