Order and Chaos: the Gathering Part 1 of 2: A new and deadly evil lurks in the darkness, prepared to strike Sonic and destroy the entire planet. This latest menace proves to be one of Sonic's deadliest villains ever, and this time we might just mean it when we say the combined forces of Sonic and the Freedom Fighters may be no match for this fiend! Especially since Sonic may have to put a friend or two's life in danger just to stop him! PLUS: With Antoine and Bunnie finally back together and love in full bloom again what can Sonic have to say that could put this relationship in jeopardy? Find out in this intriguing back-up tale. SCRIPT: Ian Flynn. INTERIOR ART & COVER: Tracy Yardley.
Ships October 18, 2006
On sale DCD November 1, 2006
On sale newsstand November 7, 2006
32-page, full color comic
$2.25 US
UPC #: 62816-46977-16811
Hare 'em, Scare 'em": Just in time for Halloween, this issue is full of tricks but not many treats for our heroes. After his best friend Tails is tricked and blamed for unleashing the devastating power of an alien space craft upon Station Square city, Sonic races to his aid, but both of them end up apprehended by a shadowy government agency. Trapped in jail alongside the villainous Dr. Eggman, our heroes remain helpless as the spookiest ghosts of all time, King Boom Boo and his creepy cohorts, threaten their friends' peaceful existence! Can they bust out and bust the ghosts before it's too late? Featuring action-packed manga art from fan favorite David Hutchison (Antarctic Presss Wizard of Oz)! SCRIPT: Joe Edkin. ART: David Hutchison. CREEPY-COOL COVER BY SPAZ!
Ships October 4, 2006
On sale DCD October 18, 2006
On sale newsstand October 24, 2006
32-page, full color comic
$2.25 US
UPC #: 62816-46971-01311
Begin rampant speculation.
Spaz's artwork has been tons better on Sonic X than anything he'd done on the regular Sonic covers this year.
It's nice to see Tracy getting a chance to do the cover. He's the best artist on this book since Spaz.
David Hutchisson is one of the biggest american manga artist. It's great to know that we'll finally have a manga look on this anime comic.
Is that "Nanite Sample" I see on those test tubes? I'm guessing the friend Sonic will have to put in danger is Tommy - good on yer, Sonic! 
Don't forget Bunnie, Jules, or Nicole either! Heeheehee!![:]](https://www.lighthead.net/misc/mofo/smilies/biggrinshaded.gif)
Well the title specifically mentions the newly reconciled Bunnie & Antoine, so my bets is on Bunnie's life in danger, and maybe Tommy as well (but unlikely as he adapted to them awhile back didn't he?)
The whole Nanites plot of Eggman's is finally underway, and I'm sure A.D.A.M is gonna sit back and watch the show with gleeful eyes 
Actually, the Nanite plot was initiated by A.D.A.M., not Eggman.
So Yardley finally got to do a cover, eh? Awesome. Spaz's Sonic X cover looks awesome as usual. The story for STH sounds... interesting.
as long as it isn't another tommy story, i'll be happy. ever since they brought him back i've never been able to warm to that character. ^^;
Tracy Yardley is a guy, definately? as 'tracy' over here is very much a girl's name.
Yardley's a guy. You can ask him yourself at Ian's forum.
Tracy is really gender-neutral, Like Tracy from Pokemon.
You know, it seems like Ian isn't wasting any time in tying up this comic's loose ends... first TDS, then the M25yl conclusion, now this. I approve!
I hope that the villain is not Black Doom. I hate Black Doom with a passion.
I kind of hope that Finitevus is the one stirring up trouble this time, or I'd at least like to know what he's up to.
Sonic X cover looks great. Sonic and Tails need to get into the spirit; They aren't wearing costumes! XD
Count Eggman has got to be the coolest thing in the history of forever.
Wow, I must say i'm liking Tracey Yardleys cover 
Hope to see more from him in the future.He does expressions so well
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I hope that the villain is not Black Doom. I hate Black Doom with a passion.
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I kind of hope that Finitevus is the one stirring up trouble this time, or I'd at least like to know what he's up to.
Really now. look at the cover. guess who the villain is.
But that's what makes it so evil. They even stole Eggman's test tube stickers!!
Just because they're in Eggman's lab doesn't mean it's definatley going to be Eggman or A.D.A.M. that ends up being the villan (even though it probably is). If Sonic and Tails can manage to get in there, so could someone else. *shrug*
It's the nanites.
Eh? *shrug* I haven't been keeping up too much lately. the Nanites are who/what?
Well, "nanites" are short for self-replicating nanotechnology -- miniature robots that grow, expand, and absorb mineral substances. They're currently under control of A.D.A.M.
*sigh*
I know that hyperbole's to be expected in a medium like this, but am I the only one who gets a little bored of:
"This is the greatest threat ever!"
"No, this is!"
"No, THIS is the greatest threat ever!"
"You're all wrong, it's...!"
...every few months?
This constant pushing up of the bar just seems to lessen the impact of what actually appears.
Silly Sam. It's an homage to Dragon Ball Z. Like everything else in Sonic.
Although I can recognise a Super Saiyan hairdo when I see one, I've never actually managed to sit through an episode of DBZ. Just so you know. 😉
Well, in DBZ, each threat is hailed as the greatest ever.
I wonder if any of the Z fighters ever stopped to marvel at the luck they have that each threat occurs in increasing order of magnitude, proportionate to their increase in capability.
That's precisely what I've been thinking about Sonic for years, given how smart some of the FFs're supposed to be. 😉
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Well, in DBZ, each threat is hailed as the greatest ever.
yeah, it is. because normally the whole world/universe is at stake, so i can imagine it would be.
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I wonder if any of the Z fighters ever stopped to marvel at the luck they have that each threat occurs in increasing order of magnitude, proportionate to their increase in capability.
ok, you've got a point there. but the fact that Cell was made after Frieza thing made sense. Majin bu on the other hand, doesn't make a helluva lot of sense on how he was made but for some weird reason he was Above and beyond every other villain in the series. don't even get me started on GT, that show just sucked.
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yeah, it is. because normally the whole world/universe is at stake, so i can imagine it would be.
You miss the point. Only one threat can be the greatest ever. They can't all be.
Well, they DID say that this time they "just might mean it." 
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Don't forget Bunnie, Jules, or Nicole either! Heeheehee!
Yes but Ian once said that Bunnie isn't going anywhere, So Tommy's and Sonic's Dad and maybe Nicole's lives could be in danger more than Bunnie's.
Just have to wait and see.
Am I the only one who is tired of having lines of speculation prematurely shot down because "Ian said this" and "Ian said that?" I might find the comic slightly more enjoyable if we didn't have a constant stream of hints from an inside source.
Is it a spoiler to say Bunnie isn't going to get killed off? That would be way out there speculation. Telling people that Anonymous is not SatAM Robotnik isn't a spoiler either because most knowledgable fans know that.
Not so much, I admit.
I don't have a problem with Ian clarifying things. The problem I have is that he shot down the SatAM-Robotnik speculation before the big reveal.
Because of Ian's hints, we already know that this year we won't be seeing major appearances by SatAM Robotnik, Rob O' the Hedge, The Anti Freedom Fighters, Bunnie's family, Zonic, Geoffrey St. John, the Original Freedom Fighters, Jack Rabbit, the Wolf Pack, Monkey Kahn, Dulcy, Tikal, Big, the Black Arms, the BattleBird Armada, or Eggman Nega. Not to mention other character's he's mentioned that I can't be bothered to remember at the moment.
Now, some of these were obvious anyway, but some of them could have been active lines of speculation for the fans. What fun is it when people are saying "Anonymous can't be Character X because Ian said that character isn't slated to appear" or "The latest threat isn't the Black Arms because Ian said they won't be showing up till next year."
I wish Ian would stop telling the fans what isn't going to happen so we can wait and see for ourselves.
agreed. i didn't mind the "ask ian" topic at first, but when it started to get to the point we started to learn a little too much it got annoying.
i personally wanted to see the zonic thing resolved. it's been around since #75 and it's really bothering me.
Man...why do the Sonic X covers look so much better than the regular Sonic covers? Get the artist for Sonic X working on the regular Sonic covers.
And does the broken test tube mean we'll have another villain driven mad by chemicals like Kodos once was? (I miss big and hairy.)
XD
Spaz does the Sonic X covers.
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I don't have a problem with Ian clarifying things. The problem I have is that he shot down the SatAM-Robotnik speculation before the big reveal.
It was never anyone's intention to bring back SatAM Robotnik. Ken said the plan had always been Ivan before Ian stepped in. Even if it were SatAM Robotnik, it would be just too much having two evil geniuses with more or less the same goal (with the exception of #108) . Especially the second evil genius being another major villain who would probably be difficult enough to kill off again.
So it just makes sense why it wouldn't be smart to bring him back.
That really isn't the point.
The point is shooting down speculation.
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You miss the point. Only one threat can be the greatest ever. They can't all be.
you're right, but i don't remember them ever thinking that each one is the greatest threat ever. during the time though such as when Frieza and goku were fighting i can see how some people might've thought that "this is the greatest threat ever."
but put yourself in there situation, first they've got Frieza going to personally destroy them, who At the time was the strongest being in the universe and they are thinking "OMG we're gonna die" but then after he's defeated, and cell comes by, they probably think "wow, frieza wasn't so bad compared to this." so i think you're wrong. they never thought that each one was the greatest threat ever. they did at the time the events were happening though, because they had no idea that cell would be created because of frieza and that majin buu would be awakened after cell.
Off-Topic: Hate or don't give a fig about DBZ? Please skip ahead- the fangirl in me won't let this go =P
Cell was not created "because of Frieza", rather a combination of factors. Most important was Trunks' mucking about with time travel- this provided Cell with a means to hop about the timestream and absorb more genetic material/grow stronger. Vegeta's pride (he coulda trashed Imperfect Cell no sweat but wanted a bigger challenge) and Kuririn's compassion (refusing to destroy Juuhachigou- 18 if you prefer dub names) were also important to Perfect Cell's devolping.
On-Topic: Generally, the villains in comic verses (and other fandoms) get progressively stronger because the heroes get stronger too. Therefore, writers feel the need to keep upping the ante. The problem as I understood it tho is not the increase in diffuculty it's the constant labeling each new threat as the greatest, most deadly, fearsome, etc. Too much hype can actually lessen the impact by the time the final product rolls around. TDS suffered a bit from this, I think. But I gots high hope for these issues anyway.
What's the use of upping the useless ante? 90 percent of the time they fail anyway...just delaying the inevitable...
And the other 10 percent of the time, they win and then just get defeated later.
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Off-Topic: Hate or don't give a fig about DBZ? Please skip ahead- the fangirl in me won't let this go =P
Cell was not created "because of Frieza", rather a combination of factors. Most important was Trunks' mucking about with time travel- this provided Cell with a means to hop about the timestream and absorb more genetic material/grow stronger. Vegeta's pride (he coulda trashed Imperfect Cell no sweat but wanted a bigger challenge) and Kuririn's compassion (refusing to destroy Juuhachigou- 18 if you prefer dub names) were also important to Perfect Cell's devolpingQuote:
accurate points. i haven't watched the show in a long time.
but still my point
I'm liking tracey yardleys covers so far 
He has a unique style.
If they never upped the ante at all and proclaimed something as 'the greatest threat of all time' (which they do because nothing more powerful was ever known to have existed previously), but if their enemies never became more and more powerful then all you'd have is overpowered heroes who could defeat the enemies without a single sweat or difficulty whatsoever. If the bar isn't raised, then there'd be no tension or excitement concerning fights or upcoming crisis.
It's far more interesting for the heroes to be the underdog and see how they rise up to overcome the enemies, then have them instantly be the best at all times.
That said, I agree that it'd be nice to infrequently see an instance where the enemy is played up to be awesomely powerful but IS defeated in seconds.
Of course, another possible course of storytelling action is to mix things up a bit with the way the enemies are defeated; such as more interesting tactics or surprises. The comic feels a bit tame in that regard without anything happening 'on the spot' that, after you've seen it, think omg how amazingly smart was that, whether it be involving the surroundings or whatnot.
Of course it makes STORY sense to raise the bar constantly. I do not argue that. I'm saying it makes no logical, real-world sense.
For instance, in Pokemon, the gyms are largely accessible to you in order of their difficulty. This is for obvious reasons: a learning curve. However, it makes little sense within the game world because it assumes that all trainers start in Pallet town and encounter the same impediments, detours and situations as the protagonist. This is silly in a real world sense, but it's practically essential to the game design so we overlook it.
In DragonBall, the same effect occurs. Has anybody ever stopped to marvel at the coincidence that the Red Ribbon Army never posed any threat until Goku was already at a level where he could handle them? Or why the Saiya-jins never bothered to show up during Goku's youth, when he would have been unable to handle them? Or, perhaps they could have waited four or five years, by which time Goku would have been killed by the androids already. There are isolated pockets of sense (for instance, it makes sense that Freeza would come after the Saiyajins, because the Freeza Saga occurred as a direct result of the Saiyajin saga) But largely it makes no logical sense.
Sonic doesn't really keep raising the bar in the same way. Firstly, threats major and minor rear their heads all the time. TDS, a really major threat, was followed by the comparitively minor threat of Scourge and Sleuth. Each threat, although differing in magnitude and importance, is treated seriously.
Secondly, in Sonic the heroes really don't improve all that much, particularly in Sonic's case. Sonic is still roughly as fast, smart and skilled as he was a hundred issues ago.
www.silverbulletcomics.co...php?a=2810
I hate to bump old topics, but some preview scans of Sonic X 13 have been put up, and some may like to see them.
www.silverbulletcomics.co...icx131.jpg
I think its Perfect
chaos.
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In DragonBall, the same effect occurs. Has anybody ever stopped to marvel at the coincidence that the Red Ribbon Army never posed any threat until Goku was already at a level where he could handle them? Or why the Saiya-jins never bothered to show up during Goku's youth, when he would have been unable to handle them? Or, perhaps they could have waited four or five years, by which time Goku would have been killed by the androids already. There are isolated pockets of sense (for instance, it makes sense that Freeza would come after the Saiyajins, because the Freeza Saga occurred as a direct result of the Saiyajin saga) But largely it makes no logical sense.
dirk, you're reading WAY too much into this. granted, you said this a month ago, and i'm basically just bumping an old topic, but i haven't had much time lately, so i'm gettin caught up.
Well, pardon me, but as an amateur writer and student of literature, I think I'd be remiss if I weren't considering the relationship between plausibility and narrative structure. Sometimes one of them has to be sacrificed for the benefit of the other, and I find it quite interesting to consider that.
even if you were a accomplished writer i'd still tell you the same thing.
it's good that you find it interesting, but it's still that you're reading too much into it, just sit back and enjoy reruns of the show.
Dirk from one hobby author to another, never look too closely at things targeted to kids and teenagers. You'll just ruin it for yourself. Sit back, let your eyes glaze over and... well, try to enjoy it.
I could pick apart anything. Even things I LIKED. But I'd rather enjoy myself.
~Rico
I'm not picking it apart. Just making an observation about storytelling in general.
After all, this is one aea where Archie-StH differs from the Dragon Ball saga. In Dragon Ball, the threats get progressively greater as the heroes get stronger (which, as I pointed out, is good narratvie structure but lousy plausibility). In Sonic, neither really happens: the heroes never really increase their skill levels to any significant degree (Sonic is about as fast as he always was), neither do the viallains. It's just an ongoing fight with the stakes and abilities usually at a similar level.
Storytelling is storytelling. By saying that we oughtn't take a somewhat critical to children's entertainment is to sell short such greats as Harry Potter, A Series of Unfortunate Event, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and classic Disney films, which do hold up to criticism.
It's not as though I sit around for hours and hours pondering Dragon Ball. I don't even particularly like Dragon Ball. This is just something that interests me so it was on my mind even as I was reading it.
