This issue blew me away-- in more than one way.

This story was amazing! I'd count "Heart Held Hostage" parts 1 & 2 as the best story in the comic, ever. The story was interesting, and the characterizations were right-on. It's been a long time since I've really felt the characters were acting like "real people", instead of just plot devices. This story not only did that, but the depth of the characters was incredible, far deeper than even in the "good old days". (Or, even in the show, if my memory serves me.)

The art, too, was beyond belief. Axer is many times better than even Spaz, and considering how good Spaz is, that's saying a lot.

This story was well colored, but otherwise mediocre (though that's better than actually being bad).

But the final story...

What on Mobius were they thinking?! This is the story we (as well as the Freedom Fighters) have been waiting for since issue 0! The deroboticization of Uncle Chuck, and nearly all the other Robians. And they only gave it FIVE PAGES?!?! ....

I mean, really...! THIS should have been the issue 125 "spectacular" story-- Although, actually, I think the idea that something momentous should happen every twenty-five issues is rather ridiculous. I mean celebrating milestones is fine, but all they really need to do is do something special in Sonic Grams, or maybe replace one of the backup stories with some special feature… Issue 25 is a good example. They had a special cover, art by Spaz, and they replaced the fan art page with a pro art page, and devoted Sonic-Grams to behind-the-scenes info. It was all great fun—but there really wasn’t anything out momentous about the story itself…

Anyway, getting back to the story at hand, the art was good (I keep forgetting just how good Art Mawhinney is), and, for such a short story, the writing was good. It was also cool seeing the Wolf Pack deroboticized and reunited...

It shall be interesting to see where they go from here.