Editor in Chief: Richard Goldwater. Managing editor: Victor Gorelick. Editor: Justin F. Gabrie. …And, introducing: Assistant editor Mike Pellerito.
Home part two, and Mobius: 25 Years Later part one… been waiting for this a long time!
Penciled by Patrick Spaziante ("after Cockrum"), inked by Ken Penders, colored by Jason Jensen.
Sonic, Sally, Julie-Su, Knuckles, and Merlin Prower watch as the future Knuckles, Julie-Su, Lara-Su, Rotor, King Sonic, and Queen Sally burst out of a glass orb.
Impressive… also kinda neat seeing Knux’ cyber-enhancements… Kinda reminds me of a fan-fic I did a while back where Sonic joined the Dark Legion (I’ve gotta get around to revising that one of these days…)
My only complaint would be that J-Su looks very unlike herself with that huge ponytail and those huge cyber-gloves…
Art by J. Axer and Michael Higgens.
Nice art, nice set up for an intro page… but I’m not so satisfied with how they go together…
At least the text is appropriate (and not as overblown as the intro pages used to be).
Hmm… the title reminds me of an episode of "Gargoyles"… anyways—
Written by Karl Bollers, penciled by Ron Lim (dang, I thought we’d got rid of him! ;) ), inked by Jim Amash, colored by Jason Jensen, lettered by Jeff Powell.
After a page-and-a-half panel of Sonic thinking and running, with Tails flying (in his biplane) in the background, we flash back to where last issue ended.
Sonic is worried he won’t make it to Old Megaopolis in time, until Sally reminds him about Power Rings. (Man, been a while since he’s used them!). And so, he runs off to save the day, accompanied by Tails (whose "mechanical skills" Queen Alicia deems essential to the mission… that’s one element of the games I’m glad they’re incorporating into the comic—even if it does make Rotor redundant.)
Meanwhile, Geoffrey, Antoine, Indiana Bunnie, Espio, and Fiona head for Old Megaopolis in the Freedom Fighter Special, Mark Two. (When did Fiona join the Freedom Fighters?! …If they’re gonna have her in the stories, they really oughta deal with the fact that Tails had a crush on the android version of her, which was rather different from the real Fiona…)
Elsewhere, at Fort Acorn, not far from Robotropolis, Knuckles, Vector, Mighty, Julie-Su, and Amy Rose show up to assist General D’Coolette in their upcoming battle with Robotnik’s forces. (I guess he’s not dead, huh, Mobius Forumers?)
Oddly, the General claims the forces have been guarding Robotropolis for ten years… unless it was maintained as an outpost by the Freedom Fighters, I think not. Karl probably meant, the past one year…
Back in Knothole City, the King tries to convince Sally, Alicia, and the Hedgehog family to evacuate the village, but they won’t hear of it. (That’s very brave of you, Sally, but shouldn’t you have been leading one of those parties the King sent out…? Your fans want to see you in action again!)
And in Station Square, Commander Brass is itching to unleash Station Square’s military might against Robotnik, but Mr. President (or President Square, as Dan Drazen calls him) has so much faith in the Furies that he’s sending one to lead the GUN commandos—Mr. President’s favorite gal, Rouge the Bat…
And in Old Megaopolis, to quote Sonic, "It’s show time!"
…Whew! So much happened, and yet so little…
At this point, the story could still be a masterpiece or a flop, so we’ll just have to wait and see how it goes…
Written and inked by Ken Penders, penciled by Steven Butler, colored by Jason Jensen, and lettered by Vickie Williams.
After a brief intro by Merlin Prower, we cut to school on the floating island, where Lara-Su is part of a class composed of both cybernetic and non-cybernetic echidnas. Even the teacher is a cyborg. I guess the Dark Legion and the other Echidnas are getting along… although Lara-Su has a bit of trouble getting along with Lein-Da’s son, Rutan…
Elsewhere, Rotor arrives on a transport from Mobotropolis (wait, wasn’t that destroyed?), and meets with Espio to set up dinner date between King Sonic and Queen Sally, and Knuckles and Julie-Su.
Espio then informs Knuckles of this, and of the fact that Sonic and Sally’s kids, Sonia and Manic, will be coming along. Espio also suspects that Rotor will be meeting "Cobar", a fellow "mad scientist". Knuckles decides to have them watched. (Suspicions? Of Rotor?)
Interestingly, Knuckles’ headquarters is in an Echidna "Bat-Cave", which is also host to the Master Emerald. (Last seen in a temple-like structure, outside, in the Sonic Adventure Adaptation.)
When Rutan gets home, we find Lein-Da talking with… Dimitri’s head?! Weird.
Elsewhere, we get our first good look at Knuckles’ cybernetics, as he gets home. We also see the new J-Su, who I still cannot get used to…
Lara-Su doesn’t want to go to her "unveiling ceremony" because she wants to be a Guardian. (Unveiling? But echidnas don’t wear veils! …Alright, get out of the gutter, dirty little mind of mine!)
Knuckles explains that he doesn’t feel there’s a need for a Guardian anymore—even him. That’s the only reason she won’t be becoming a Guardian. Finally, Lara relents. (I still don’t see why participating in this ceremony means she can’t be a Guardian…)
And with that, we end this month’s tour of the future, with more questions raised than answered…
Interestingly, this future is inconsistent with the future inhabited by the Lara-Su we saw previously. In that, Knux was evil, leader of the Dark Legion… and he seemed to have been absent from Lara-Su’s life for quite some time.
This future is also inconsistent with the future Sally saw in the "Girls Rule" special (where some invading force took over Mobotropolis) unless Sonia and Manic are still young…
And what about Robo-Robotnik’s future (which, according to Karl, is the same future seen in "In Your Face" and Issue 21)? Has his conquest simply not yet taken place, or is this another Zone?
I think an important hint lies in Merlin’s statement at the beginning of the story, that we "stand at the crossroads of worlds about to collide". …I think that we just might finally be about to see some more Zone-hopping! (At last!)
Page design by Joe Pep
Ken desperately seeks input about M:25YL, and we get a huge letter by long-running fan Courtney (Kami). She started with 16, and has the entire series except 11 and 13. Kinda sounds like me! I started with 24, and have every issue except 4 and one page of 11… There’s also a letter from "SuperShadowgal".
Sonic by Diego Estrada, Tails by Jordan Wheeler, Knuckles and Super Sonic by Jesse Barrett, and a very spooky Sonic by Quinton Favors.
Impressive… But with story-arcs like these two, the quality of the individual chapters doesn’t matter so much as the overall quality… So we’ll just have to wait and see.