Issue 142
Editor-in-Chief: Richard Goldwater; Managing Editor: Victor Gorelick;
Editor: Mike Pellerito.
Cover
Foreground by Patrick Spaziante; background drawn by Steven Butler,
inked by Jim Amash, and colored by Josh D. Ray.
"Freedom Fighters Forever?!" Hope takes notes as sonic tells of the
"original Freedom Fighters".
Frontis
By J. Axer & J.D. Ray
A shot of the classic Freedom Fighters, in their current incarnations.
(My score: 9/10)
"The Original Freedom Fighters" Part 1
Written by Romy Chacon, penciled by Art Mawhinney, inked by Jim Amash,
lettered by Jeff Powell, colored by Josh D. Ray.
Story: Researching for a report in the Knothole Library, Hope finds
records of the first Freedom Fighters. When she then meets up with
Sonic, she asks him what he knows about them. And so, Sonic launches
into a tale about their origin. It turns out the group led the retreat
to Knothole, and helped get the community up and running, before
beginning a insurgency against Robotnik. (My score: 6.5/10.
Satisfactory, but nothing special.)
Art: It's interesting to see Art Mawhinney back on the job -- he's
great with humans and furries alike, but his work lacks the pizazz of
Axer & Butler, or the extra style of Best & WB. I was impressed
with his work this issue: he seems to be working with more detail, and
after the emotionless work of Ron Lim and the exaggerated work of WB,
it's refreshing to see the subtle play of emotions on the the
characters faces -- there ain't nothing artificial here! If only he
could put a little more work into his backgrounds... (Score: 8/10)
Comments:
Not exactly enchanted by the designs of the new characters...
(Snakes and Giraffes make strange looking furries!) ...And what sort of
name is "Tig"?!
...At first I thought it strange the soldiers didn't recognize the
Swat-bots -- it's hard to remember that in Archie, the coup was the
first time they were seen. (Unlike SatAM, in which they were
re-programmed "Peace-Bots"...)
I also don't get why Julayla was drawn in her "pseudo-Queen Alicia"
form, rather than her original pink Cat form. I thought the
"pseudo-Queen" form had been abandoned...? Apparently not.
"I Wanna Be a Freedom Fighter!"
Written by Romy Chacon, penciled by Steven Butler, inked by Jim Amash,
lettered by John Workman, colored by Jason Jensen.
Story: Sally tells of how Amy has wanted to be a Freedom Fighter for a
while, and has now earned the right. Amy officially joins the Freedom
Fighters.
...Apparently, someone forgot to tell Romy that the Freedom Fighters
aren't, anymore... and Sally's description of the second wave of robot
forces being deadlier than the one Amy destroyed seemed odd -- I
thought she was supposed to be praising Amy?
Still, I give the story an 8.5/10.
Art: A pleasure to behold. The only quibble? I thought Geoffrey and
Hershey were supposed to be on their honeymoon. My score: 9/10
Comments: I know the Tommy Trilogy was written before "Tossed in
Space"... I wonder about this one? It seems like it would have fit
better earlier on; and that would also allow us to blame Sally's poorly
chosen words, and the fact that we're still talking about "Freedom
Fighter", on the Editors...
Mobius 25 Years Later: "Moment of
Truth"
Written and inked by Ken Penders, penciled by Steven Butler, lettered
by John E. Workman, colored by Jason Jensen.
Story: Lara-Su bugs Knux about being a guardian, again,
while Rotor and Cobor realize they don't have the time to figure
out a solution to the oncoming destruction. If they could only
start gathering data earlier...
Sonic complains to Sally that he's not fit to be King (again), as he
doesn't want to be making command decisions Sally is better qualified
to make.
Then Sonic and Knuckles get a call from Rotor and Cobor, asking for
access to Robotnik's "Tachyon Displacement Chamber", so they send
someone back in time to collect the needed data. Sonic makes a command
decision Sally would be better qualified to make, and agrees to the
scientists' request. (Now, my only question is, does this Tachyon
chamber have anything to do with the time-machine the FF stole from
Robotnik in issue 12 or the one used by M20YL Rotor to send Nicole back
in time in "In Your Face"? And if not, why not?)
Sonic assumes he and Knux will be the ones to go (even though there's
no assurance the travelers will be able to get back), but as Knux is
walking down a corridor, he overhears Sonia complaining that she'll
never be Queen, and Lara-Su complaining she'll never be Guardian. Knux
suddenly looks thoughtfully.
My rating -- 6.4/10. The repetitiveness of the story is mitigated
somewhat by the fact that something is finally actually happening.
Art: Same odd style Butler's been doing throughout M25YL -- somehow
soft and rigid at the same time. Everything looks like it should look great, but it still
manages to be almost lifeless, in an almost disturbing way. 7.6/10,
perhaps?
Comments: Let me guess -- Lara-Su's going back in time! Yay! Just what
we needed -- another cool character. ...Wait a second...
And we're still waiting for an explanation of the relevance of the
first Lara-Su we saw; not to mention the giant Robotnik Robot seen in
"Sonic Live" and Locke's vision in "Knuckles 25"...
Sonic-Grams
Start: Mike warns us that Shadow's returning soon, to help Sonic
re-enact the battles between Sonic and Knuckles in Sonic 13
through Sonic 50... Or maybe it'll be even more pointless, like in
"Dust Bunnies"? Who knows? Who cares? I sure don't.
Next Issue: The blurb for "The Original Freedom Fighters" Part 2
implies there may be a traitor in Knothole, present day. WTF?!
Off-Panel (written by Mike Gallageher, drawn by Dave Manak, colored by
"Vincent Van Gopher."
Sonic admires Mike's collection of Monkey stuff... Does this mean we'll
be seeing more Monkey Khan? And why no issue of Sonic 17?
Letters from Calvin Monteros, Tristan Flumerfelt, Rachel Cox, and
Edward Kaj (Sonic's 253rd fan). Also, Find Your Name In Print.
Fan-Art: a group shot of playable characters, by Chelsea Hopkins; an
add for the Sonic comics by Kristin Ferra; Sonic and shadow, by Shawn
Richardson; Sonic by Marcus Adamson; Tails on a flying broomstick
(huh?) by Amanda Yanez (I give this picture a "Cool Fan Art
Award".); Sonic by Beth Hershey, and the Chaotix by Nicole Monyoya.
Final Thoughts:
I'm still not particularly impressed, but that was a lot better than
I'd feared.