Issue 143
Editor-in-Chief: Richard Goldwater; Managing Editor: Victor Gorelick;
Editor: Mike Pellerito
Cover
Sonic by Patrick Spaziante; Scroll penciled by Steve Butler, inked by
Jim Amash, and colored by J.D. Ray.
Sonic is shocked to discover there might be trouble for him, as he
stands in front of a scroll depicting a deformed Robotnik laughing at
the OFF...
Art Score: 5/10. This pic just doesn't do anything for me...
Frontis:
Drawn by J. Axer, colored by Jason Jensen.
The OFF aren't feeling too well (except for Scales, who has the snout
of an alligator...)
"The Original Freedom Fighters" Part 2
Written by Romy Chacon, penciled by Art Mawhinney, inked by Jim Amash,
lettered by Jeff Powell, colored by J. &. A Ray.
Story: Hope's teacher tells the
readers about how Sonic told Hope about how Private Scales betrayed the
Original Freedom Fighters, and (known only to Uncle Chuck until he got
his free will back) how Robotnik robotized the OFF and sent them into
the "Void" (read "Zone of Silence").
First of all, stories within stories are always hard to handle -- I
can't believe we were given a narration of Sonic telling his tale!
Secondly, I now admit it-- Romy is way too SatAM orientated. I mean,
hello? The King was trapped in the Zone of Silence in Archie, not the
Void! The Void only showed up in one issue, in which it was shown to be
just that-- empty.
Oh, and was having Scales be the traitor ridiculously obvious
type-casting, or what? (I'm also getting quite bored with the "I
betrayed you to join Robotnik-- hey, why is Robotnik roboticizing me?!"
thing. Been there, done that...)
Connecting things in with the origin of the Freedom Fighters in Super
Special 5 was a nice touch, though. Same goes for having Hope's teacher
be Stripe's wife. (I don't call her his widow, as presumably they're
still alive in the Zone.)
It's interesting that Rosie seemed to have a crush on Stripe,
considering that he is and was married. If he hadn't been roboticized
and exiled, we might have seen a very different side to these supposed
paragons of virtue...
Oh, and that present-day traitor the previews were hinting about?
Unless they were referring to Hope leaving Sonic to watch the Power
Ring Pool when she'd promised to do it, there's nary a hint of such a
thing.
Story Score: Major points off for the mistakes listed above.
Otherwise, okay. 6/10.
Art: There are two major styles
in this story-- one for the scenes with Sonic and Hope, another for the
flashbacks. Oddly, though, coloring is the only thing credited with
more than one artist... The art in the Sonic/Hope scenes are a bit too
cartoony for my tastes (my guess is Aimee Ray colored them, while the
inking in the flashback scenes clashes with Art's art...
I can't help but wonder if Peckers was supposed to look so tired and
depressed? It's an interesting characterization.
After all that time the colorists couldn't remember that Eggman has a
pink nose, now we're given a pink nosed Robotnik Prime. *shakes head*
Art Score: 7/10
Overall Score for "OFF Pt2":
6.5/10
"Mobius 25 Years Later": "Father's Day"
Script, art, & lettering by Ken Penders, colors by Jason Jensen.
Story: Knuckles reminisces
about Locke's death from cancer (no doubt brought on by the radiation
he exposed himself to in preparation for conceiving Knuckles), and
decides to allow Lara-Su to decide whether or not to be Guardian. (Uh,
hasn't she already made her choice obvious?)
The story takes up two chapters instead of the usual one-- which allows
Ken to actually get a chapter's worth of story done for once. (I can't
believe he still hasn't gotten
used to telling short stories again-- it's been several years since
Knuckles folded!)
Story Score: 7.4/10
Art: Ken's back in the drawing
groove, and Jensen's colors compliment his drawings perfectly.
(Although things are still a little too shiny...) ...Of course, as
Drazen is sure to point out, there's no sign of the terrible weather
we've been hearing about...!
I especially liked the lighting in the forest.
Art Score: 8.5/10
Overall Score for "M25YL":
7.95/10
Sonic-Grams
The art and Editorial page are switched. As I can see no reason for
this, I'm assuming it's a layout/printing error. Sloppy, folks...
Fan Art: A badly drawn Super
Sonic vs a blue turkey called "Metal Sonic (Perfect Mode)" by Alex
Olson (nice lettering, though!); A huge eyed Sally by Kit Reagan; a
crouching Tails following a butterfly by Mark Teo; a chipmunk-cheeked
Tails by Michael Hanlon; a brown Sonic with a blue mohawk running
through what looks like night, by Jacob Tench; Sonic standing on a wall
(is it Zonic? or did they put the picture sideways?) by Mat Lippiello;
and Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow by Melissa Ramirez. My fan-art
awards go to Kit Reagan, Mark Teo, and Melissa Ramirez.
Letters: Letters from Mat
Bently (Sonic's # 1.5 fan), Tim Moore (Sonic's #100 fan), Garet Lang
(Sonic's #1 #1 fan), and Mike Durkin (Sonic's #1 fan). Also, Sonic's #1
"Find Your Name in Print" section.
Start: Coming Summer 2005:
Sonic X the Comic! Of course, they're waiting for the popularity of the
show to die down before they do a comic... Still, it's interesting they
think the Sonic franchise can support two comic series! I wonder if
Archie'll be publishing it? It wouldn't hurt to get some of the Archie
Sonic artists on board, but they'll need a new writer or two...
hopefully a good one... (And how can they truly adapt the show without
just copying it? It can be done, but it's tricky... We'll have to see.)
Next Issue: M25YL takes center
stage, as Ken performs his most astonishing feat yet: with almost an
entire issue to play with, he'll make less than nothing happen!
...Also, Romy Chacon gives us a tale of the SatAM cast's explanation
for what happened to the cast of "Archie-Sonic: One Year Later" in Karl
Boller's "Home" saga...
Off Panel
Written
by Mike Gallagher, drawn by Dave Manak, colored by "Claude Monape".
A bug complains about how few bugs made it into the cast of Sonic. (He
forgot about Arachnis and the Termite-nator, though!)
Final Thoughts:
I was not impressed. However, it could have been a lot worse... Now, we
just need to get through 144, and maybe we can see what Mike P. can really do...
Overall Score for Issue 143:
6.5/10