Sonic the Hedgehog #137 [Aug 2004] Spaz/Spaz/Spaz cover: the gang gathers around a spotlit Tommy Turtle while you get a sense of a few SWATbots closing in from behind. Spaz should solo more often. Frontispiece: Axer/Jensen spoiler. As if this arc wasn't spoiled enough already. "Robo-Dyne Systems" Story: Romy Chacon; Art: Steven Butler; Ink: Jim Amash; Color: Jason Jensen; Lettering: Jeff Powell; Editor: Mike Pellerito; Managing Editor: Victor Gorelick; Editor-in-Chief: Richard Goldwater. Together again for the first time in a long time: the Freedom Fighters are on board the Freedom Fighter Special-Mark 2 and heading for New Megaopolis. Sally wonders out loud whether it was a good idea to come along on this junket and not tell the King about it. But aren't King Max and Queen Alicia out of town? Shouldn't Sally be back home answering the phone? And isn't Sally honked off about Sonic going on any more of these missions? What the heck's going on here? I'll get to that later. Anyway, they arrive at New Megaopolis, a name which my spell checker does not like. Tails gets to babysit the ship because Antoine wants to be where the action is, something Sonic has trouble getting used to. So am I; I mean, I could see the classic Antoine wanting to guard Sally because it'd be the chivalrous thing to do. But in this comic chivalry isn't dead, it's just been replaced by machismo. Relying on Nicole for directions, the gang comes across a factory manufacturing Infiltrators along the lines of the Tommy bot in the last issue. Sonic and Sally go head to head over changing the mission profile, but someone figured that we need an action sequence right about now, so the group is discovered by some SWATbots. Sonic plows through one of them before being swept off his sneaks by Sal as Rotor sends a current through the metal floor. This cuts the twosome from the herd. They head off to rescue Tommy, which is the plot of this story after all. But the two show up a short time later. But the pacing of this story is such that we have to keep the plot moving so Rotor blows the whistle on the two Infiltrators by asking why Sally is no longer carrying Nicole. As the real Sonic and Sally are rescuing the real Tommy, Bunnie and Antoine make short work of the Infiltrators. Rotor blows a call into the reunion scene to say they've got a SWATbot infestation on the roof and could Sally recommend a good exterminator. With two pages to go, the group is rescued by a Fox Ex Machina as Tails brings in the FFS-M2 to evacuate them. And thus a perfectly good character sacrifice in the original "Tortoise and the Hedgehog" is undone once and for all. HEAD: If anyone is still paying attention to the continuity of this book, you're wondering what's going on with Sally talking about the King and everything. What's going on, according to my sources, is that this is an example of editorial revisionism. Remember Sonic #121-123, featuring "Prince and the Revolution" and "Hearts Held Hostage"? Well, as I understand it the Tommy Turtle arc was SUPPOSED to run in THOSE issues! So the events of "Say You Will" haven't even transpired yet, despite the fact that Sal's been retrofitted with post-S125 long hair, Bunnie's got her Colonel Kilgore "Apocalypse Now" Air Cav hat on, and Antoine's facial expression has gone from perpetually fearful to perpetually in need of anger management classes and a lifetime supply of Prozac. Welcome to Editing Archie Comics 101. What we've got here, in other words, is a heavily-edited story that incorporates post-Quantum Dial story elements into a pre-Quantum Dial script, a story which was too far along in the editing process to simply write off. Some of the wires and zippers are easy to spot: the text box on the second page where Sonic talks about how "it feels good to have the ol' Sal back..." is an obvious late addition. Antoine's offer to escort Sally would have been done with less of a sneer and more of a flourish back in the day, and I don't care WHAT Antoine went through, his saying to Bunnie "Who said I needed your help?" is just plain uncalled for. That the story works at all is a testament to the skill of Mike Pellerito in stitching this Frankenstein's monster together. Unfortunately, it takes quite a bit of juice to get the monster up and running. And I do mean running; I can't remember the last time a story felt so rushed. The quick pacing here really shows. On one page alone we go from Tommy facing his presumed fate to Sonic rescuing him to the Sonic and Sally Infiltrators attacking to their getting destroyed. Compare this with last issue's "The Infiltrator" where one page could be devoted to a leisurely look at the Infiltrator Tommy-bot getting ready to drill Sonic. That was suspense; this is one darn thing after another. Still, it's good to see the old gang acting like the old gang. Savor the moment; something tells me that, when Editorial gets back to retconning the Mobians we may be in for a long dry spell. Head Score: 6. EYE: Because of the demands of the script, Steve Butler has to make every square inch of the page count in this story. The characters are as expressive as always, but he has no chance to indulge in the cinematic flair which marked his work on "The Blue Blur Returns" in S130. As a result, the pages feel heavy and claustrophobic especially toward the end of the story. Eye Score: 8. HEART: Because the pacing is so rushed and because the page layouts have all the elegance of the Santa Monica Freeway during rush hour, the few Heart moments in this story are about as easy to spot as the title character of the "Where's Waldo?" books. Tails's grumping about being left behind is a notable exception because he gets the luxury of a full-body pose, but Sally's rescue of Sonic from the electrified floor has been reduced to the size of a postage stamp and Sally's meeting with Tommy isn't much better. Otherwise this is so wall-to-wall action plotting that Heart isn't much of a factor here. Heart Score: 3. "Mobius 25 Years Later: Trouble in Paradise" Story: Ken Penders; Art: Steven Butler; Ink: Jim Amash; Color: Jason Jensen; Lettering: John E. Workman (debut). Ok, you're going to need to read this one in two sittings. Ken Penders has hit upon the device of telling two stories at once, in parallel as it were: the Sonic-Sally story appears on the left-hand side of the page framed in blue, and the Knuckles- Julie-Su story appears on the right-hand side of the page framed in red. So... Sonic and Sally board the shuttle to Angel Island. We learn from the conversation that something happened last time between Sonic and Knuckles; Ken's obviously keeping it in the closet until the right moment. Their son Manik couldn't care less about last year's history; he's enjoying the perks of flying First Class too much. Sally finally gets Sonic to admit that uneasy lies the hedgehog head that wears the crown; apparently dealing with affairs of state makes even fatherhood look like a good time. Sal tells him to talk to Knuckles when they get there so he can come up to speed on the plot. As for Knuckles, he's not looking forward to the get- together either. Plus he admits that nobody seems to know what's going on with the freaky weather. And they take their places for the Dinner Party Sketch. HEAD: And welcome to Editing Archie Comics 102, with guest lecturer Ken Penders. Ken was kind enough to send me a copy of the original script for this story some months back, and now I can see how and where it was edited. Ken is NOT the first writer to come up with the idea of telling side-by-side stories, by the way. In 1973 a movie came out titled "Wicked, Wicked." The entire movie was shown in split screen, rather grandiosely referred to at the time as Duo-Vision. In the film, one side showed the heroine going about her daily routine, while on the other side of the screen we see her being stalked by someone. One critic observed about the movie that even though you're looking at two movies at the same time, it's too bad there wasn't even enough story material between them for one good movie. "Trouble in Paradise" was originally a 10-page script which retained the side-by-side story structure. If you'll look at the comic, though, you'll see that it only goes for 8 pages. So what landed on the cutting room floor? Mainly pages 8 and 9 which were given over to dialogue between Manik and Sonia in Column A, and some repartee between Julie-Su, Abby and Lara-Su in Column B. And having seen the lost pages I have to say I agree with Mike's editing here. Granted we lose some character development involving the youngsters, but I'm not sure I wanted to hear Manik asking his dad "Don't you think Lara-Su is HOT?" or Knuckles saying "I'm an echidna of the people." Not Ken's best dialogue, IMHO. The real problem with the editing is that it marginalizes the characters of Manik, Sonia, and Lara-Su. Manik is present but seems like nothing more than your basic smart-aleck Central Casting kid character, Sonia is literally pushed to the side to the extent that all we see of her is her left side in the final panel, and Lara-Su is reduced to an off-stage burst balloon. But given the problem of cutting 10 pages down to 8, this was probably the best that Mike could do with the script. It meant keeping the focus on the two couples, Sonic/Sally and Knuckles/Julie-Su. The original story still would have worked if the two pages were in the budget but they weren't. Tight focus is probably the best way to deal with the parallel plotting of this story. And here I have to confess that I have a very subjective, very personal reason to weigh in on this story and its structure. I've toyed with the idea of writing a comic script using this exact same format. I haven't got the dialogue worked out but the basic idea is as follows: Titled "Dream A Little Dream Of Me," this 6 pager starts off with parallel flashbacks of Sonic disappearing after having confronted the Quantum Dial and of Sonic approaching Sally in her glass coffin/stasis tube from the climax of "Endgame." Both Sally and Sonic wake up with a start in their respective bedrooms from their respective nightmares. As they compose themselves, they each wonder what it is about the other that preoccupies their thoughts and even their dreams. At first they start ticking off each other's faults, but gradually they mellow out and admit to themselves their true feelings for the other. It's when they each simultaneously admit that it might not be bad if they should someday get married [shared thought balloon here] that they back off, Sally because of her responsibilities to the Kingdom and Sonic because he's nowhere near ready to settle down. They then go back to sleep, wishing each other good night as they look out at a star in the night sky from their respective bedrooms. In "Trouble in Paradise" Ken has relied on the same kind of parallel structure where the Sonic/Sally conversation is counterpointed by the Knuckles/Julie-Su conversation. The conversations, however, are on two different tracks: with Sonic and Sally it's more about themselves as a way of bringing the readers up to speed on who they are (or, rather, who they have become), while with Knuckles and Julie-Su the subject has more to do with driving the plot. For "Dream" I pushed the parallel further, showing that the thought processes of Sonic and Sally mirror each other even if the content and expression is different. Still, the story structure works well here and the editing was certainly more judicious than when the final installment of "Endgame" was cut down to size. And because he's writing for a company as conservative as Archie Comics, Ken should be applauded for the effort of breaking out of the traditional narrative mold on this occasion. Head Score: 9. EYE: Steve Butler once again delivers a solid piece of work in a story that's decidedly unlike "Robo-Dyne Systems." While the first story was so crammed full of action that it felt like an overstuffed suitcase, Steve gets a break here and mainly deals with two sets of talking heads. The resulting page layout feels much lighter and more relaxed than with the cover story. Eye Score: 10. HEART: I consciously designed "Dream" to be Heart-heavy with not a whole lot of Plot to get in the way. This means that there's little or no chance that such a story would ever be in danger of appearing in an Archie comic. Ken, on the other hand, has the responsibility of keeping the plot spinning while bringing the readers up to speed on what Sonic and Sally are like; after all, we didn't learn all THAT much about Sal from her dialogue in last month's installment. That Ken had wanted to broaden the spotlight to include the various offspring was an admirable goal but it just wasn't in the page budget. Because Ken tried to balance the demands of Plot and Heart, the results are mixed. Sure, Ken has Sonic wondering out loud whether he has the royally right stuff to be a monarch, but by holding back concerning whatever happened between Sonic and Knuckles in the back story there's the sense that Ken's not yet ready to engage us with something meaningful. It was also sort of nice to see Julie-Su tell Knuckles that with regard to whatever is happening on a global scale they were going to face it together, but it seemed too asymmetrical when balanced against the parallel Sonic/Sally conversation: Sally's saying that Knuckles has the answers when we realize he really doesn't. Then again, maybe that's the point. This story reminds me of a number of Steve Martin films that were box office failures but which were at the same time an attempt to push the outside of the film comedy envelope, films such as "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" and "Pennies From Heaven." They may not have redefined the medium, they may not have a cult following, they didn't even earn back their investment, but even as failures they're interesting failures. And lest I be misunderstood, this story is far from being a failure. Ken's objective is perfectly clear from the rough cut, and while the characters of the kids (especially Sonia) ended up being sacrificed on the Editorial altar, the story works and the plot stays on the rails. Considering what's been happening with the front end of the book lately, that's saying something. Heart Score: 8. "One Part Ooh-La-La and Two Parts Treachery!" Story: Romy Chacon; Art: Al Bigley (debut); Ink: Michael Higgins; Coloring: Jason Jensen; Lettering: Michael Higgins. Having gotten the assignment to accompany King Max and Queen Alicia on their Royal Tour, Antoine seems to think that this is an occasion for giving a lengthy speech. As he works on his address, in the same spirit as the Frenchman in Mark Twain who made elaborate plans to deliver a similar speech when he is shot in a duel (see "The Great French Duel," Chapter 8 of "A Tramp Abroad"), Antoine comes across a letter from Bunnie. We then shift gears and move into Flashback Country. Seems Antoine had a hard time explaining to Bunnie his feelings for a certain Tatiana, whom he describes as "ze first love, my ooh-la-la." But as we learn in a flashback-within-a- flashback, Sonic undercuts Antoine's street cred with Tatiana by committing truth about 'Twan's alleged bravery. In quick succession, the grown-up Tatiana returns to Knothole, Antoine pretty much blows her off in favor of Bunnie, and then as the flashback wraps up Ant remembers he's supposed to be mad at Bunnie because ... well, because Karl and the Editors won't say why. HEAD: The title of this ... thing ... is taken from a line of dialogue from Sonic Special #7's "Parallel Paradigm," in which a text box from Ken hints at there being an "untold story" of Antoine's. If this is that story, it should have remained untold. Because Editorial wants to play out the breakdown of the Bunnie-Antoine romance without having to explain it, we have no idea at all why he's not mellowed out by the memory of happier times with his lapine lady. Then again, it's hard to see why he's got a possible problem with Tatiana, about whom we learn nothing and for whom his feelings are never really spelled out ... but more on that in the HEART section. There's no real action here, except what can be pulled together from a couple of flashbacks. This story provides neither ohh-la-la nor treachery; more like equal parts of gaucherie, futilite and stupidite. Head Score: 2. EYE: I took the liberty of Googling Al Bigley; hope it didn't hurt. Unlike Benny Lee, a certain writer of uncertain provenance who turned out to be Karl Bollers writing under an assumed name, Bigley does have a track record in the industry. You can get a sample of it at (where else?) www.albigley.com. He's worked all over the place, illustrating for DC, Marvel, Impact, Disney Adventure, even the Archie Comic flagship book. In fact, you can cut to the chase and go to http://www.albigley.com/sonic.htm to catch a glimpse of some upcoming pencil work he did for a Tails/Muttski story (set, it should be pointed out, back before Muttski was deroboticized) with the Disneyesque title "The Fox and The Hound." Bigley's work in the main is solid, but he suffers from the same problem as Ron Lim. He's so good at kickin' it old school his furry art leaves something to be desired. Bunnie is the tip-off, with Antoine not far behind. Her proportions are, once more, all too human. Like Ron Lim and Jim Valentino before him, Al Bigley seems unable to free himself from the artistic conventions that apply to drawing hyoomon characters but which are a recipe for disaster when applied to furries. That Al did good work on furry characters for Disney Adventure magazine can be attributed to Disney's insistence on making the artists stick with the model sheets. Al's characters here are expressive enough, but they're also hopelessly off-model to any hardcore fan of the comic. His rendering of Tails in the upcoming "Fox and the Hound" is no better; he looks more like Disney's Sunni Gummi than the Tails Prower we know and love. Al's new to the book, so I'm cutting him some slack here. Still, he might want to consider looking at the work done by Best, Axer, Butler and Mawhinney as his model sheets when it comes to drawing for Sonic. They've definitively nailed the look of the characters. Welcome to the book, Al, but try touching base with the veterans. Eye Score: 6. HEART: In 1984, a book appeared in the United States titled "Adolf Hitler : The Unknown Artist." Essentially, it was a collection of the drawings, paintings and watercolors executed (appropriate word for it) by a young Adolf Hitler and belonging to the collection of Houston millionaire Billy F. Price. The problem with it was, after the book had been published in Europe it was discovered that a number of the works of art in the book were forgeries, done by the same con artist (appropriate word for it) who had forged Hitler's so-called "diaries," a man by the name of Konrad Kujau. I've gone off on this tangent because it is absolutely impossible for me to believe that the same Romy Chacon who wrote "The Royal Signet" for S120, the same Romy Chacon who demonstrated such understanding of character and sensitivity to emotions, should have perpetrated this story as well. Short answer: she didn't. The breathless gossip among the fandom, which can be taken for what it's worth, is that there are two kinds of Romy Chacon stories both in print and in the pipeline: those written by the REAL Romy Chacon, and those written under her name by a party or parties who shall remain nameless here lest I run afoul of any applicable libel laws. One source insists that some of the faux- Romy material is SO bad that it will have to be rewritten before it can see the light of day. And this story definitely belongs in the faux-Romy category. In this story, Antoine seems to have only one object of adoration: Antoine. Why else begin rehearsing a speech on what should be a routine assignment unless he just loves to hear himself talk? Bunnie doesn't come off much better, being unable to cut Antoine some slack over what was essentially a schoolyard crush. The worst fate of all, though, is reserved to Tatiana. Not only is it hard enough to determine her species were it not for the stripes that give her away as a tigress, it's also hard to find anything resembling treachery about her; the ooh-la-la, like always, is only fur-deep. She brings nothing to the story except a warm body. What finally sank this story for me was Antoine's back-to- business attitude at the end where he seems to have turned up his upturned nose at Bunnie despite his earlier declarations of love. Either someone had better explain what's going on in a hurry or else kill off Antoine and put him, Bunnie, and the readers out of a whole lotta misery. In fact, we get TWO Antoines for the price of one, and the Antoine of the flashback is actually more appealing than the one who's been goofed up by the War. So guess which one we're going to be stuck with for the duration? For some cosmic reason, Antoine stories don't always work in this book. S112's "Mistaken Identity Crisis" was a rare gem, with Antoine displaying a certain pathos and even vulnerability as he worked not to get the girl but to get his father's approval. Before that was "The Map" (Battle Royal Special), where Ant tried to convince the readers that he was an action hero at heart. That story was a bad joke and it broke character so bad that I ended up hating it. But I ended up hating this thing about as much as I hated "The Map," and that's saying something. Heart Score: 1. Back Page: Mike Pellerito reminds us that he's the new kid on the block by working the word "NEW" into his editorial eleven times. He also drops the names of Al Bigley, John E. Workman, Jim Amash and Jason Jensen who are working on the alleged manga- styled Sabrina book, and some Sega folks who do Heaven only knows what in the organization. Off-Panel: I've been informed since last month that indeed, the Japanese Sonic gag strips are alive and well and in some cases as inscrutable as ever. You can find the on-ramp to the Comical Highway at http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~aoi-k/. Or you can read this thing. Promo: In S138 Knuckles and the Chaotix return to Angel Island "to find it a far worse place than last seen." Well, that's what happens when you let your infrastructure go to pot. Also Sonic and Knuckles try to decide whether to carve up the entree or each other.