Sonic The Hedgehog #206 Pat Spaziante cover: there was a time when Spaz was synonymous with this comic's cover art. It's nice to see him back again, but this cover gives me the impression that he's lost a step or something. In one of the most nondescript covers to appear lately, Sonic takes a flying (and drooling) leap while dodging shuriken as some kind of vague background crumbles in soft focus behind him. It's not bad art per se, but it feels disconnected from the current story arc. One side note: my wife, who wishes I'd quit Sonic fandom for good, didn't like this cover because of Sonic's expression. My problem with Sonic's expression is that it doesn't represent the story. Inside, as we shall see, Sonic finally allows himself to have FUN trashing the baddies. "On the Run: Part Two: Troubles by the Dozen" Story: Ian Flynn; Art: Steven Butler; Ink: Terry Austin; Color: Matt Herms; Lettering: John E. Workman; Assistant Editor: Paul Kaminski; Editor: Mike Pellerito; Editor-in-Chief: Victor Gorelick; Sega Licensing reps: Cindy Chau and Jerry Chu Confronted by the Irons and their army, Sonic demonstrates his leet math skills by informing the Queen that she's under strength: there's only one ninja clan in the field and not all the Legionnaires are accounted for. She laughs this off, but Sonic tells Tails to lug Eggman inside the city while he does some clean-up. And now we FINALLY get to see Sonic in action as he ricochets off the flying saucer troop carriers and puts them out of commission. He even cites the experience of Scourge who conquered his own home world single-handedly, the details of which have yet to be revealed. Meanwhile, Khan is out for a stroll and runs into Sally. Whether Khan's monkey glands have healed up or not, their brief conversation is interrupted by Tails bearing his bulbous burden. While Khan lugs the big lug off to the slammer, Sal thinks it's time to join the party. Back in the field, Sonic is still in taunt mode, and Queen Iron is not amused. She tells Jun Kun (heck, I'm gonna call him "Junk" for short) to deal with Sonic, who apparently forgot just how formidable he is. And in yet another Scott Evil moment, they do NOT finish off Sonic after Junk clobbers him, thinking that the Blue Blur would be a good bargaining chip to get Robotnik back. WHY they want him back, I don't know. But the gloatfest is interrupted by a saucer carrying Sally, Tails, Amy and Antoine. Their opening gambit is simple: bail out and crash the ship into Junk. That only slows him down a little so the A-team of Amy and Antoine get in his face while Sonic and Tails do a combo move to take out the egg vehicles carrying Snively and the Queen. Junk has to save Queenie while everyone else retreats. Sonic, for his part, ferries everyone else back one at a time in a really nice sequence made up of a page featuring five horizontal and nearly wordless panels. Windsor McKay would have approved. With everyone inside behind the force field, Junk takes out his frustrations; this interferes with Nicole's reception but she assures Sally that the barrier will hold. And now, having inflicted the injury, it's time to add the insult as a garnish. Khan and Bunnie, who were technomaged by the Queen earlier on, put in an appearance to let the Queen know that her mojo ain't working like it should. The Iron forces "recede" (sounds nicer than "retreat") while leaving Snively in their dust. In the brig, it's clear to Sonic that Robotnik's brain still hasn't finished rebooting. Then Sonic gets to explain, for Khan's benefit and for about the third time in this arc, why he doesn't just off Eggman: because he doesn't want to be "all vengeful and stuff." Khan think he's "either a Zen master or a fool. But impressive either way." And back at the dome, Queenie makes it clear that Snively won't be getting any face time with her until the force field is dealt with. Ian tips his hand big time by announcing the title of the next installment as "Blackout." Let's hope the power supply for New Knothole has backups on its backups. HEAD: The major feature of this story is the change in mood as Sonic takes on overwhelming odd and actually looks like he's enjoying it. This is quite a change from the grim downside of Bunnie and Khan getting whipped around by the Queen. The violence is within CCA/FV [Fantasy Violence] guidelines, though I was surprised that Sonic didn't sustain more damage after getting maced by Junk. Contrary to the cover art, Sonic doesn't face a hail of shuriken in the story. A comic story that doesn't live up to the cover art; what are the odds? The Mobians' crashing their saucer into Junk reminds me of a line from "Blazing Saddles" where the Waco Kid warns Sheriff Bart about Mongo: "If you shoot him, you'll just make him mad." Even the one-two punch of Antoine's cutlass and Amy's hammer only has the effect of "marring" Junk's armor, which really ticks him off. I have nothing against compassion, but can we please just stipulate for the record that Sonic is feeling guilty about Robotnik losing his grip on reality in the course of their battle in S200 so we can call a halt to these repeated interludes where Sonic has to explain himself? Ian, we GET it! Still, it's worth it to see the tide of battle turn in this arc and the Good Guys get the advantage. This may not last, though. Ian's foreshadowing has been rather heavy- handed. I'm not only talking about the title of the next installment. There's also the bit of business concerning Nicole's picking up distortions in her matrix (possibly from the Queen's technomagical presence) that she's mentioned already. She also has problems coming together, though whether that's because of Butler's artwork or Ian's design I couldn't say. But for the moment, the story has taken a turn for the better. Head Score: 9. EYE: I'm ready to forgive Butler for pretty much anything after the retreat sequence. Once more, the number of word balloons decreases dramatically and the artwork tells the story. In fact, this would be a great looking storyboard for an animation sequence. I also liked the panel where Bunnie and Khan show up to razz the villains, especially the tucked-away detail of Bunnie's right hand connecting with Antoine's. But why does Bunnie look unsteady on her legs when they're two of the most solid things about her? Granted having her drape one arm over Khan's shoulder is a good design, but since the two of them are upright and in gloat mode in the next panel it may just have been a "Psych!" moment for them, so let that pass. Eye Score: 10. HEART: One correspondent tells me that he STILL thinks that the editorial comment about Sally "falling for someone else" which appeared in the previous issue's Letters column refers to Monkey Khan as the potential rival for Sally's affections. You wouldn't know it from THIS installment. While Khan looks eager enough when he's out of his hospital room and getting some air, Sally doesn't appear to be reciprocating the look. She's all business, which is consistent with her character. And I certainly wouldn't consider her LULAS hugging of Khan during the lovefest in "Iron Khan" (S204) to be a romantic entanglement. It's just not there. Ian will have to work harder if he wants to push this piece of the Editorial agenda front and center. Me, I think he shouldn't bother. Heart Score: 8. "Birthright: Part 2" Story: Ian Flynn; Art: Jamal Peppers; Ink: Terry Austin; Color: Matt Herms; Lettering: John E. Workman Coming off her extended flashback from the previous issue, Dimitri calls Lien-Da in to update her on the exploding dreads situation. Dimitri makes is clear that the Iron Queen's idea of bypassing the detonators is unacceptable because Queenie could still technomage them around. He tells her he's been working on modifying the chips but so far has only managed to do one. Lien-Da suggests that using that one chip and dispensing the others to the Legion would enable the wearer to telepathically control the troops. Dimitri says that he isn't that low, at which point Lien-Da demonstrates that, guess what, she is. She starts by overloading Dimitri's circuits, modifying the chip [we don't see her doing it, but we have to take her word for it] and installing it in herself. She then packs what's left of Dimitri away in a box and shelves it next to the one that contains the Ark of the Covenant. This probably involves less paperwork than putting Dimitri in a nursing home, but has the same result. Lien-Da then reports to the Irons to tell them the truth, the half-truth, and nothing like the truth. This, too, has the desired result, as Queenie gives Lien-Da a field promotion to Grand-Master. Or should that be Grand- Mistress? HEAD: Is it cold in here, or is it just Lien-Da? After recapping the capping of Luger in last issue's set-up, Lien-Da decides on a different approach to solving her Dimitri problem. Granted that there was something more than a little absurd about Dimitri with tentacle dreads and wearing a fish bowl. But instead of offing Dimitri, she incapacitates him then sentences him to sensory deprivation until his battery gives out. That's not sadistic, which would involve inflicting a measure of pain. Instead, that's just plain old evil. I suppose Ian deserves props for coming up with the plan. It definitely falls within CCA guidelines because she doesn't kill off the character outright. But man, that is still just nasty! Yet Ian also can't resist hinting at a major spoiler in the future by flogging "more dark twists and turns" in "the second half of the Iron Queen's origin story" in the final panel. It leaves me thinking that Lien-Da isn't going to milk this situation to her satisfaction as she'd planned. Which is all well and good, but I could have done without Ian's telegraphing the punch like that. Or maybe Editorial made him do it, I don't know. Either way, it kind of spoils the moment, following up on what can only be called a seriously shocking development in this story line. Head Score: 9. EYE: Not much happens here visually except for Dimitri blowing a gasket thanks to Lien-Da, but that's OK. Peppers's style is as understated and cool here as Lien-Da herself. Eye: 10. HEART: There's a nice little paradox here. Lien-Da's actions are the height of unfeeling, but it evokes quite a bit of feeling in the process, possibly because there's no raving villain to get in the way. We've had more than our share of raving villains and even raving would-be heroes; e.g., Silver's bout of grandiosity in SU8's "Freedom Fighters of the Future." But too much of that sort of thing and it slops over into the melodramatic and spoils the mood completely. There is an alternative, and Lien-Da plays it out here. This story reminds me of Edgar Allen Poe's short story "The Cask of Amontillado." The story can be summarized briefly: a man named Montresor avenges himself against a man named Fortunato for some unnamed slight by trapping the latter in the cellar of his home and walling him up alive. Unlike the unnamed murderer of Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" who is driven to hallucinatory madness by guilt, Montresor still relishes having gotten away with the crime 50 years later. So will Lien-Da be as successful as Montresor? Hard to tell now that Ian pretty much set up the expectation that things are going to spin out of control. Don't ask me how it's going to happen. That'll be spelled out in due time, I hope. With loose continuity, you never know. Still, Lien-Da's coolness only adds to an emotional intensity that's usually lacking in Sonic comic stories. The only way this story could have kicked things up any higher would have been to give us Dimitri's point-of-view as he was being entombed alive, though a cardboard box is a little on the prosaic side. Which is OK in this case. A surprisingly strong example of why the villains in the Kingdom Hearts franchise are referred to as the Heartless; Lien-Da would be right at home among them. Heart Score: 10. Fan Art: Joel gives us Sonic on a skyboard a la the Sonic Riders game. Jessica gives Sally a makeover. Fan Funnies: Madison has Tails freaking out during what appears to be a My Little Pony video. Off-Panel: The return of El Gran Gordo in the middle of a Sonic-Iron Queen rematch as the fourth wall breaks down completely. Sonic gets the best line: "If the readers didn't read Sonic X,' this joke doesn't make any sense." Sonic-Grams: Matthew wants to know where the Babylon Rogues (see above) are now; Mike sez "Who knows?" Derek asks, logically, if there's ever been an anti-Knuckles or an anti-Shadow. Mike points out that you have to go back to S44 to find an anti-Knuckles, who hasn't really been utilized since. As for an anti-Shadow, that needs a LOT of work to keep from becoming a one-joke character (if you want to see what the joke is like, go to YouTube and search for variations on "Shadow's CD Player"). A cheerful, well- adjusted Shadow the Hedgehog sounds like he should be spending time with the Care Bears. Not that there's anything wrong with that. And Kamen peppers Mike with questions and is told that Scourge's scars were inflicted by Locke in the course of the latter's protecting the Master Emerald from the likes of him; that despite werewolves being "cool and popular" the Werehog persona of Sonic has only put in a single appearance (and until there's a decent story about him, let's keep it that way!); that Cream and/or Big may be showing up in 2010; that Feist is responsible for the various colors of Chaos Emeralds. Kamen also confesses his obsession with the book, making an interesting aside: "You guys make your comics like chapter books, except when you were beginning." I.e., the story form has gotten longer over time, replacing the one-issue Mike Gallagher-type stories from back in the day. That could be considered an improvement, unless you happen to REMEMBER the one-issue Mike Gallagher-type stories from back in the day. And there are the inevitable thumbnail covers.