Sonic the Hedgehog #219 (January 2011) Jamal Peppers/Terry Austin/Matt Herms cover: if you thought all that bubblin' crude on the cover of S217 was dark, check out THIS cover. Max and Elias look oddly stiff, like wooden figures set in a Black Forest-style cuckoo clock. Sonic and Geoff, meanwhile, don't have the good sense to come in out of the rain. Artistically, it's a great cover, what with the lightning effect and all, and it signals a departure from the comedy-action formula. "In Service To The King: Part 1" Story: Ian Flynn; Art: Jamal Peppers; Ink: Terry Austin; Color: Matt Herms; Lettering : John E. Workman; Editor: Paul Kaminski; Editor-in-Chief: Victor Gorelick; President: Mike Pellerito; Sega Licensing reps: Cindy Chau and Jerry Chu We open with Mina losing sleep, if not her mind, because of a nightmare featuring Iron Nicole from an earlier story arc. But we quickly shift to the palace where what was supposed to be a one-on-one between King Max and Geoffrey Sinjin also features Sonic and Queen Alicia. The word for today is "ambiguity," as it's never made quite clear what Max means by the restoration of the monarchy "to proper authority," what a Chaos Emerald has to do with it, or how Geoff plans to obtain one. Sonic especially wants to know if he's to be considered an "acceptable loss," but true to Geoff's being a Ken Penders creation, he's as inscrutable as ever, saying only that he needs someone who can function in the Special Zone. Too bad Sonic doesn't flash back to his Sonic Adventure 2 days and just ask Tails to fabricate a fake emerald to keep the King happy, but then we'd have a whole new story. The two arrive at Old Freedom Fighter HQ where Mina has just arrived and where her manager is making an Ash of himself. She tells Sonic that she needed the change of scenery, and Sonic buys it. Ash thinks that maybe Mina is entering the But-Backstage- The-Band-Was-Falling-Apart phase of her career; that's what happens when you watch too many band documentaries on MTV. But it's clear that Mina is still haunted by the memory of the Iron Dominion arc, especially the presence of Nicole, in whom she appears to have completely lost faith. So what does Ash suggest? Psychotherapy? Down-time in a spa? Rehab to get her over her comic book habit? No, his idea is ... MUSIC THERAPY, getting Mina to "make a statement" musically. She immediately agrees. Nicole, meanwhile, is firing up the star posts for the crossover to the Special Zone while Geoff very obviously lies through his teeth to Sonic about his spouse, Hershey (remember her?). The pair no sooner enter the Zone than Feist makes his presence known. Geoff then sets the agenda: Sonic vs. Geoff. Feist thinks this will be a giggle, and agrees. The race is on, but Geoff doesn't even leave the starting line, preferring to stay where he is and fiddle with his equipment. Once Sonic returns with a Chaos Emerald in hand, Geoff simply zaps him in the back, steals the Emerald to Feist's obvious delight, and heads home. Ignoring Feist, Nicole and the weather, Geoff heads for Mammoth Mogul's casino. Inside M2's office (Scratch and Coconuts were useless at limiting access to the boss), Geoff explains that he's come "to restore the true king to the throne." And by "true king" we're supposed to think that it's none other than Naugus. But you never can tell with a Geoffrey story. HEAD: It appears that the concurrent "Treasure Team Tango" arc in the Sonic Universe comic has sucked all the comedy oxygen out of the Editorial Department, because this story is seriously dark. There's talk of King Max losing his grip on reality, Mina's nightmares and impending nervous breakdown, Feist, Naugus, and Geoff's double-cross. Aside from Sonic's occasional snarking around, there's not anywhere near as much fun as there was during the just-completed "Thicker Than Water" arc (S217-218). I'm tempted to say that the cause for this state of affairs is that it's 2:19 ... that is to say, it's ISSUE 219, and Ian has to start setting the table for S225. It may seem a bit early, but remember that Snively first got in touch with the Iron Queen back in "Sleepless in New Megaopolis" (S194) so six issues out is never TOO early to develop the next big deal story arc. It helps to remember that Mina entered this continuity during S76's "Business As Usual" unsuccessfully trying to keep someone (turned out to be her mother) from being roboticized. Momgoose eventually got back to normal as did the other Robians, Mina got over her crush on Sonic (see "Romantic Triangles, Non- Existent"), launched her singing career which is a REALLY hard sell in a comic book where you can only hear the music in your head, and hooked up with Ash as her manager. But the lingering memory of the old-time mass roboticizing and the more recent Legionizing (or Roboticizing Lite) may help account for Mina's recent nightmares, though they have more to do with Nicole than anything else. I'm not sure where to put Mina's phobias in political terms. Nicole in many respects IS the Kingdom of Acorn. Notwithstanding her being temporarily compromised by the Iron Queen, Nicole is a benevolent, omnipresent part of the corporate state being run by the local furries with the Acorn Monarchy as its titular head and the Council as a representative government. There's no attempt made to copy contemporary political realities here. Not much is said about a globalized system involving the Dragon Kingdom, which is supposedly still in a state of flux after having thrown off the Iron Dominion's control, or Station Square which appears to be the humanoid stronghold on the planet. Instead, the focus is on personalities, or what passes for personalities in this comic. Max, for his part, doesn't have much of a personality on display here, though once more Queen Alicia has even less on view, having again been relegated to being the Pusher of the Royal Wheelchair. Whatever is said about Max is said by her and Geoffrey, the latter apparently having worked at figuratively pouring poison into the King's ear (yeah, it's a "Hamlet" reference, so what?). Unfortunately, what should have been a key moment in the comic is watered down in order to stay within CCA guidelines. I'm referring of course to the zapping of Sonic. We're not shown the red-tipped bolt making contact with Sonic, so it isn't a projectile. There aren't any wires running to a battery pack so it's not exactly like a taser. And it's not lethal enough to keep Sonic off the cover of the next issue. The story is compelling enough, but already it feels like Ian is holding out on us, especially with Geoff. Back in the Iron Dominion arc he was still in James Bond mode and acted like a totally full-of-himself doofus until Sonic, Sally, Tails and Khan came back from the DK. Here he's taciturn and evasive, and we haven't even gotten to the Naugus angle yet. Head Score: 7. EYE: Kudos to Matt Herms and Ian for shouldering the narrative weight in the Cycling To The Casino sequence as well as the Zone contest: where no words are needed, none should be supplied. Mina, however, overacts like crazy, especially in the long exposition scene she has with Ash so Matt has a LOT to work with from her. Eye Score: 9. HEART: Given all the suspense in the air, there's surprisingly little Heart on display. This may be because it was thought that it would slow down the narrative or keep the focus on someone who doesn't deserve it, I don't know. Instead, it leaves the story emotionally off-balance. The King's appearance here reminds me of a radio interview I heard with Frank Zappa years ago. He discussed the prostate cancer that would eventually claim his life, and described it saying "You know how it is, you have your good days and your bad weeks." That seemed to be the situation Ian tried getting across about the King, but for whatever reason he held back on the details, possibly because telling the whole truth about Max would have made him into a sympathetic character and that seems to be a situation Ian wanted to avoid at all costs. Me, I've never had anything against the Acorn monarchy, and I was particularly grateful that S120's "The Royal Signet" FINALLY did justice by the character of Queen Alicia. When it comes to Mina, Ian's gone in the opposite direction: he piles on the emotionality to such an extent that it actually undercuts the seriousness of what she's going through. It's pretty extreme of her to fail to give Nicole the benefit of the doubt since Nicole hasn't acted up since the Irons were kicked out of town. It's especially unforgivable since Mina goes from paranoia about Nicole to "Hey, let's put out an album!" literally in the space of less than one page. Talk about trivializing! I don't know, maybe it's because I remember the 60s and 70s folk and rock attempts to make a difference musically and know how little it actually accomplished. I've got nothing against the music of the times, from Bob Dylan at the top of his game to Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction," but nothing concrete came of it. And after a point the artists knew it. They then began to turn inward; the Beatles's "Revolution" gave way to John Lennon's "Imagine." So seeing Mina recap what happened musically forty-some years ago stirs up some interesting feelings to someone who saw and heard it the first time around. It's pretty obvious that Mina has a bad case of demons, but it seems to me that she could better deal with them by having a sit-down with Sonic or, better, Nicole herself. Failing to do so once more nudges this story onto the tracks of becoming an Idiot Plot. With Mina all over the highway on this, the King ill- defined, and Geoff little better, this isn't starting off good. Definitely a number of characters who COULD be emotional focus points for the story, but it feels like Ian's hedging his bets all the way around. We'll see what happens next issue. Heart Score: 4. "Sonic Colors" Story: Ian Flynn; Art: Tracy Yardley!; Ink: Terry Austin; Color: Matt Herms; Lettering: John E. Workman Might as well save myself the trouble: "After apparently developing a sense of remorse for his past indiscretions, Dr. Eggman opens Dr. Eggman's Interstellar Amusement Park' up in space, made up of several planet sized attractions. Suspicious, Sonic the Hedgehog and his sidekick, Miles Tails' Prower, check it out and meet Yacker, who comes from a species of aliens known as Wisps. After managing to communicate with him, they learn that the other Wisps have been kidnapped by Dr. Eggman, who plans to harness their energy for his nefarious schemes. Allying with the Wisps and using their special powers, Sonic investigates, and soon learns that Dr. Eggman is..." [Source: Wikipedia] HEAD: The alternative to having Sonic chase after Chaos Emeralds is to have the Emeralds chase after Sonic. That seems to be the hook in this latest game from Sega. Borrowing the basic premise from "Sonic Unleashed," our hero must traverse an alien world (c.f. the continents on Gaia in "Unleashed") and conquer Eggman in each one before the big finale. The Wisps enable Sonic, powering him up to get the job done. And part of the job is to get over Eggman's comic henchbots (a cube and a sphere, the latter indeed equipped with a Texas accent and cowboy argot). Believe it or not, a space elevator (or "non-rocket spacelaunch structure") is a serious concept. It dates back to Konstantin Tsiolkovsky's 1895 idea of a space tower. Aside from a hard tower, cables connected to a geosynchronous orbiting counterweight are also being considered. Right now, the biggest problem is the practical reality that the right materials for whatever design is selected haven't been invented yet. That and the fact that it would require lots of shielding to keep from being bombarded with stupid amounts of radiation when passing through the Van Allen belt. But back to the story, which is pretty much yet another reworking of the first two cutscenes from a Sega Sonic game. There's really nothing else to tell. It's one more tease for one more game. Head Score: n/a. EYE: Yardley! bumps up against his limits in adapting the scenery from the game. The backgrounds for the game are spectacular, on a par with those from "Unleashed." Here, not so much, but Sonic is meant to be front-and-center on these pages anyway. Eye Score: 7. HEART: Again, how much Heart can there be in a commercial? Actually quite a bit in the case of "Sonic and the Black Knight," but you have to know the full story line going in. Again, there's not that much of a Heart factor here as it's Sonic and Tails once more getting the best of Eggman with a little help from the Wisps. Heart Score: n/a. Fan Art: Speaking of Wisps, Eiri gives us a portrait of Tails and Wisps, there's an anonymous portrait of Mina, and despite the future marriage of Mina and Tails, Josie declares herself to be a Mina-Ash shipper. Fan Funnies: A Sonic plushie reading a Sonic comic, by William. Off Panel: a chronicle of Geoff's history of deceit and double-crossing. Sonic Spin: Paul Kaminski lets it be known that Ian had this story in the works like 2 years ago ("early 2009") and that it promises yet another "cataclysmic event that will change the face of the Sonic universe." Which will probably get undone within a year's time, after which we start waiting for the Issue 250 cataclysmic event. Sonic Grams: Kamen is beaten to the punch in his suggestion of flogging "Sonic Colors" on the pages of this comic, though Kamen has done some homework on Wisp powers beyond what's on display in this issue. Aiden asks that the send him a video game; the kid's only 5.5 years old and has a lot to learn about marketing. And the usual thumbnails.