Sonic Universe #23 (February 2011) Yardley!/Hunzeker cover: I can think of better role models for Cream than the Schwartzenator. I can only assume the kick stand is still up on the far side of Shadow's bike. Nicely executed cover, but wrong on so many levels even Shadow can't stand it. "Treasure Team Tango: Step 3: The Llevada" Story: Ian Flynn; Art: Tracy Yardley!; Ink: Jim Amash; Color: Jason Jensen; Lettering: Phil Felix; Editor: Paul Kaminski; Editor-in-Chief: Victor Gorelick; El Presidente: Mike Pellerito; Sega Licensing reps: Cindy Chau and Jerry Chu It takes two pages, one of them featuring wall-to-wall Bean, to remind us that Team Nack is making off with the Sol Emerald while a blimp gives pursuit. Meanwhile, Rouge is griping, Blaze is honked off at Shadow who apparently doesn't know that you should avoid using the phrase "put down" around cats, and Omega wonders if he should keep the pressure on Cream and Cheese. Clearly these clowns need leadership and Amy Rose offers herself the job. Reminding them of what their Mission Statement is ("Let's just get through 4 issues of this comic book"), Omega releases his prisoners while telling Cream "You are too cute to eviscerate." There follows a one-page interlude between Amy Rose and Shadow as to how he and Blaze hooked up in the course of Sonic Universe #1 (otherwise known as "A Funny Thing Happened on My Way to Fighting Metal Sonic"). Amy Rose reminds him once again about the fate of Blaze's home world, and after an inconclusive discussion she tells herself that Shadow will do the right thing. Later, we find Rouge and Amy aboard Shadow's motorcycle with Omega as the sidecar conveying Cream and Cheese; Blaze and Shadow are the "wingmen." As the feline of the group gives new meaning to the term "trail-blazing," Shadow catches up to her and she officially reaches Uncle Ben status in declaring what will happen to her home world without the Sol Emerald. Shadow tries to apologize because he still intends to complete his "mission;" Blaze does NOT accept his apology. Back at Team Nack, the bike is knocked out of commission by a bomb. The bike is in fact the only casualty, in obedience to the Looniversal law which holds that no matter how much damage a bomb does it is never lethal and nobody even bleeds. This is especially true of Bean, who comes through it looking like he'd just polished off a milk shake made with Red Bull. Anyway, the blimp disgorges its crew; ladies and gentlemen, fresh from their one-page tease in "Trouble in Paradise," it's the Babylon Rogues. Jet tries to be useful by snatching the Emerald from Nack, but he is then accosted by Bean. Nack thinks he can do himself and the readers a favor by shooting both Jet and Bean, but Team Babylon scatters before than can happen. Nack manages to get off a shot, but Storm manages to run interference. Somehow in all the brouhaha Jet nicks the Emerald and Team Babylon makes their exit. Nack gets off a parting shot; it hits the Emerald, with spectacular and (again) non-lethal results. Meanwhile, Blaze feels a great disturbance in this farce ... I mean, a great disturbance in the Force as a result of the Sol Emerald getting blasted. Shadow is assigned to carry Blaze. As Nack surveys the damage, he can't help but slip into exposition mode as to how the Sol Emerald survived being shot without a scratch. That tells Jet all he needs to know as he adopts a new strategy, one that General Curtis LeMay would have approved of during the Vietnam War: carpet bomb the area and sift through what's left to get the Emerald. But Bean, who is as at home with explosive ordnance as Blaze is with fire, simply detonates the payload in mid-air. Jet attributes this to Bean's being "more Rogue than Armada." No, Jet, Bean is simply more insane than sane. With Team Nack back in possession of the Emerald, they and Team Babylon get ready to rumble but then the Rose-Dark Combo Platter arrives. Amy Rose's plan: hammer em all and let Ian sort it out. Rouge has her own agenda, as does Shadow and his undefined "mission," and even Amy and Blaze can sense that in the making. Thus begins the 4-way Battle Royal. HEAD: "Llevada" carries the following meaning: "the man uses the upper thigh or foot to carry' the lady's leg to the next step." Nothing even remotely that suggestive happens here except for Shadow cradling Blaze for all of two panels. The only new development here is having the Babylon Rogues crash the party. Ian apparently wants to include them in the ranks of utility villains for the comics. Exactly WHY they even show up here is an open question; aside from hunting down Nack for possessing "something special," there's no real reason for the Rogues to be here. For that matter, the Sol Emerald has by now lost its meaning in this story in the scramble for its possession. Yes, Blaze has stated, repeatedly, that dire things will happen to her world if she doesn't return with it. But then the whole question of motivation collapses. We don't know why Dr. Nega swiped it in the first place to set up this whole arc. Sure, Nack is motivated by mere greed, and Rouge is after it because stealing jewels is her thing, but it also happens to intersect with an ill-defined "mission" that Shadow is on. This part of the story is quickly turning to oatmeal as motivation becomes buried and mere possession the prime objective. Bean is about the only fun part of this story, but he's so busy channeling old Warner Brothers cartoons that he does little to connect with members of his own team. Still, his mid-air detonation of the blimp's payload is a nice touch, even if it's SO off-balance with the rest of the story. This installment ends, predictably, with everybody getting ready to rumble and the story having made virtually no progress at all. Head Score: 5. EYE: Tracy Yardley!'s artwork is about all that this installment has going for it. His work with Wave, I have to say, is the best thing in this installment. Eye Score: 7. HEART: Not at THIS point of the story. Concern about Blaze's home world has been effectively run into the ground out of sheer repetition. Cream's toothache-inducing cute act officially gets to be too much, Blaze has become a total sourpuss, and the Babylon Rogues have to pool their personalities in order to be considered one-dimensional. I just want this to be over. Heart score: 3. Fan Art: A group portrait by Autumn, Tails art by Mary, Jenny speaks up for the SonAmy shippers. Fan Funnies: Corey gives us several characters demanding Cream's presence in the comic. Given her contribution to date, I'm not sure that's all that good of an idea. Off-Panel: like the "Deleted scenes" section of a motion picture DVD, this supplies its own reason WHY this scene would have been edited from the original story. Letters: Michael takes a cheap shot at someone or something ("you cannot rock due to the fact that you're not in a band") and his observation that the Silver-Blaze relationship has not been presented in the comic gets blown off, with Paul or whomever citing the Sonic Colors adaptation as proof that they don't completely ignore the games. Yeah, whatever, but as a Silver/Blaze shipper myself, I'm not buying it; I plan to explain myself once the Silver arc starts with SU25. He is also told that the writer(s) will never run out of ideas. But as Jack Torrence said in so many words in "The Shining," a writer can have plenty of ideas but whether they're GOOD ideas is another matter. Sydney wants more Speedy; apparently, two psychotic green birds in this story arc aren't enough for him. Zechariah asks about the Eggman/Robotnik name confusion, Scourge and Shadow.