Sonic #72 [Jul 1999] Spaz/Harvo/Josh Ray cover: I like the composition; good diagonal effect. Sonic's now-green eyes clash nicely with Robotnik's red eyes. Sonic's letting his quills grow too long, though; he reminds me a little of a frilled lizard. "I, Robotnik!" Story: Karl Bollers; Art: Steven Butler; Ink: Pam Eklund; Lettering: Jeff Powell($?); Color: Frank Gagliardo; Editorial: G- Force. Once more we get the classic Bollers Opening Gambit: use three pages to establish an action that would have taken an ordinary mortal three panels. In this case, everyone is taking in Nate and Rotor's latest invention: the "telecrate." When I was growing up, we called it the "idiot box," and it's certainly lived up to THAT name! Frankly, I don't know why everyone in Knothole is making such a big deal about it. I mean, the technology has been there and nobody's said boo. Sonic was wearing a vid screen communicator on his wrist in "Running To Stand Still" (S53), Antoine made an off- hand joke about the Sci-Fi Channel at the beginning of "Go Ahead, Mecha My Day" (S25), not to mention the whole TV motif in "Last Game Cartridge Hero" (Sonic Live Special). It just doesn't seem like it should be that big a thing. But in a startling inversion of the Bollers Opener, we suddenly...I mean, with NO SETUP WHATSOEVER...learn that Rotor is leaving Knothole and heading up north to reconnect with his family to see if they are still being "mind-controlled by Robuttnik." And let me remind you that that, too, was accomplished through video technology. So Karl devotes three pages to everyone oohing and aahing over a crummy TV set, and three panels to Rotor's leaving the story. Personally, I'd have done it the other way round, but sometimes I get the feeling that one of the job requirements for writing for Sonic is a cockeyed set of priorities. Sally and Nate then catch up with Max, who lets Sally in on the gist of his upcoming televised address: to bring the populace up to speed on Queen Alicia's condition (no change), and to announce the demise of Naugus. Which only happened, like, six issues ago in case you've forgotten. And you probably have. And cut to the commercial. At first I was steamed that Steve Butler managed to work Chester Cheetah(tm), who's on the Frito-Lay payroll, into this story. But then I remembered that Frito-Lay has bought ad space in this book (if not in this issue). For all I know, the appearance of Chester(tm) is a make-good to atone for Frito-Lay's having bought ad space in some of the lamer issues of the past year. Makes sense in a book where another character, Hershey(tm), is named after ANOTHER ad client. Karl said on the credits page that this story is "brought to you in Shell-O-Vision," whatever THAT is. "SHILL-O-Vision" is more like it! BTW, I'm STILL steamed, but not enough to be totally disgusted. Max launches into his address. Catching himself before he lapses into a full-blown case of Beatlespeak, he promptly goes off- message by addressing the issue of cleaning up the environment. Then we cut to the satellites, which proceed to jam the royal broadcast and replace it with: If I remember the plot of the old Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoon, the Pottsylvanian's plan was to get to the moon first, set up a TV station, and jam American TV programming for fun and profit by broadcasting wall-to-wall Pottsylvanian TV commercials. Asked if Americans would notice what was happening, Boris Badinov replied: "Sooner or later, yes." The Mobians notice the difference in programming a lot sooner. I'll spare you the full account of the substitute programming: a self-serving biography of Ivo Robotnik -- a little something to bring the post-Endgame newbies up to speed. It's also an excuse to introduce an out-of-left-field element of sibling rivalry involving one "Colin Kintobor" who took exception with Ivo's plan to feed other Overlanders into the Ultimate Annihilator to make sure it was annihilating properly. This actually set up the flashback which began "The Big Goodbye"...or "For Whom The Bell Tolls," either version. Portions of the rest of the broadcast are actually faithful to the SatAM series, at least visually. However, Karl tries manfully to shoehorn the events of S21 and S22 into the continuity, ignoring the fact that S22's "The Return" took place in an unspecified future where Sonic and Sally were married and had a couple rugrats of their own, so how could anyone have known about Robo-Robotnik? Karl should have remembered the better part of valor at that point and simply not alluded to the story arc at all. After Sonic and Sally compare notes on the broadcast via communicator, Sonic shifts gears and we FINALLY get a page of him trying to relate to his parents for the first time since they were introduced in "Brave New World." Karl gets points for trying, but what's with the reference to "starting school?" Up until now, Sonic's been taking courses at the School of Hard Knocks, Knothole Campus. Could be worse: the story ends with Snively enrolled in Panicked State. HEAD: I've given up on expecting clarity in a Sonic comic, especially in an issue like this where Karl tries (with mixed success) to tie up the loose ends before advancing the plot by bringing Robotnik back into the story line in earnest. King Max's speech had no relation at all to what he told Sally it would be about, and Karl never did successfully fill in the plotholes (such as the one about Robo-Robotnik). Worst of all, there was not even a hint that Rotor was leaving the series; he was more or less handed his hat and shoved off the page. Lupe got a better send-off in "Shadows in the Dark" (S67), and she's a minor character! I hate to think this happened because there wasn't room for TWO techies in the cast and Karl decided to sacrifice Rotor instead of Nate Morgan; once again I begin to suspect that Archie Comics is, in its heart of heart, trying to distance itself from being considered a "funny animal book." And if Archie has learned anything, they'd better NOT be planning on bringing Rotor back roboticized or in some other way under Robotnik's control. That just can't happen to a charter member of the Knothole Freedom Fighters. To quote from the Tome of Lessons, specifically the Book of Endgame: "Woe unto you, writers and illustrators, who attempt to jerk around the fans with plot twists, for it will be you yourselves who will look like jerks in the end." Head Score: 6. EYE: Steve Butler's artwork was THE saving grace of this story. What really registered with me and set the central passage apart from that other recent example of self-serving crap, Benedict's stump speech in "Election Night" (K23) can be expressed in two words: "reaction shots." Instead of Jim Valentino's relentless coverage of Benedict's fascist rave-out, Steve Butler had the good sense to pull back and get reaction shots of the other cast members, usually when they themselves were being talked about. They gave what could have been a dreary exercise some badly-needed breaks and put the broadcast in context. Eye Score: 9. HEART: The good news is, Karl is trying to broaden his emotional range. The bad news is, he's not trying hard enough. He reduces Rotor's farewell to three lousy panels (well-drawn by Steve Butler, but c'mon!), and Sonic's relating with his parents to less than a page. The reaction shots during the broadcast showed more depth of feeling, in part because they weren't cluttered up with words. Granted that the newbies wouldn't fully appreciate the depth of Uncle Chuck's remourse at having built the roboticizer, or King Max's shock at flashing back to the time he spent in the Void. Of all those moments, though, my favorite one would have to be the panel at the top of page 13. Antoine reminds me of the guy...you see him every year...playing for New England or Buffalo or whichever team is getting creamed during a lopsided Super Bowl...some guy who will spend the whole game warming the bench...and still he puts on the big grin and says "Hi, Mom!" when he realizes that he's on camera. It's a great scene and it speaks volumes about Antoine, and not all of it negative, either. But working Chester Cheetah(tm) into the story canceled out a lot of whatever good will Karl and Steve might have generated, for me anyway. Heart Score: 4 (and it would've been more like a 7 if Butler and/or Bollers hadn't tried sucking up to Frito-Lay). Ads: ordinarily, I don't pay much attention to the ads, but I'd like to know the source for the drawings that appear on the ad for Special #9. Especially the one of Tails in jammies: too kyoot! "Tales of the Great War: 1" "The Shot Heard 'Round The World" Story: Ken Penders; Art: Art Mawhinney, Ink: Jim Amash; Color: Barry Grossman; Lettering: Jeff Powell; Editorial: G-Force. A Mobian (in this case, Emerson, the grandson of the King Alexander mentioned in the last installment) encounters an Overlander named Paladin. The O is armed with a handgun...and I could probably have done a more professional job of summarizing this story if life hadn't anticipated art. I'm really too depressed to go into details. Emerson's death was avoidable, stupid, and all too human. HEAD: I'm not surprised that the Great War had its source in an act of gunplay. Back before Sarajevo was a city under seige or the place where Torville and Dean won the gold in figure skating, it was the scene of a political assassination that snowballed into a little something called World War I. So there's nothing implausible about the story. What's really hard to believe is that (according to the latest figures available) TEN MINORS PER DAY die gun-related deaths, whether from homicide or suicide or accident. They may not happen all at once in the same location, as in the Columbine High Massacre, but they still happen. And yet we don't think anything of it until the violence comes home in concentrated doses. Personally, I think we should start small in correcting the situation. Repealing the Second Amendment would be a good start. Head Score: 9 (because giving this a 10 would feel like admitting defeat). EYE: At first I thought Barry Grossman's coloring job too bright. But if anything, that only heightened the severity of what happened in the story. Shadows or sinister colorations would have telegraphed the punch of Mawhinney's high-quality work. But Archie being Archie and a Comic Code adherent, Grossman did cheat by letting Emerson bleed green so it wouldn't be noticeable. Eye Score: 9, for copping out. HEART: I was surprised that Emerson's dad, Theodore, reacted by not only forbidding contact with the O's, but "avoid[ing] the use of gun-like weapons." Too bad Ken hadn't thought this angle up before he wrote S44's "Black And Blue And Red All Over" which opens with Rotor showing off that extremely gun-like monstrosity he was supposed to have invented. Maybe I've internalized too much of the whole "robots vs. nature" premise of the SatAM series, but I thought Theo would have phrased it more in terms of "Respecting all nature" or something. Maybe Ken's saving all his philosophizing for the Knuckles books. Still, it's a heavy dose. THIS is the way to avoid being called a "funny animal book" while retaining both the fans and one's self-respect. Heart Score: 10. Off-Panel: Gallagher and Manak do a "Sunday comic." OK, whose palm do I grease at Archie Comics to be able to sit in on a story session, and what's the opening bid? My pockets may not be as deep as Frito-Lay's but I'll bet I could come up with better stuff. Sonic-Grams: No editorial, just letters this time out. Note: yellow text on pale purple is barely legible, even for someone who's recently switched to wearing TRIFOCALS! Anthony Randolph not only asserts how Sonic and Sally feel about each other, he backs it up by citing page and panel. You're going to go far in research, Tony! Blurbs for K26 and S73. Find Your Name: I'm sure Travis Dumas, Emilia Hung and MaryAnn Rosales are flattered, but here's a news flash: Hawaii has been one of the United States since, what, 1959? Fan Art: Samantha Fuller does an anime-influenced Hershey; Danielle Hardy does a super-kyoot rendition of a scene from "Blast To The Past," Part 1; Aaron Jackson contributes an action sequence; and Chris LaFolette tries sucking up to Justin. Pro-Art of Sally and Knothole by Suzanne Paddock and Pam Eklund. Y'know, it's been almost TWO YEARS since Endgame wrapped up and (according to Ken Penders's original plotline) one year since we were supposed to have learned that she really died in the fall. Now look at the Pro-Art again and imagine Sally not in the picture. Leaves an awful big hole, doesn't it? Maybe someday Ken Penders and/or someone in the Archie front office will admit (not just imply it, but actually use the S-word: "Sorry") that the book would have suffered if Sally was gone. Let's keep that in mind during Rotor's "leave of absence."