Sonic #79 [Feb 2K]
Pat Spaziante/Harv Mercadoocasio/Josh Ray cover: Amy Rose
reaching for a chaos emerald as Sonic and Elias look on, aghast.
Uh, swell cover, Pat, but maybe they're aghast because she's
supposed to be reaching for a POWER RING. I know that Archie has
been having continuity troubles lately, but the problems usually
don't kick in until the first page at least! But the cover also
proclaims this to be a "Sega Dreamcast Sonic Adventure tie-in,"
and there you have it.
Remember the premise behind the Lost Paradise arc (K4-6)?
The echidna and dingo realities, which had existed for so long on
separate planes of the space-time continuum, were on a collision
course for the same point in space-time. The results would have
been the amazing two-headed society, once the rubble and dead
bodies had been cleared away. It was a great Ken Penders idea
which, like the Day of Fury and Hawking's fate, never got the
chance to be fully explored before Archie pulled the plug on the
Knuckles line. Well, the same process is at work here. While
Sega has been developing the Dreamcast hardware and Sonic
Adventure software (and keeping the ol' bloodlust fired up with
the detestable "House Of The Dead" game), the Archie creatives
have been keeping the storyline moving forward. Now, for the
benefit of Sega, the creatives have been handed the Sonic
Adventure [hereinafter referred to as "SA"] storyline and their
marching orders: "Make it fit."
At first glance, they'd have better luck lobbying Congress
for a tax hike. The ONLY regular characters from the comic
continuity that are also part of the video game are Sonic, Tails,
Knuckles, Amy Rose and Robotnik/Eggman/Whatever. EVERYBODY else
is more or less superfluous to the unfolding of the plot. Such
as it is.
Video games have come a long way since the days of Pong, but
they haven't changed all that much from a narrative standpoint.
Even the earlier Sonic games had a plot that could be summarized
as: "Get from point A to point B." Everything else was
commentary. And despite some VERY impressive graphics, much of
the game play in SA still adheres to that rule. Sonic and the
other playable characters still have to get from Station Square
(were someone does battle with Chaos) to the Mystic Ruins (where
someone does battle with Chaos) to the Egg Crate...excuse me, the
Egg Carrier (where someone does battle with Chaos) then back on
the ground in Station Square for the final battle with Chaos.
There are sidetrips to such venues as Casinopolis (where you can
watch Sonic take a shower -- not that there's anything wrong with
that!) and the unfortunately named "Twinkle Park," and the trips
make sense in the course of game play because the characters
acquire useful souvenirs such as the Crystal Ring (Sonic), the
Shovel Claw (Knuckles), the Warrior Feather (Amy) and so forth.
Besides, you have to play ALL SIX playable characters before the
FINAL battle with "Perfect Chaos," so it's kind of hard to cut to
the chase. From a narrative standpoint, however, it would be
hard to justify some of these excursions and it'll be interesting
to see what doesn't make it into the books.
What I DO want to see is how the creatives handle the Tikal
subplot. Actually, "subplot" isn't the best word to describe it
because it's key to what happens at the climax of the story. And
quite frankly, the more I watch the videotape of the game play,
the more I like the whole Tikal business. She's a great
character and the story line adds a worthwhile dimension to the
history of Knuckles and his kind; I found myself wishing Ken
Penders had thought of it. The presentation was a little choppy,
being handled in a series of flashbacks that happen to each
character with the player having to piece the action together on
the wing.
Still, Archie and Sega have been following different tracks
and now all of a sudden they're supposed to converge. Justin, in
his Freditorial, wants feedback from both game players and comic
readers as to how the two melded together. OK, J.F., but
remember, you asked for it:
"The Discovery"
Story: Karl Bollers; Art: Fry; Ink: Andrew Pepoy; Color:
Frank Gagliardo; Lettering: Jeff Powell; Editorial: G-Force.
BTW, Justin Gabrie has now added "Story Outline" to his credits.
Cheaper than giving him a raise, I'll bet.
You know that this is a "Let's get down to business"
adaptation because Karl can't even be bothered with the Bollers
Opening Gambit, which usually involves stretching one single
action to accomodate the first three pages. Then again, this
installment is only seven pages long so it's not like Karl had a
whole lot to play with. You can also tell that Nate Morgan is
into serious Web surfing; why else would he be wearing knee pads?
Before Sonic can ask whether beefing up the motherboard wouldn't
allow Nate to download Melissa Joan Hart GIFs faster, we find out
that he's really trying to hack into Robotnik's network. When
they find an allusion to Eggbotnik's having discovered "the
Mystic Ruins," we know Karl isn't wasting time.
Thanks to his new status as a blue knight, Sonic manages to
get an audience with King Max without having to go through a lot
of red tape. The king believes that "the Hidden City needs to be
forewarned." I puzzled on this for a minute before realizing
that they're probably talking about two different pieces of real
estate.
You can tell that Karl wrote this with new readership in
mind; why else would he take the time to introduce each member of
the Knothole crowd by name? We then get a page of Amy Rose being
scrubbed from the mission because she doesn't meet the age
requirement.
There then follows a page of Max talking with Elias. I
couldn't help but notice that Max refers to Sally as "Your
sister" [to Elias], "Sally" and "the Princess." Am I the only
one who thinks that this is weird? OK, so Karl may be trying to
avoid repetition, but there's something...OFF about it. I mean,
he DOES manage to refer to Elias as "son." And keep in mind that
as of Special #11, neither Elias nor Sally have informed dear old
Dad that they each want to take a pass on ruling his downsized
kingdom. I still think that this is a family (or what's left of
one) that should get into therapy ASAP.
Elias, meanwhile, has a brainstorm that had managed to slip
his mind until such time as it was convenient for the plot.
Running a gauntlet of female admirers (OK, we've established that
he's viewed as being a hunk by the local babes, now let's move
on, shall we?), he heads for "the Royal reliquary." This is
correctly defined in the Endnotes as a "shrine" but Fry
apparently thinks that the word spelled r-e-l-i-q-u-a-r-y is
pronounced "bungalow" because that's what he's drawn. And
inside, Amy Rose seems to have beaten Elias to the punch. They
say great minds think alike, but maybe it's just as well that
someone who thinks like a 10-year-old girl has taken himself out
of the line of succession for the throne. "To Be Continued," you
betcha.
HEAD: For all of Karl Bollers's eagerness to tackle the task
of adapting the SA story to the comic, the story here still has
an overwhelming feeling of "On your mark, get set...." It's all
set-up to what happens in the next issue, which I'll discuss at
that time. On the plus side, we're guaranteed a respite for the
next six months from pointless excursions into space to look at
starships. Head score: 7.
EYE: Fry turns in good work here, and I especially liked the
panel on page 4 where Sonic discovers that the gang has dropped
by for breakfast. Reminds me of how central eating was to the
good times in Kenneth Graham's "Wind In The Willows." Hopefully,
the army of admiring babes won't be putting in too many more
appearances; it's starting to get a little pointless. Eye Score:
8.
HEART: Once again, I come away from a scene involving King
Max and one of his kids with a bad taste in my mouth. Max and
Elias not only keep a physical distance from Sally, but an
emotional distance as well. Their talking about keeping her
clueless as to her own mother's condition represents the kind of
emotional retentiveness and secretiveness I'd expect to find in a
Ken Penders script. Besides, why couldn't Sally be getting the
straight dope from Dr. Quack on her own, thus doing an end-run
around the two royal mopes? Heart Score: 6.
"The Origins of The Web," and no, it has nothing to do with
Al Gore. It's appropriate that The Web's costume is pickle
green; given the circumstances under which he got into the crime-
fighting business John Raymond, alias "The Web," may as well
have christened himself "DILL" (which stands for "Dumb Idiot Luck
Lad"). I mean, the guy didn't do a THING in his own origins
story! He got held at gunpoint by his brother, discovered that
the phone lines had been cut, then just sort of stood there while
the police broke in on his bad guy brother. Didn't have to lift
a finger! With a scenario like that, Paul Castiglia could make a
superhero out of a potted geranium.
"The Chaos Factor"
Story: Ken Penders; Art: Steven Butler; Ink: Pam Eklund;
Color: Frank Gagliardo; Lettering: Vickie Williams; Supervising
Lord-High Muckety-Muck: J. F. Gabrie
"As far as I can remember, I've always wanted to be a
Goodfeather." Sorry, wrong opening. Honestly, though, I
couldn't help but think of the Goodfeathers when I first heard
Knuckles's narration in SA. Ken HAS quoted the opening narration
from the Knuckles segment of SA verbatim, so he's not afraid to
tackle the problem of melding the two storylines head-on. Nor is
Knuckles afraid of tackling the creature making a grab for the
Master Emerald. This is Chaos, and I don't envy ANY of the
Archie creatives the task of rendering him in two dimensions; he
looks WAY more impressive in CGI. Anyway, in the kind of deep
purple hues that reminded me of Julie-Su's reunion with Simon in
"Shadows" (SSS11) as well as the infamous Death Egg #2 fiasco,
Knuckles dreams that the Floating Island has fallen out of the
sky and into the water. He wakes up, promising himself he'll
read something lighter than Aldous Huxley's dystopian futurism
from now on before going to bed. He then discovers that he's
suddenly the custodian of valuable beachfront property. He heads
for Haven to discuss this state of affairs with his dad who,
along with the rest of the Brotherhood, must be spreading paper
towels on the floor like crazy.
That move, unfortunately, leaves us having to stare at
Eggbotnik's ugly mug for six pages and putting up with his
exposition. Seems he managed to uncover some tantalizing info
about the fully-formed Chaos (once again, a beast far more
impressive in CGI than as drawn here). Having located the
resting place of Chaos "deep within the Mysterious Cat Country,"
Eggbotnik's brilliant and precise scientific mind devises the
perfect plan for releasing the Chaos being from its home inside a
Black Emerald: he'll whang the emerald with a sledgehammer.
Ad for Special #12 and the return of Zonic. This special
"will have you walking on walls," the ad proclaims. Better than
CLIMBING the walls in frustration, which I was doing for most of
October when I couldn't find a copy of SSS11 anywhere. It's
still MIA from the stands around here. But hey, I know when I'm
licked; I already sent away for Special #12. Plus Archie Andrews
as Fred, Jughead as Shaggy, Hot Dog as Scooby-Doo, Reggie as
Scrappy-Doo (I guess), and Betty and Veronica in a cat fight --
loser has to wear glasses, gain weight, paste on freckles and
feign intelligence to play Velma.
The results of Eggbotnik's master plan are less than
spectacular. However, keep your eye on the little speck of light
that was liberated from the Black Emerald along with Chaos and
which Eggbotnik has ignored; it WILL figure later in the plot.
After a couple more pages and a lot more firepower, Eggbotnik
FINALLY, after all these years, gets access to the Master
Emerald. Which he then proceeds to bust up into little pieces.
It makes a certain amount of sense in this context, though.
However, it also has the unwanted side effect of freeing Mammoth
Mogul. This smooth move is IMHO the best argument I've ever seen
in favor of abolishing Archie Comic's doctrine of "loose
continuity."
For those of you just joining us, "loose continuity" was
first mentioned in the Sonic-Grams of S49. In theory, it means
that a plot development doesn't have to end with the end of a
single story or story arc, but rather it can continue on in
subsequent issues. In practice it means that the creatives can
throw in any sludge-brained plot point they want without worrying
about having to resolve it in your lifetime. Such has been the
sorry history of Mammoth Mogul.
Making his entrance in "Don't Let The Island Hit You Where
Muttski Should Have Bit You" (Mecha Madness Special), he was an
ineffectual villain at best, all talk and no walk. His next
appearance was in the Dark Vengeance arc (K7-9), where he de-
energized Enerjak and showed some potential. Then came Kent
Taylor's infamous "Immortality Is Forever..." (S56), one of the
most worthless and boring Sonic stories of all time (unless
you're a Tails fan, because the little guy gets a fairly juicy
part, but anyway...). MM throws his considerable weight around
while shedding his button-down suit to reveal a preference for
leather gladiator outfits. After a lot more talk than action,
Locke and Sabre manage to trap MM within the Master Emerald in a
plot twist so uncalled-for and clumsily handled that John Hebert
was shoved aside as artist at that point in the story to make
room for Manny Galan. To this day I believe that Taylor should
have fried MM's wooly butt while he had the chance. After all,
Robotnik had been dead for 6 issues by that time and Naugus would
be K-ZORCHTed by Nate Morgan in less than a year, so it's not as
if Archie Comics is morally opposed to snuffing villains. But
no, Kent Taylor spared MM and now he's once again been loosed on
an unsuspecting readership. And lucky Ken Penders gets to clean
up the mess.
HEAD: Ken has done a good job here, given the limitations of
trying to meld the story lines. He starts strong with the fall
of the Floating Island and saved Eggbotnik's exposition for the
back end of the story. Two bad he couldn't come up with a way to
leave Mammoth Mogul out of the picture. If we're lucky, he'll
end up as a snack for Chaos. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Head Score: 8.
EYE: After having been displaced from the Sonic comics by
Fry and finding that the promised job on the Knuckles comic has
been pulled out from under him, Steve Butler acquits himself
admirably. I liked his rendering of the panicking populace, but
his drawing of Knuckles awakening from his nightmare looked
overdone. Eye Score: 9.
HEART: Not much to go on this time around. Ken got the
story out there without much room for nuance or character
development. Which probably kept Sega happy. Heart Score: N/A.
"Tales of the Great War: Conclusion"
"Life Underground"
Story: Ken Penders; Art; Chris Allan; Ink: Jim Amash;
Lettering: Jeff Powell; Coloring: Frank Gagliardo; Editorial: G-
Force.
You know you're in trouble, from a narrative standpoint,
when the first words out of a character's mouth in the first
panel are: "So let me get this straight...." Elias wasn't the
only one who needed a refresher course on what's been going down.
I had to read this through more than once to get a clear idea of
what was happening. I think. Hope you understand HTML:
After Jules had been roboticized, Uncle
Chuck got out of the science business and became a short order
cook. Sensing that War Minister Julian was somehow involved,
Bernie confronts him about it. As was the case with Tails's
father in "Eve of Destruction" (SSS9), she does so without
thinking to call for backup. Huge mistake; Julian orders her to
be roboticized.
At some point, the roboticized Uncle
Chuck manages to free Jules's mind, in order to set up...
Uncle Chuck arrives to find Bernie
1.0 and Julian's cover story. He then finds himself getting a
dose of full-time single parenthood.
Uncle Chuck then shows Jules his proposed base of operations
and the only real glimpse of the "life" promised in the title.
And, surprise, Jules and Bernie are reunited.
When Elias asks how they were able to reconstruct everything
that happened while they supposedly weren't available, Jules
hauls out a "zip disk" which unfortunately (due to the magic of
loose continuity) must remain uncoded because Uncle Chuck was
recaptured and is now residing on a junk pile with Lupe and
family. As Elias quotes from "Gone With The Wind" the seemingly
interminable story arc is over. And frankly, Scarlett, I don't
give a....
HEAD: Ken Penders shouldn't have had to go through so much
hoo-ha just to tell a simple story: what happened to Jules and
Bernie. It could have been handled in two stories, tops!
Somewhere along the way, though, things multiplied and what
should have been simplicity itself was subverted. Page 4
symbolizes the problem here, where we encounter a flashback
(Chuck's) within a flashback (Jules's). Ken probably had started
out simply but the job became more and more impossible as the
cover story (the touchstone for each issue) kept wavering. As a
result, the whole thing degenerated into a muddle by the end.
Head Score: 3.
EYE: Chris Allan does a good job with the key "roboticizing
of Bernie" sequence, but some of the other characters (Tails,
Elias, Antoine) suffer from having incredibly huge eyes. The
reunion scene was also handled well, given the limitation of
showing two bots displaying affection. Eye Score: 7.
HEART: This should NEVER have been a campfire story told to
the group. But the original set-up, "For Better Or Worse,"
(S77), dictated that it be so. Ideally, Ken should have waited
for a more opportune moment to plug a decent version of the story
into the book. That story would have had Jules and Bernie
recounting their history to an audience of one: Sonic. Come on,
people, don't you think that at SOME point Sonic would've asked
his parents what had happened to them? It was a question that
begged to be answered ever since Jules and Bernie made their
first appearance in "Brave New World," furcryinoutloud! But no,
Ken has them telling their story to everyone BUT Sonic! I'm
convinced it's all part of Sega's plot to keep Sonic emotionally
neutered. And the arc ended up taking so many other directions,
such as the single combat involving King Acorn, that I have to
wonder how many readers stayed with Ken to this, the bitter end.
Had Ken kept it simple, it could have been far more powerful
IMHO. But that's just me. Heart Score: 3.
Sonic-Grams: More interesting that the funny but routine
"Off-Panel" is the Sonic-Grams explanation of why the one in the
last issue was a rerun: "Printing problem. It happens." Suuure,
Fred. Why do I think that Gallagher went and got smacked down
for perpetrating humor relating to a forbidden subject? I'm
thinking he tried to sneak in a Pokemon joke here. Letters,
blurb for #80, no fan or pro art. Lupe fans can take heart from
the response to Kim Bratton's letter; deroboticization may not be
in the cards for Bunnie, but the door has been left open for
Uncle Chuck, Lupe et al. And next month we get to see nobody's
favorite mammoth cross-dressing as Xena again.