#38 [Sept 1996] Spaziante/Harvo cover: Sonic is harvesting a power ring when he's spotted by a squad of ComBots. Don't you hate when that happens? "The Rise of Robotropolis--the Fall of Sonic" Story: Kent Taylor[debut]/Art: Manny Galan[debut] And welcome to Amateur Hour, Sonic fans! Seriously, Ken Penders has been forthright about downsizing in the funny book industry. Will Kent and Manny prove to be as formidable as Gallagher and Manak? Let me rephrase that.... Our story opens with some slightly off-model characters, an armload of exposition from Tails, an interesting POV, and Antoine uncharacteristically wielding a broadsword (with no shield, armor, or even a scabbard). Although in this weather (a nice touch, by the way), it might be more accurate to say he's wielding a lightning rod. It turns out Tails, Antoine and Sonic are reconning Robotropolis after the earthquake, but for all practical purposes the quake never happened; the city looks as menacing and run-down as ever. So you can forget the plotline from "The Day Robotropolis Fell" since it's not really necessary for this story. Anyway, the gang come upon some ComBots left over from "To Bot Or Not To Bot" [#34]. Tails airlifts Antoine out of harm's way only to drop him on top of a couple of ComBots in what Taylor calls an "atomic drop." This maneuver bears no resemblance to the professional wrestling move of the same name, but hey, if Sonic can drop-kick a ComBot in the crotch (page 3) while calling it a "drop-kick to the chest" who am I to say? Anyway, remember what I said about Antoine's sword being a possible lightning rod? Well, one of the ComBots is struck by lightning; the resulting explosion, however, knocks Sonic out cold. Fearing the worst (because Sonic's got those stupid X's in his eyes that hint that maybe a cartoon character has gone to That Big Inkwell In The Sky), a fearful, tearful Tails (with an achey breaky heart?) flies off to get help. He returns with the rest of the gang; the storm is over and Sonic is coming to. Unfortunately, he seems to have been slowed down by the explosion; Rotor's explanation of how this happened is so full of technobabble that I'm not about to boil it down. Nicole suggests multiple power rings as a possible cure for his condition. On their way back to Knothole to implement this suggestion, the group is ambushed by cloaked ComBots. Everyone is captured except for Sonic, who manages to avoid yet another exploding ComBot by jumping into the pool where the Power Rings are generated. Give Taylor credit for doing his homework by reading the character sheet on Sonic; he knows that the blue dude can't swim. He's rescued from drowning by...HOWARD THE DUCK WEARING FALSE EYELASHES! No, it's only Penelope Platypus from the Princess Sally Miniseries. The rest of that group apparently saw the battle on a "SPY CAM" courtesy of Deus Ex Machina Photo Equipment. With guest star backup and one power ring, Sonic is going to attempt a rescue. Sonic links up with the two canine operatives from the opening scene of "A Scrambled Hedgehog" [#27] and an extremely improbably fly-creature. Sonic's nerves are getting a little raw without his speed advantage but he and the others follow the spy underground's instructions and enter...if you said "one of Robotnik's traps" you must have read ahead. So now what? Now it's time to strain the law of averages to the limit: Sonic is holding onto one power ring, and he suddenly remembers he has a spare in the backpack he's been wearing (and it only took him 7 pages to remember) AND he just happens to see another power ring embedded in the torso of the ComBot which blew up on page 9 and which just happens to be undergoing repairs in the same room! And Robotnik doesn't even seem to have noticed the power ring! Gee, what are the odds? Sonic manages to collect all three and, reprising the theme song from "Sonic the Hedgehog" that he started singing at the beginning of this story, he makes short work of the ComBots while allowing Robotnik to make one of his patented Escapes Leaving Our Heroes In Peril Which They Escape Anyway. Story-wise, it's simple enough: Can Sonic get over being just another slow-mo? It's a good premise, but in order for the story to keep moving there are so many coincidences that it begins to look positively Dickensian after a while. The storm was a nice touch, and necessary to the plot, but was over as soon as it wasn't needed. Bunnie, Sally and Rotor manage to arrive just as Sonic's injury proves non-life threatening -- wouldn't it have made just as much sense for Tails to airlift Sonic? After all, he did the same for Antoine a few panels earlier. There must have been cloaked ComBots all over the Great Forest for the gang to run into them. And once again, NOTHING in this plot really hinges on the earthquake that was supposed to have happened in the previous issue; with the most minor of changes, this story could have run six months ago! Remember my saying that Brian Thomas's artwork in "To Bot Or Not..." made the characters a little too cute? Manny Galan seems to be having the opposite problem: while his characters aren't seriously off- model, they do look...how can I put this...gangly. Bunnie especially; the pictures of her on page 6 make me think she's going to try out for the NBA (I'll bet those metal feet would be murder on hardwood floors). And as much as I like Manny's use of differing points of view when drawing, some of the panels seem to use interesting POV just because it's there. The overhead shot on page 11 is a legit use; the POV in the last panel on page 7 is just confusing and pointless. And be very afraid of the picture of an infant Sonic on page 7! Sure, it seems like a throwaway bit that's stuck in as part of a larger, and largely unrelated, story. But that's how the Muppet Babies(R) got started! Beware! Anyway, it's a worthy first effort for Kent and Manny; the former needs to think his plots through and the latter needs to watch the tendency to play visual tricks at the expense of clarity. Like this kind of criticism will make any difference; Archie's already got Sonic comics planned out for the next year at least. "Bedtime Tails" "A scintillating saga of triumph and tragedy crafted with care in the mighty Mobius manner by Mike Kanterovich & Ken Penders, with John D'Agostino, Vickie Williams & Barry Grossman" [Note: I have reproduced this drivel in full because it seems all five parties involved want to avoid taking specific credit/blame for the following. With reason. Let's see: Mike and Ken had to have written it, I'm guessing Ken did the art while D'Ag did the inking, with Vickie and Barry handling the lettering and coloring respectively. How'd I do?] Sonic has taken to bed with a cold, and watching daytime TV is only making things worse. Taking a cue from both "Tails' Knighttime Story" [#22] and "Southern Crossover" [the Tails miniseries], Tails shows up to subject Sonic to comics that he's written and drawn himself. To his credit, Tails has moved away from the preadolescent egotism of "Tails To Astonish" but his artwork has slipped a couple notches. What, Gallagher didn't want to get in on the fun? We start out with a Fantastic Four parody (for want of a better word) starring Sonic, Sally, Tails and Rotor. The set-up manages to combine elements of the sublime (James Thurber's "Secret Life of Walter Mitty") with the ridiculous (the theme from "Gilligan's Island"). It's a pretty lame comic, since of the four "superheroes" only Sonic demonstrates anything like a super power -- Tails doesn't even FLY except on the cover art! If you're waiting for Sal to go invisible or Rotor to hulk out, forget it! I won't even bother with the hackneyed plot concerning a giant alien named Robotnicus and the stupid way he's defeated. Suffice it to say that the comic's so dull it puts Sonic to sleep. Turnabout being fair play, when Sonic recovers and Tails is under the weather, Sonic cranks out an issue of "Bat-Sonic" to read to the kid. We are mercifully spared the adventure of the "dark and stormy knight." Though the logo on the cover says it was published by "Sonic Comics" I'd have guessed it was published by Deja Vu Comics, since Bat-Sonic put in an appearance during "Night of a Thousand Sonics" [#19]. The covers of both comics are reproduced on one full page each; what, they ran out of fan art this issue? In the words of a certain animated non-role model who wears an AC-DC t-shirt and thinks that nachos rule: "What the hell is THIS crap?" The modeling for Tails is way past off (though Sally manages to look gorgeous in spandex), and the writing is simply slap-dash. This reads like something that was thrown together to take up space at the last minute because everyone involved was so busy concentrating on stuff like the Knuckles miniseries or the upcoming Mecha Madness issue. The worst part of it is, I actually LIKED the idea of a Fantastic Four treatment of the Knothole gang and was disappointed that so little of substance was done with it. But the Gang of Five (Mike, Ken et al.) should have taken it to the next level. Look into your heart of hearts. What we should have been given, "in the mighty Mobius manner," was a comic adaptation of: THE MIGHTY MORPHIN' FREEDOM FIGHTERS C'mon, it practically writes itself: Sonic as the Blue Ranger, Sally as the Pink Ranger, Bunnie as the Yellow Ranger (because it's her color), Tails as the Black Ranger (because it's his comic!), Rotor as the Green Ranger, and Antoine as that twerpy droid running around yelling "Sacre bleu cheeze!" (which is French for: "Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi!"). What'd ya expect, Antoine as the White Ranger? And how about Robotnik with Rita hair? King Acorn as that giant floating holographic head? And lest anyone misunderstand, I HATE the M.M.P.R. if for no other reason than they clobbered Sonic in the Sat AM ratings and prevented the third season from happening. It would serve them right! I haven't seen a story this lame since "Sonic Shot" [#33]. [Ken Penders has since explained that a) the verbiage in the credits box was a send-up of the way Marvel used to do it -- I was never into Marvel in its heyday so what did I know; b) this story had been written for inclusion in, like, Sonic #19 but got shelved, which might explain the earlier, lighter tone; c) Sega suits nixed a drawing of a Sonic Power Ranger from "Night of a Thousand Sonics" and pretty much banned any references to MMPR. OK, but I STILL wanted to see Sally become invisible!] Sonic Grams: The office humor strip: twice the humor of the old (Scott Fulop) strip in only half the space! It would appear Spaziante was put onto the Mecha Madness issue with the result that Art Mawhinney did the art for the Knuckles miniseries (which has NOT shown up on local newsstands -- that's why I sent away for the whole series). Fred also indicates that due to popular demand, the Forty Fathom Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix have stories in the Mecha Madness issue. Letters: Evelynne Pine puts her $.02 in about the romantic triangle in "A Robot Rides The Rails" [#31]. Ken Bluma mentions a "Look and Find" book featuring Sonic and illustrated by Art Mawhinney -- THAT I'd like to get! Fred punts an age question, stating that Sally's 14(!) and Antoine's 18(!!!). Then there's the "Find Your Name In Print" page, which Dmitry Muraschik calls "'Where's Waldo?' with letters". And Archie is running ads for its Hanna-Barbera comics line, including "Scooby-Doo!" You should read what they're saying about him on rec.arts.animation: Scooby's been called the Beast from Revelation [take it from a theology major, that's NOT a compliment] and Shaggy's been accused of being a doper. I rather like the comment that the show is "the animated equivalent of Spam." Zoink!