Sonic #104 [Feb 2002]
     Spaz/Penders/Ray cover "after Kirby": Sonic, whose referred
to in this story as Sonik for no good reason, joins Saleta,
Captain Rotor 27, and Tailon in attempting to escape from
"Robolactus."  The cover design is based on a design by the
legendary Jack Kirby.  The bell has rung and school's back in;
old school, that is.

     "Freedom Fighters of the Galaxy: Part 2"
     Story: Mike Gallagher; Art: Dawn Best; Ink: Ken Penders;
Lettering: Vickie Williams; Color: Stephanie Vozzo; Editor/art
director: Justin Gabrie; Managing editor: Victor Gorelick;
Editor-in-chief: Richard Goldwater.
     Zonic inserts himself edgewise into the story to re-
introduce the characters from last month's issue.  With the
arrival of Silver Snively, we get back to the business at hand. 
This involves not only your standard fight scenes but also Mike
Gallagher's intention, now that the Tragic Backstories of the
characters have already been established, to play it for laughs.
     At first, the Silver Snivler gets the better of the "mangy
menagerie," until Sonik decides to remind the readers just what
his own superpower is supposed to be.  Running in a tight circle
he creates a vortex that sets the Surfer up for a telekinetic
wipeout.  Saleta's complement is answered with, and I quote: "10-
Q, Q.T.I [sic]"
     The word "sic" is a Latin word meaning "thus" or "so."  The
most famous use of the word is in the Latin epigram: "Sic transit
gloria mundi"   "thus passes [away] the glory of the world."  Its
most common use nowadays is editorial, where it's used to show
that something was (mis-)spelled originally and that the editor
hasn't touched it.  Last year I indexed a magazine where
the title of one article read as follows: "Southern Village
construction underway".  I added a [sic] to the title because
"underway" appeared as one word and not two.  In this context,
however, it takes the form of "No, I didn't misspell anything;
it's supposed to look like this because I'm trying to perpetrate
a pun."  You be the judge as to how well it works.
     Hawkhawk leaves abruptly, prompting Saleta to explain "He's
always taking off on his own without telling us squat."  The art
at the bottom of page [5] makes it look like everybody's wading
in a body of water of some kind, but it's Twan-Do teleporting
everyone back to the ship.
     Gallagher indulges in some more banter, and no sooner raises
a plot point from the original comic [that Aleta and Starhawk
were two consciousnesses in the same body for some time] than he
drops it again so that we and Sonik can get briefed on the prime
villain of this piece, Robolactus.  A "robotic descendant" of the
original Robotnik, he apparently has nothing better to do than to
go around from one planet to the next devouring lifeforms.  No
sooner does Gallagher bring the readers up to speed than the
aforementioned villain appears ready to pulp Mobius.  Hawkhawk
rejoins the scenes and tries yelling at Robolactus to stop,
forgetting that in space nobody can hear you spout bad dialogue.
     Captain Rotor 27, Bunni and Saleta equip themselves with
classic fishbowl-over-the-head space helmets; the one for Bunni
allows her ears to poke out.  As with Tails's bare tails when he
went EVA in S74, I'm sure that that's an invitation to trouble,
but I suppose it was an aesthetic decision rather than a
practical one; besides, IOACB.  The point is moot, though,
because Robolactus just swats away the intruders.  Sonik orders
Capt. Rotor to disable the "cosmic juicer."  While attempting to
do so, Capt. Rotor gets flicked into space for his trouble. 
Sonik then states that his hotsy-totsy life-support suit doesn't
allow him to breathe in space.  This is remedied, however, by
Tailon invoking "the Crimson and Clover Bands of Charm-O-Rack."
     OK, I'll have to admit that if there's a joke here I didn't
get it.  The only "Crimson and Clover" I know of is the 1968
piece of psychedelia recorded by Tommy James and the Shondells,
and later covered by the formidable Joan Jett.  Whatever comic
book device is being parodied here is unknown to me.  The overall
effect I get, though, is that Tailon is the 31st century
equivalent of a particular spokes-leprechaun for a certain pre-
sweetened breakfast cereal.
     Sonik retrieves Capt. Rotor (sorry, but the full name of the
character is getting to be a bore to type) when Silver Snively
returns.  Bypassing Sonik and the others, who prove to be no
match for Robolactus anyway, he has a word with the boss,
directing his attention to the planet of the Shark as an
alternative, low-cholesterol protein source.  Thus ends both the
threat to Mobius and this story.
     HEAD: With the Tragic Backstory cleared out of the way in
last month's installment, Mike Gallagher can jettison anything
weighty in favor of a goof on the old school source material
heavily laced with puns.  Some of them work, some of them don't.
     One that doesn't work is the name of the villain.  OK,
Kanterovich and Penders got there first and came up with the name
"Robotnicus," a logical meld of "Robotnik" and "Galacticus," in
"Bedtime Tails" (S38).  And that was so long ago, mid-1996, that
if Gallagher had gone with "Robotnikus" I don't think anyone
would have gotten sore.  But "Robolactus"?  It makes him sound as
if he should be able to breast-feed!  Even Mike must've known how
lame it sounded, as he took a dig at it himself with the
"lactose-intolerance" joke on page 10.
     Beyond that, Robolactus isn't that much of a villain.  He's
little more than a variation on the Mindless Destroyer of Worlds
plot device that was done to better effect a number of times in
the Star Trek continuity; c.f. "The Doomsday Machine" from the
original series, V'ger in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," and
the killer probe in "Star Trek IV."  Being denied the chance to
chow down on the "ravaged husk" that was once Mobius, he goes all
pouty ... like Homer Simpson finding out that all the donuts in
the box have been eaten.
     But that's OK because the FFOTG prove they're not such hot-
shot superheroes themselves.  While the gang was able to hold
their own against the echidna-bots in last week's installment,
nobody seems to be able to muster up much in the way of
superpowers in this issue, except for Tailon's Lucky Charms
Marshmallow Clovers Attack or whatever the heck it's called. 
Sonik is able to give Silver Snively a case of the woozies, but
that's about it.  Still, it doesn't really matter since the story
ends with the use of a "don't eat that, eat this instead" plot
which, to hear other comic book afficionados talk, is pretty old
school itself, accent on the "old."
     In a humorous action story like this where there's no real
danger of losing any of the characters and the plot has already
been spelled out, the jokes are about all that carry the story
and Mike Gallagher does a generally good job of supplying them. 
Aside from that, there's not a whole lot of reason to go along
for the ride.  That said, it STILL would have been better than
"Naugus Games."  Head Score: 6.
     EYE: As Zonic recaps the action from last month, we repeat
the entrance of the FFOTG.  Possibly because of what happens when
11.5 x 18 art board gets reduced to comic book size, the Freedom
Fighters's reappearance on page [1] makes them look super-
deformed.  For those unfamiliar with the term, I mean that in a
nice way.  "Super-deformed," or SD for short, is a kind of
caricature practiced in manga and anime.  SD characters are
modeled after regulation characters, but are usually depicted
with large heads and smaller bodies with child-like proportions. 
They're considered to be very cute, and the page [1] Freedom
Fighters are no exception.  I don't know whether Dawn meant it to
work out that way, but SD is a good look for the characters. 
     Dawn has added another characteristic to the drawings that
works for me.  A lot of the characters, especially Saleta and
Bunni, come equipped with what used to be called "bedroom eyes,"
those half-closed eyes that ... well, when I attended a screening
of "The Lion King," at the moment during "Can You Feel The Love
Tonight" when Nala sort of leans back and gives that look to
Simba a goodly number of people watching the film went "WHOAAA!!" 
THAT'S bedroom eyes, and Dawn's able to make them work in a way
Jim Valentino couldn't in last month's installment.  The
characters Valentino drew had their eyelids closed a little bit,
but it just didn't have the same effect.
     Dawn also gets to do a number of flashy splash pages, and
she demonstrates a good grasp of what makes for effective layout.
Great stuff overall.  Eye Score: 9.
     HEART: Even in a crossover inventory story like this one
where the plot has been pre-chewed for Mike Gallagher's easy
consumption, management just CAN'T STAND the possibility of any
kind of sparks flying between Sonic and Sally .. excuse me, Sonik
and Saleta.
     As already mentioned, in the original Guardians of the
Galaxy, there was a point in the story where Aleta occupied
Starhawk's body for a time, but I'll bet the result wasn't
anywhere near as funny as Lily Tomlin possessing Steve Martin in
"All Of Me."  But was there even any need to bring that up in
this story?  Not that I could see.  In a one-shot goof on the old
school material, you only bring in what the readers will
recognize and what works best in the current situation.  And no
sooner does Mike tease us with Saleta's thought balloon that
"Sonik is a natural leader ... and a hunk, too!" than the shared
bodyshell plotpoint is worked in so that Sonik thinks twice about
any possible romantic prospects.
     In answering some leftover questions directed his way on Ken
Penders's message board, Karl Bollers acknowledged recently that
it was Justin Gabrie who wanted him to introduce a "love
triangle" in the comic book.  This demand eventually produced the
character of Mina and her otherwise-unexplained speed. 
Unfortunately, Justin must have flunked geometry.
     In order to have a triangle, you have to start with two
points connected by a straight line.  But for most of the course
of the comic, Archie management and/or Sega have worked like
crazy to make sure that the points labeled "Sonic" and "Sally"
connect as little as possible.  Lacking that, you only have the
Sonic point connecting independently with the Sally and Mina
points to form an angle.  And the angle of the management is to
neutralize any kind of recognizable emotional content in the
book.  Which doth suck mightily.
     I'm convinced that the "Endgame: The Director's Cut" kiss
scene, for which Ken Penders says he was prepared to "fight tooth
and nail," only made it into the book when management realized
that the story arc had turned out to be a no-holds-barred
disaster because of their meddling [the severe editing of the
final installment and the changing of artists every few pages]
and so they let Ken have his way in the remake.  Too bad they've
gone back to their old meddling ways.  It's not that I want to
see Sonic and Sally making out like crazed teenagers every month,
but I'm not looking forward to a resumption of the comic's 
emotional sterility when the same old same old returns next
issue.  Karl is promising plenty o' surprises, but so long as
management calls the shots I'm not all that hopeful.  I mean,
look what happened to this weird little two-parter!  Heart Score:
3.

     Audience Participation #1: Ken supplies us with alternate
Sonics whose identities we're supposed to guess.  Let's see,
starting at the top and moving clockwise: the cliched bad guy
Antisonic, the game and anime character Metal Sonic, Zonic
wearing a differently-colored uniform from the one he's wearing
in "Freedom Fighters of the Galaxy," the one-shot Solar Sonic
from the bass-ackward "Retro Activity," and the Terminator-styled
Cyber-Sonic.  The last one is, for me, the most interesting.  I
was inspired to get an idea for a fanfic about him and the other
cyber-Freedom Fighters from listening to a live version of "Life
During Wartime" by Talking Heads.  I'll have to write it out one
of these years.

     "Myth-Taken Identity: Part 2"
     Story: Mike Gallagher; Art: Dave Manak; Ink: Harvo; Color:
Frank Gagliardo; Lettering: Vickie Williams; Editor: Justin
Gabrie.
     After a one-panel helping of exposition, the Downunda
Freedom Fighters from last month arrive at the edge of a body of
water.  At this point, Guru can think of nothing better to do
than to zone out and to supply as much information about the
bunyip as he could glean from having entered the word into an
Internet search engine.  Hey, that's where I learned about it,
and I didn't learn anything from this story that I didn't find
online.  Anyway, by being in a trance state Guru misses out on
the fun of a large, gray beastie rising up out of the water and
capturing Walt, Barby and Bill.  The bunyip pulls them under as
Emu comes to.  "Worst case scenario, man!"  Emu then discovers
that the body of water only exists because of a dam.  To be
concluded.
     HEAD: Well, things sure go wrong in a hurry, don't they? 
But of the four Downundas who could have been taken, leaving Guru
behind was a good thing.  I don't say this because I kinda like
the Sixties throwback, although let's face it, I'm one of those
myself.  This is, in fact, a classic situation.
     Any student of fairy tales will tell you that in a lot of
stories it's the most unlikely character who ends up at the top
of the heap.  You've got your Cinderella, whose chances of having
a happy ending are pretty much nil at the story's beginning. 
You've got the young simpleton of a son who ends up possessing
not only the golden goose but the hand of the princess as well. 
Even in Tolkien, Frodo is the everyman character but Sam Gamgee
has his moments of glory, however unlikely.  The youngest, the
smallest, the least-educated or sophisticated; they're the cream
that keeps finding their way to the top.
     Bill's know-it-all attitude help set him up to be captured. 
While Walt and Barby put up a great fight it ultimately didn't do
any good.  What's Guru done in this story?  Not a whole lot,
really.  Which is the classic set-up.  I expect to see the worm
turn in Part 3.  Head Score: 8.
     EYE: Dave Manak's bunyip is, let's say, "minimalist." 
There's not a whole lot of detail here.  We're talking sort of a
hippo-shaped, beady-eyed, beaver-tailed monster.  Too much detail
would've spoiled it for me, I think.  I don't know how I feel
about those driftwood antlers, though.  Overall, a convincing
monster.  Eye Score: 8.
     HEART: The point here is to feel for Guru's plight as his
compadres are pulled under by the bunyip.  In a book where the
success of the hero is usually a foregone conclusion, this
actually introduces a legitimate emotional set-up.  I hope the
resolution is just as good.  Heart Score: 8.

     Audience Participation #2: A Sonic coloring book drawing. 
Big whoop.

     Sonic-Grams:  Ken cites the events of September 11 as the
reason why there's no editorial this month.  You want to know how
deeply this affected Ken?  He ended up trashing something like 50
pages of "The Lost Ones" because he felt that he had to take the
book in a new direction after September 11.
     Sonic #105: I'll believe the hype when I read the book.
     Letters: Some more letters from cyber-fans, including Bune
and Ian the Potto.  Trouble is, Ian has subsequently claimed that
he didn't write the letter above his name.  The overwhelming
theme of the letters is praise for Dawn Best's work.  True Red
compliments Karl Bollers on the plot of S101's "Altered States"
without mentioning that we'd been there and done that to a
certain extent with S51's "Reality Bytes."  I'm left with the
impression that Karl likes to do these stories after a major
milestone, just to cleanse the palate.