Sonic The Hedgehog #180 (Nov 2007)
     Tracy Yardley! cover: "Sonic and Eggman: Friends?"  Of
course not.  But it's a pretty straightforward cover depicting
all the insincerity due the occasion.


     "Preparations For War!"
     Story: Ian Flynn; Art: Tracy Yardley!; Ink: Jim Amash;
Color: Jason Jensen; Lettering: John E. Workman; Editor: Mike
Pellerito; Managing Editor: Victor Gorelick; Editor-in-Chief:
Richard Goldwater, 1936-2007; Sega Licensing reps: Dyna Lopez,
Cindy Chau and the late Robert Leffler.

     For the second time in as many months, this review
acknowledges the passing of a member of the Archie Sonic team. 
In this case, it's someone at the top of the food chain. 
Richard Goldwater was a co-owner of Archie Comic Publications
and son of its founder.  He was also, according to the
obituary in the New York Sun, the "creator" of Josie and the
Pussycats.  It was this claim, of course, that led to the
parting of the ways between Archie Comics and mainstay artist
Dan de Carlo.  The irony, of course, is that Goldwater tried
to grab the credit ahead of the release of the 2001 Josie and
the Pussycats movie.  Roger Ebert may have said it best:
"Josie and the Pussycats are not dumber than the Spice Girls,
but they're as dumb as the Spice Girls, which is dumb enough."
     But back to Richard Goldwater.  It will be interesting to
see what happens to Archie Comics itself now that there's a
vacancy at the top.  Will Michael Silberkleit be running the
whole operation now?  Will someone be brought in from the
outside to manage the company?  Will the Goldwater family get
out of the business?  How much of the inside dope can Ian
Flynn get away with posting on his Web site?  As the comic
book keeps saying, come back in a month.

     Savor the action on page [1] as Sonic tangles with
Robotnik who's attacking New Megaopolis with an "Egg Nautilus"
Bot: it's about the most action we're going to see in this
installment.  Seems the Doc is still sore that Nicole designed
a city capable of withstanding his attacks.  So, with
impeccable logic, he's attacking again, only this time he
wants to infest the city with a computer virus that will get
rid of Nicole.  Sonic, meanwhile, reminds him of how last
month's story ended: with the impending arrival of Enerjak
2.0.  Since Robotnik didn't subscribe to the Knuckles comic he
doesn't know what Sonic is talking about, but breaks off the
attack anyway so Sonic can give him an earful.
     Meanwhile, the newly-installed Council, consisting of
Uncle Chuck, Rosemary Prower, Rotor, and three minor Freedom
Fighters (Dylan the porcupine, Hamlin the pig and Penelope
Platypus), gathers to get up to speed on the Enerjak back
story, which the Dimitri Floating Head supplies.  Short
version: after his accident with absorbing the energy of a
Chaos Emerald, Dimitri became Enerjak and set out to conquer
... well, the universe, I guess.  Since he only spares two
panels' worth of exposition, he neglects to mention that it
was ultimately Mammoth Mogul who siphoned off his Chaos energy
in "Twilight of the Titans" (Knuckles #9).  Yeah, if I'd been
bested by that motormouth mammoth I'd want to leave that off
my resume, too.  He was "rescued" by the Dark Legion, his
rescue in this case meaning that his consciousness was
downloaded into a droid.  It was Dr. Fin who downsized him
even further, turning him into his floating head self.  He
says he ditched Fin after realizing Fin was prepping Enerjak
2.0, identity unknown.  Elias declares that "We're not going
to rush to arms without a solid plan," which explains why he
was never consulted by Bush/Cheney about invading Iraq.
     Meanwhile, Charmy relays word to Julie-Su and the Chaotix
that there's some hesitancy in the Council about outsourcing
the battle against Dr. Fin to the Chaotix.  Because she's
heard no word from Knuckles since his departure to Angel
Island, Julie-Su decides to freelance this one and head for
the Island anyway.  The Chaotix are down with that and
accompany her.
     Back at the Egg Nautilus, Sonic lays out the proposal for
Eggman: a temporary truce and a joining of forces against
Enerjak, on the theory that "the enemy of my enemy is my
friend."  Sonic, for his part, has no illusions about
Robotnik's track record when it comes to such alliances of
convenience, but the deal is struck.
     As Robotnik heads back and phones ahead to the office,
Sonic gets a heads-up from Neo-Nicole that Julie-Su has put
her plan into effect: she and the Chaotix are at the airstrip
and are beating up whoever stands between them and a ship to
take them to Angel Island.  I can see why the girl never
became an officer in the Dark Legion.
     Now it's off to Angel Island and yet MORE exposition,
this time by Scourge and Fiona for the benefit of Dr. Fin. 
Dingo General Stryker is getting ready to do some more ethnic
cleansing of echidnas in the absence of the Chaotix. 
Meanwhile, the two rival echidna factions headed by Lien-Da
and what the "Dark Legion" entry in Wikipedia calls "an
Echidna that bears a startling resemblance to the late Kragok,
though in reality it was his son, Constable Remington," have
called off their sectarian warfare against each other and are
ready to pound on Dr. Fin, who doesn't care all that much. 
Neither does Scourge, who plans to sit this one out and watch
someone else do the fighting for a change.
     Back at the airfield, Sonic manages to run rings around
the Chaotix while trying to sell them on the whole planning
thing, but Julie-Su isn't buying it.  She accuses Sonic of
trying to call all the shots, which causes him to back down. 
Just at that moment, reinforcements arrive in the person of
Sally who once again acts as mediator.  Her solution: letting
Sonic and Tails scoot up to the Island themselves to scope out
the situation and maybe find Knuckles.  Hey, those two ARE the
franchise, after all.
     And back on the Island, Enerjak 2.0 makes his appearance,
still dressed in the pseudo-Egyptian duds favored by Dimitri
the first time around.  Stay tuned.

     HEAD: This story arc is slated to go to S184, if the
blurb posted on the Knothole Village Forum is to be believed. 
That means that this issue has the unenviable task of setting
everything up for the stories to come, which means a LOT of
exposition.  And we get it: from Dimitri, Robotnik, Julie-Su,
Scourge, and Fiona.  Even Sally and Dr. Fin chip in their fair
share of expository dialogue.
     As much as Ian pledged to provide Action And More Action,
sometimes it has to be leavened with dialogue.  This seems to
be the preferred solution in the Sonic comic books: dialogue
in the middle of a fight.  It was a feature of the Sonic-Tails
bout in "House of Cards: Part 2" last issue, and actually has
a history going all the way back to when Knuckles and Sonic
would trade quips while punching each other out as "friendly
nemeses."
     That said, Ian does keep the story moving and it never
grinds to a dead halt, which is as much as can be expected at
the front-end of a major arc like this one.  Plus there are a
number of points begging for the readers' interest: the fate
of Knuckles, Robotnik's next move, the Angel Island situation,
and the identity of Enerjak 2.0 (which may or may not be tied
in with the first point).  It's still early in the game but
this is a good start.  Head Score: 9.
     EYE: Aside from the layout on page [2] being a little
claustrophobic Yardley! provides the usual solid work.  Eye
Score: 10.
     HEART: Unfortunately, there's not much of a heart factor
here, unless you count Julie-Su's concern for Knuckles. 
There's a statement that someone will "make the ultimate
sacrifice" in S184 to stop Enerjak 2.0 and "save Knuckles;"
I'll be watching to see how Ian builds toward that.  Heart
Score: n/a.


     "High Stakes On The High Sea"
     Story: Ian Flynn; Art: Tracy Yardley!; Ink: Jim Amash;
Color: Stingray GW [debut]; Lettering: John Ray

     The set-up for this story could have segued in from the
previous one but since this is a one-shot meant to flog the
latest Sonic game [Sonic Rush Adventure, in this case], it can
just as well stand alone.  The plot: their plane caught in a
storm, Sonic and Tails crash land on a desert island.  "At
least we're in one piece," Tails says.  And at the mention of
the words "one piece," who should show up but a pirate.
     Well, she's more like a pirate hunter at this point. 
Named Marine, this legend in her own mind assumes command of
Sonic and Tails until Sonic pulls her up short (by one of her
pigtails; ouch!) and gets an exposition out of her.  They've
landed on Seagull Island and Marine is battling a group of
pirates who are plundering the island.  No sooner does she
show off a Chaos Emerald to the boys than a robot pirate named
Johnny and wearing the omnipresent Eggman logo snatches it
from her.  This sets up the game, which is in stores now.

     HEAD: I don't mind saying that as soon as I realized that
there were going to be pirates in this story, I cringed.  What
with the success of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie
franchise as well as Eiichiro Oda's manga "One Piece" and its
spin-off anime, "pirate" has become a hot concept, a Flavor Of
The Month, probably for the first time since the 1950s and the
release of Disney's live action version of "Treasure Island." 
That immediately put me on my guard.  Mercifully, this story
surprised me.  The one thing that saved this from being yet
one more by-the-numbers exercise in selling the game is the
character of Marine.
     For some reason, Sega calls her "Marine the Raccoon"
despite the fact that her coloration, facial markings, and
ringed tail are all spot-on identifiers of Ailurus fulgens,
the red panda (I usually don't get into the Latin names for
species, but since Ailurus fulgens literally means "shining
cat" I just couldn't resist).  In the English language game,
she also speaks with an Aussie accent, which Ian does NOT try
to sell here, thank goodness.  The last thing I need is a
Geoffrey flashback.
     But there's a lot more to Marine and she practically
jumps off the page in this her introduction.  I have to admit
that I was won over from the moment I read the following
information about her from an article on Sonic supporting
characters in Wikipedia: "She dreams of becoming a captain one
day, so she can sail around the world, but wrecks her ship,
the S.S. Marine, by forgetting to install the brakes."
     Even the scurviest landlubber (myself comes to mind)
knows that ships do not work that way.  You can furl the sail
if you have one so the wind isn't as much of a factor, you can
stop or reverse engines if you've got them, you can drop
anchor, or you can simply beach the craft if it's something
shallow enough such as a canoe or a catamaran.  Anybody who
thinks that ships need brakes doesn't have all their oars in
the water.
     But if there's one thing Marine has that makes up for her
lack of nautical know-how, it's enthusiasm, and that really
comes across both in Ian's writing for the character and in
Yardley!'s artwork.  She's reminiscent of a number of other
characters: 

MIHOSHI ("Tenchi Muyo!").  This member of the Space Police has
been described as an "airhead," but she has her defenders who
point out that she wouldn't have gotten on the force at all if
she didn't have anything going for her brain-wise.  Still,
she's almost the stereotypical "dumb blond" in the Tenchi
Muyo! continuity.  A runner-up in this category would be the
exotic and childlike Kaolla Su from the harem manga/anime
series "Love Hina."

TEENY ("Horseland").  Teeny the pig, along with Shep the dog
and Angora the cat, make up the Greek chorus of animals on the
DiC animated series "Horseland."  Their job is to hammer home
the moral of the episode not only at the end of the show but
at the very beginning as well.  Teeny is friendly and
enthusiastic, and nowhere near as smart as the old-and-wise
Shep or the cynical Angora.

GOO ("Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends").  Though she
dresses like one, Goo (full name "Goo Goo GaGa," believe it or
not) is not an imaginary friend herself.  This young
motormouth has both enthusiasm and a vivid imagination, though
she can let the former get the better of her and lose control
of the latter.

GADGET HACKWRENCH ("Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers").  This
self-described mechanical genius with a "mind-bogglingly-high
I.Q. [who] gets bored easily" is more reserved than Marine but
usually has the same high spirits.

     The Sonic Comic has an abysmal history for creating
characters for the Sonic continuity: Tommy Turtle, Nate
Morgan, and Hope Kintobor have all fallen by the wayside.  The
last character to get any real traction was Mina the Mongoose,
and she's been AWOL from the continuity for quite some time
now, as have the twosome of Geoffrey Sinjin and Hershey. 
Sega's track record in the same vein is spotty at best.  Some
characters, such as Shadow and Rouge, have clicked instantly
with the fans, crossing over easily to the comic and the Sonic
X series.  Others, such as Big and Blaze, had more limited
appeal and haven't really worked out.
     Marine, however, has at least as much break-out potential
as Shadow or Rouge, and stands a good chance of becoming a
series irregular simply because of the force of her
personality.  By which I mean, she actually HAS a personality! 
Blaze, for instance, was so reserved that she didn't stand a
chance of making her mark in the comic (the documentation on
the Sonic Rush game calls her socially awkward and states that
she learns about The Value Of Friendship from Cream the Rabbit
in a plot point that sounds like something that belongs in a
Care Bears episode).  Not so with Marine, who seems to have
already won over some of the fans.  
     I don't know whether it's a good thing or not that she
isn't a playable in Sonic Rush Adventure; the playables are
restricted to Sonic and Blaze(!) who spend the game cris-
crossing the island looking for spare parts with which to fix
the S.S. Marine.  Still, she looks like a welcome addition to
the Sonicverse, and her presence makes this story worthwhile. 
Head Score: 10.
     EYE: Kudos to Yardley! for helping to project Marine's
personality visually.  Her favorite gesture appears to be the
extended index finger, as if her goal is to move ever forward
even if she doesn't fully know what's there.  Something tells
me she's have even less patience with Elias's wanting to have
a plan than Julie-Su.  Eye Score: 10.
     HEART: Since this is a one-shot, there's no chance of the
kind of conflict usually involved with eliciting the emotions
of the reader toward a character.  But Marine is so strong of
a character it's not necessary.  I do hope this isn't the last
we see of her.  Heart Score: 10.