Sonic #64 [Nov 1998] Spaz/Hario/Ray/Heroic Age cover: Sonic and Tails finally catch up with the dude they've been chasing all over Mobius. But according to a recent industry blurb for #67, don't expect the boys to head back for Mobotropolis any time soon. BTW, I think that the _katakana_ "ha-ru-bo" is a closer transliteration of "Harvo" in Japanese, but that's just me. "The Naugus Trilogy [no, it doesn't appear on the title page; I had to extrapolate it from the blurb in the back for #65], Part 1: "In Search Of" Story: Karl Bollers; Art: Steve Butler: Ink: Pam Eklund; Lettering: J. P. Money (debut); Color: Ken Penders: Editorial: G-Force Nice splash opening with the plane snowed under on "The Southern Tundra" as Sonic and Tails gaze at what looks like the outline of the castle from "Beauty and the Beast." Button up your overcoats, gang, the snow's pretty deep and so is the exposition. Not only does Karl need to bring us up to speed with 6 text boxes on the first page, we get even more exposition on pages 4-5, covering developments in "Sounds of Silence" and "Return of the King" and going as far back as #50 (either version, take your pick). With Tails dressed in a decent lined parka, Sonic makes do with a rather flimsy gray cloak that doesn't even have a zipper to keep it closed. It's so cold that Sonic's argot gland freezes over and his hip-cool slang is kept to a minimum. At this point, Karl figures the story's been too linear and throws in a one-page digression to another satellite orbiting above Mobius. Nothing definitive here; probably one more Robotnik tease. About as useful to the immediate plot as the two pages of ads that follow. Karl has been on such a roll of exposition that he feels the need to throw in a text box on page 7 to explain, of all things, who Rotor is! OK, the big gray guy hasn't seen work in the regular comics for a while, but come on! Why didn't Karl throw in a box on page 4 explaining who "Uncle Chuck" was while he was at it? Ken has explained that this sort of thing is to help bring the new readers up to speed, but for us old- timers, it's a little disconcerting. But Sonic and Tails have more to worry about because the landscape starts smacking them around. Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Naugus! The malevolent wizard materializes and, getting into the spirit of things, reels off a page worth of exposition himself until Sonic creams him with a snowball. A frontal assault by the blue blur, however, is more of an airball as he spins through Naugus and toward the edge of a cliff, losing his cloak in the process. Responding to an outcry from Tails, Sonic pulls himself out of danger only to confront... Well, it's both furry and metallic, and when I first saw it, it reminded me of Coldstone the gargoyle having the mother of all bad hair days. The beast has frozen Tails inside a block of ice, so Sonic makes a run for the creature, only to bounce off its literal abs of steel while Naugus sits this one out. But before you can say "Let's get ready to RUMMMMBBBLLLL", an avalanche interrupts the proceedings and buries the combatants. By the time the "abominable snow-bot" flames his way out from under the white stuff, Sonic and Tails are unconscious and Naugus is nowhere to be seen. The snow-bot then rockets up to the balcony of the castle last seen on pages 2 and 3. Page 13 is impressive and the layout is good, but did Karl have to spell EVERYTHING out for us? He could have left the text boxes off of panels 2 through 5 and I think even the grade schoolers in the audience would have followed the action. That's one of the things about Japanese manga that I appreciate: the effective use of silence. Not that it hasn't already been done in the Sonic comics, either: c.f. the sequence in Sonic #20 (in what became the prelude to the Princess Sally miniseries) where for three pages the only dialogue was from Nicole. After wading through the Find Green Gibbon's Name In Print column and a contest blurb, the beast enters the castle and is met by Belle...if Belle had been a short, balding black man with graying hair. As the gentleman (who we learn is named "Nate Morgan") converses with Eddy the Yeti (well, it sort of rhymes), Sonic and Tails come to rather abruptly. Nate then does a double-take, mistaking Sonic for his father, Jules. This despite the fact that Sonic lacks that improbable shock of brown hair that grew out of Jules's forehead. And at that moment, just as the plot line gets REALLY interesting, Naugus crashes the party. End of Part 1. It took Karl a while to get started--I've had some cars that had trouble starting in cold weather--but once we got past the obligatory fight sequences, Karl delivers a VERY compelling premise. He also brings up a long-neglected plot point: Sonic's dad, Jules. He's been a virtual nonentity since his introductory tease in "Countdown to Armageddon" (Sonic #46). We know absolutely NOTHING about Sonic's relationship with his robotic parents, who've only made a few brief appearances ("Brave New World," "Unfinished Business" in #53, and "Back To Basics" in #57. That's it so far!). Inquiring minds have wanted to know, and it seems only fair since this has all been taking place at the same time Knuckles's relationship with his mom, Lara-Le, has been more closely documented. It will be nice to see the gaps being filled in during the coming months. And it's nice that Steve Butler hasn't made Nate Morgan into one of those generic, spikey-haired, cookie-cutter Overlanders we've been seeing lately (and whom we'll see again on page 5 of the back story). After enduring Downtown Ebony Hare for the duration of the "Chaotix Caper" arc, I'm glad to see a character displaying a little ethnic diversity who isn't a potential embarrassment. Fan Art Column: Liz Scholllenberger (sic) demonstrates that SHE doesn't need to be reminded as to who Rotor is, and Carmen Ramos draws a decent Monkey Khan. But Melissa Knee of Singapore's drawing is the most interesting, and not because it's a cute drawing or because she's drawn Sally's proportions as somewhat...how can I put this...Partonesque. It shows Tails acting his age (i.e., ten years old) while Sonic and Sally act _in loco parentis_. One comes away from the drawing with the sense that the three of them aren't just individual cast members thrown together for the sake of the drawing; it feels natural to see them together this way. Because anyone who still remembers the SatAM series knows that they're part of a family, and that was one of the factors that made the series a hit with fans. Why the writers at Archie haven't taken this concept seriously escapes me. Perhaps because they think such things have a high "mush" quotient and therefore could turn off the core audience members, it's only come through in fits and starts in the comic. And yet the same factor doesn't seem to be threatening the Knuckles line with extinction. To me, it seems as if the writers are going out of their way to make the Sonic book LESS compelling by ignoring the interrelations that have been forged between the characters. Maybe the introduction of Nate Morgan (who represents a link to Sonic's dad) will change that, but I wouldn't bet cash money on it. And speaking of family units, let's turn to what's becoming a supremely dysfunctional family: "Tales of the Freedom Fighters presents: "Geoffrey St. John "On His Majesty's Secret Service: Part 4 "The Mission" Story: Ken Penders; Art: Art Mawhinney; Ink: Ken Penders; Color: Ken Penders; Lettering: Jeff Powell; Editorial: G-Force The story shifts from ice to fire as Sally arrives at the Palace packing a full head of steam. King Max, however, continues to dust Sally, telling her "None of this involves you." Sally stalks out; we don't know where she goes after this but, based on "Brave New World" and "The People's Princess" (Sonic #58), I wouldn't blame her if she sought out Rosie and had a good cry. Max reintroduces us to the B-Team and then we get to the payoff: why this group was recruited in the first place. According to the flashback, the Great War had been carried into the palace about 15 years ago, which would put it shortly after Sally was born. We see some of those aforementioned carbon copy Overlanders and (for what I believe is the first time in the comic) we learn that Sally's mom was named "Queen Alicia." She put in a cameo appearance at the beginning of "Brave New World" but this is the first time she's ever been referred to by name. I don't know the process whereby Ken decided to name her "Alicia." Nor do I have a comprehensive knowledge of fanfic, where character names have more leeway--in the works of Robert Brown and Francis Tolbert, furinstance, Sonic's parents were named Maurice and Patricia before they appeared in the comic under the names Jules and Bernie. Still, when it came time for me to invent a name for Sally's mom for my own fanfic, "Bloodlines," I went with the fact that Sally's middle name was given as "Alicia" (according to "Blast To The Past", Part 1) and simply used that. This method has some historical basis behind it. In addition to practicing mummification, the ancient Egyptians practiced "paponomy," the custom of having the founder of a dynasty name his firstborn son after his own father. Thus in the 12th Dynasty, Pharoah Amenemhet named his son Sesostris after his father of the same name. Sesostris then named HIS son Amenemhet, and the cycle began repeating (BTW, the Egyptians didn't use extensions like "the Second," "the Third" and so on--the ordinals were added later by historians). Were it not for dynastic changes, the same two names could have been recycled indefinitely. Anyway, it's pretty easy to see how "Alicia" came to be used as the Queen's given name, though I'd still like to know who screwed up and rendered Sally's middle name as "Elisha" in "Escape From The Floating Island" (Sonic #49, another example of The Curse Of Endgame). Back to the flashback: Max makes mention of the "Knothole caverns" as a refuge- these are probably the same caves mentioned in "When You And I Were Young, Sally" (Sonic Kids special) and he orders Commander St. John to escort Alicia "and the boy" there. However, because Knothole has been cut off, Max orders Geoffrey's dad to take them to the royal residence on the Floating Island instead. * * * We interrupt this review to bring you a special bulletin: the Sonic Alert System has issued a SALLY SIB WATCH covering both Sonic and Knuckles comics. This means that conditions are favorable for sighting an Acorn sibling, especially during Knuckles #19 and #20. * * * However, the Queen's convoy was lost track of "upon reaching the Floating Island." So the group's task is to find out what happened to Sally's mom and (possible) brother. Yeah, Max, this doesn't involve Sally in the slightest. Think you can be any MORE anal-retentive? It took long enough, but THIS is a premise! Of course Archie feels content to let the Knuckles comic be the one to break the story. This can only be for one of two possible reasons I can think of: either they want to expand the audience for the Knuckles book by throwing it one of the juiciest bones to date, or else they still think that the Sonic audience isn't mature enough to handle such a serious story arc. Either way, it baffles me that the assumption appears to be out there that the Sonic audience will be content to read the latest Fight Of The Month story and not care about something this major. I sensed back with Sonic #57 that the audience was being carved up and that the heavy-duty stuff would be appearing in Knuckles, but I never suspected it would be as blatant or as patronizing as the text box at the end of this installment: "Whatever happened to Queen Alicia? (The answer awaits you within the pages of Knuckles #19!) And if you don't read that other book, don't fret--we'll fill ya' in!" "That other book", "we'll fill ya' in"...what the heck kind of marketing is THAT?!? Sonic-Grams: Blurbs for Sonic #65 will feature a Nate Morgan flashback, and will shift gears with the back stories so that Knuckles will have the Queen Alicia arc all to himself; the copy for Knuckles #18 focuses on the "slugfest" between Knuckles and Kragok while ignoring every other element of the story--the two Tobors, the cryonic critter, etc. -thus confirming my worst fears about what Editorial things the fans are REALLY interested in; and it ignores Sonic #66 which will come out before the Image crossover special finds the Mobians "in the mean streets of New York City...." Even if the comic doesn't work, the premise might make for other interesting fanfic combinations, such as Sonic meeting up with the Gargoyles or the Real Ghostbusters. Letters: Kendra Brown wants Sally to get together with Sonic and J. Fred Gabrie wants to know if we agree; his e-mail addy is jfreddyg@archiecomics.com so go ahead and spam the daylights out of him (just kidding). Tay Kai Yang from Singapore asks about the Rob O' The Hedge arc. And in trying to reconcile the two different Robotnik origin accounts, Fred states that the "second Sonic animated series...was a hit with fans." Big Duh! An even bigger Duh, though, is why Archie wants to distance itself from that series.