It's that time again! My review for the latest Sonic comic which would be...
#127! Okay, grab some popcorn and relax as you read my review of #127.
COVER:
Another nice one and it seems #128 will also feature something pretty as well. I always thought space was an amazing and beautiful place, not to mention so full of mysteries we humans discovery every day. I doubt we'll ever know the true mystery that is space, but that's what makes this great and is what makes me apprerciate the cover so much. Sonic's expression is dead on for what he's in for and I love the colorful effects surrounding the escape pod he's in. The BG of the planet he'll land on is one that is miraculous looking as well.
10/10
FRONTIPIECE:
This one goes sideways, so flip it. It's basically showing an evolutionary chart of the aliens of the feature story and Sonic watching over them like...well, a God. The background was also a very impressive touch as we see the towns going from primitive to freakin' big futuristic city. Not to mention the alien's clothes also goes from primitive to advance, in short, MUCh better then the one in #126. I truly liked this one.
10/10
"Tossed in Space: Part Three
Evo-Solution"
Apparantly, concerning the chapter segments, they just went to part three then start over with part one making the entire four arc like one big story. Hmmm, I don't really like that idea, but eh.
Anywho, Sonic is aboard the D'Novulan airship vessel which compose of creatures with scorpion-like tails and a love for star trek outfits. Their ship looks like a floating submarine. Sonic gets an earpiece from the Blodex that's somewhat small enough that you can't even see it which helps him understand the other species' language.
Anywho, after some friendly chats and smooth sailing for a while, things turn bad whe something explodes, the captian saids it's a Cemerant-16, the 81st orb from the system's tri-star. Umm...Okay...whatever you say. Well, after the explosion takes place, all that are left are flying debris, which unfortunately attacks the flying submarine and ends up getting what looks like the main engine. Fortunately, the have enough time to escape befor ethe floating submarine goes bye-bye. How convinet.
The aliens reach reach for a space pod design to fit in one person each, but with one hedgehog aboard, it comes down to one pod and two people: Sonic and the captain. sonic gracely allowed the captain to go aboard, of course, the captain portest and even paralyzes Sonic with his stinger so that he could shove his blue hide in the pod. How selfless.
The flying submarine is as good as gone as it explodes and Sonic watches from his pod, crying his eyes out and somehow, able to lift his hand despite himbeing paralyzed. Must have been a short one. Sonic must have spend a long time on that ship for him to be crying over the captain, that, or he's gotten more emotional over the space arc. But seriously, I don't see Sonic crying over a character we only saw in one issue and will only see in one issue.
As the pod goes on to wherever, Sonic's paralyzed body starts to wear off (despite the last panel), and he ends up in a planet where it's nothing but rain and wet dirt. So, what does he do? Eat and wait (another reason is that the air is unbreathable). Apprantly, candy bars exist in different planets.
Night tunrs to day and sunlight comes out, Sonic wakes up and sees himself surrounded by pink water. Geez, Sonic, I told you to lay off on the kool-aids! Don't yo know those things make you see stuffs you normally shouldn't be able to see!?
Anywho, Sonic later ends up seeing s tree grow in literally 1.5 seconds, then we see weather changesas winter becomes summer to spring or whatever. The pink lemonade spreads and beomces an ocean (it's gonna gulp us up all!), and he sees a forog-lke creature with an expression that looks like it's saying, "My Gosh, did I make a mistake coming up tp the surface." Sonic discovers the whole place is evolving and does the only thing he can do...sleep.
Bypassing the advertisment of shows I don't even watch, Sonic wake sup and sees primitive villages. He gradually sees the city evolve from cavenen village to Neo-Toyko in mere seconds. So, is that getting in the world's record for "fastest evolution ever"?
Sonic gets out and sees the now evolved Azurites, the dominate species, which composes of three eyed green skinned men whop enjoys the color orange and hedgehog head symbols. They explain the whole time speed thingy as they created a time device that can slow the motion of time. They did that to get Sonic out. Turns out, the scientists' scans and tests reveal him as God, despite Sonic being a mortal ordinary Joe. Must been the Super speed.
Anywho, Sonic is sent to a crowd of people where he makes a short speech on basically this, "I wanna go home and oh, incae you didn't know, I ain't a God, so you can stop worshipping me. I'm just a hedgehog." Which also fascinates the aliens anyway. I swear, that last panel there with the curious alien going, "Hedge...hog" remains me of one of the neeage turtles sayng Spinlter's name in the new TMNT cartoon.
Anywho, the aliens built him an airship in mere second sy using the time thingy again and he leaves. The End.
STORY:
I was in a confusing road when I read this. Not only that, Sonic's personality didn't felt like Sonic at all. So, I was in "What" mode for nearly the entire story. I mean, Sonic sleeping when he just saw a tree sprout in three seconds? The time thingy also confuses me a great deal and even now, I'm still confused, but not as much as before. Meaning, this is an issue you have to read over and over again to understand just what in the world is going on. Overall, this issue was a just a big confusing pile of mess. If it wasn't for the first few pages where Sonic was with the captain and his crew (the only part that's NOT confusing), this issue wuld have scored lower. I mean, Sonic's personality also makes up for the low score...it just wasn't him.
5/10
ART:
Surprisly, I enjoyed Ron LIm's art here. Sure, he still needs to work on Sonic's eyes in which he makes them a little too big, and his body is still stick man figure, but something about it makes me tolerate his artwork here. Maybe it's Jenson's awesome coloring, or the way he drew the aliens wel,, but I pretty much enjoyed the artwork here.
8/10
"Agent Sonic VS. Agent Knuckles"
Another filler, this time a parody of MAD magazine's Spy VS. Spy, Dave even put in MAD's mascot. Basically, it's Sonic and Knuckles in agent wear trying to outdo one another, until they meet Eggma in which they work together, only to be discovered that it's Shadow who outdoes them both.
STORY: I wouldn't say it's a story, more a collection of...well, stuff. No one talks or anything (but that's how Spy VS. Spy works), but you can tell what they're doing, so it's nothing I don't care about. Unlike last issue's filler, I think this filler was well worth it. I mean, it DID make me laugh and I have read a couple of the SPY vs. SPY comic in my local Wawa where they sell MAD (I never buy those mag for some reason), but generally, I enjoyed it. Especially the funny surprise ending.
9/10
ART: Dave drew a cute Knuckles. I don't know,there's something about Knuckles and Sonic wearing agent outfits that just squeals cute (especially Knux who always seems to look good wearing a hat), heck, even Shadow looks dangerously adorable here. Dave also did a top notch job on making the expressions and the gadgets and stuff so we'll know what's going on. Thank you, Archie, for keeping Dave in your art cast, he does wonders.
10/10
Fanart is okay, I generally like the last pic, it's well done, though only one pic out of the four has the character in an original pose. Letter pages simply composes of people either complianting the comic or complaining about it, and of course, J.G talks about Sonic X. That's all.
-Neo |
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Presenting, Chronos the Cat's reveiw of Sonic 127!
"Tossed in Space" Part Three: "Evo-Solution"
A space ship that looks like a blocky aircraft carrier passes silently through the void… Nice design on that, IMO. I mean, with that "sawed-off" "front", it is far from aerodynamic, aerodynamics being would be pointless in a starship (Star Trek not withstanding). Also, those spires on the bottom suggest there might not even be a true "top" and "bottom" at all—another convention unnecessary on a space-vehicle.
Onboard, the D’Novulans (mentioned last issue) give Sonic a Universal Translator, which unlike the ones in Star Trek, does not work perfectly. (It’s a nice touch how the D’Novulans often "say" words that have a similar meanings to what they are really trying to say, but no natural-born English speaker would use in that context.)
Not to long after this, debris from an exploding planet (and it exploded, why, exactly?) strike the ship, dooming it and anyone who chooses to remain on board. Having just enough escape pods for the ships crew, the Captain, choosing to go down with the ship, forces Sonic to board the last escape pod. (Those tails aren’t just for show! Neat.)
Sonic’s pod lands on an alien world, one that does not happen to conveniently have the proper atmosphere for our hero.
Hours later, Sonic awakens to find that the atmosphere has somehow changed drastically during his slumber. And then, he is shocked to witness life evolving around him at an absurdly accelerated rate. (Must be like a million years a second, or something, at this point…)
Freaked out, Sonic returns to his capsule.
When he next awakens, the life forms on the planet have achieved sapience (sentience + humanoid form + a human way of thinking). The time passing outside the capsule has also slowed considerably. (I’d say, if the aliens followed the Human pattern, there’d be four to seven thousand years between the page’s second and third panels, and approximately a thousand years, give or take, between the subsequent panels.)
And then, time slows to a speed Sonic can deal with. He comes out of his pod, and meets the planet’s inhabitants, the Azurites—beings so technologically advanced they were able to build a "temporal decelerator" to slow the motion of time on the planet to Sonic’s level... And so dim-witted, it apparently didn’t occur to them that it might be easier to speed up Sonic… (Come to think of it, maybe time didn’t slow down before it stopped. If their finest minds are this dull, they may have needed a few million years to achieve that level of technology!) …They also think of Sonic as a god. (What a surprise!)
Sonic attempts to dissuade them of that notion, but seeing as how they don’t seem all that distraught at the revelation, I don’t think it worked. (Sonic: "I’m a hedgehog." Azurite [with awe in his voice]: "Hedge… hog…")
When Sonic mentions he’s trying to get to his own planet, the Azurites dutifully construct a space ship for the Hedgehog. Appropriately, it’s blue and has spines.
And so, Sonic heads off towards Mobius (if he can figure out what direction to head in), while the Azurites presumably return to happily worshiping Sonic in his absence.
...Isn’t it ironic that the Thoraxia/Super Sonic story was divided into two chapters, while the D’Novulan story and the Azurite story were combined into one chapter?
Both parts of this chapter had a lot of merit, but compressed into this space, they felt rushed and rather pointless…
I particularly had a problem with the second half. I mean, it really wouldn’t have taken all that much space to put in a little blurb of techno-babel explaining why time on "Azuria" ran so fast...
"Agent Sonic vs. Agent Knuckles"
An homage to MAD magazine’s Spy vs. Spy strips. I always loved those strips…
I always found the Spys themselves to look rather creepy, though—-which makes seeing Sonic and Knuckles drawn in a similar style slightly disturbing…
Sonic Grams
JG shamelessly advertises Sonic X (ah, reminds me of the good old days, when Scott always advertised the latest games and specials).
Then Ken takes over for the letters page, as usual, pretty much following the tradition of not really giving people satisfactory answers.
Final Thoughts
A somewhat disappointing issue… But that's hardly anything new...
For the unabridged version of this review, as well as reviews of other issues, check out my web site! |
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I didn't get to read last issue unfortunately. was really looking forward to seeing my dawg Soopuh Sonic back in action. Anyway, onto the review os Sonic#127.
Last time, the Blodex said that once Sonic was onboard, the D'Novulans would give Sonic an implant that will translate the alien tongue. It works. With that done, the Captain Oe and the D'Novulans introduce themselves and their ship, the Magesteron. They are devoted to the art of linguistic. Sonic asks if they know the way back to Mobius/"Urf". They respond with the Meezo Jullion, the sector's busiest trading hub. Just then, a problem occurs. The 81st orb from the system's tri-star[sounds like "Ristar"(a Genesis game)], CEMERANT-16, explodes sending forth a huge anti-wave of space debris everywhere! There's now no way to avoid being struck. All they can do now is pray. Failure! They're hit and their ship's core is overheating while all remaining power has been
diverted to sheild barriers around the punctured areas meaning the ship will blow up! Everyone escapes to their bio-pods, but one is left and Sonic and Captain Oe have to choose who's gonna take it. A disaster like this never happened before so the Capn never found a use for an extra pod. Sonic refuses but the Capn has no time for arguments so he stings Sonic with his tail and stuns him. Before Sonic leaves, Captain Oe quotes "May Quezman's undying spirit protect and keep sou, Sonic! Goodbye!" The ship then overheats and explodes leaving the others to escape while Captain Oe does not. Who knows, maybe we will see the D'Novulans again.
The paralysis soon wears off and Sonic's bio-pod heads toward a blue planet. No, it's not "Urf", but another planet completely surrounded by my favorite color: Blue. The clouds are too thick for Sonic to see through them, leading him to blindly crash into the planet. Rain washes the clouds off the pod(which makes no sense seeing as how they're both forms of vapor). Sonic comments "Oh, great rain. I HATE rain." I'm don't blame him; he can't swim! As if this is enough to make him drown. It's not like it a flood or something... Anyway, the pod gives Sonic a warning that the atmosphere is highly toxic and a distress signal's being initiated. Sonic had to wait in the pod for what seems like 6 months. The atmosphere has become tolerable and Sonic steps out of the pod. The planet looks like a rocky ground. There is pink water which reminds Sonic of Bernie's lemonade. Inside are microbes who grow bigger by the second, as does this giant tree that suddenly grows right in front of him! Seasons change and to Fall and then to Winter. The leaves fall and he lemonade sea freezes, then melts. This planet is tricked up! Live soon begins on the planet in the form of a frog like creature. Sonic heads back to his pod and sleeps again. When he wakes up, technology evolves around him in a matter of seconds from a village to a high-tech, futuristic city! Each peice of machinery has a symbol of Sonic's head. Sonic decides it's time to step out of his pod and ask some questions! Sonic is greates by another group of aliens who call themselves the Azurites. Their leader is Prof. Parg and his colleagues, who along with
himself, have created a deviceto slow the notion of time on the world down. They call it, the Temporal Decelerator! Sonic quotes "Okay, OKAY, time OUT! For the FIRST time in my LIFEm I feel as if SOMEONE is going too fast for ME!" I never thought I'd live to hear Sonic say that! Sonic asks why their city looks like it was modeled after him. This called for an explenation. When life on the planet begun, they discovered Sonic's pod. They peeked inside to see Sonic sleeping and moving very slowly(as if he can do THAT!=P), so slowly, he appeared to be frozen. The Azurites' minds were promative and they worshipped Sonic as an Idol(*flashes back to issue2 62 and 63*). None of them lived long enough to see Sonic move and as a result, he was always percieved as an inanamite object. As their technology grew, the Azurites revealed that Sonic was a "living God". Many believed that and wars went on to determine that. They prevailed but found no way to open up Sonic's pod and had to get him out. That's what triggered the Decelerator. With all that done, that's when Sonic woke up the second time and the story continues from there. Sonic clears up everything. He's not a God, he didn't create the Azurites, he got shipwrecked a long time ago and has a different evolution rate meaning he's just a hedgehog who's looking for a way back home. The Azurites decide to make a vessel for Sonic to travel in. Thanks to the decelerator, it takes seconds instead of years. The vessel' built around Sonic as he finally has means of travel in space. Sonic sets off for assistance, ending the story.
I have one major complaint about this issue: the art! Sonic's spikes travel down and curve TOO much, plus his eye's too huge! Other than that, this was another great issue I enjoyed. A little a little above average, but enjoyable.
Then there's Agent Sonic vs. Agent Knuckles, a back-up story. It's a funny, slapsticky humor story. I'm not sure, but I think this parodies Spy vs. Spy. You're going to hate me for this, but personally, I'm a fan of Dave Manak's bad art. It reminds me alot of the goos ol' days with AoStH on TV. Manak was able to draw Sonic just like he looks in AoStH. I'm one of the show's seemingly few fans so I like Manak's art. I'd explain the back-up but don't have enough time, so I'll see you in my Sonic#128 review. |
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