Issue 135
Review by Chronos
Editorial Walkers: Goldwater, Gorelick, & Gabrie (with Pellerito)
Cover
Penciled by Patrick Spaziante, inked by Nelson Ribeiro, colored by Jason Jensen.
Sonic reaches for a mysterious figure…
"But it can’t be… you died!"
That’s right, this issue, Sonic meets… Obi-wan Kenobi!
…
Frontispiece
By… Axer, I assume. (No credit given.)
The text reveals that the mystery character is Tommy the Turtle… gee, had to go and spoil it for us, didn’t you?
"The Tommy Trilogy" Part One: "Sonic the Hedgehog, Agent of K.N.O.T.H.O.L.E."
Written by Romy Chacon, pencilled by Ron Lim, inked by Nelson Ribeiro, lettered by Vickie Williams, colored by Jason Jensen.
In a beautifully detailed scene that shows what Lim can really do, with the proper inker, Sonic walks into a bar in Eggman territory, and meets up with his contact, Tommy the Turtle.
Meanwhile, we jump to New Megaopolis, where Snively is back—and roboticized again. He reports that, despite some setbacks, experimental model 101 is ready for action…
Back the forbidden zone, Tommy relates how his shell saved him from the explosion that supposedly took his life. He was then captured by Robotnik’s troops, and only recently escaped. (Strange story. I don’t buy it.)
Tommy has some disturbing news—apparently, Robotnik has found a way to re-roboticize those the Bem deroboticized—only now, he’s rather choosy as to his subjects. Or at least, that’s what we’re led to believe, until Tommy’s old "pals", Sergeant. Simian, Flying Frog, Lightening Lynx, Predator Hawk, Drago, and Sleuth "Doggy" Dawg show up, in all their metallic glory.
Sonic tries to take them all on, but is unable to stop Sleuth Dawg and Drago from attacking Tommy.
When Sonic has finally incapacitated his opponents, Tommy is… perfectly fine. He tells Sonic he reprogrammed the mecha-canines to go jump in a lake. What Sonic doesn’t see is Drago and Sleuths remains, hidden under a table…
…At first, I couldn’t believe Romy brought back Tommy. I mean, this totally ruins the point of Tommy’s intro story. But there are hints that all is not what it seems, and all Romy’s previous stories have been very well written. So you never know…
One last observation about this story: Romy went through an awful lot of trouble to not only bring back roboticization, but the villains from her previous story. This, combined with Sonic's casual mention of Sally (after the events of last issue), lead me to suspect this story was meant to take place much earlier, perhaps not long after her previous story…
"Anonymous"
Written by Romy Chacon, pencilled by Art Mawhinney, inked by Jim Amash, colored by Jason Jensen, lettered by Jeff Powell.
Backing up a bit, we discover that it was not, in fact, Robotnik who roboticized the villains of the previous story. Instead, ADAM found them at the outskirts of the city, roboticized and delivered by "Anonymous"… In addition to managing to bypass the Bem’s deroboticization, Anonymous also managed to erase his identity from the robot’s memory banks… Veery mysterious…
MY25YL: "Dealing With the Devil"
Written by Ken Penders, penciled by Steven Butler, inked by Jim Amash, lettered by Vickie Williams, colored by Jason Jensen.
Rutan tells his mother about the conversation he overheard… but not before she berates him for making out with Salma…
Also, we learn that as Eggman’s empire crumbled, Eggman tried to strike a deal with Dimitri, but Dimitri refused, earning Eggman’s wrath. It’s implied that this is why Dimitri is now just a floating head…
Finally, Lein-Da contacts Julie-Su…
Sonic-Grams
Off-Panel, by Michael Gallagher and Dave Manak.
King Max orders JG to make Mobius wheel chair accessible.
This Just In!
JG comments that he’s been working on the comic for 100 issues, now.
Letters
Letters by Steve & Triston, MZ, Robert Evans, RicharCo (AKA Goombasa), Jasmine Dixon-Miles Per Hour, Micah Ishihara, Stacey McGowan, and David Benedict, answered by Pellerito.
Find Your Name In Print
Fan Art
A toony and well colored Sonic-X ensemble, by Samantha Moro; Sonic by Jordan Kirkley; a well shaded and detailed Sonic, by Miguel Angel Ufano Sasdinero; and childish Sonic, Knux, Metal Sonic, Metal Knux, and early game Eggman, by Jakob Woody.
Final Thoughts
An average issue, story wise, but very good art. Nothing to get blown away by, but not bad. |
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The last issue took log enough to come here and this one came to me on time,
meaning it was relatively early. Finally! Now I can get into Sonic # 135!
The main story is a 3-part trilogy. It starts with Sonic searching through the
Forbidden Zone for his childhood friend, Tommy Turtle. Sonic's disguized in a
cloak and has to enter a password to gain access to a local bar. Sonic is sure
the place is suspicous and keeps a look out. The people here have to hide from
Knothole. Sonic heads for the corner since he knows Tommy is there.
~NEW MEGAOPOLIS-CAPITAL OF THE EGGMAN EMPIRE~ A rather scary-dead-looking
Snively reports in to Robotnik on the progress of the first 100 models
malfunctioning. Could he be refering to the mechas? Model 1-0-1 is the only
successful one. With that said, Robotnik says "Well, Snively... What are you
waiting for? The order is given." Back at the bar, Sonic finds Tommy in the
same cloak Sonic's in. Sonic says his codename is Hedgehog, Agent of Knothole.
Tommy doesn't have one but Sonic says it's fun if he were to have one. Sally
and Sonic recieved a message from Tommy saying that he was still alive from the
explosion. When Sonic was riding Tommy's shell down the converoy belt, "The
Dawg" threw a grenade at the power generators. Tommy threw Sonic out the window
and Tommy survived using his shell. Tommy was knocked a mile away. If not for
the roboticized goons, Tommy'd been able to contact Sonic alot sooner so he had
to send a coded message. Tommy finally explains to us what happened in Sonic
123. Roboik found a way to counteract the de-roboticization effects around the
world. He doesn't need Robians anymore so he let 'em go. But it turns out not
everyone was deroboticized. Sonic and Tommy are caught and found to be under
arrest: Sonic for treaspassing and Tommy for espionage. One tries to "designate"
Sonic but he dodges and gets attacked while his gaurd is down and tricks
another bot into attacking another one. Dawg and Wolf surround Tommy somic then
tries a neatly-drawn-for-an-artist-like-Ron-Lim trick to take Sgt. Simian and
Lightning Lynx out for good. Tommy survises by hotwiring the bots so they'd
jump into the lake.
Meanwhile, ADAM tells Robotnik something importand so Robo-**** goes to see
what it is. He sees Robian Fearsom Foursom, Slueth Doggy Dog, and Drago. He
says it's impossible after the 123 incident. He doesn't know what happen in 129.
I didn't know that either even though I've read the issue. Noone knows who's
responsible for this so ADAM scans the Robians' memory banks for info on who's
responsible. While viewing Drago's memory, Sleuth's saying of the one responsible
is bleeped out. Someone tampered with Drago's memory to keep the responbible
one's ID secret. ADAM cracks it after hours and is unsuccessful. Seems like
Robotnik finally meets an equal of his intelegence at last! The only clue he
recieves is a name called "anonymous*. Robotrap decides this was just a big
waste of time. I bet I know who it is but I'm keeping my mouth shut intil
this person is revealed. Can't wait!
The main story was OK. I'm glad Tommy Turtle is returning to Knothole. Perhaps
he'll become a Freedom Fighter like Sonic says. The cover would have been
superb if not for one noticabel detail. That's right, you guessed it...the
words! They just decrease the quality of the cover. The bottom of Sonic's
shoes are detailed too. Several other notices are Sonic's slightly big tail
and partail showing of what's inside his gloves!!!!!!!!!!! For a cloaked guy,
Tommy looks good and detaile don the cover. Most covers have detail like this
one. The art inside has improved. It's as if Ron is finally geting better at his
art. Sonic's spines and eyes have finally decreased and he honestly looks
tight here! With that done, it's onto Mobius: 25 Years Later.
As I thought. Lien-da ia busy with Rutan for staying out late last night with
Salma and noone else. Rutan is too embarrased to tell the answer and lying won't
work. Dimitri says it's beneath even Lien-Da because it's common among teen
boys. Rutan thinks "Thanks, Aurora" but I don't see heer anywhere. What does
he mean by Aurora?! L-D decides what about teenage girls? Dimitri
says girls and boys are both different. L-D supposes Dimitri's gonna say
girls belong i n the home. Since he didn't mean that, L-D wonders when
she doesn't control the (Dark?)Leigon. It's because after Dimitri did, that
was during when he almost died and encountered Robotnik for the last time.
D met with a change of heart. Dimitri wouldn't become furious over it when
Roboturd did. He blames L-D for acting on her own selfishness. They're both
aware that is has nothing to do with Rutan since L-D never disobeyed any of
Dimitri's edicts. That still doesn't stop L-D from wanting to know what Rutan's
been up to. After a long moment of thought and preperation, Rutan finally tells
his mom what's been going on. He was spending the night in the park with Salma.
Let me tell you this: I'd HATE to be Rutan at a time like this!
He's about to be in deep, deep, crap right about now! Lein-Da would be through
with him is he didn't give a little explaination. Rutan says there were others
around him besides Salma and him: Knuckles and Rotor(even thoug Rutan doesn't
yet know his name). They were talking about a request as to how they could save
the planet from disaster. After that, he says left with Salma so they wouldn't
get caught from breaking curfew. As angry as Lein-Da was, she believes Rutan
since she trusts him as her son. She lets him go this one time only but I don't
want to know what will happen next time! Just as Dimitri is about to tell her
something, L-D fives Julie-Su a call. They need to have a talk. To be continued.
Well, that was a rather... I donno. Seemed to be a filler. It was rather
interesting to see L-D so furious with Rutan. The art was just as good as ever
with no flaws. But I did notice something. I don't think this has always been
the case but Lein-Da's eyelashes seemed to be longer here. Also, I finally get
my letter answered in the section and now know what shameless plugs are. But
they got my name wrong. I was called "Jasmine Dixon". That's my mom's name.
I e-mailed them using my mom's account but I don't know how to switch. Anyway,
are taken to the fanarts section. I can't decide which of the 2 above I like
the best this time. Anyway, a decent issue that leaves me in a big cliffhanger
because I'm guessing that anonymous is Snively. I'll find out soon. Can't wait! |
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135 Review
To save space, I won't include reviews for the backup story "Anonymous" or "M25YL" this time. Sorry!
Cover: Spaz/Ribiero/Jensen. Sonic begs the spirit of Christmas Future to give him one last chance to save the story arc. Er, not quite. Sonic is simply talking to... Tommy the Turtle. Well, at least the picture fits with the main story. Trite concept, tight artwork. 8 out of 10.
Frontispiece: Axer (uncredited). Sonic looking spiffy as a private eye, mingling with the seedy underbelly of Mobius. The minimal use of color fits the style well. 9 out of 10.
Main Story: Agent of K.N.O.T.H.O.L.E. (Part 1 of the Tommy Trilogy). Romy Chacon (writer) and Ron Lim (penciler). Sonic enters the Forbidden Zone sporting the popular disguise known as an ordinary cloak. He gives a password and enters some sort of bar/hideout. He sees another Mobian with poor fashion sense and greets him eagerly, kind of destroying the whole "secret meeting" bit right then and there. The Mobian turns around, and surprise, it's Tommy. Sonic is all, "I thought you died in the explosion, how come you didn't?" Tommy responds that he's a cheap plot device, I mean he ducked inside his shell and was thrown about a mile away, grabbed by some robots, and held captive for awhile. He got free, dropped Sonic a line, and decided to meet him here to discuss.. something. Some robians (Predator Hawk, Flying Frog, Sgt. Simian, Drago, and Sleuth Dogg) show up and try to take Sonic out. He fares much better in this battle than he did facing Mecha, but Tommy seems to be in trouble. Sonic takes out two Robians at once and turns to help Tommy, but apparently he's okay, he managed to reprogram Drago to jump in a lake. Sonic wishes he could see it, little does he know he will probably see Drago and the rest again real soon, because we still have to deal with Part 2 and Part 3 of this mess. Story: 4 out of 10. I've seen worse, but I've also seen better. Poor Tommy, his last appearance was head and shoulders above this, so why ruin it? Well, maybe I'm being a little too harsh, the next 2 installments could turn out great. Artwork: 7 out of 10. Ron Lim did nice work here, Sonic's eyes do seem off in some panels, but still it's a solid effort. |
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Sonic 135.
Oh dear, my first review in a while and I'm not too thrilled about wghat I have to say.
Main Story revolves around Sonic the Hedgehog and Tommy Turtle.
On the first note, I felt the Tommu Turtle issue earlier was a nice distraction from the typical pace of the comic, but this second one... just confuses me fom a plot view and I kinda felt like it just didn't belong there. On the other hand I have to credit Ron Lim on his art, it's improving in the furre world. Drago and Robians are kinda overdone at this point and I'd rather see Eggman creating his own threats... which would just lead me to another rant so I'll shut up. you read, you decide :)
The second Story - Mobuis; 25 years later -revolves around Knuckles the Echidna's Family - in and out of the Dark Legion.
And it is a bright spot. Butler's art is on target with the Echidna kind so I'm very pleased on that front ^_^ I also like the storyline, characterizations, etc. that are going on. I had envisioned a Future mobius at one time and these stories make me feel right at home. Both casual and extraordinary - from Simple homelife aspects to world shaking events, to finding out what happened to your favorite characters it is a MUST read. :)
-If you expected spoilers read other people's reviews. |
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