Sonic The Hedgehog #92 Review by Rolland Therrien
"Wrath of Khan"
Written by Karl Brollers
Penciled by Michael Higgins
Inked by Tim Amash and Pam Eklund
Gee, with a Trek rip-off title like that, I wonder who's going to be this issue's special guest star?
After a short teaser of "the guest star" walking across the desert, hate driving him forward, we skip to Dr Robotnik, who gives us the quick recap of Sonic having lost the Sword of Acorns to him, before he lost it himself, but since Sonic thinks Robo still has the sword, he can take advantage of the situation. A pretty unneccessary recap, actually.
We go to Sonic, in the Forbidden Zone (How many of those are there?), who finds out the meteors were, in fact, the starships last seen before the Sonic Adaptation (Ok, who called it?), which were carrying the long lost Overlanders, lead by Lord Kintobor. Apparantly, the ships were programmed to land near the largest city on the planet, and that's Robotropolis, these days. A little child spots Sonic, and they all immediatly start panicking, as good little Human-like beings do when confronted with the bizarre. Good to know Brollers respects some conventions. Before Sonic and Kintobor (Who was ready to attack our hero) can come to blows, however, a Combot arrives on the scene and attacks an Overlander. Fortunetly, Sonic manages to save the lady, and we all assume this is a good thing. More on that later...
Back in Knothole, Rotor and Mina find out that there's a commotion about the Sword of Acorn getting stolen. Rotor lets slip that Sonic was getting it back, but in spite of Mina's pathetic attempt at covering up (She just coughs to interrupt the Walrus. LA-AME!), Geoffery (The Investigating Expert) isn't fooled, and he demands answers. Ooh, I'm shaking in my booties...
Back in Robotropolis, Dr Robotnik is watching the return of the Overlanders on screen, along with Sonic's presence. He says something about missing his Native Race (I figured him as one who prefered the company of machines, myself), but then he sees "his" brother Colin, and swears to roboticize them all. I know... I was worried he was going soft too. And the "Alternate version of Robotnik" explanation is apparantly becoming tedious to the writers as well, who only added it to Robotnik's speech as an afterthought, it seemed. Though why he would refer to himself as an Alternate Reality Robotnik, and not as a Real Robotnik stuck in an alternate Reality is beyond me. In any case, he decides on a simple ruse to earn the trust of the Overlanders...
While Sonic is out with the Overlanders, trying to convince the suspicious humanoids that he's one of the good guys, Lord Kintobor states that maybe the robot was trying to protect them. Yeah, Colin, lord knows that having a robot seize you and trying to take you away is my idea of protection. But before Sonic can reply, Dr Robotnik shows up in holographic form and confirms Kintobor's thoughts and agrees with his "brother", stating that the "Protectobots" were designed to fight the "Furry Menace", and that he offers the Overlanders sanctuary against the Savage Mobians. But before Sonic can convince the people to see through Robotnik's lies, the cheese hits the fan when Monkey Kahn shows up and scares everyone by attacking Ivo's Hologram (classic sociopathic combat monster mistake #23), causing the Overlanders to run for cover and take Robotnik's offer of shelter, in spite of Sonic's protest. So much for reason...
Back in Knothole, Mina is being interrogated by Lord Torquemada... I mean Geoffery St-John, concerning the location of the Sword. Hershey asks him to step out for a second, then manages to "Good Cop" the info out of Mina, and they both find out that Sonic did the deed all right. And we get the hint that Hershey still has a crush on Geoffery before we cut to another scene (Boy, she just goes for all the wrong guys, doesn't she?)
Back in Robotropolis, Sonic's trying to cool down the maniacal Khan, who's so starving for Robotnik's blood he's willing to wipe out all the Overlanders along the way, giving Robotnik more arguments to convince the Overlanders that he's the good guy and the Furries are the villains. And the two furries continue to fight and argue...
Back in Knothole, Tails wonders where Sonic went, but finds Rotor instead, giving him the warm welcome he's overdue. Meanwhile, elsewhere in Knothole, Sally and Alicia are catching up, with Sally telling her mom everything that's been happening, including her taking charge of the freedom fighters. I get the feeling this could bare fruits later on, but I'm not holding my breath.
Back in Robotropolis, the Overlanders are all lead into Robotropolis just as Sonic breaks off from Khan and rushes for the people, just in time... ...To get stopped by that force-field, getting locked out. And as Sonic gripes about all those people being prisonners, Khan just storms off, ranting and raving, leaving Sonic doing the cliched "KHAN!" yell that anyone with a smidgen of pop-culture knew he was gonna do eventually. Yawn.
Rating:  Ring
Ok, time for some comments. First off, the art was terrible. I don't know where they got this guy, but they should ship him back and ask for a refund... Or pay someone else to take him off their hands, if need be. It's that bad, people. Michael Gallagher looks like Jack "King" Kirby in comparaison, ok? The storyline isn't too bad, except for one thing: It's predictable. And not in the "If you know your story conventions, you might expect this or that" way, but in the "If you're a brain-dead pothead, You can see the plotline coming a mile away" manner. All in all, this isn't a very good story, and I can only hope Brollers will eventually getting things in gear. ...Someday.
And now, for the back-up story. A break from the Knuckles series, actually.
Sonic Shuffle Tie-In:
"Premonition"
Writer: Ken Penders
Artists: Ron Lim and Jim Amash
Ok, let's keep this review short: Sonic has a dream in which he meets up with his friends Tails, Knuckles and Amy, and meets a new friend, Lumina, the guardian of Maginaryworld and the Precioustone, who needs the help of Sonic and friends to fight the evil Void, who took control of the Precioustone and corrupted Maginaryworld. Just as Sonic agrees to help, he wakes up, only to find Lumina and his friends standing in a glowing portal, waiting for him to join them in reality. End tie-in.
Rating: Rings
Ok, there's not much to say about this back-up, except that it's short. Another thing is that there won't be a full Sonic Shuffle conversion, which I see as a good thing. The comic's in trouble enough as it is.
Knuckles will be back next month, though. And so will we.
Overall Rating: Ring |
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