Sonic X #2 Review by Dirk Amoeba
Cover
By Spaz.

Like the previous cover, this looks like it might be a piece of promo art for the Sonic X anime. In other words, everything's pretty much exactly on-model, even more so than the show itself often accomplishes. If only the interior was this good... Anyway, it shows Sonic, Tails and Amy in midair, with some buildings and a lovely sunset in the background.

"See Sonic! Sea Battle! See Sonic Sea Battle!"
Writer: Joe Edkin
Penciler: Tim Smith III
Inker: Rich Koslowski
Colors: Ben Hunzeker
Letters: Jeff Powell
Editor: Mike Pellerito
Managing Editor: Victor Gorelick
Editor-In-Chief: Richard Goldwater
Sega Reps: Robert Leffler and Dyna Lopez.

Summary
In the background: a large ship. In the midground: Chuck, Chris, Tails, and two extras in a dinghy. And in the foreground Sonic diving into the sea. No, this isn't the end of the world. The opening narration promises that all will be explained.

Flashing back to where issue 1 left off, the President inform Sonic about this special mission. An old pirate ship, the MacGuffin, once piloted by the famous captain "Red Eyes" MacGuffin has been found, and readings indicate a Chaos Emerald may be on board. Sonic needs to go down there and check it out, accompanied by Rouge, Topaz and Chuck. Obviously, Rouge wants the emerald for herself.

Chris then points out that this sounds very similar to the day trip to the Sapphire Sea in episode 16 of the anime. Like, exactly the same. Mr. President says that that's the mysterious thing, and they need to get to the bottom of it. Well, the fans have gotten to the bottom of it, and more on that later.

Cut back to the present, while Sonic, Rouge and Topaz dive beneath the waves as Chuck handles things topside. Knuckles observes from afar on Angel Island. He realizes that the only thing that would get Sonic underwater is a Chaos Emerald.

Meanwhile, at Eggman's "rebuilt" beach base (again, see below), Eggman reveals to Decoe and Bocoe that there's no Chaos Emerald, it's just the rings he stole. And he's using them as bait for his trap: robots powered not by small animals but by big, scary Komodo Dragons. Because the rings don't work on organic beings except Sonic, Eggman has taken some big animals and a big battery (the rings) to create two huge Dragonbots.

While in the wreckage of the MacGuffin, Sonic and company are attacked by a shark, but the unwanted company is repelled with the unnoticed help of some ghostly red-eyed figure. As they continue searching, however, Eggman sends in his Dragonbots which cause a huge splash on the surface, endangering Chuck, Chris and Tails. However, Knuckles saw Eggman on his way and rescues the tech support guys without much trouble.

Sonic, Topaz, and Rouge meet the Dragonbots. They fight back with all their might, but nothing is effective against them. Even when Knuckles shows up, his punches are relatively ineffective. However, the ghost stealthily removes the rings from one Dragonbot. This incapacitates bot number one. Then, Sonic spots the rings and uses them to help take care of number two.

Later, on the surface, everyone realizes that they were duped. Sonic thinks he may have had help, which the ghost of Red-Eye MacGuffin confirms. Then, we cut to Eggman, who is already planning his next attack. Although the Komodo Dragons failed, the next animals he has in mind are far more vicious. To be continued.

Deja Vu
If this issue seemd familiar to you, it's probably for the same reason it seemed that way to Chris. It is very similar to episode 16. But check out this quote, from a topic at the Mobius Forum:
"Issue 2 underwent many revamps because the original plot I'd submitted was almost a complete retread of Episode 16--except I had never seen episode 16! Since the plot had been approved and it was too late to go back and get a new plot approved, I had to do a lot of fast changes when writing the script in order to make it sufficiently different from the TV show (hence acknowledging the original adventure and the addition of the ghost, etc.)." - Joe Edkin
The fact that this story suffers from such a deja vu certainly damages it, but Joe's frank explanation about the whole matter almost makes up for this.

Beach Base Bonanza!
As mentioned in the review of issue 1, Eggman's island base should no longer exist. In this issue, Joe manages to slip in the mention of it having been "rebuilt," and it's apparently been made a gag for the sixth issue. Just worth menitoning.

Tim Smith
I don't know what happened here. I liked Tim Smith's work in issue 1 mainly because I thought that the few awkward moments were the exception rather than the rule. However, the opposite now seems true. Everyone's off-model much of the time, and there's almost no detail. The "splash" page is laughable in its laziness. I bet Smith could do better if he put a little more effort into it.

Overall Score: 7/10
It's not that it's a worse story than issue 1, but the fact that it treads too mcuh familiar ground hurts it. The deterioration in art certainly doesn't help either.