Sonic HQ - Archie Sonic Comics Reviews

"Kids of the Spider Woman"
Written by Karl Bollers
Pencils by Ron Lim
Inked by Andrew Pepoy & Pam Eklund Cool looking cover. I noticed that Spaz gave Rob's quills a style similar to Amy's on the cover. Axer finally gets credit for one of his nice looking splash pages.

The story starts off with Amy Rose & Rob in the Great Forest on their way toward Knothole. While leaping from tree to tree, Amy miss judges how far a branch is and ends up falling into a spider web, which of course is from Uma Arachnis' kids--we saw the eggs back in Sonic #95.

In the castle, Sally is telling Sonic, Tails, & her parents the vision of the future the Sword had given her about the castle being attacked by spider ninjas. Sal explains that she doesn't want the Sword so King Max tells the guard to get rid of it. However, the Sword talks to Sally and she momentarily changes her mind. Sonic tells Tails to get some back-up while the royal guard goes out to protect Knothole and the castle.

The royal guard is pretty useless as the ninjas attack and take them all down pretty quickly until they finally make it to Sonic, Sally, King Max & Queen Alicia. Sonic takes them on while Queen Alicia begins to wheel King Max out of the area and tells Sally to follow. However, Sal doesn't want to leave Sonic, but she doesn't want to fight since that's what the Sword vision showed and she doesn't want to do what the Sword says she should. When Sonic's whirlwind doesn't have any effect on the ninjas, Sally uses the Sword and joins in the fight. The other Freedom Fighters and Rob finally arrive, but Sally commands everyone to stop and they do. She says that the ninjas just want the Sword and since Sally doesn't want the Sword, she gives up the Sword to the ninjas.

Rating: Rings

Nice story. The flow was very good though I have a feeling Sally is going to be regretting the decision to give up the Sword. It's a quick fix to a big problem considering the power the Sword possesses. I'm not particularly bothered by Ron Lim's art as I got used to it long ago, but Sonic's quills were way too long in some panels. His Rob was pretty good though.

"I'll Shoot the Sheriff!"
Written by Karl Bollers
Pencils by J. Axer
Inked by Nelson Ribeiro & Andrew Pepoy Rob encounters General D'Coolette (Antoine's father) who was his sworn enemy prior to getting his free-will back. Despite Antoine and Bunnie's pleadings, Rob doesn't trust the General and decides to stay in Knothole to spy on him. After awhile, General D'Coolette gets frustrated with being spied on and half-asks/half-demands Rob just hang out with him. So the two spend a couple of days together before Rob finally trusts the General and leaves for Knottingham.

Rating: Rings

The summary above doesn't do the story justice. Awesome execution and the art is basically flawless.

"Trouble With Grrrls!"
Written by Karl Bollers
Pencils by Steven Butler
Inked by Aimee Ray Sonic is signing an autograph for a female fan when suddenly a zillion of them come from nowhere so he & Tails split and head into the forest. Tails is wondering why Sonic ran away so Sonic explains his view on girls. He could never tell a girl that he liked her because of his image. He can't have a girlfriend because he wouldn't have time for himself or for his friends (and when he says that he's gesturing toward Sally & Mina).

Rating: Rings

Yes, Butler has returned. A welcome art change and I really liked that pic of Sonic with the shades, even if the shades did come out of nowhere. Another nice story with a lot of subtle hints contained in the scenes. It was no surprise that Sonic plans on being single for the time being which I agree with.