Sonic HQ - Archie Sonic Comics Reviews

The cover...dull, but drawn well. It was nice to see Knuckles and Julie-Su on the cover though. Now, the splash page was amazing! The genie never looked that imposing in the story, but the Aladdin-rip of sorts looked great.

"Meanie in a Bottle"
Writer: Benny Lee
Penciler: Art Mawhinney
Inker: Pam Eklund Sonic is playing fetch with Muttski in the woods and he throws the stick into the pond. Muttski dives in after it. Sonic is worried about Muttski so he puts aside his fear of the water and dives in after him. Of course, Sonic can't swim so he sinks. While Muttski grabs the stick, Sonic grabs a bottle he finds at the bottom. Somehow, the bottle caused Sonic to rise up through the water and Muttski dragged Sonic back to land. Sonic opens the bottle and out comes the genie. Sonic asks for three wishes, but the genie thinks Sonic has read to many "fairy tails" (yup, they misspelled that). So the genie zaps Sonic and Muttski and flies off. As Sonic and Muttski begin to head back to Knothole, Sonic finds he's getting tired and he says, "I never **puff** get tired!" while Muttski continues to run ahead.

In Knothole, Dr. Quack is examining Sonic and manages to figure out that the genie took away Sonic's speed and gave it to Muttski (Uncle Chuck makes a cameo here). Muttski joins the Freedom Fighters (only Bunnie doesn't get a cameo shot), taking Sonic's usual "speedy" role. Eventually, Sonic is out playing fetch with Muttski again and the two see the genie. Sonic orders Muttski to get the genie and the genie ends up trapped inside Muttski. The genie wants out and promises to do anything to get out. After making sure that the genie will keep his word, Sonic finally gets to make his three wishes: 1) Give him back his speed, 2) Take away Muttski's speed (guess Sonic didn't like Muttski having super speed THAT much), and 3) to get back into the bottle that Sonic found him in. The genie laments being outsmarted and Sonic throws the bottle back into the pond from the beginning.

Rating: Rings

An okay story overall. I liked the effects applied in the story, but I haven't been fond of Mawhinney's "fatter" style ever since the comic was graced with Butler and Fry, in particular. However, he does make the story real nice to look at in general considering the story itself wasn't much.

The Spaz Sketchbook Back in #110, we were treated to Spaz' favorite covers. I thought that was a waste of space. THIS, on the other hand, was actually worth dropping a story over. The cover blurb for #116 that was dropped with Knuckles, Dimitri, and Mammoth Mogul was interesting--especially with the "*@!" effect over Knux. I kind of wish they had kept it, even if it would've blocked out some of Rouge & Bunnie's feet. Seeing some of the unused concepts, previous character designs, upcoming character designs, as well as the spoilery designs concerning Knuckles: 20 Years Later and the Sonic Manga (both scheduled for SSS#16 and #17 respectively until Archie cancelled the super specials and are currently up in limbo in terms of ever being fully done) was a real nice treat.

Ultimate Power, Part Two
Writer & Inker: Ken Penders
Penciler: Dawn Best In Echidnaopolis, Harry has taken Mogul to the hospital that Dimitri's in as Kommissar is leaving. Mogul is surprised that the Dark Legion is allowed to walk freely in the city, to which Harry explains, "That's politics for you!" Mogul goes in to see Dimitri and the two share a bit of small talk reminding everyone that Mogul is the one who took away Dimitri's power as Enerjak as well as pretty much giving away the fact that Mogul is after Knuckles' energy.

Meanwhile, it seems the group (Knux, Julie, & the Chaotix) must have changed gears from where we left off in #114 as everyone is now relaxing and watching Vector get his "groove" on. After learning that Knux is green because of the chaos emerald powers he has, we find out that Knuckles has the ability to make flowers (which he gives to Julie-Su) though he doesn't want to try it again (despite Mighty asking if he could). So Knux decides to see Locke to figure it all out and invites the group along.

Someplace else, some Dark Legionnaires are in the midst of preparing Kommissar's back-up plan should the Echidna High Council reject the idea of reunification.

Back to Knuckles and company. They follow Knuckles into what Espio accurately refers to as a "dump." The Brotherhood is glad Knuckles has arrived since they were about to go looking for him. Mogul has sent the group a transmission saying that he had Dimitri and he wants Knuckles.

Rating: 1/2 Rings

Nothing really happened. Dawn and Ken did a nice job penciling as there are a few scattered touches of Ken's work around. The colorist (Jason Jensen) from the main story continues the nice work in this one. I like the addition of the cape for Kommissar as she really exudes a commanding villain look.