Issue 142
Editor-in-Chief: Richard Goldwater; Managing Editor: Victor Gorelick;
Editor: Mike Pellerito.
Cover
Foreground by Patrick Spaziante; background drawn by Steven Butler,
inked by Jim Amash, and colored by Josh D. Ray.
"Freedom Fighters Forever?!" Hope takes notes as sonic tells of the
"original Freedom Fighters".
Frontis
By J. Axer & J.D. Ray
A shot of the classic Freedom Fighters, in their current incarnations.
(My score: 9/10)
"The Original Freedom Fighters" Part 1
Written by Romy Chacon, penciled by Art Mawhinney, inked by Jim Amash,
lettered by Jeff Powell, colored by Josh D. Ray.
Story: Researching for a report in the Knothole Library, Hope finds
records of the first Freedom Fighters. When she then meets up with
Sonic, she asks him what he knows about them. And so, Sonic launches
into a tale about their origin. It turns out the group led the retreat
to Knothole, and helped get the community up and running, before
beginning a insurgency against Robotnik. (My score: 6.5/10.
Satisfactory, but nothing special.)
Art: It's interesting to see Art Mawhinney back on the job -- he's
great with humans and furries alike, but his work lacks the pizazz of
Axer & Butler, or the extra style of Best & WB. I was impressed
with his work this issue: he seems to be working with more detail, and
after the emotionless work of Ron Lim and the exaggerated work of WB,
it's refreshing to see the subtle play of emotions on the the
characters faces -- there ain't nothing artificial here! If only he
could put a little more work into his backgrounds... (Score: 8/10)
Comments:
Not exactly enchanted by the designs of the new characters...
(Snakes and Giraffes make strange looking furries!) ...And what sort of
name is "Tig"?!
...At first I thought it strange the soldiers didn't recognize the
Swat-bots -- it's hard to remember that in Archie, the coup was the
first time they were seen. (Unlike SatAM, in which they were
re-programmed "Peace-Bots"...)
I also don't get why Julayla was drawn in her "pseudo-Queen Alicia"
form, rather than her original pink Cat form. I thought the
"pseudo-Queen" form had been abandoned...? Apparently not.
"I Wanna Be a Freedom Fighter!"
Written by Romy Chacon, penciled by Steven Butler, inked by Jim Amash,
lettered by John Workman, colored by Jason Jensen.
Story: Sally tells of how Amy has wanted to be a Freedom Fighter for a
while, and has now earned the right. Amy officially joins the Freedom
Fighters.
...Apparently, someone forgot to tell Romy that the Freedom Fighters
aren't, anymore... and Sally's description of the second wave of robot
forces being deadlier than the one Amy destroyed seemed odd -- I
thought she was supposed to be praising Amy?
Still, I give the story an 8.5/10.
Art: A pleasure to behold. The only quibble? I thought Geoffrey and
Hershey were supposed to be on their honeymoon. My score: 9/10
Comments: I know the Tommy Trilogy was written before "Tossed in
Space"... I wonder about this one? It seems like it would have fit
better earlier on; and that would also allow us to blame Sally's poorly
chosen words, and the fact that we're still talking about "Freedom
Fighter", on the Editors...
Mobius 25 Years Later: "Moment of Truth"
Written and inked by Ken Penders, penciled by Steven Butler, lettered
by John E. Workman, colored by Jason Jensen.
Story: Lara-Su bugs Knux about being a guardian, again,
while Rotor and Cobor realize they don't have the time to figure
out a solution to the oncoming destruction. If they could only
start gathering data earlier...
Sonic complains to Sally that he's not fit to be King (again), as he
doesn't want to be making command decisions Sally is better qualified
to make.
Then Sonic and Knuckles get a call from Rotor and Cobor, asking for
access to Robotnik's "Tachyon Displacement Chamber", so they send
someone back in time to collect the needed data. Sonic makes a command
decision Sally would be better qualified to make, and agrees to the
scientists' request. (Now, my only question is, does this Tachyon
chamber have anything to do with the time-machine the FF stole from
Robotnik in issue 12 or the one used by M20YL Rotor to send Nicole back
in time in "In Your Face"? And if not, why not?)
Sonic assumes he and Knux will be the ones to go (even though there's
no assurance the travelers will be able to get back), but as Knux is
walking down a corridor, he overhears Sonia complaining that she'll
never be Queen, and Lara-Su complaining she'll never be Guardian. Knux
suddenly looks thoughtfully.
My rating -- 6.4/10. The repetitiveness of the story is mitigated
somewhat by the fact that something is finally actually happening.
Art: Same odd style Butler's been doing throughout M25YL -- somehow
soft and rigid at the same time. Everything looks like it should look great, but it still manages to be almost lifeless, in an almost disturbing way. 7.6/10, perhaps?
Comments: Let me guess -- Lara-Su's going back in time! Yay! Just what
we needed -- another cool character. ...Wait a second...
And we're still waiting for an explanation of the relevance of the
first Lara-Su we saw; not to mention the giant Robotnik Robot seen in
"Sonic Live" and Locke's vision in "Knuckles 25"...
Sonic-Grams
Start: Mike warns us that Shadow's returning soon, to help Sonic
re-enact the battles between Sonic and Knuckles in Sonic 13
through Sonic 50... Or maybe it'll be even more pointless, like in
"Dust Bunnies"? Who knows? Who cares? I sure don't.
Next Issue: The blurb for "The Original Freedom Fighters" Part 2
implies there may be a traitor in Knothole, present day. WTF?!
Off-Panel (written by Mike Gallageher, drawn by Dave Manak, colored by
"Vincent Van Gopher."
Sonic admires Mike's collection of Monkey stuff... Does this mean we'll
be seeing more Monkey Khan? And why no issue of Sonic 17?
Letters from Calvin Monteros, Tristan Flumerfelt, Rachel Cox, and
Edward Kaj (Sonic's 253rd fan). Also, Find Your Name In Print.
Fan-Art: a group shot of playable characters, by Chelsea Hopkins; an
add for the Sonic comics by Kristin Ferra; Sonic and shadow, by Shawn
Richardson; Sonic by Marcus Adamson; Tails on a flying broomstick
(huh?) by Amanda Yanez (I give this picture a "Cool Fan Art
Award".); Sonic by Beth Hershey, and the Chaotix by Nicole Monyoya.
Final Thoughts:
I'm still not particularly impressed, but that was a lot better than
I'd feared. |
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Archie decided to do something different this time. Is it a filler for a much bigger event? Apparently. They could finally be going back to doing random stories. Judging by the preview cover for 145, I'd say it's just a filler.
"The Original Freedom Fighters Part 1"
~KNOTHOLE LIBRARY, CORNERSTONE OF KNOWLEDGE~ Hope is at the library doing a history report for her school and during a search, accidentally comes across a list of the original Freedom Fighters, FF's she never heard about, and prints it. According to it, the original FF's were lead by Colonel Tig Stripe, now retired from the Great War. Sonic zips by Hope, accidentally blowing her papers away but manages to recollect them. Before he leaves, hope asks him if he knows about the original FF's. Definetely! He remembers it way back in the day. Sonic has time to do it. Stripe planned the escape to Knothole the day Robitnik took over and he also started the first group of Freedom Fighters. They were as follows: Col. Tig Stripe, Spot Long, Sir Peckers, Private Trey Scales, and MP Bull Bones. At their tome, Sonic was 5 and it was the very day Robotnik and his wrath were born. Robo-new was raiding the castle while the SWATbots were rounding er'bodeh up to be roboticized. Col. Stripe successfully got into routine and tried to get everyone to safety. It didn't matter if he was retired or not. Peckers reported in that the bots've taken over the city. Bones discovers that the now-extinct Julian's captured the King. It don't surprise Stripe, who knows Julian can't be trusted. After Bones and Scales take down a bot in a giant walker, the FF's head back to the city. Young Sonic arrives not knowing what to do. Stripe gives him orders to find Jukayla, Sally, and as many other kids as he can and tell them to go into Knothole's secret access as Old Man Gallagher(, Michael?!!)'s house. The FF's priority is to save all the other Mobians and reclaim Mobotropolis. Stripe, abandoning his homeplace, succeeded in getting the Mobians to safetey. He led the construction of Knothole, turning it into a residable village. Everyone cooperated like a family to get the job done.
Then one night, Sonic and Sally overheard the FF's conversating. Sonic was admiring Col. Stripe, while the FF's were planning their attack on
Robotnik. Attacking without any plan or knowledge is foolish, but in Stripe's eyes, it's a sin to allow such an attack to take place with no atempt to stop it. The FF's have each other as their army to use Robotnik's resources against him. The Col. plans to form hit-and-run operatives to attack Robo's "infra-structure"(whatever that is) until they find a way to defeat him. In a group agreement, Col. Stripe thus forms the first group of Freedom Fighters! This is how Sonic and Sally got their inspiration to follow in their footsteps. The FF's traveled to Robotnik's land and damaged his plans in all possible ways. They raided factories of their supplies and shut the facs down and even bothered to rescue Sonic 2 years later. Sonic met them in person for the "2nd" time. Seeing his heroes in action upped his inspiration. Sir Peckers could spread warnings and commands to eyeryone so they could also form future Freedom Fighters worldwide. They'd fight together to gefeat Robotnik once and for all! They'd 'a succeeded if not for 2 certain betrayals... TO BE CONTINUED!
This, like most other issues I've read is very enjoyable. It took me 2 times to read it to like it better than the first time. I believe this was a useful filler some fans might enjoy. I enjoyed Sonic's story(even though it's halfway done) alot and will treasure it for furute use but something in my mind says this might have created a plothole in the series. Then again, the Sonic comic has a HUGE story! A Very good one, but HUGE! Since I have a headache, my brain ain't workin' so I can't think that far back right now!
I'll continue this review soon. |
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