Sonic The Hedgehog #134 Review by True Red
Normally, I wouldn't do this, but I am giving a plug to Ian Potto's review of Sonic #134 that can be found here (Word File). It was funny and besides, it touched on how this issue "ruined Sally!" ;)
A very simple cover that is based on The Amazing Spider-Man #50. I like it, particularly since it really relates to the story and doesn't have the "just putting characters on the cover for the sake of putting them on" feel that Sonic #133 gave me. No frontpiece as the main was 19 pages--an unusually high number, but very worth it.
"Home, Epilogue: Say You Will"
Writer: Karl Bollers
Penciler: Jon Gray
Inker: Michael Higgins
At the Royal Infirmary, Dr. Quack (now sporting an eye-patch and cane) is checking out Sonic, who has a sling for his injured right arm, and is asking Sonic about an implant in his head. Sonic explains that it was to allow him to understand the aliens when they spoke to him, but Dr. Quack informs Sonic that it seemingly can't be removed as it has bonded with Sonic's nervous system. This sends Sonic into a frenzy as he claims Dr. Quack has to get rid of it (and forgets about the fact that he's injured using both hands to grab Dr. Quack--but is obviously reminded about the fact that his arm is injured based on the pained expression he has afterward--cute). Dr. Quack says that it seems harmless anyway and gives Sonic the okay to leave. Sonic asks about Dr. Quack's eye-patch and Dr. Quack explains that he stepped on a landmine during a battle while taking care of the injured. At King Max's request, Dr. Quack has been staying at the Castle as the Royal Physician instead of being on the frontlines.
After that bit of updating is over, Sonic leaves to be greeted by Sally and his family outside (Bernie has blond hair again--yay!). Queen Alicia walks in and let's them all know that King Max is "debriefing" everyone that fought (as Sonic asked about them when she entered) and that they'll be at the celebration. Sonic doesn't know what she's talking about and Sally tells him that it's concerning his homecoming and that he should get some rest. While the two love birds kiss, their mothers comment about what a cute couple they are. The Hedgehog family heads home only to suddenly be bombarded by the paparazzi which ask such meaningful questions like "are your feet blue, too?" (and yes, that was an actual question).
They finally arrive at the "summer home" (do they have more than one house now or something?) where Sonic finds out that Bernie & Jules didn't touch Sonic's room when he "died." Sonic goes to sleep and when he wakes up he's greeted by Muttski, who licks him and then says "Hello, Sonic-friend! Muttski is happy to have you home again!" Sonic's entire reaction here is priceless. I especially LOVED Sonic's face after Muttski explains that he "always" could talk. Anyway, Sonic rushes to his parents and Uncle Chuck wanting to know when did Muttski learn to talk. Seeing their slightly confused reaction, Sonic remembers the alien implant and figures that is allowing him to understand Muttski (cool, never thought about that--Sonic has a "new ability," he can understand the animals the other characters can't). Considering he's awake now, Sonic starts telling them about some of the things he learned out in space. First on the list being how the Robians were deroboticized (re: Sonic #123 for the event, #129 for the history), but most importantly the reason why Jules was left alone--the fact Jules was roboticized in the first place was to save his life, reversing it would kill him (all those who guessed correctly, pat yourselves on the back ;D).
Next on the agenda was to find Tails, who happened to be at the airbase. Tails explained what happened at the meeting and that since Sonic wouldn't wake up when he visited that he decided to work on Tornado. Sonic is happy that he got to see Tails before the party and breaks to him the news about his parents. Sonic also gives Tails the gift, which turns out to be a wrist-watch with a pre-recorded message. As the holographic message begins to play, Sonic walks away to give Tails his private time.
At "Green Hill Park," everyone is at the celebration as Mina is singing on stage to the delight of the crowd. Sonic, Tails, and Sonic's family finally arrive as they meet the royals--including Elias, Meg, their daughter, Alexis (yes, their child is a girl), and I believe, Joss, Meg's father. King Max and Sonic shake hands as King Max officially welcomes Sonic back and the photographers take a zillion pictures nearby (one question--why are they shaking with their right hands when Sonic's right hand is in a sling?). King Max mentions that he has an announcement to make and is given the mike by Mina. King Max tells everyone that he & the Queen will be taking a tour of Mobius that will end in Station Square and Sally will be acting ruler while they're gone. After King Max is done, Mina welcomes Sonic back with a hug as he notes that Mina seems to be over her stage fright. Mina also introduces Sonic to her manager Ash, who informs Sonic that he's Mina's boyfriend (and with one expression manages to convey that Mina is his girl, do not touch, and your loss--not bad ;D).
Meanwhile, Queen Alicia is questioning the idea of letting Sally rule particularly based on how she acted when Sonic was hurt during the last battle. King Max says that Elias can't do it due to his new life and that Dr. Quack says that Sally can do it (can you say someone had a breakdown?), though he trusts Sally to handle it even more. While the two are discussing, Sally tries to talk to Sonic but Bunnie, Hope (being carried by Bunnie), Rotor, Tails, Amy, Fiona, Knuckles, Julie-Su, Mighty, Vector, Espio, Ray, Geoffrey, Hershey, Rosie, Snaggle, Rory, and Sasha crash the moment, which puts off Sally's talk. Sonic asks Knuckles why is he and the Chaotix in Knothole and Knux says that Robotnik captured Angel Island when the group wasn't there and King Max asked the group to stay and help (am I the only one who saw Julie-Su and Vector being happy next to each other and went, what in the world? what a difference a year makes). As Knuckles is about to continue speaking, Sonic excuses himself from the conversation since he sees Tails has become love-struck with Fiona (and Fiona seemingly doesn't notice--well, she is 16-17 to Tails being 11-12 :p). Before Sonic can go to Tails, Rotor calls to Sonic to show off his newest invention--fireworks of Sonic & Sally kissing. That sets the crowd off cheering and Sonic considers it cool, as well as Geoffrey & Hershey who Sonic sees nearby. Sonic congratulates them on their marriage and the couple jokes about their next mission being their honeymoon as they walk away. As Sonic thinks about how beautiful true love is, Bunnie approaches him and Sonic asks Bunnie about why she and Antoine broke up. Bunnie mentions that only Dr. Quack knows how/where Antoine got his scar, but the war changed Antoine to the point that he was no longer the person she fell in love with (note: Antoine is drawn extremely dark in every panel in this issue actually--foreshadowing something?). Bunnie also guesses that old times are gone. Elsewhere, King Max is telling Queen Alicia that he wants Antoine to go on the tour with them as Ant's current attitude makes him ideal in King Max's mind to be Commander of the Elite Guard.
Sally again tries to talk to Sonic as he is alone, but a photographer comes and asks to take a picture of the two of them. After the photo is taken, the two finally get to talk. Sally basically tells Sonic that while she is acting ruler that she wants him to rule by her side since he is her consort. Sonic doesn't want to as he mentions that if he doesn't fight, who will. Sally points out that there are many who are willing (and currently) fighting against Robotnik so he doesn't have to do it and that he can't if they're "going to have a real future together." So she asks him again not to fight anymore, and Sonic says that he can't. That sets Sally off as she slaps him and calls him selfish. Sonic goes from surprise to anger in about one second and wants to know how sacrificing his life to lose one year trying to get back and wanting to end the war is selfish. Sally says that watching him do it broke her heart, watching Mecha hurt Sonic brought the pain back and she refuses to to be hurt like that again. She asks him which is more important to him, beating up Robotnik or being with her. The two just stare without saying a word. So, Sally breaks the silence and says that Robotnik can have Sonic all to himself and runs off. Tails and Amy go to Sonic as everyone in Knothole is just stunned.
Rating:  1/2 Rings
One word: Wow. So much happened in this story that is unbelievable. I may be a rather big Sonic/Sally fan (the funny thing about "Home" is that only 2 of my fave 4 pairings in the comic are standing--one of them is married, so they're probably "safe"), but this argument had to come eventually. Not surprisingly in this instance that Sally is the one to break it off, but I'm going to wait to see how it goes. The best moment in the story though was the Muttski talking scene. That was hilarious. Hopefully, the paparazzi won't be used too much, but they do make for some funny scenes at times and so far they've been used well. Particularly due to Tails and his parents situation, it's only a matter of time before space and aliens come into play again, but that is something I'm looking forward to seeing. Tails trying to touch the image of his parents was a nice touch. That Antoine solo can't come soon enough (I want some answers) and we'll just have to wait until the Angel Island storyline starts to find out about the zillions of questions on that front. The main thing is the incorporation of minor continuity things, such as touching on Tails liking Fiona (yeah, he liked the robot, but the robot was based on the real deal), is what made the story so solid.
Artwise, Gray was rather good. No real unforgiveable errors, and his style (much more toonish than realistic) accentuated the emotions/feelings of the characters most of the time. One of the biggest things are the "Easter eggs" that are contained within as well as the addition of flickies & chao (and other game-related things) all over the place. As far as the cameos and injokes go, make sure to have some drano cookies and, if you are eligible to vote, remember vote for Dr. FexusFan to be President of the United States. If that doesn't make any sense to you, don't worry about it--but some Sonic fans online do know what they mean. ;)
"Mobius 25 Years Later: In Transit"
Writer & Inker: Ken Penders
Penciler: Steven Butler
Rotor is on his way back home and is recording his personal log as he talks to Cobar. He mentions the need to avoid a "worldwide panic" as he reflects on what happened (re: the flashback starts now). As Rotor mentions politics ([sarcasm]yay[/sarcasm]), Knuckles hears a sound nearby. Knuckles uses his metallic eye to scan the area and catches Rutan and Salma running off and says "bingo." Knuckles tells Rotor that it's just some kids afraid of being seen making out. The two stop their meeting then as Knux promises to get back to him. Rotor of course calls Cobar, who seemingly is the only one to have the ability to hack into Haven II (you have 3 guesses as to what Rotor wants Cobar to do--the first two don't count :p).
At Haven II, Knuckles kisses a vegetable-like Sabre on the forehead as Sojourner walks in surprised to see Knuckles--who seemingly hasn't visited since some unnamed incident. Knuckles asks if the monitors are still up though Sojourner wondered about the ones Knux setup in the Chaos Chamber. Knuckles mentions that he promised Julie-Su that he would never spy on family. Spectre hears that and reminds Sojourner of Julie-Su's family--re: ex-Dark Legionnaire, Lien-Da. Knuckles says that he's not interested in Lien-Da, but in Rutan instead. Sojourner fires up the monitors and it turns out Lien-Da is in the middle of scolding Rutan for being out late. During the scolding, Salma reveals that Lara-Su is covering for her being out late, which Knux comments that Lara-Su is going to have explain (heh). Spectre hopes that finding out what Lara-Su is doing isn't causing this and Knuckles begins to explain what Rotor told him to Spectre & Sojourner.
Rotor tells Cobar that he has seen enough as he believes the kids are "harmless." Cobar says that Rotor wouldn't think that if he knew Lien-Da. Rotor says that wouldn't surprise Sonic since he isn't fond of echidnas, particularly Knuckles. And so the story ends as Rotor has just about arrived at the Castle.
Rating: Rings
Maybe if the Sonic story wasn't so good, this would've interested me more but it didn't. It wasn't bad, but I couldn't get into it outside of the artwork. I am curious as to why Locke and Thunderhawk weren't present as much as to what caused Sabre to turn out the way he has. Other than that, I didn't care all that much. Thank goodness Sonic, Sally, Sonia, & Manik are appearing soon and hopefully that'll speed up the plot because this is at the point where it feels that it might start dragging and moving too slow. |
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