Sonic The Hedgehog #143 Review by Chronos Cat
Issue 143
Editor-in-Chief: Richard Goldwater; Managing Editor: Victor Gorelick; Editor: Mike Pellerito
Cover
Sonic by Patrick Spaziante; Scroll penciled by Steve Butler, inked by Jim Amash, and colored by J.D. Ray.
Sonic is shocked to discover there might be trouble for him, as he stands in front of a scroll depicting a deformed Robotnik laughing at the OFF...
Art Score: 5/10. This pic just doesn't do anything for me...
Frontis:
Drawn by J. Axer, colored by Jason Jensen.
The OFF aren't feeling too well (except for Scales, who has the snout of an alligator...)
"The Original Freedom Fighters" Part 2
Written by Romy Chacon, penciled by Art Mawhinney, inked by Jim Amash, lettered by Jeff Powell, colored by J. &. A Ray.
Story: Hope's teacher tells the readers about how Sonic told Hope about how Private Scales betrayed the Original Freedom Fighters, and (known only to Uncle Chuck until he got his free will back) how Robotnik robotized the OFF and sent them into the "Void" (read "Zone of Silence").
First of all, stories within stories are always hard to handle -- I can't believe we were given a narration of Sonic telling his tale!
Secondly, I now admit it-- Romy is way too SatAM orientated. I mean, hello? The King was trapped in the Zone of Silence in Archie, not the Void! The Void only showed up in one issue, in which it was shown to be just that-- empty.
Oh, and was having Scales be the traitor ridiculously obvious type-casting, or what? (I'm also getting quite bored with the "I betrayed you to join Robotnik-- hey, why is Robotnik roboticizing me?!" thing. Been there, done that...)
Connecting things in with the origin of the Freedom Fighters in Super Special 5 was a nice touch, though. Same goes for having Hope's teacher be Stripe's wife. (I don't call her his widow, as presumably they're still alive in the Zone.)
It's interesting that Rosie seemed to have a crush on Stripe, considering that he is and was married. If he hadn't been roboticized and exiled, we might have seen a very different side to these supposed paragons of virtue...
Oh, and that present-day traitor the previews were hinting about? Unless they were referring to Hope leaving Sonic to watch the Power Ring Pool when she'd promised to do it, there's nary a hint of such a thing.
Story Score: Major points off for the mistakes listed above. Otherwise, okay. 6/10.
Art: There are two major styles in this story-- one for the scenes with Sonic and Hope, another for the flashbacks. Oddly, though, coloring is the only thing credited with more than one artist... The art in the Sonic/Hope scenes are a bit too cartoony for my tastes (my guess is Aimee Ray colored them, while the inking in the flashback scenes clashes with Art's art...
I can't help but wonder if Peckers was supposed to look so tired and depressed? It's an interesting characterization.
After all that time the colorists couldn't remember that Eggman has a pink nose, now we're given a pink nosed Robotnik Prime. *shakes head*
Art Score: 7/10
Overall Score for "OFF Pt2": 6.5/10
"Mobius 25 Years Later": "Father's Day"
Script, art, & lettering by Ken Penders, colors by Jason Jensen.
Story: Knuckles reminisces about Locke's death from cancer (no doubt brought on by the radiation he exposed himself to in preparation for conceiving Knuckles), and decides to allow Lara-Su to decide whether or not to be Guardian. (Uh, hasn't she already made her choice obvious?)
The story takes up two chapters instead of the usual one-- which allows Ken to actually get a chapter's worth of story done for once. (I can't believe he still hasn't gotten used to telling short stories again-- it's been several years since Knuckles folded!)
Story Score: 7.4/10
Art: Ken's back in the drawing groove, and Jensen's colors compliment his drawings perfectly. (Although things are still a little too shiny...) ...Of course, as Drazen is sure to point out, there's no sign of the terrible weather we've been hearing about...!
I especially liked the lighting in the forest.
Art Score: 8.5/10
Overall Score for "M25YL": 7.95/10
Sonic-Grams
The art and Editorial page are switched. As I can see no reason for this, I'm assuming it's a layout/printing error. Sloppy, folks...
Fan Art: A badly drawn Super Sonic vs a blue turkey called "Metal Sonic (Perfect Mode)" by Alex Olson (nice lettering, though!); A huge eyed Sally by Kit Reagan; a crouching Tails following a butterfly by Mark Teo; a chipmunk-cheeked Tails by Michael Hanlon; a brown Sonic with a blue mohawk running through what looks like night, by Jacob Tench; Sonic standing on a wall (is it Zonic? or did they put the picture sideways?) by Mat Lippiello; and Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow by Melissa Ramirez. My fan-art awards go to Kit Reagan, Mark Teo, and Melissa Ramirez.
Letters: Letters from Mat Bently (Sonic's # 1.5 fan), Tim Moore (Sonic's #100 fan), Garet Lang (Sonic's #1 #1 fan), and Mike Durkin (Sonic's #1 fan). Also, Sonic's #1 "Find Your Name in Print" section.
Start: Coming Summer 2005: Sonic X the Comic! Of course, they're waiting for the popularity of the show to die down before they do a comic... Still, it's interesting they think the Sonic franchise can support two comic series! I wonder if Archie'll be publishing it? It wouldn't hurt to get some of the Archie Sonic artists on board, but they'll need a new writer or two... hopefully a good one... (And how can they truly adapt the show without just copying it? It can be done, but it's tricky... We'll have to see.)
Next Issue: M25YL takes center stage, as Ken performs his most astonishing feat yet: with almost an entire issue to play with, he'll make less than nothing happen! ...Also, Romy Chacon gives us a tale of the SatAM cast's explanation for what happened to the cast of "Archie-Sonic: One Year Later" in Karl Boller's "Home" saga...
Off Panel
Written by Mike Gallagher, drawn by Dave Manak, colored by "Claude Monape".
A bug complains about how few bugs made it into the cast of Sonic. (He forgot about Arachnis and the Termite-nator, though!)
Final Thoughts
I was not impressed. However, it could have been a lot worse... Now, we just need to get through 144, and maybe we can see what Mike P. can really do...
Overall Score for Issue 143: 6.5/10 |
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