Sonic The Hedgehog #83 Review by Rolland Therrien
Well, after the fiasco that was the Sonic Adventure Adaptation in SSS #13, one would hope the storyline would pick up. It does... sorta.
"Menace to Society"
We start with Knuckles, fresh from co-starring with Sonic in the Sonic Adventure adaptation, as he returns to the Mystic Ruins to resume his exploration of them. There, he is surprised to find Dr Robotnik, uncounscious on the floor. While he's debating to himself whether or not he should take advantage of the situation to finish the Doc off (I say Go for it!), the now familiar form of Chaos sneaks up on him...
Back at the Hidden City, Sonic's telling his friends about how he and Knuckles vanquished Chaos, and also about how he lost Tails' bi-plane. Fortunetly, Nate says he had the foresight to install a tracer in the plane when he designed the young fox's plane. He gives Sonic a device and he and Tails leave to find the plane. Thanks plot-de... I mean Nate!
Soon afterwards, Sonic and Tails arrive at the ruins, and find Knuckles, who was knocked uncounscious (they also ignore Robotnik... I think he's kinda hard to miss, don't you?) and rush to him. While Dr Robotnik makes his escape, Knuckles holds Sonic and Tails back from going after him, saying the real foe is Chaos, who is NOT yet destroyed. He suspects Chaos' return may have something to do with Tails' plane.
They decide to track down the plane to find out more. They arrive in Cat Country, where they find Big, who's just awakening from having been knocked out by some mysterious foe. While this interrogation is going on, Tails finds his plane, which has been totally trashed. Just then, a watery Tornado runs them over, focing them to hang on for dear life as it passes over them. Sonic deduces it's Chaos, and sees it's now powering itself with the bi-plane's power source, the Super-Emerald (when normal emeralds aren't enough...). Now it's super-charaged and heading straight for...
Station Square, where the Freedom Fighters (who haven't been doing any fighting in a long while) are getting a tour of the Hidden City's Power Plant/Environmental Control station, which generates everything from the day/night cycles to the weather in the Hidden City's dome. And what powers this plant? why, nothing less then 6 Super-Emeralds, of course! (gee... ain't THAT convenient...) Suddenly, Chaos' watery form seeps in through the room over the Emerald Display chamber, floods it and disappears with the Emeralds!
Then, outside, in the Hidden City, we're treated to a three-page spectacular scene where Perfect Chaos floods the streets, smashes the roads and buildings, and generally trashes everything as he makes his big entrance from the game...
While the Freedom Fighters do their best to help evacuate the people, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles... and Big show up and wonder how they'll stop Chaos now. Before they can think of something, Robotnik's Eggship breaks through into the Dome! ...Wait a minute; didn't Robotnik's Eggship get blown up last issue? That's a darn big plothole. Anyhow, Dr Robotnik shows up, but Chaos, apparantly tired of the fatman (lord knows most of us are) swats him away.
While Sonic is happy to see Robotnik get his, it doesn't solve the immediate problem of what to do with Chaos. Knuckles says "We must still contend with the creature! Our enemy's enemy is not our ally! The Water beast is overflowing with power!" ...Okay, who are you and what have you done with Knux? Knuckles doesn't speak like Captain Picard on Star Trek, people. Anyways, Tikal then shows up, does both the vision thing to explain Chaos' origin AGAIN, and then appears completly in a glowing, ghostly form before them all, and explains that Chaos ain't Evil, just misguided, and that they have to defeat it without destroying it. Easier said then done.
Tikal uses some ancient Echidna voodoo to weaken Perfect Chaos and extract the Super-Emeralds, which she tosses to Sonic. Using a line from the game ("Our hearts together form an awsome power"), she charges them with positive emotions and turns Sonic into Super-Sonic (Faster than your average Sonic; More powerful then a dozen Chilidogs; able to work his way through any plot complication...)
Goku... Sorry, Super-Sonic flies into action, charging straight into Perfect Chaos, fighting the internal tides and creating a whirlpool to nock the stuffings out of Chaos, who goes down for a count. But before Sonic can enjoy the congratulations of his friends, Chaos gets back up for round two...
...Which happens next issue, unfortunately.
Rating:  Rings
This story wasn't bad, but there's still room for improvement. For one thing, the Freedom Fighters are still relegated to the role of minor extras, when they should be secondary characters at most. To say nothing of Sally's limited "airtime". Many elements of the plotline seemed contrived, like the Hidden City's use of 6 Super-Emeralds in their power-plant. Knuckles sudden "oxford acting" is out of character for him in the comic, and Tical seems to be after Nate Morgan's "Living Plot-device" job.
This is better then the past few issues (by a small margin) but there's still far to go before we can call this a quality title again. |
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