Jump to content
Awoo.

DAY 9 - Comic Panel of the Week 1: Cliffhanger [30DOS22]


Dreadknux

Recommended Posts

Hi everyone! Hope you're enjoying this highly busy week (at least, it is for me...). But we're here to have some fun with 30 Days of Sonic! Today is Thursday, so time for another Comic Panel of the Week!

For taking part in today's activity, you'll be eligible for this badge:

Comic Blue.png

You have until Saturday 11 June at 23:59 UK Time the end of the month to take part in this one!

Comic Panel of the Week

Theme: "Cliffhanger"

You know how it goes. You get really into a decent story, and all of a sudden--- wh? Huh? No more pages!? What's going on? What is this 'Stay Tuned for the Next Issue' nonsense!? I want to know what happens NOW!

Cliffhangers can sometimes irritate, but it's the mark of a truly engaging comic arc. And many people's fond memories of the best comic storylines are formed from these epic cliffhangers, and the long wait between issues to continue.

Share the last page / cliffhanger of a comic story that really resonated with you! It can be your favourite, most epic cliffhanger ever... or it can be an awful cliffhanger that you didn't enjoy at all and left a mark in a different way. And please, explain why!

As for me... I'm going to follow the theme of this topic and CLIFFHANGER you guys! Unfortunately, I am absolutely slammed with work right now, so I will try to find time to contribute in the next day (hopefully this evening). I have to hand the mic over to you guys for now!

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dreadknux
This post was recognized by Dreadknux!

Dr. Mechano was awarded the badge '[30 Days of Sonic 2022] Comic Hero Blue - Participated in one Comic Panel of the Week activity' and 5 points.

I'm going with Archie Sonic #175. Cheating a bit by providing a few pages instead of one, but we need to see the leadup for the full gravity of this cliffhanger.

archie_smash.png 

Eggman absolutely thrashes Sonic in his Egg Beater, before leaving him - defeated and humiliated - as he flies off to finish off Sonic's friends.

But Sonic still doesn't give in to despair or give up. He struggles to his feet, contorts his injured face into a smirk, and vows to save the day just like he always does before the issue ends.

A great showing for both Eggman (who defeats Sonic) and Sonic (who takes the loss in stride and keeps fighting, no matter what). It really made me excited to see what would happen in the next issue when this originally released!

  • Thumbs Up 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dreadknux
This post was recognized by Dreadknux!

Ryannumber1gamer was awarded the badge '[30 Days of Sonic 2022] Comic Hero Blue - Participated in one Comic Panel of the Week activity' and 5 points.

For this one, I've again got two particular moments I'd like to highlight - the first of which is from Archie Sonic #175:

For context, although I'm sure I won't need to say for most of you, given how much of a iconic issue this one in particular is - Sonic got absolutely, and utterly. wrecked. The issue begins with the Freedom Fighters living the high life, with a ton of their villains locked up, Bunnie and Antoine having just been married to each other, and Eggman supposedly being on the backfoot, thanks to a rogue A.D.A.M having torn through his city. 

Then Snively proceeds to tear open the entrance to Freedom HQ inside of a mech, immediately vaporise everyone, barring Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy - and buries the latter three under the rubble of their base, leaving Sonic alone to face Eggman.

Charging ahead to Knothole, Sonic insists that it's not too late, that he can still stop Eggman...until he finds Knothole up in smouldering flames, utterly decimated. But hey! Castle Acorn's still in-tact! Obviously Elias got everyone to safety! Sonic still has some hop--

bebf7a793eecfe0e5786fc8dbb98ae3bf8aea22b.png

"...oh wait, no. Eggman was just leaving it up so he could destroy it right in front of Sonic, all to make an entrance. What follows is one of the most brutal fights between Sonic and Eggman, as Eggman's Egg Beater mech easily wrecks Sonic, all while Sonic is on the backfoot, all hope has been snatched from him. What follows is Sonic's attacks being constantly no-sold by Eggman's mech, a mech he built specifically to counter anything Sonic can toss his way - a mech that protects him entirely - and Eggman mercilessly gives Sonic a big taste of his own medicine, as he mocks Sonic for all of his failures, both as a hero, and as a friend. He even gets personal, taunting him for his love life in the Archie comics, all while Sonic is getting more and more pissed off, leaving him angry enough to attempt to blitz across the world at immense speeds, so much so that Snively has to warn Eggman about it...

...and when it hits, it does absolutely nothing but dents Eggman's shield a little. And then Eggman proceeds to smack around Sonic a bit more, and finally leave him in the dirt, surrounded by all the burning remains of Knothole, with a final taunt to grind in the fact that if Sonic attempts another rescue, Eggman will repeat the whole exercise all over again.

Then we get...

513adb0adecee2b21039ae9d3e4ed643c979ec42.png

Tails finally manages to dig himself out of the rubble of Freedom HQ, leaving the main four as the only survivors of Eggman's attack, and despite Eggman's utter destruction of Sonic, both physically, and mentally, Sonic picks himself up and dusts himself off, putting on a brave face for Tails, as he makes it clear that despite Eggman's show of power, despite his attempts to drill in how hopeless it was, Sonic refuses to back down without a fight, and makes it clear they're going for Knuckles and Amy, and intend to take the fight right back to Eggman.

Not only is this just a great climatic note for what was such an intense milestone issue, but it gives us such a great idea of who Sonic and Eggman are as characters. Eggman utterly decimates Sonic, but still can't bring himself to end him, if only because his ego would love the idea of Sonic attempting to spring a rescue attempt, only for Eggman to destroy him again. Meanwhile, despite the utter beating Sonic took, as soon as Tails enters the picture, he's immediately putting on a brave face and putting on a cocky grin, ready to bring the fight back to Eggman. 

On top of that, it just works very well as a cliffhanger - where after such a brutal issue, where Sonic's best shot at Eggman was so easily taken down, it leaves us to wonder just how on Earth Sonic, even with his friends' help would be able to turn the tides on Eggman now. With all of the cards stacked to Eggman's favour, it made it all the cooler to see the heroes fight back.

Runner Up:

66bca72cccd6e9171c95d109fd18a057bdb1466a

So, as context - Enerjak is an ancient chaos-infused deity from the Knuckles' comics who Knuckles fought against, while Enerjak was inhabiting his original avatar - Dimitri. In that, Knuckles was nearly killed, but they ultimately won.

However, in Ian's era, a new Enerjak rose up, all while Knuckles had left Mobius to return to Angel Island to protect the Master Emerald, and it was revealed not to be Dimitri, as he landed to the Freedom Fighters, warning them of a new Enerjak. This Enerjak began swarming through Angel Island, easily eliminating all of the island's 'problems' in moments. Eggman's machinery? Gone. The dingos working for Eggman? Thrown into the desert. The Dark Legion? Forcefully removed of all their cybernetics without permission. The other echidnas? Forcefully moved to Albion, which is in ruin, leaving them heavily without resources.

Sonic and Tails go to Angel Island to attempt to stop him, but are too late, as Enerjak makes immensely short work of everything present, following it up by teleporting himself to Mobius. With Sonic and Tails now forced to scramble back to New Mobotropolis, this leads to the Freedom Fighters, Chaotix, and Julie-Su to attack Enerjak - who finally reveals himself when Julie-Su accuses him of killing Knuckles...

...as Knuckles the Echidna. Knuckles has been infused with massive amounts of chaos energy, and has now taken up the role of Enerjak, hell-bent on changing the world as he pleases, if people like it or not. With Sonic and Tails far away, and Enerjak on their doorstep, this left the cliffhanger that Knuckles had been corrupted and was now turning against his friends and allies. Just an insanely good cliffhanger.

  • Thumbs Up 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dreadknux
This post was recognized by Dreadknux!

castell-neath was awarded the badge '[30 Days of Sonic 2022] Comic Hero Blue - Participated in one Comic Panel of the Week activity' and 5 points.

Another STC cliffhanger for me, this time from Issue 9 when Sonic returns from the special zone and realises that Robotnik has taken over the world. 

 

I remember it well as to me its where the comic starts to deviate from the games and an actual continuity begins. Its no longer stop Robotnik but topple him. I think i prefered the one shot stories from issues 1 to 8 but this really is where STC starts to get serious in terms of stories

RCO009_1465476885.jpg

  • Thumbs Up 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dreadknux
This post was recognized by Dreadknux!

Ducktor Naldush was awarded the badge '[30 Days of Sonic 2022] Comic Hero Blue - Participated in one Comic Panel of the Week activity' and 5 points.

easy peasy, my choice falls on the last page of the first part of the now classic "Robotnik Reigns Supreme" miniarc of Sonic The Comic, issue 127, 8th of April 1998.

Has Sonic finally defeated Robotnik? Is he dead? He is nowhere to be seen, after all. Good thing, because he was about to become a reality-warping god with the power of the Chaos Emeralds. 

 

wait.

 

what is that laugh, coming from outside?

spacer.png

Oh fiddlesticks....

Well, see you in two weeks, readers!!!

Absolutely a winner.

 

  • Thumbs Up 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dreadknux
This post was recognized by Dreadknux!

Zaysho was awarded the badge '[30 Days of Sonic 2022] Comic Hero Blue - Participated in one Comic Panel of the Week activity' and 5 points.

So I've got two.

unknown.png

As I said in the previous topic, I just like Scourge. I like what he represented. I liked his vibe and how he challenged Sonic in a different way. When he used to contrast Sonic in just how petty and despicable he could be compared to the heroic version, he eventually became a powerhouse threat on the same level of Sonic but without the moral restraint and relationships that keep Sonic grounded. He's such a fun villain and I'm always surprised I came away liking a character like him. This is Scourge's last real appearance before the Archie book was rebooted and he was one of the characters that ended up on the chopping block as a result of the Archie lawsuit.

I've always wanted to see more of Moebius and to see Scourge just straight up raise some Hell with his new crew, the Destructix, after forming new relationships with them (as a leader/boss instead of a friend--contrasting Sonic) and where that'd lead for him. I would also have loved just seeing the world building for Moebius and where Flynn would go from it just being "opposite world" to "funhouse mirror nightmare" he was starting to set it up as.

unknown.png

And now for one that was resolved, but this was the hypest shit when the story originally ran. After barely sending Eclipse, a Black Arms super soldier similar to Shadow, packing, Shadow suggests that GUN take custody of the Master Emerald due to it being a constant target for threats and telling Knuckles he can do what Shadow did and find a new purpose in his life. Knuckles, understandably, doesn't take too kindly for this and the two throw down for a whole issue. These two barely interact in the regular games so at the time it was really exciting to see two of my favorite characters clash.

  • Thumbs Up 7
  • Fist Bump 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dreadknux
This post was recognized by Dreadknux!

Iko was awarded the badge '[30 Days of Sonic 2022] Comic Hero Blue - Participated in one Comic Panel of the Week activity' and 5 points.

sonic-channel-sonic-comic-special-stage.

https://www.sonicnotes.info/2016/12/sonic-channel-comic-special-stage.html

I'm cheating HARD, also to circumvent my very limited knownledge of Sonic's comics.

It's one of those Sonic Channel comics released for the 25th anniversary, the last one to be more precise.

It's nothing special, just all the characters together fighting Eggman, and overall a promotional comic (with Sonic telling the reader to "support us"); there is no end, Eggman is not defeated, the fight just continues offscreen.

I want to focus on the meaning of this comic; "Support the Sonic series and you will see more of us", all those characters and their stories... and technically it happend, most of those characters appeared in the IDW comics, in the cutscenes of Sonic Forces, became playable in mobile games and appeared in stories and artworks of Sonic Channel. What makes me sad is that, comics and arts aside, none of those in-game appearances and roles were ever particularly useful or well implemented; Sonic Forces was a badly written mess of a story and most of the characters who appeared in it were just shoehorned there with no real purpose; you can play as anyone and their mother (Longclaw, Vanilla is not in, at least not yet) in Sonic Forces mobile, but they are just reskins and all play the same (and anyway the game is frustrating and not fun), etc.

Sonic's expanded cast of friends are getting used less with time, and I miss them... this comic is basically a big farewell to all the Sonic characters I grew up with, and a big farewell to the era of this series which I liked the most.

It's a sad meta-cliffhanger for me.

  • Thumbs Up 3
  • Fist Bump 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dreadknux
This post was recognized by Dreadknux!

Cuz was awarded the badge '[30 Days of Sonic 2022] Comic Hero Blue - Participated in one Comic Panel of the Week activity' and 5 points.

Pardon the heavy crop. I don't know too many ways to get over size limits.

903259821_StCSuperSonic.jpg.b8828e357d42f3d552487a55f105a824.jpg

Imagine being introduced to Sonic the Comic with this issue. Super Sonic a sperate entity from Sonic and absorbing the energy of perfect chaos, with Sonic cautioning will just make him evil again. This was my first fleetway issue, funny enough it's the next to last orignal issue as well.

  • Thumbs Up 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dreadknux
This post was recognized by Dreadknux!

Indigo Rush was awarded the badge '[30 Days of Sonic 2022] Comic Hero Blue - Participated in one Comic Panel of the Week activity' and 5 points.

These are getting hard. 

I don't read the comics these days, but when I did, it was when Archie was full swing stupid. That said, the ending to issue 125 was pretty intense... 'cuz Sonic died. Apparently.

RCO027.thumb.jpg.f54d962963b194ad13d6fd8d31401ac5.jpg

Sooooo it's complicated but basically there was this war against some aliens and Sonic saved the world by going very fast....and then everything exploded. Very intense stuff. For real.

But see, while all those chumps on Mobius thought Sonic was dead, in reality....

RCO029.thumb.jpg.b7c7483d107302253865539b6ffcd8a4.jpg

AWHUUUUUUUUHT???

(Look, I was probably like... 15 years old, this was cool) 

Sonic was alive! But where? How? How will he get back? Gotta read the next issue to find out.

Spoiler

He has to fight an evil Super Sonic (no relation to StC) and save a bunch of ant people.

Fuggin Archie was so dumb back then I love it

 

  • Thumbs Up 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dreadknux
This post was recognized by Dreadknux!

Rabid-Coot was awarded the badge '[30 Days of Sonic 2022] Comic Hero Blue - Participated in one Comic Panel of the Week activity' and 5 points.

Everyone is in a dire situation and a pissed off Super Sonic is about to break free. We have the rare convergence of different characters storylines in the comic and the culmination of years of events.

mBwH0or.jpg

dDeYrBk.jpg

AsSnAFi.jpg

  • Thumbs Up 5
  • Nice Smile 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dreadknux
This post was recognized by Dreadknux!

JezMM was awarded the badge '[30 Days of Sonic 2022] Comic Hero Blue - Participated in one Comic Panel of the Week activity' and 5 points.

This one always sticks in my memory from Sonic the Comic, what a sense of scale and grandeur this rare double-page spread provided (from, if I recall right, Sonic the Comic's adaptation of Sonic 3 & Knuckles):

https://i.redd.it/3okqxf3rouu21.jpg

What makes this one stick in my mind?  I missed the next issue!  I remember re-reading everything I had as a teenager when I got back into Sonic via SEGA going multi-platform, and I distinctly remember my time with this story arc ending here one way or another.

  • Thumbs Up 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dreadknux
This post was recognized by Dreadknux!

Eggman Fan was awarded the badge '[30 Days of Sonic 2022] Comic Hero Blue - Participated in one Comic Panel of the Week activity' and 5 points.

proxy-image.thumb.jpg.0501c02d91083b0a0a2d635357ec8b46.jpg

The cliffhanger is that they get destroyed, and the purple is epic. Also the idea that the comic is asking if they stand a chance, and the truth is...

They didn't, they had to get Scourge out of his super form to win, and you can feel the power radiating of him.

Archie Sonic was cool.

  • Thumbs Up 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dreadknux
This post was recognized by Dreadknux!

Covskin was awarded the badge '[30 Days of Sonic 2022] Comic Hero Blue - Participated in one Comic Panel of the Week activity' and 5 points.

I mentioned this briefly in a previous post, so let's expand on it:

RCO009_1465470444.thumb.jpg.20842c6fe533e13240ea49257153524c.jpg

Fleetway's evil Mario X Marx brothers spoof (us 90s kids were all Duck Soup fans you know) have been up to no good in Casino Night, and once Sonic turned up to investigate they managed to tie him to the tracks of a new rollercoaster ride! How will Sonic get out of this?

Well, this was Issue 18, and I didn't start properly collecting issues until 27. I kept 18 with all my other issues and even flicked back to it now again, always wondering what happened. Then, over four years later, Fleetway began reprinting old stories, and this was the second one they did. Issue 135 I finally got my answer.

RCO005_1465470959.thumb.jpg.b3c18b4cad4831f367c4ecf28dda367a.jpg

Sonic spun his hands really fast to free himself.

I was six years old when I first read part 1. I was 11 when I first read part 2. I think that affected my satisfaction of the cliffhanger's resolution...

  • Thumbs Up 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dreadknux
This post was recognized by Dreadknux!

Sonictrainer was awarded the badge '[30 Days of Sonic 2022] Comic Hero Blue - Participated in one Comic Panel of the Week activity' and 5 points.

Way back in Knuckles the Echidna #8, Enerjak finally got tired of playing with Knuckles. 

So he turns Knuckles into bubbles.

52135287510_8795f96ed2_z.jpg52134795241_9bc25f2de6_z.jpg

Of course, Dark Enerjak would step up his game in Sonic Universe #25

52134970913_cf24ffc390_z.jpg

  • Thumbs Up 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dreadknux
This post was recognized by Dreadknux!

WanderingBleats was awarded the badge '[30 Days of Sonic 2022] Comic Hero Blue - Participated in one Comic Panel of the Week activity' and 5 points.

This scene from Sonic the Hedgehog #250.

MMBeFSC.png

Xu1k0lW.png

 

A cliffhanger is only as good as its payoff. Like, I obviously knew Dr. Light wasn't going to die. What was more interesting was how this would impact the characters going forward. And it did not disappoint on that! Immediately afterward, in Mega Man #27:

3RdZqCZ.png

This was a bit surreal to me, because as a kid, my views of these two characters was basically... the opposite of what's being displayed here. I thought of Eggman as a lot softer than he's being portrayed, and I thought of Wily as a lot more cruel and merciless than he's being portrayed. So this was an interesting dynamic for me for multiple reasons. I also really love that the thing that ended up driving the biggest wedge between Wily and Eggman was that Eggman tried to murder his ex his old friend. It was obvious from the outset that they were going to turn against each other, but I think almost everyone just assumed it would be because they wouldn't be able to tolerate each other vying for power. So this was really cool!

Also, it resulted in one of the best covers for either series:

3uvizK7.png

I hereby declare victory, as I am the first person to post a literal cliffhanger.

  • Thumbs Up 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, WanderingBleats said:

This was a bit surreal to me, because as a kid, my views of these two characters was basically... the opposite of what's being displayed here. I thought of Eggman as a lot softer than he's being portrayed, and I thought of Wily as a lot more cruel and merciless than he's being portrayed. So this was an interesting dynamic for me for multiple reasons. I also really love that the thing that ended up driving the biggest wedge between Wily and Eggman was that Eggman tried to murder his ex his old friend. It was obvious from the outset that they were going to turn against each other, but I think almost everyone just assumed it would be because they wouldn't be able to tolerate each other vying for power. So this was really cool!

Also, it resulted in one of the best covers for either series:

I honestly really think this is one of the scenes that really sets Archie!Wily apart from the other continuities, and does a good job of setting up the narrative they'd be going with from Ra-Moon right up until the end of the Ultimate Betrayal - Wily's reaction here does firmly ground that Wily as a villain has some set of standards, that he isn't just looking for his robot masters to kill indiscriminately - when he wants a 'better world', he means it, in his own twisted, egotistical way, and as the man says himself - he wants to humiliate and humble Light, but he doesn't want him dead. 

It speaks to the fact Archie Wily's core is he still feels wronged by Light apparently taking all of the credit, and that there's still some shred of decency within him, if he could just get past his ego and vanity, and be able to accept the idea of simply taking a humbler path, rather than controlling everything...which just makes it all the sadder when he was unable to do so, and ended up causing the events of the Ultimate Betrayal later.

  • Thumbs Up 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dreadknux
This post was recognized by Dreadknux!

The Tenth Doctor was awarded the badge '[30 Days of Sonic 2022] Comic Hero Blue - Participated in one Comic Panel of the Week activity' and 5 points.

 

Has to be the last time we saw Shard in Sonic Universe 50. We grew to like this bot, felt for him and really engaged with him. Heck, he had a crush dammit. The last time we ever saw him was here. Blown up, almost dead. Did he make it? We'll never know...spacer.png

  • Thumbs Up 5
  • Way Past Cool 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dreadknux
This post was recognized by Dreadknux!

A super No.1 washedupgamer was awarded the badge '[30 Days of Sonic 2022] Comic Hero Blue - Participated in one Comic Panel of the Week activity' and 5 points.

This cliffhanger still haunts me to this day:

1654825909988.thumb.jpg.2a38f0a905e3f830e2ae7461ec98577e.jpg

Sonic mega drive

...and it's conclusion that may never see the light of day. It's a really enjoyable story with classic sonic and his friends, on an adventure to find the ancient gears and foil robotnik's plans. The next issue was supposedly gonna have them look for the chaos emeralds and have a final showdown with robotnik and metal sonic. I always wondered, what big final boss mech did robotnik have waiting for them? Was it a literal mega drive? The world may never know. 

 

Second runner up is the scene where eggman shoots Sally right before he activates the first genesis wave but I can't find the page. It was a real shocker for me.

  • Thumbs Up 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dreadknux
This post was recognized by Dreadknux!

NikoS was awarded the badge '[30 Days of Sonic 2022] Comic Hero Blue - Participated in one Comic Panel of the Week activity' and 5 points.

these were the worst cliffhangers i have ever seen, still to this day hanging...

024.jpg025.jpg

 

But, for real cliffhangers, my first place is Sonic seeing Sally down just before the Genesis Wave in #225, that was something, we waited the whole Genesis arc to see the conclusion, worth it, great payoff, and great story in between

Sally-shoot-down.png

 

  • Thumbs Up 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dreadknux
This post was recognized by Dreadknux!

Celestia was awarded the badge '[30 Days of Sonic 2022] Comic Hero Blue - Participated in one Comic Panel of the Week activity' and 5 points.

You know what? I think I have to say when Evil Sonic became something greener greater.

6813e8aed0048689ab5979f48f4ecd98395f6157

Okay so, I had already been reading the comics for only a few years. I was certainly not paying attention to the credits of the issues or anything like that and I had no idea of all the behind the scenes stuff, such as how this issue was the first outing of an all new writer for the book. All I knew was suddenly the evil mirror universe version of Sonic who was kind of lame in fights before this powered up with the Master Emerald and got a new look. Naturally he'd go on to be a pretty major character for the next few years.

And it was awesome...okay, especially for me at 12 years old, but I do still love Scourge and this moment.

 

Even if I didn't really think about it at the time, this was the first of many moments in this phase of Archie Sonic that gradually made me realize there had been a huge shift in the book. The next big one was actually the cliffhanger that's been mentioned a few times, from the end of 175. Yeah the comics of the previous era I had read had "crazy" stuff happen sometimes, but especially in retrospect they were pretty boring or stupid a lot of the time. Cliffhangers like this often involved really fun twists on things. whether it was from the games or the comic exclusive concepts.

  • Thumbs Up 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dreadknux
This post was recognized by Dreadknux!

NegaMix was awarded the badge '[30 Days of Sonic 2022] Comic Hero Blue - Participated in one Comic Panel of the Week activity' and 5 points.

Others have mentioned the first Genesis Wave, but personally it was the second wave which left a major impact on me, for many reasons that are likely obvious to some.

Starting with Issue 247 of Archie Sonic, the issue concludes with Sonic and his friends (and Silver) FINALLY managing to incapacitate Mecha Sally after so long. For the briefest of moments (I.e. one panel) it seems like things are looking up for the heroes...

RCO031.thumb.jpg.45458d7e25de1bd98530b3df42d8f27c.jpg

...and then it happens. Eggman has set off another Genesis Wave alongside his new partner in crime, Dr. Wily, sending the heroes into a new timeline for the big crossover with Mega Man. But hey, no biggie, my younger naive self thought at the time. Things will be back to normal afterwards... right?

Little did I realise when reading the issue, that this would be the last ever scene of the old continuity.

It was only around this time that I actually began to learn about the Penders lawsuit, and how it had already begun to affect the comic - especially the previous arc, Endangered Species - which all left me beginning to worry about how things could go after the crossover. I'd been reading the comics for about a year at that point, and the thought that certain characters (a few of which I'd really grown to like) would no longer appear was concerning.

Well, Worlds Collide happened, it was awesome, and it got me to read the Mega Man comics which still remain a favourite of mine to this day. But man, that final panel...

RCO025.thumb.jpg.aae23b5ac28e740823e821d673afbc9b.jpg

For context, both Super Sonic and Super Mega Man had seemingly destroyed the doctors' final mech, and were about to use Chaos Control to return their respective timelines back to normal before a third, Super Genesis Wave could permanently alter their universes for the worst. But Eggman, being a sore loser, ditched Wily and tried to ram into Sonic with the remains of his mech.

Mega Man manages to restore his world without issue, but Sonic... doesn't. At all. Not only is his Chaos Control already fractured, but Eggman makes it worse by shooting it before it can take affect. And as you can see, the results are a lot more... universe-shattering.

The ramifications of this (while obvious out-of-universe) were eventually revealed to be HUGE: Eggman had effectively caused the multiverse to be destroyed and forcefully rebuilt from scratch, rebooting not only the main Sonic universe, but ALL Archie Sonic universes!

Scourge and the Anti-Universe? Gone! The No-Zone and Cosmic Interstate? Kaput! The Sol Zone? ...Okay, that one survived, but still!

In hindsight, I think this was ultimately the clear path to take, considering the aftermath of that lawsuit. I can't say that the universe being rebooted wasn't obvious by the end of the crossover - they certainly didn't hide it by the last couple issues, judging by the 'aftermath' teasers put in there - but regardless, these two final pages remain a permanent fixation in my head when I think of cliffhangers.

And hey, I thought back then, at least Archie wouldn't end up in this kind of scenario again, right?

...Right?

  • Thumbs Up 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dreadknux
This post was recognized by Dreadknux!

Stasis was awarded the badge '[30 Days of Sonic 2022] Comic Hero Blue - Participated in one Comic Panel of the Week activity' and 5 points.

tumblr_mg33i2OVlH1qdtw9eo1_1280.jpg.aeeaab1e03677e1dc7bf5a3d594437a4.jpg

The last panel of this alone was enough to want me have the next issue in my hands asap.

  • Thumbs Up 2
  • Nice Smile 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dreadknux
This post was recognized by Dreadknux!

Multikaris was awarded the badge '[30 Days of Sonic 2022] Comic Hero Blue - Participated in one Comic Panel of the Week activity' and 5 points.

Here’s a simple but haunting one from the newspaper comics:

 

image.thumb.jpeg.39e0128bdc994cc434f2477e95b94888.jpeg

 

Comes to show how Robotnik would use anything to endanger Sonic to the point of defeat, not caring about who is caught in the crossfire and ends up as collateral damage. The art style helps accentuate how sinister Robotnik can be. All in all, it’s a slice of 90s Sonicana of the UK.

 

There’s also this:

image.thumb.jpeg.58e9ee80eff042f017668c1a64360f28.jpegI like how an Adventure-worthy line and pose help out an otherwise mild cliffhanger here.

  • Thumbs Up 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dreadknux
This post was recognized by Dreadknux!

Nix was awarded the badge '[30 Days of Sonic 2022] Comic Hero Blue - Participated in one Comic Panel of the Week activity' and 5 points.

After skimming through most of IDW's catalog, they really don't have as many fantastic cliffhangers as say Archie.... buuuuuuuuuuut

Untitled.thumb.jpg.50cc5c9b31e51b7eab6cd58c5e9fa773.jpg

this is cool

It's a bad one-liner (yes, I did understand that reference thank you Metal), but I'm a sucker for a dramatic full-page spread. It's a fun throwback to Mecha Sonic in S3&K, and the gold paint job really emphasizes Neo Metal Sonic's more regal body. He just looks powerful and completely in control and proves it by trashing Sonic and Knuckles in the next chapter.

...he also gets trashed in turn by Shadow in that same chapter, but that was all part of the plan. Kinda.

 

  • Thumbs Up 4
  • My Emmerdoods 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dreadknux
This post was recognized by Dreadknux!

Sean was awarded the badge '[30 Days of Sonic 2022] Comic Hero Blue - Participated in one Comic Panel of the Week activity' and 5 points.

NJrMMhk.jpg

Mecha Madness was my first Archie Sonic issue and for the longest time I had no idea what happened after this. It seemed like it was going to build up to an exciting storyline where Sonic breaks out of jail and is on the run from the Freedom Fighters... but issue 40 which I read later in my teen years just ended up being a lame slapstick ruse between Sonic and Nack and he clears his name in a Sonic second. Way past lame and not at all what I had hoped as a kid! But I guess they did end up using the fugitive idea in Endgame but Endgame sucks so it doesn't count

  • Thumbs Up 3
  • Nice Smile 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

You must read and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy to continue using this website. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.