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Archie Sonic Main Discussion


Toby

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2 hours ago, Rabbitearsblog said:

Would they even be considered apart of the Archie canon, despite the fact that they were fan made projects?

No, though I think that will be as close as the fans of the old run are going to get as it will likely never be back at Archie and LHT will probably never be fully released due to those legal matters and the very small chance that any form of those ideas can be used for IDW.

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Archie Sonic the Hedgehog - Issue #289: Genesis of a Hero, Part Two: Coming Back for More

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These covers really are great. They invoke the style of a Classic Sonic game cover in a way that’s hard to emulate but it feels very authentic and cool. It really could double as the cover for a new game should they ever be bold enough to try and make a new one. An actual new one and not Origins 2 or something.

Spoiler

High Flying Variant

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It’s a better variant cover than the other one. It’s still fairly plain and simple but it looks nice, what it’s depicting is nice, and it works. No real complaints.

Writer: Ian Flynn
Pencils: Tracy Yardley
Inks: Terry Austin
Colors: Gabriel Cassata
Letters: John Workman
Cover by Patrick Spaziante
High Flying Variant by Jamal Peppers, Jim Amash, and Matt Herms

Okay, so, I dunno man. Fuck. I guess Sonic 2 is happening? 

Or something?

Sonic and Tails are flying the Tornado in the sky and trying to catch up to the Wing Fortress. I guess we skipped all the other bits of Sonic 2. Fine, I suppose. I don’t know what’s so cool about Wing Fortress that it keeps getting representation over all the other stages but I guess it’s just that penultimate area or something.

Anyway, the wing of the plane gets shot and Tails spirals out of the sky.

Sonic makes a great face.

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angry-video-game-nerd-mad.gif

Then, you know, we’re shown Sonic running through the level. Like always, whenever the Classic Sonic stories happen, we can’t actually tell a story with these levels so we just gotta show him parkouring through them. 

He surfs on a door one time and swings on a crank or whatever.

Then he bursts through the top window of the Wing Fortress to confront Snively!

Then he traps him in a chamber with some things and some other things and Sonic defeats them.

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Then after that happens, Snively just gets away behind the green energy field he put up. He was cackling evilly a second ago but also mostly just constantly skittish and terrified of him.

He managed to escape right after Sonic beats the robot and then Sonic destroys the console, angry that he shot down Tails.

He tries to plop down to the take off hanger and runs after him but reaches the ledge and is unable to give chase.

Then Tails shows up because of course he did.

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It’s very cute. Sonic even says that Tails is “the man” and Tails stammers out an adorable “R-Really!”

It’s a good, small interaction.

Unfortunately, Sonic can’t catch up to Snively on the plane and it can’t go into space. Sonic instead jumps for it and holds his breath the entire way there. 

Funny how they’re going with that being the case. The characters can just breathe in space in every other media but I guess the cartoon logic of Sonic holding in the breath he had back on the planet is fun.

It’s here where he catches the first glimpse of the Death Egg.

The older, cooler looking one.

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It’s unfortunate that the mystique of the Death Egg has lost a lot of its charm and menace in later years.

I won’t say it’s impossible for it to regain that menace as I feel a hint of it reflected in those bright burning eyes of it but it’s tough for me to really feel that when it’s trouted out for shit like Sonic Forces where it doesn’t feel like we needed a full scale assault for it to just blow up in a shitty, compressed explosion. We just kind of ran through it once as Classic Sonic and somehow that made it explode. I dunno.

That game had set-pieces in it but Classic Sonic didn’t get any and as such they didn’t do a good job of really hammering home the destruction of that thing. Another reason why Classic Sonic being in Forces just made it worse. 

He gets to the Death Egg, with Eggman chasticing Doctor Snively on his way there because he got a stowaway that he didn’t notice, and then just casually strolls on it using language that I haven't heard in… decades probably.

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Who the fuck uses the word “choice” like that anymore?

Hell, I’m having a hard time believing anyone ever DID use the word like that despite knowing for a fact it happened.

Anyway, Eggman pops up on the TV monitor and begins his spiel. Sonic is incredibly uninterested and not taking him seriously… until he does.

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Oh snap! It’s him… AGAIN!

Again.

Man.

I feel like we just did this recently somehow, someway. 

I super don’t care that Silver Sonic is back. 

Has this book ever properly shown Sonic’s fight against Mecha Sonic? Where’s that motherfucker at? Not in this game I guess but still. We just got a Scrapnik Island arc in IDW about him so he’s kind of on my mind at the moment. I’m just shocked that it’s just Silver Sonic over and over and over again.

Anyway he beats it.

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Whatever.

He reveals where Eggman and Snively are.

They do that thing where they try to run from Sonic and when Sonic points out that there’s no way they can run from him Eggman says he has a point and tosses Snively at him.

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Funny as that is, the joke that Eggman is actually faster than Sonic would have done wonders for this moment here.

What’s even funnier to me is imagining him with the boost. 

I can only imagine what a new Adventure-styled game would feel like coming out in 2023… but, you know, made by a Sonic Team that had evolved with time properly and not ended up in the weird wishy-washy state it’s in now where it can’t get a proper budget or time to do what they want. Iizuka is so terrified of making an Adventure 3 because he knows he doesn’t have the funds or the time necessary to do it justice.

Instead, we’ve got to make due with reused assets like Green Hill, Chemical Plant, Sky Sanctuary, random cities sometimes, and of course…

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Our favorite overused robot to bully. The fucking Death Egg Robot.

One of these days it’ll get a better name.

Just kidding. No it won’t. Naming things has gotten harder as time has gone by too. The robot from Lost World has a name but I’ve forgotten it because it’s never said in game. The only reason I even give a fuck about it is because of Issue 50 of IDW too.

What’s the world coming too?

Oh yeah, to add insult to injury the bottom caption says that if you want to find out what happens here then you gotta play Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Fucking what? Why is this happening right now?! Isn’t this the kind of thing reserved for new games coming out? Who's looking to see what happens next in Sonic 2 in 2017 aside from…

…Was this another ploy to bring in NEW readers? 

No.

No, it couldn’t be… could it?

Dammit. 

This series of issues has put me down a bad path. It’s just reminding me of how repetitious the Sonic series has been as of late with a lot of its elements. Maybe we’re slowly crawling our way out of that hole but seeing as how we haven’t had a game with repeated levels since Lost World at this point, I’m starting to really lose tolerance for stuff like this. This shit was stale when it happened back in 2017. It’s practically fucking useless to me now. 

There’s no novelty to this. It’s treading water that’s been tread multiple times already for NO good reason and it’s wasting my time. The issue doesn’t even look that great. Tracy’s art is the same but the inks look broken and the colors are bland as shit. There’s nothing here but stale, empty white bread. But it’s stale white bread you’ve had for like the third day in a row of having nothing but stale white bread.

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Archie Sonic the Hedgehog - Issue #290: Sonic’s Cease and Desist

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HAHA~! That title!

I never really noticed it before because of how little I cared about what was going on in this comic but this cover actually depicts the Sonic CD intro’s art style really well! Especially with the way Eggman is drawn in the background there. The chain separating the good and bad futures is a really nice touch as well. Yeah, this is a really neat cover to go out on. It’s a shame I didn’t notice how good it looked sooner but in my defense, how could I when there’s SO MUCH SHIT cluttering the cover now?!

Look at this shit! I was already complaining about how the bar on the side just doesn’t work for me but now there’s a shit stained, gross looking advertisement for Riverdale on the top of it! It’s smushing the image down! This is the show where Edgar Evernever builds a rocket on top of his Organ Harvesting Cult Complex to fly away from the FBI while dressed like a star-spangled rocketeer. 

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We had to ruin the covers of the last remaining vestiges of the Archie Comics for this!

Also, fun fact about this particular comic; it was the last Archie Sonic comic I ended up reading and I didn’t do it for months. Yeah. I had bought the comic, read through the finale of the Chaotix arc that was finished after it, and just never read this one. It sat on the top of my dresser for months, unopened and unread.

It wasn’t because of some cosmic desire to never allow the Archie Comics to finish though. I just wasn’t interested. I didn’t give a fuck about what was in it because this arc was so goddamn boring and so… nothing that there wasn’t an inkling within the fabric of my soul to crack it open and read it. I didn’t care about Classic Sonic at the time and I definitely didn’t care about revisiting it yet again in the Archie Comics in a manner that didn’t feel different enough from what we had already experienced with it multiple times up to this point!

We’ll see how well it is now but if you haven’t noticed, this is the final issue of the Archie Sonic comics proper and regardless it’s going out with a whimper just due to the story arc we’re in right now but if it’s just a bad issue on top of that then good God. What an unfortunate son.

Spoiler

Cosmic Eternity Variant

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This cover seems to be trying to emulate the Sonic CD opening style too. It doesn’t do it as well because it’s missing a lot of shadows on the characters but, you know, it looks fine. It helps that one of the banners on the side is gone but the fucking gross Riverdale banner remains trapped above it. There they are, leering at me with their cold dead eyes, daring me to complain about how they’re ruining this cover.

WriterL Ian Flynn
Pencils: Tracy Yardley
Inks: Terry Austin
Colors: Gabriel Cassata
Letters: John Workman
Cover by Patrick Spaziante
Cosmic Eternity Variant by Tracy Yardley

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Knowing for a fact that I’ve only ever bothered to read this issue once in my life makes doing this feel a little strange. In what way, it’s hard to describe.

Anyway, did you enjoy that recreation of the Sonic CD intro? It was certainly the expected thing to do I guess.

It gets a little weird once we get into the story proper though.

The dialogue starts off immediately expository and then I did a bit of a double take when he mentioned the Time Eater.

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The point of telling these stories reached a below zero mark here.

The confusing elements of these books and the way they handled mentioning things that happened in the past just never got any better. This thing with Generations alone isn’t hard to understand of course. It was only Sonic and Tails in that game so it’s likely saying that Generations for Classic Sonic takes place after Sonic 2.

The real issue is just that it kind of reads like nonsense. To anyone just reading this book in a straight shot this jumping around doesn’t flow well at all. The first issue of this arc ended at a point where it seemed like the Freedom Fighters were going to go off and join a resistance against Eggman only for the second issue to begin with it just being Sonic and Tails chasing after him.

I don’t mind that. In fact, I personally prefer that but with the rest of them gone and officially no longer shown in any of the stories ahead, the chance to sufficiently tie this in with the origin of the Archie Sonic comics lore in a way that made it feel different and a story that needed to be told has been skipped.

That also means that Issue 288 was the LAST appearance of the Freedom Fighters… ever.

EVER.

Yeah, that’s it actually. They’re gone. There’s no more of them in this or any other comic. Kaput. After 25 years that’s how they leave the book. I’d have honestly rather it had been the sunset at the end of the Unleashed arc, though, I suppose if one felt like it they could cheese it to say that sunset shot faded into them in the past rushing off to do battle against Eggman.

Maybe make it sort of a “where they are and where they began” kind of ending.

That’s not what this is which just makes it kind of funny to think about.

There’s also the fact that the current canon puts CD before Sonic 2 so this isn’t even lore accurate anymore. There’s also the fact that Classic Sonic also comes back in Forces and they tried to pull a “he’s from another dimension” shit and … I’m not even sure where THAT stands anymore.

I can’t wait to see what else the lore masters can do for this series. 

It’s also funny looking at Classic Sonic and seeing him actually talking about what happened in Generations. Apparently he’s just unable to be heard by the others even though Classic Tails and Classic Eggman are fine.

He comes across Classic Amy there too and she tells him that they were fated to meet. She even brings up the tarot card stuff.

Sonic does a bit of casanova move here before ditching her.

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It’s obvious he could tell that she wanted to be with him in a romantic sense and he played with her emotions there.

Upon reaching the Palmtree Panic Zone he sees a bunch of badniks that he’s already defeated and then comes across Eggman chastising Snively.

Then Eggman just screams his plan at Sonic.

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Funny as this is, it’s not completely by accident. Sonic had reason to suspect something was up seeing as how an entire planet was chained to the Earth and Eggman’s face was carved into the side of a mountain.

Sonic even stated that it wasn’t very subtle.

Anyway he beats him or whatever.

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Eggman makes a comment about how easily that happened and said it was like the parts got weaker overnight. He ponders what that means for a bit which led me to believe an explanation was coming. It does not.

Amy catches up and glomps Sonic which, I guess, is how Eggman gets away. Sonic can’t fly and Eggman gets away in that thing often so I’m not sure how this particular instant it’s Amy’s fault but Sonic blames her.

Amy keeps reiterating that they were destined to meet and that she was going to follow him wherever he went. 

Sonic is very unamused by this and, understandably, a little annoyed I guess. It still stings seeing him be this cold to Amy but their relationship had to start somewhere.

As always, it begins with her and two Sonics. 

And a thing that she really shouldn’t have said.

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It’s almost comical.

The next three pages are a detailed showcase of how Sonic CD works.

It’s just three pages of the same thing over and over again with Sonic’s commentary sprinkled on top.

He starts in the present, goes to the bad future and realizes he needs to fix it, goes to the past before Eggman properly set up shop to destroy stuff, and then goes to the good future to see all the good that did.

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It’s almost exactly that three times. As someone who’s not as familiar with Sonic CD’s level themes, I had a hard time telling these places apart so if people know what they are they’ll likely get a lot out of this. I didn’t really but that’s okay. It’s at least showing the levels off more so than the other two and in a matter that’s at least different.

Then we get to the race against Metal Sonic and ho’boy it’s quite the spread.

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Following this with my eyes was certainly a lot of fun. I also recall playing Sonic CD on Gems Collection and getting to this fight. This is where I stopped though. I just couldn’t beat him. Still, I remember feeling as though it was possible for me to do so, which was more than I could say about the other classics at the time. As such, I tend to have fond memories of CD versus the other classic titles. Haven’t played it since though. I will once I finally give Origins a chance.

Sonic saves Amy here. Eggman swears revenge and says that when his UFOs get back, Sonic will be history. Not sure what that means but my memory is hazy from CD. Maybe it’s a thing there.

Sonic seems to have warmed up to the idea of Amy hanging with him though. Amy is very adorable in this final scene. She’s not rude or pushy at all. She just super excited!

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It’s unequivocally, extremely fucking cute.

So yeah. There it is.

The Archie Sonic comics, where romance between Sonic and Sally was a hotly contested thing, literally ends on a shot of Sonic carrying Amy off to have some fun adventures.

bender-futurama.gif

The caption at the bottom saying that next time the Death Egg Saga continues is hilarious. It remains in a Penders Pending Licensing Approval state to this day with nothing but some neat looking covers to stand as proof that a comic of that nature was at one point going to exist. You can even see adverts for it at the end of the book. It’s really funny; seeing adverts for an issue that doesn’t exist.

Of course when I close the issue there’s another ad for Riverdale on the fucking back. You’d think that’d be enough right? In the issue or on the back, not squishing the image on the front of the Sonic comic. I know it’s the best way to ensure people walking by the rack see it but they never had to do that shit before. Only here, at the end of the comic’s life do they do it and it’s only so they can maybe, hopefully, possibly squeeze some extra dough out of this series that was dying an extremely slow death for months by this point.

The conversation surrounding the state of Archie Sonic was already growing considerably bleak and here the main book is at its end. It almost feels like it doesn’t matter what my opinion of this final issue is. For the record, I guess I’ll state that out of the three it’s easily the best one. It’s got the more interesting formula, Amy’s characterization is just endearing as hell, and the colors and art saw a significant step up in my eyes despite it being the same people. The CD environments are just more interesting then fucking Wing Fortress yet again.

It doesn’t really matter though. If you didn’t get any enjoyment out of witnessing that then this comic can’t do anything for you as is and to those who enjoyed it they can’t ever feel complete satisfaction because it’s technically an unfinished story.

I only say “technically” because these stories aren’t even connected. This honestly could have functioned as the end of this arc and it wouldn’t have felt off compared to the abrupt way the other two ended. The only clue to there possibly being more is the fact that Sonic 3 & Knuckles exists. So that’s that.

After this, we finally only have one story arc left and lucky for me, it stars my favorite Sonic characters. Fancy that. 

---

Sonic Universe - Issue #91: The Case of the Pirate Princess - Part 1 of 4: Dial “C” for Chaotix

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There was an insane level of hype I was feeling when I saw this cover for the first time. First of all, it just looks gorgeous and intense. I love the shadows on the three of them. It’s the kind of thing that makes me a tad jealous of the talent on display here. Also, I count myself lucky that this one came out before the embarrassing and disgusting Riverdale advertisements happened.

Second of all, the title being “The Case of…” instantly put me in the mind of this being an actual detective story or a mystery of some kind. It’s all over the cover even. Now, that’s not what this is. The characters aren’t treated as those kinds of detectives by the narrative and it remains a sad truth to this day. I want my Chaotix Noir story dammit. Still, I recall what we do end up getting being pretty neat.

Third of all, I was even more lucky that not only was the final story for the Archie Sonic comics a Chaotix story but it also finished off the book on an issue that got to complete it’s story arc. Imagine that. That’s shockingly lucky thinking back on it. If one issue was out of place, or one anniversary mandated SU’s story was proposed before this, or whatever, then this arc of Sonic Universe would have likely been uncompleted too. Or hell, if they had just decided to cancel the book a month earlier than they did. Holy shit man.

Fourth, I was just happy I finally, after all this time, got my proper Team Chaotix arc. Chaotix Quest was secretly about Mighty until it stopped pretending it wasn’t for the entire second half of that arc. Chaos Caper was fun but it was mostly a romp between the Chaotix alongside Knuckles against the Hooligans. Its name being changed from “Chaotix Caper” to “Chaos Caper” kind of spoke volumes about the shift in attention. Here though, it’s just the boys doing what they do and I can’t help but have affection and admiration for its existence because of that.

So here we are, after such a long ass time, we’re finally at the last four part story of the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comics.

Spoiler

Super Sleuths Variant

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I really wish the art was better for the characters on this one. The art on everything else looks perfectly fine but I’m not a fan of the way my boys look in this image, personally. Something seems very strange and balloon animalistic about them.

Writer: Aleah Baker & Ian Flynn
Pencils: Adam Bryce Thomas
Inks: Jim Amash
Colors: Matt Herms
Letters: Jack Morelli
Cover by Tracy Yardley & Ben Hunzeker
Super Sleuths Variant by Jason Piperberg


I am very grateful that the book begins by mentioning that these three are probably the strangest group of detectives you’ll ever see. That remains true to this day. Haven’t seen a detective group any stranger and weirder than this.

The book opens with Vector doing Noir narration to himself but he’s not very good at it.

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Really goes to show how not-rugged things actually are when “hoodlums” are the local children. I’m pretty sure he’s not doing that thing where adults refer to grown men that are half their age as “kids” either.

Because ages aren’t a thing in Sonic anymore (and I’m choosing to believe they aren't until proven otherwise) I can get behind the idea of Vector acting like the dad of the series even more now. When I was a kid I used to think 20 was a really big number so it definitely stuck out to me. 

Echo the Dolphin walks into the Chaotix Detective Agency…

…That sounds like the beginning of a joke but no. She’s the guard from Meropis that we saw before. Who she’s meant to invoke with that name is obvious and she’s here on official business. Despite the world having been put back together Princess Undina is still missing.

All throughout the Shattered World Crisis we’ve been seeing a girl wandering around in the background with an umbrella that summons rain underneath her (which is a great idea by the way. I love that.) and it’s been pretty clear that this is the princess she’s referring to. 

The problem here isn’t just that she’s been missing but that the King and Queen received a note demanding money for her safe return. However, when the ransom was delivered no one showed up to retrieve it. 

Now kidnapping someone is one thing but demanding a ransom and not showing up to get the ransom is downright rude. Also, it’s incredibly strange too.

Vector keeps suggesting new things for Echo to do but she keeps interrupting by telling him she’s already done it. Since Undina had been studying at Spagonia University she got the literal soul talked out of her by Professor Pickle until he said she went to Empire City.

Vector’s like “We should go there” and Echo is like “Already did. Her face was plastered all over a billboard advertising Honey the Cat’s shit”. 

Echo spoke with Honey about her whereabouts and according to her the princess decided to tour the world on her own, which we already know because that’s what we saw her doing. So this likely happened a while ago by this point.

As an aside, I like that there’s a punching bag in Honey’s office. It shows that she’s a scrapper, which we already knew, but the environment helping to reinforce that is a nice touch.

Eventually she got anonymous information (we’re shown Rouge the Bat peeking out from behind a newspaper. WE obviously know who she is.) that said she was last seen in Westopolis and the ransom demand was made by PIRATES!

Yar har! Fiddle-e-dee! It’s pirates versus detectives that happen to include exactly one ninja. 

Vector is about to suggest they head to the docks but of course she already did. At this point Vector wants to know why the fuck she wants to hire them. She claims it’s because she doesn’t know the city and the dock workers know something but no one wants to talk.

So she figured she’d hire someone to make them talk!

The best people, she figured, had to be the ones on this advertisement she found, written and drawn in crayon.

 tpt40r2kaQfe5NN-bZdqayKpHaqEVb-GAQivEbgO4Rk261TNKnhS1yHqfD_XnDy2zxnS_r3BD97P3tSi1F7hST0ZkDQvol9NVPGYPJoM0m7XSynOxsobbwAj2rl39T2-EnLo1GHAn-48TmIxLSmfODWhrzt-By56vpc91OrX0ZHxSrFw44nSttgTJKKdzA

I love the fact that not a single second goes by after he says this before he tells Charmy to dig through the couch cushions to find money for a cab.

It goes without saying that my heart soared with joy when I saw that advertisement. Charmy taking it upon himself to actually help with advertising their rundown detective agency is great. He really wants to help the business grow. The fact that Vector is so surprised to see it is great too.

I mean, hey, if you’re not going to do anything to get the word out then the next best thing would be a crayon drawing an actual child did. It’s just a drawing of their house that says “Chaotix Detective Agency” on it with some ninja stars, flowers, and a sun drawn on it. There’s no number or directions to their location but somehow she found the place.

Echo belays that as she has her own ride. We’re shown them driving there in a little pink punch buggy and arriving at the Westopolis Docks. On the way there Charmy helps us out by informing us of all the boats he sees as they drive by.

Once there, Echo reiterates that she knows the people there know something but they won’t tell. How she knows they know something is a mystery but it might be due to this guy’s awesome poker face.

Vector doesn’t even finish saying what he’s saying before this dude cracks under the “pressure”.

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“Yeah man, some girl may have been kidnapped by pirates or whatever but you know business is hard so I gotta keep the illegal shit I did to cover up what happened under wraps. She LOOKED fine after all.”

Fucking hell man.

The dialogue and interactions between these four is pretty brilliant. It’s Aleah Baker and Ian Flynn doing their damndest to have these characters bounce off one another in the best way and because the Chaotix are already dripping with misfit energy, adding in Echo and her slightly oblivious nature to it all works well. 

Espio is surprised to hear that the car can go underwater to which she replies there’s no use for a car that can’t. Vector says he’s not going to question it but then Espio decides he wants to question why it says Meropis Tourism on the side and she gets all squirrely and embarrassed about how it hasn’t seen use. 

That’s good flavor text but it gets even better once they’re underwater. They’re just shooting the shit and smattering my palette with their wonderful conversation and this excellent use of their colorful personalities.

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So yeah, Echo is a fish out of water so she’s complaining about the use of the word “public” on a public fountain when she was told she can’t swim in it and then someone had the nerve to toss a coin in her face. That’s very true. If you can’t swim in the fountain but you can toss coins into it then what the hell?

Then Charmy continues doing his little kid thing of counting all the fish he sees before he quickly gets bored of that and asks if the windows are gonna break and if they’ll drown. Cut to embarrassing flashbacks of me asking “but what if it DOES happen” and the teacher’s smile growing as she consistently says back to me “but it CAN’T happen” and not answering my question. 

I was also a very morbid child, constantly fearing death and worrying that everything was going to go wrong at the drop of a hat. It’s very true that death comes fast and loose often but that’s okay. Espio comforts our boy with the hard facts about what would actually happen if the windows broke.

Then Charmy and Espio have a sibling moment and their dad makes a funny joke that’s taken seriously by Drax the Dolphin here.

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I read that in the whiniest Espio voice I could in my head.

This is truly some excellent grade writing. I think I recall my initial reaction to this arc being of relief and enjoyment but ultimately thinking it was just a simple, good, solid arc by the end. However, if this first issue is any indication it might be even better than I remember. I always recalled these conversations being good but the back and forth and the snappiness on display here is really catching me in all the right spots. 

Echo talks about how she’s just worried for the princess and how she trained to be the priestess of the temple but surprisingly wasn’t chosen. She then suggests that the princess being off on her own might be tough on her and says she’s probably scared.

However, Vector and Charmy aren’t convinced of that. It was her decision to travel the world on her own, the dude at the docks said she looked fine, and on top of that the fact that the pirates demanded a ransom but didn’t come to pick it up is countered with the possibility that maybe she decided to go pirate?

Speaking of which, pirates are cooler than ninjas. At least in my experience. I’ve yet to see anything that’s proven me wrong. Sorry Espio.

Hilariously, they manage to run over someone IN THE OCEAN and then the car starts filling up with water. All of this is pointed out by the characters and it’s really funny.

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I especially love the face Vector makes when Crusher the Chao or whatever lunges at Vector like that. Whenever he makes faces like that my brain just spews out 4kids Vector the Crocodile noises even though I’m reading this in Keith Silverstein’s voice.

Razor is pissed and is blaming Vector for hitting him with the car even though he wasn’t the one driving. Echo gets behind him and restrains him which is what leads to them recognizing each other… and they don’t like each other, clearly.

Echo instantly starts suspecting him and Razor says that Coral sent him to find the princess. He’s about to say that he’s the guardian of the Eusebes Shrine but then Echo cuts him off to say that title is “self-proclaimed” which is really rough. Razor’s earning my sympathy here because it’s clear he’s got good intentions and for his efforts he got hit by a car IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN and is clearly being accused of wrong-doing and having his intentions disrespected.

Razor finally asks who these guys are and we’re treated to just the best scenes with Charmy here. 

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Well, there’s more that I recall from this arc but every scene with him is the best for me I guess. His commentary is gold regardless.

Also, Razor confirms that the charms do have a time limit.

He explains that the priestess sent him on this mission to find Undina because she was worried about her despite everyone getting mad at her for being chosen as temple priestess over her. Undina wasn’t like that to her and she can’t help but fret.

Razor says the official search wasn’t tracking down the pirates so he decided to look himself. 

At first it all checks out but then they realize that it’s still fucking weird that he ended up at this exact spot. Also, they ask how he knew pirates were involved.

They manage to hit upon something here because Razor instantly starts to sweat and gets nervous. Right as Echo is back to suspecting him Espio tells everyone to stuff the drama so they can leave because something is right on top of them.

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That is one righteous looking sub.

It also looks dirty as hell. Either that or the paint has been chipped to fuck.

They try to get the car going, the same car that’s full of water still by the way, but it’s too late. The chain chomp cage that’s on the sub gulps the whole car down and yanks them up.

Then it spills them out onto the surface where we get to see the pirates in their full glory… oh and the princess too. 

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We found her boys! Mission accomplished! Everything is done-zo!

The off-panel is one I need to make mention of because it feels semi-possible?

Like I could see this actually happening, sort of, only I have trouble believing Charmy would be THIS flavor of cringey about it.

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Like yeah, he’d post total cringe. Unequivocally. However, meme puns seem a bit too on the nose for him. I’d imagine something more random for him. Something that barely had anything to do with the internet at all that would just mystify Espio to the point of his brain dying.

Well, here we are. We’ve reached the penultimate post of my Archie Sonic the Hedgehog reviews. Next week will be the last one and then after that I’ll do what I did at the end of Sonic X and just run down my Top 10 favorites (and probably some least favorites) of the stories I read and the covers I saw. Refreshing my memory on some of that past shit is going to be interesting. There’s going to be a best and worst list. Spoilers: Guess which list Issue #150 is going on! 

As for this issue, it was excellent. This is peak Team Chaotix at their most Chaotix, written by two excellent writers who know how to bring out their colorful personalities in ways that feel genuine and fun. Seeing people reinforce why these characters are so good and my favorites in the franchise will always feel great. I guess if I had a complaint, maybe Espio could be a tad less sour? He seems a bit high strung here in a way that I don’t USUALLY tend to associate with him. He’s the straight-man amongst a group of goofballs who has the tendency to be goofy himself sometimes but in a serious manner. Some of that is here, like when he whined like a child at Charmy saying pirates are cooler than ninja, but he mostly just seems to be in a bad mood for no discernible reason. Not sure if it feels that way to anyone else.

Still, it reads like Espio regardless. All of them read like the Chaotix I’m familiar with and it just feels really good to have gotten that Chaotix arc I wanted, here, at the tail end of the Archie Sonic comics after suffering through the bullshit from before concerning the old obnoxious version of Vector, unjustly tormented Charmy, and blander but more unfairly favored by the writers Espio. This feels like a really nice treat to go out on. Words can’t express how much I appreciate it.

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36 minutes ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Dammit. 

This series of issues has put me down a bad path. It’s just reminding me of how repetitious the Sonic series has been as of late with a lot of its elements. Maybe we’re slowly crawling our way out of that hole but seeing as how we haven’t had a game with repeated levels since Lost World at this point, I’m starting to really lose tolerance for stuff like this. This shit was stale when it happened back in 2017. It’s practically fucking useless to me now. 

There’s no novelty to this. It’s treading water that’s been tread multiple times already for NO good reason and it’s wasting my time. The issue doesn’t even look that great. Tracy’s art is the same but the inks look broken and the colors are bland as shit. There’s nothing here but stale, empty white bread. But it’s stale white bread you’ve had for like the third day in a row of having nothing but stale white bread.

Just to say, you'll get used to the "PLAY GAME TO GET STORY" shit more when you get to Mega Man. This was their excuse when they didn't have room to finish a arc based on a game. They did it here because the point was every game getting solely one issue, and seemingly Sonic 1 hogged up the 'final boss' moment, so they just had to fart up a conclusion.

Wait until you get to Mega Man's unceremonious demise where they're doing the set-up for Mega Man 4, give us one of the BEST issues in the entire series with MM#54, and then tell us "HOW DOES THIS STORY END??? CHECK OUT MEGA MAN 4 AVAILABLE ON *ADJUSTS GLASSES*...ERM NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM!!" 

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19 hours ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Just to say, you'll get used to the "PLAY GAME TO GET STORY" shit more when you get to Mega Man. This was their excuse when they didn't have room to finish a arc based on a game. They did it here because the point was every game getting solely one issue, and seemingly Sonic 1 hogged up the 'final boss' moment, so they just had to fart up a conclusion.

Wait until you get to Mega Man's unceremonious demise where they're doing the set-up for Mega Man 4, give us one of the BEST issues in the entire series with MM#54, and then tell us "HOW DOES THIS STORY END??? CHECK OUT MEGA MAN 4 AVAILABLE ON *ADJUSTS GLASSES*...ERM NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM!!" 

And there’s no God. No afterlife. No cycle of reincarnation. Just pitch black through hollow eyeholes. Everything returns to the Earth eventually before the Sun swallows it all and turns into a black hole that later gets consumed by the heat death of the universe. It’s inevitable that comics like these get put down like Old Yeller.

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21 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

This is the show where Edgar Evernever builds a rocket on top of his Organ Harvesting Cult Complex to fly away from the FBI while dressed like a star-spangled rocketeer. 

That actually sounds pretty crazy awesome, if you ask me. 🤣

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7 hours ago, Michael Takagawa said:

And there’s no God. No afterlife. No cycle of reincarnation. Just pitch black through hollow eyeholes. Everything returns to the Earth eventually before the Sun swallows it all and turns into a black hole that later gets consumed by the heat death of the universe. It’s inevitable that comics like these get put down like Old Yeller.

81df7a6f-4898-4ef4-91f5-dd90ffbfd19b_tex

 

Guys let's try to get our opinions about comics based on video games across without having to bring up the end or something please thanks.

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On 1/29/2023 at 3:29 PM, Ryannumber1gamer said:

HOW DOES THIS STORY END??? CHECK OUT MEGA MAN 4 AVAILABLE ON *ADJUSTS GLASSES*...ERM NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM!!" 

Or on the Megaman Legacy collection that released at the time. 

On 1/30/2023 at 11:03 AM, Michael Takagawa said:

And there’s no God. No afterlife. No cycle of reincarnation. Just pitch black through hollow eyeholes. Everything returns to the Earth eventually before the Sun swallows it all and turns into a black hole that later gets consumed by the heat death of the universe. It’s inevitable that comics like these get put down like Old Yeller.

Sir…..this is a Sonic comic forum. 

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4 hours ago, SanPolo4389 said:

Or on the Megaman Legacy collection that released at the time. 

I’m aware, the NES part was more so a joke because they just plop down the name of the game and tell you to play. Having a comic tell you to play a 20+ year old game to conclude the story will never not be funny to me.

More importantly, one of the drawing points of Archie Mega Man was seeing the classic games adapted into full fledged, expansive stories. So having the setup to Mega Man 4, only to be told to play the barebones NES game that has lore changes to Archie Mega Man is just silly.

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2 hours ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

More importantly, one of the drawing points of Archie Mega Man was seeing the classic games adapted into full fledged, expansive stories. So having the setup to Mega Man 4, only to be told to play the barebones NES game that has lore changes to Archie Mega Man is just silly.

You might as well build it into one of Jimmy Fallon's comedy sketches if that’s worth the laughter.

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Sonic Universe - Issue #92: The Case of the Pirate Princess - Part 2 of 4: The Princess Was Shanghaied 

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There’s a lot of color on this cover. Almost too much of it when it comes to the Chaotix honestly. They look really shiny. Must have gotten some of that Sonic Heroes gloss on them. There’s my daily reminder that Heroes is the only console game where I can play these three together in their modern iterations. I’m a professional at making myself disappointed.

Spoiler

Shinobi Variant

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It’s Shinobi. I remember Shinobi. I watched my uncle play a version of it back when I was a kid. Never saw it ever again after that. Anyway, this cover isn’t my jam, personally. Not really a fan of grittiness done this specific way.

Writers: Aleah Baker & Ian Flynn
Pencils: Adam Bryce Thomas
Inks: Jim Amash
Colors: Matt Herms
Letters: Jack Morelli
Cover by Tracy Yardley, Jim Amash, & Ben Hunzeker
Shinobi Variant by T. Rex

The character intros for this one were great.

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Poor Echo and Razor don’t have a lyric in the epic Team Chaotix theme song to harken back to.

They’re really going out with a bang on this arc. They have a lot of their best people working on this. You got Ian Flynn and Aleah Baker doing the script together, Adam Bryce Thomas is drawing the issue, and my favorite colorist Matt Herms is here.

Vector is confronting these pirates with a personal black and white narration going on in his head once again. Well, not black and white. A low color narration is more like it. Everyone is dressed the same except for him and, for some reason, Razor.

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Well, sort of. Captain Otter there has a huge Captain Hook hat complete with a big bushy feather and the scrawny looking purple boy has his scarf around his mouth like an old west train robber.

To reiterate, the captain is an otter and he says stuff like “I have otterly no idea who you lot be” when looking at the Chaotix. He recognizes Echo as a guard for Meropis and Razor as a traitor.

After Vector introduces himself he just fucking barrels in, grabs a kid, and tosses him like Bubble Bass tossed Squidward out of the scene in the Pickles episode.

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Just tossing people.

Things are about to pop off when Echo suddenly recognizes Princess Undina standing there with a dorky smile on his face. Razer then puts a sword to Echo’s neck and begins to address Captain Shellbreaker, that’s the otter guy, with words of endearment, saying that he wishes to rejoin the pirates and that he made a mistake. Adds in a line about how everyone over there treats him like scum anyway.

Echo hears this and gets extremely angry because “the priestess” trusted him. Echo totally didn’t though and if she did she really could have stood to treat Razor a bit better. Maybe don’t lead people towards wishing to do things like this in the future? Perhaps?

I say “in the future” because that’s not what’s happening now. He’s putting on an act, lying about how he came across them by saying he set out to find them, all so that he can goad the Chaotix into tactically surrendering.

Espio is upset because Razor is lying about how they met but Razor keeps pushing and trying to get them to understand what he’s trying to do.

“Hopefully these three are SMART enough to SURRENDER,” he says in bold letters that leads to a close up zoom shot of Vector’s face. This no doubt indicates that he gets it and he begins to act.

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The reactions and reaction shots here are all hilarious. Echo looks like she’s a malfunctioning animatronic at Chuck E. Cheese with a dislocated jaw.

Meanwhile, Charmy’s just got the cutest expressions ever. That one in the fourth panel is one I wish I could get a bigger version of. Just standing there with his arms crossed while his mates argue with one another.

Or rather, watching as he waits for Espio to catch on to what he’s doing. Yeah, it takes Espio a bit before he realizes what Vector’s trying to do, more wrapped up in the idea of surrendering and just becoming a pirate.

So yeah, the Chaotix are pirates now and Charmy wants a cool hat. 

Back in the day I feel like I didn’t buy them relenting this easily because this conversation they have next flew directly over my head at the time. I didn’t quite pay much attention to what the captain and his mates were talking about when they mentioned Abyss.

I do now that I’ve paid better attention to everything during this read through though. The reason they end up acquiescing to this is because these pirates are desperate. They’re low on manpower and Abyss, one of the Eggman’s Dozen, scampered off with most of Captain Shellbreaker’s crew.

So the connections keep forming and coming together here. Razor was a part of this group and was dumped into the ocean before being rescued by the priestess. Meanwhile, Abyss stole from the guy and bailed so that she could be free to raid whatever area she wants with Eggman backing her.

While the captain does agree to this he also states he’ll keep an eye on them too, which is good. Obviously we don’t want him to be too trusting after shit like that happened.

Echo is in tears though. She’s in full “everybody betray me” mode and the captain approaches her with the full on desire to off her for not going along with it.

Before he can get his 1330’s samurai dander up, Princess Undina interjects and asks the captain to let her handle it.

She then asks Echo that if she ordered her to join would she? Echo says she’d have no choice but then Undina decides to compromise a bit on that in a rather odd, and slightly unsettling, manner.

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Because I’ve read this before I’m aware of where her character goes but it’s still a little up in the air for me due to this book’s cancellation. What gets revealed about her makes her out to be pretty purposefully deceptive in a way that were it explored more I’m not entirely sure it would have led to consistent good things happening.

Then again, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe her talking like a high school cheerleader was just supposed to trick you into thinking she was dumb so that when the rug gets pulled out from under you it works even better.

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This talk she has with Vector when they head out together sets the scene for her development rather well. She’s completely carefree and purposefully made to look like they’re unaware of the danger she was in.

As an aside, I end up really loving the little relationship that Charmy and Opal form here. 

Echo’s got to be feeling like shit right now though. Having her princess that she came here to find, say she’s going to ransom her back to the kingdom with a cheery smile on her face has got to be the worst. Then again, she’s also the only one that didn’t catch on. Or, unlike Charmy, just went along with it regardless. To him “being a pirate” might as well be the next level in a game.

Undina also explains to Vector that studying with the priestess back home made it so that she was able to translate the charts that they have on the ship that Abyss, the other captain at the time, left behind because she couldn’t read them. Ironic because so far the charts have mostly led to relics and stuff they can sell, which Abyss MIGHT have wanted but Shellbreaker says they’ve got no use for them aside from that. At the very least, his interest lies elsewhere.

He then tells Vector to look away as he uses a key to access the control board. Vector does so but not before glancing back with one eye because… well, of course he’s still gonna look.

Back on deck, Charmy seems to be getting along well with everyone. Mr. Bristles, the big weird looking yellow guy, seems to like taking care of children considering the backstory that gets talked about regarding Razor and Blade.

Espio doesn’t seem to want to talk to Opal at first but she eventually fishes hard enough for a name and then introduces everyone else in a manner that leads to some interesting backstory (that I once again didn’t remember) and another great reaction shot from Charmy.

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A little pirate family with their own fleet of ships sounds like the cutest thing ever. Espio was probably thinking before that story about how they were just honorless thieves and Opal called him out on it.

Of course, Abyss ended up ruining it later on.

Despite the story being told here being really interesting, I can’t help but linger on my bee boy’s face.

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It’s such an intense reaction. His heart can’t take the heartbreak.

Razor and his sister Blade are having a rather intense conversation too, one that pretty succinctly tells where these people stand morally. 

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I’ll admit, I do feel a tad sorry for them considering what Abyss did but at the same time when your sister is making an argument for taking people’s medicine away and saying it’s fine because the medical system lets people pay for it is… woof!

Yowza.

Not… not a good thing to use as an argument. I can’t say I blame Razor for not wanting any part of this. She definitely did not win that fight.

She does calm down and say that she’s happy he’s back though and also adds that it must have been tough for him out there and that people like them belong in places like this. 

Razor doesn’t really give her a direct response to that. He just says he knows where his loyalties lie.

I’ve got to also admit that despite knowing these guys have some less than stellar actions under their belt, I’m digging a lot of the character dynamics cropping up as a result of this situation.

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Characters simply being “human” for lack of a better term and talking about who’s turn it is to make dinner does go a long way. 

I also, again, just like the way Opal speaks to Charmy here. The captain expects dinner and Charmy says that his contribution is purposeful because he knows how to pour cereal. Instead of making fun of him for this she gets on his level and they have a chat about cereal. 

It’s REALLY cute!

Aside from her, I think my other favorite in this lot is my boy Dive here.

We don’t ever find out much about him but the little we do find out about is… unsettling to say the least.

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Very… spooky.

Ominous and creepy in a way that you don’t usually see. 

“I love the sea. It CALLS to me”, he says as his eyes glaze over.

It’s fuckin’ wild man. The book should have had one more issue so that I could at least see this part get explained.

It’s at this point where Espio and Undina get to have a chat with each other. He lets her in on the fact that they’re pretending to join the pirates and they also have themselves a bit of a sad realization that Echo thought she was betrayed and how mean that was.

Despite Espio’s proclamation that he’s going to get her out of here, Deena here insists that she’s fine and that no one is getting hurt. Opal even gave back all the jewelry she took from her.

Espio thinks she doesn’t get it and we’re clued into the fact that she very much does get it.

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She gets it more than you do boy. Get on her level.

With a face like that, I couldn’t quite tell back then if she was supposed to be evil or not. I doubt it’s as clear cut as that but… man is this issue doing an excellent job at making me want to find out more about these characters.

That’s really all it’s doing. It’s showing you who these people are and using their interesting and wildly different personalities to set the stage and make you want to find out more.

It’s REALLY working too. This is the first issue I’ve seen with these guys and I’m already more into them then most of the Freedom Fighter groups we met during the Unleashed arc.

Of course, nothing beats the allure of the traditional antics of the Chaotix at play.

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I’m still not entirely sure I buy that Charmy would ever willingly refer to himself as cute but the way he does it with his finger raised like he’s a gentlemanly scholar feels about right.

Espio and Vector go over how they’re kind of up shit creek without a paddle here. What they did with Echo got them out of that situation but she’s in actual danger now because of it. Plus, there’s no one they can contact to help them out of this one either.

They’re stuck on this floating tin-can with no way out aside from whatever Vector can think up.

Charmy’s ending lines here do well to soften the mood though. 

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Ha! That smile.

My little bee boy was having fun, I guess, but really wanted to fight pirates above all else it looks like. Despite thinking they’re cooler than ninjas, what he really wants to be is a detective and it’s this sweet little notion that gets Vector to smirk and lay down to bed before we end on a shot of the ship sailing under the moon lit night.

It’s a really pretty shot too.

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Despite the circumstances, this feels deceptively cozy.

I recall saying at the time that this issue was one of the best issues of Sonic Universe ever made and I still feel inclined to say so here. The structure of the issue is solid. What it manages to accomplish as far as character writing and lore in such a short amount of time is truly impressive and the character dynamics are taken full advantage of. The pacing is excellent and despite how much information is conveyed, none of it feels rushed or unnaturally delivered. They even had time to throw in some nice humanizing moments about making dinner and what not. Ian Flynn and Aleah Baker teaming up to do this final arc is making it stand as a shining example of how great and talented people can truly benefit one another. Throw in Adam Bryce Thomas, one of my favorite Sonic artists, and Matt Herms on colors and you’ve got yourself a quintessential Sonic comic book.

I won’t lie though. It being centered on the Chaotix helps quite a bit.

---

Sonic Universe - Issue #93: The Case of the Pirate Princess - Part 3 of 4: Strangers On A Ship

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It’s the Detective Boys but as pirates! They look really cool here too! It’s always a bit off-putting seeing Vector without his headphones. So much so that the design of Boom Vector always threw me off. Of course Charmy’s wearing a hat on top of his helmet. It’s the same energy as Luffy wearing a bowler hat on top of his straw hat. Espio just looks cool. Oh and the nice detail of Vector having doubloons on his eyes to simulate the eye for money thing he has going for him is excellent. What a great cover.

Spoiler

All For One Variant

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I lost my shit when I saw this cover for the first time years ago. With how many One Piece references I make off the cuff you could tell I was a huge fan so seeing someone make a variant of this issue paying homage to Volume #61 was the biggest treat imaginable. 

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I may have gone a little insane making sure everyone knew that it existed, to the point where I swallowed my fear and tweeted people who I don’t normally tweet. I actually got a nice response too. It was great.

Writer: Aleah Baker & Ian Flynn
Pencils: Adam Bryce Thomas
Inks: Jim Amash
Colors: Matt Herms
Letters: Jack Morelli
Cover by Tracy Yardley & Ben Hunzeker
All For One Variant by Jennifer Hernandez, Gary Martin, & Aleah Baker

We begin with a BWAGH face from Vector.

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BWAGH!

Not really. We begin with another noir reimagination scenario he’s cooked up in his head.

Vector is sitting in bed, seemingly looking either like he’s gotten up early or never really went to sleep. Both of which are understandable considering their situation. He’s very spry and alert though. He was already thinking over his plan when a loud rumble happened that made him make this face. 

He goes to see what all the hubbub is and gets a briefing from the captain, with Deena by his side, on how they’ll get to their destination utilizing this well maneuvering and stealthy ship.

He eyes the key as he’s leaving, making note that it controls the ship’s functions like a good, observant detective would.

We then cut to the battle of the century. Here in the penultimate issue of the Archie Sonic comics it’s finally come down to this; Maple Sugar or Apple Cinnamon.

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The poor, put upon lad. 

I’m so glad I met him and yet so sad this is it for him.

This conversation is wonderful. Well, “conversation” isn’t quite right. Arguement mixed in with people trying to get in a word edgewise is more like it. Despite the adorable faces Charmy is continuing to make here, the one at the bottom showing him observing them after all is said and done is probably my favorite.

Why? Because despite play-acting like a child and suggesting “Honey Nut” he’s also taking his job seriously.

So when Vector and Espio convene outside, on the deck, for a chat about what to do next, Charmy flies in to provide them with info on what people are doing to give them an opening to see Echo.

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What’s funny about this is that, usually, when someone is being secretive and someone else manages to catch wind of it, they usually let on that they know via a fake cough or a clearing of the throat.

I’ve NEVER heard of someone doing that with a fake sneeze.

They turn and see Blade standing with Razor with a fist to his mouth behind her back. At first I thought she did it but no. It was obviously Razor, which explains why he went with a sneeze. It’s more inconspicuous… technically. 

I mean, faking a sneeze sounds strangely hard, even for someone like me who’s drowned his entire life in tissues due to allergies.

Vector tries to be even more inconspicuous when Blade pushes for the Chaotix to tell her what they were being all huddled up and secretive about. He does this by insisting that they were telling funny jokes.

Blade asks to hear one and while she doesn’t get the satisfaction of an actual punchline, I sure as hell did.

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I love this bit so much. I love seeing Vector wrap his entire fist around Charmy and get super up close and personal with him like this. Charmy looks like he’s staring into the abyss here, all with that tiny smile frozen on his mug. It’s awesome.

Luckily for them, Princess Udina comes in, grabs Espio, and flings him about to change the subject. She brings up that she saw Espio in Empire City. Yes, he was that loser that lost to Bean because he fell out of the ring!

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The plan to get out of this pitfall by embarrassing Espio has succeeded. Good job!

Yeah, this feels more like the way Espio should be utilized now. Everything’s back on track. 

I love the Chaotix so much. Espio’s a bit of a serious guy but he’s got so many foibles and is easy to embarrass so he often comes across as a deconstruction of that type of cool dude you normally see in comics and anime. Similar stuff happens to him in Sonic X too. It’s always great.

After another hint that Princess Udina is “not what she seems” we cut to the kitchen which is, I guess, the meeting room as well. The captain brings everyone in for a speech soon after while breakfast is being ruined by Opal, so says Blade.

The speech he gives starts off… not the best.

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“Yarr, Captain, ye be makin’ me want to walk the plank me-self, ye are!”

He does get to the point though and runs down all the awesome stuff they do have. They’ve got the translated charts that the traitor Abyss left behind and thought worthless and are now on their way to getting their hands on some sick ancient treasure. 

They have a returning crewmate and some brand new ones too! They look so happy to be here and a part of what’ll no doubt be a long line of continuous, newfound success for these pirates.

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Charmy’s all in. This kid is pretty much up for anything, even knowing full well he plans on betraying them. 

I love Espio’s little hurrah there. He’s trying so hard. You can’t help but love him for it.

After Opal delivers her food to the lieutenant in the cell, alone, hugging her knees, pissed off, we see Espio pop in and try to explain things to her.

She explodes at him. 

It’s an insanely big paragraph of words, all of which are practically meaningless because she’s wrong about what happened here… but it’s also really impressive how big the word balloon is. It’s also just really, really funny.

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She had that one locked and loaded!

Gruel that smells like it’s ninety-percent sugar sounds like it wouldn’t be all THAT bad though.

I dunno.

I’ve never had gruel. Wakko Warner swears it’s delicious but the way he describes it makes me think otherwise.

Besides it’s porridge. I loved porridge when I was a kid. Oh so much.

I also like how she says “We spent an entire car trip together” as if that’s enough to form a sacred bond or something.

Espio asks where her stuff is and how she can get out of the cell. The keycard is on the barrel and her stuff is in the locker behind her. It’s a bit weird that no one keeps the keycard on their person but whatever. They’re pirates. I guess they can suck at some things. Whatever.

Echo asks if this is a breakout and Espio says it WILL be.

We cut to the shore where they’ve got a little dinghy docked there. Dive is told to watch the ship and Vector makes himself seem paranoid about “maybe” someone “coming by” and “making off with the ship”. 

He might as well say “Wink wink, nudge nudge” while he’s at it. Especially with the bashful faces he’s making. This dude does not have a good poker face.

Somehow Charmy’s got the best poker face and that’s literally just because he’s being sincere with everything he says and does. He doesn’t need to fake enthusiasm at all. He’ll basically do whatever.

Captain Shellbreaker doesn’t see through it though. He’s not worried about anyone making off with the ship because he’s got the key for it. So Vector reiterates to his boys that if the escape plan is going to work, they need to get it off him.

At least he doesn’t keep that on a barrel somewhere.

They make their way through the jungle full of ruins and start to banter. Once again, I’m adoring seeing Charmy hanging with Opal like this. She’s just letting him lay about on her head like her jellyfish cap is a boogie board for children while carrying on a conversation with the young lad. It’s incredibly endearing once again.

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Less endearing is Blade’s attitude. Despite Razor being back she’s just never happy, it seems. Razor being interested in the sites they’re exploring and the people who made them is being equated to being childlike, for some reason.

I suppose that’s what she views being a history buff as? Either that or it’s her way of viewing people who are… excited about something.

We go into it more on the next page where old uncle, Mr. Bristles here, talks about how Blade’s been in a pissy mood for weeks and says she misses the raids. He even starts to go on about how he bets Razor missed doing stuff like this and he does admit to that, sort of. Of course, this only makes Blade more upset, somehow.

She claims that her issue here is that this shit is boring and that there’s no conflict, triumph, or winning involved in this. Razor tries to be a bit more diplomatic about it and pushes away the notion that it absolutely has to be them versus the world but Blade just insists that the world owes them so it’s okay to treat everyone else in it like it’s their fault they’re miserable, especially if they had nothing to do with it. She’s really mad that Razor doesn’t understand why it’s the world versus them.

Considering how badly Razor gets treated back where he lives I did stop to momentarily wonder this but the answer is obviously because he’s got at least one person he cares about back home that’s proven to him that it doesn’t necessarily have to be the way Blade is insisting it is.

As we move forward, the captain and Undina come across some markings on the ground that speak of something ominous and… well, I gotta tell yeah, it was making me brainstorm some possibilities of what this could end up being had this comic continued into the far future.

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Now, I’m not SAYING it could double as an unintentional prelude to the discovery of the Starfall Islands…

… I mean, OF COURSE I’m not saying that.

… But still, were this to continue and they happened upon something that was slumbering and then let out a loud yawn when it woke up before it immediately set about blowing up the world with might that matched that of Dark Gaia of the Unleashed arc prior… I couldn’t say it wouldn’t be entirely unexpected.

Am I saying this comic unintentionally made a set up for a game that wouldn’t come out for another five years? 

Probably. I am pretty dumb after all.

This is the first time we’ve seen Princess Udina rattled. The captain here shows his true colors as he goes on about using whatever is talked about here to take over the Acorn Kingdom, the Eggman Empire, and Meropis to name a few.

The princess is like “Uhm, captain, I sort of live there…!” but Opal is like “Hey, it’s fine. They can always surrender” and reiterates the desire she had to be free.

The captain then makes it clear that what Undina wants doesn’t matter. It’s what he wants that does. We then have a call back to an earlier scene where Vector said the captain was good at giving speeches and Razor responded by saying he was charismatic… until he wasn’t.

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They REALLY need to get the fuck out of here.

Also, I LOVE Charmy so much! He’s such a sweetheart, comforting her like that! D’AAWW!

It really is nice that they’re taking care to keep us in check concerning these pirates. They’re not good people, despite the circumstances that led them here and how unfortunate their situation is. Perseverance like this is to be envied but when it’s in service of maybe doing a hostile takeover of the planet then it becomes less so.

We cut back to Dive, who is just… high off his admiration for the ocean.

Hypnotized by it.

Entranced by it.

Taken by it.

The sea might just be his lover… or his plaything. His slave perhaps?

Whatever it is, it’s probably not healthy.

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The ocean seems to have attacked him. Oh shit!

We know what actually happened but it’s such an obscure shape, you’ll forgive me for thinking initially when I read this that it was something or someone else. Perhaps connected to what’s in that cave.

Again, it’s not. It’s a surprise attack from Echo the Dolphin, which is a funny thing to say, but STILL…!

We then end the issue on a rather exciting and pulse pounding note where they enter the hidden chamber and are shown the faces of our heroes and the captain as they marvel at…

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… THE END… of the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comics.

It’s finally upon us.

There is a very weird pit in my stomach right now. Seeing the Chaotix looking into the abyss before them and not exactly seeing what they’re looking at sets the mood just right for me. We’re entering the finale. It’s one more issue and then we’re done. It’s scary, it’s exciting, and it’s time. This issue was filled with just as much fun as the last. There isn’t much action in this story but that’s fine. It really does get its mileage out of having these characters just smear the pages with how cool and interesting they are. I can’t help but love, admire, and respect that.

---

Sonic Universe - Issue #94: The Case of the Pirate Princess - Part 4 of 4: In A Lonely Place

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Here we are, at least.

This is the final issue of the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comic book. You can tell because the Riverdale curse has caught up to it, infecting the top border of this final issue before the book is killed off. It ends with Issue #94 of Sonic Universe on an arc centered around my favorite characters. I have to once again stress that I don’t often get lucky when it comes to the Chaotix so the fact that this is the reality is something that feels unintentionally poignant and special to me, in a weird way.

Heading into this with a bit of a heavy heart knowing this is where the reviews stop but also with an intense amount of relief. This was something I decided to do myself and no one forced me to go so hard and in-depth on them but me. That said, my motto when it comes to stuff like this mirrors what Vector said at the end of Heroes; “Once we start the job, we finish the job”. There have been multiple times where I thought about quitting but I just don’t have it in me to start something and leave it unfinished. I’m the type of person who would write multiple chapters to a fanfiction and never post any of it until I finished it just to ensure I wasn’t going to dump an incomplete story online.

When I reached Issue #160 I made a call back to “Never Turn Back” from Shadow the Hedgehog. 

For this I’ll simply say, with a bright and cheery smile, that “I’m Here.”

Spoiler

Saturday Night Dance Variant

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There’s Charmy and Opal again. They’re so cute together. Real big sister energy here. Seeing everyone else in the arc dancing and having fun at this Saturday night dance is cool too. The choices of characters here are interesting besides that though. There’s Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cream, Antoine, and Rotor. Tails can play the piano apparently. That’s neat. There’s also what looks like a second Sonic staring at an open shell behind a table. Not sure what that’s about.

Writer: Aleah Baker & Ian Flynn
Pencils: Adam Bryce Thomas
Inks: Jim Amash
Colors: Matt Herms
Letters: Jack Morelli
Cover by Tracy Yardley, Jim Amash, & Ben Hunzeker
Excitement Under the Sea Variant by Yardley & Steve Downer

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Vector is Indiana Jones now. Charmy is Short Round and Captain Shellbreaker is Mola Ram.

The other two here are also characters from Indiana Jones but I don’t know who since cultural osmosis only told me who those three characters are. Charmy’s literally wearing the same hat though. It’s still kind of incredible to me despite my lack of Indi-intelligence.

Vector’s daydream sensor went off the instant they entered this cave which feels incredibly relatable. These daydreams he has where he sees himself in even more fanciful situations then the ones he’s already in astound and charm me. This is already a pretty amazing adventure I would say. Then again, I’m not used to living in the world they do like he is so perhaps a change in perspective is necessary for me to fully comprehend it. As is, it’s plenty relatable though.

I feel such a strong urge to make more out of my life than what it is now.

They enter the cave and recognize that it looks fancier than the other ruins. All they happen upon is a blue orb on a pedestal though. It’s broken too.

They immediately start to think it’s worthless and the Captain gets extremely upset and demands they keep looking. 

Mr. Bristles starts to suggest that maybe the orb could be sold for something but the Captain is hung up on the part about “untold destructive power” and gets Princess Undina to read another passage found by Blade on the ground nearby.

It’s then that the Chaotix spot Echo, who has finally arrived and is ready to carry out their plan.

As this happens, Undina is reading off the writing and it intrigues me a lot because it’s clearly, obviously, a set-up for something… but I can’t figure out what.

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The only thing this passage makes me think of is what just happened with Unleashed, the memorial from Sonic Adventure about Sonic facing off against Chaos, and maybe a workaround with the plot from Rise of Lyric? 

There’s handheld games I haven’t played too so it might also stem from one of those. I’m shit out of luck there. 

With the lieutenant here, it comes down to just grabbing the key and going. Charmy instantly just says he can do that and flies in, much to Vector chagrin.

I nominated this moment for an award though. It's my personal award for one of the most triumphant plans and victories ever put to paper. Here it is folks; the climactic final battle strategy to ever happen in the history of the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comics.

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This works!

I’m so happy that this works too. Sally Acorn, eat your heart out. I bet you wouldn’t be crying about how you failed again AGAIN if you had just come up with the “Gotta Go Potty” plan.

You all know because it’s me that I’m being completely serious when I say that I love this plan, I love this moment, and I love that this works.

Shit starts to pop off. They attack on both sides. Razor tries to grab Undina but Opal attacks him. In return, Undina clubs Opal with her umbrella, earning her a compliment from Opal.

Opal also says that she thought they were cool which tears me up a tad. Not entirely but it is a bit of a shame.

Anyway, Captain Shellbreaker is just super-duper pissed. He’s just screaming at the top of his lungs about how much they suck and properly about how he’s going to kill them.

They reach the exit and Undina is told to close the place up with the mystic melody. Concern of them being trapped there to starve is raised but Vector says they’ll send “the proper authorities” to come pick them up. Who that is in this world I hardly think I know. G.U.N? The Sky Patrol? Some other third thing? 

I guess the police were indeed a thing in Adventure 2. Meh.

After that, Charmy gets his props.

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Oh what a humble bumble he is.

No, but seriously. It’s funny thinking how he just actually needed to use the bathroom and just completely ignored both the reason why Vector needed the key and the captain telling him that he didn’t need the key to go to the bathroom.

Like, that goes beyond scatterbrained. Maybe he needs to get checked out. 

Honestly, I’m certain that I need to get checked out. I’m convinced there’s something about me that’s been left undiagnosed, the way my brain works.

Closing the door doesn’t work though. Mr. Bristles manages to reach it before Undina can close it all the way so they’ve no choice but to say fuck it and book it.

Not before Razor finally has his chance to say a proper goodbye to his sister though.

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As poignant and as powerful as that scene is, it doesn’t hold a candle to what happens immediately after.

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“B-BUT GUYS! I-I MADE YOU BREAKFAST...!”

It’s breakfast and boat rides! Apparently doing those a single time with people is all that’s expected so that you can be buds for life.

At the back of one of these issues it said that Dive gets dunked on and hurt a lot but it’s alright because he spaces out when he stares at the ocean. So that makes it okay or something. I don’t know. I feel like there’s something here that makes it a bit cruel in hindsight. I will not say it isn’t still funny though.

The super special surprise is that when they get on the ship and plug the key into the ignition, they can’t get the boat started because they don’t have the password. 

Shenanigans ensue as people freak out and scramble to figure out how to get it to work. My favorite is “turn it off and on again” because even as a little kid I’d never think that’d get me past someone’s password.

They do manage it though and it comes in the form of our detective boy making a smexy face and addressing the lurker in the background.

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Okay! We get it, girl! You’re secretly super smart. You didn’t have to wait for us to be almost caught before you told us. Well, you actually didn't I suppose. Vector figured it out because of course he did. He always does but still.

The password is “Chowder” backwards. Great, now the fucking theme song is playing in my head.

“COME ON IN! FEEL FREE TO DO SOME LOOKIN'! STAY AWHILE CAUSE SOMETHING’S ALWAYS COOKIN’, YEAH!”

That’s a good password though. Or at least, it’s better than some of the other passwords I’ve seen in this book. I remember when Tails was delighted by Eggman’s crew having "password" as their password and considered that meaning that they were being creative for once or something.

The captain, who was just laughing at the fact that they were trapped because they didn’t know the password, makes a glorious shocked face and asks “How?” which is something Charmy asks her too. Udina pretty much lays it all out there. She was always on the ship with the captain so she managed to catch it one day. She says when people think you’re not worth paying attention to you can get away with a lot. 

Like, totally.

The pirates, hilariously enough, sulk back to the island.

Opal’s reaction is the funniest but also the most relatable because she’s just like “All my stuff was on that ship” and yeah, that would really suck wouldn’t it? 

Blade is sitting on the sand, hugging her knees because her brother betrayed her. Opal asks her if she’ll be alright and she probably will but she does admit that even though she wanted to forgive him, she just couldn’t and now this happened. 

They can’t go back to being who they were before but she didn’t really help that by constantly snapping at him and pushing him away as soon as he came back.

Meanwhile, the captain has some self-reflection here and if anything you really gotta admire that drive and determination. I wish I had as much as these guys do.

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But Dive you’re not high up. You’re tied to a tree on the sand. Poor delirious boy.

Anyway, we cut back to the getaway ship and the Chaotix talk about how the princess's actions were all done to protect everyone. She had the pirates focusing on treasure hunting instead of pirating to save people and when their cover was blown she did what she could to keep them all safe. She was happy help arrived when it did too and everyone celebrates. 

Vector says that all that’s left is to get her home but Undina says that she’s not going home which prompts a “WHAT?” from the lieutenant. 

Deena explains that her parents are helicopters and they didn’t want to even let her to the surface in the first place just to go to school. Finding out about all this would set them back even further. She then talks herself into inviting Echo along on her travels, saying it would put their minds at ease if she had a bodyguard with her. Echo just stutters out an agreement.

So yeah, now she has her own ship and she and Echo go on adventures, traveling the world with it. What an interesting development.

As for the Chaotix, they get thanked for a job well done and ride off with Razor to take him home instead.

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Look at those proud boy faces. I love the fists to their chests thing too. I saw them do that in Sonic X once and it sent me to the moon with happiness. It was adorable. Espio has to bow though, of course.

Fun fact, 4kids cut out an act of bowing once in their bastardization of One Piece. It was when Mr. 9 finds out about Ms. Wednesday. So I guess they don’t like that Japanese custom either. What a shock. Except not really because of course they don’t. 

Man, exploring what 4kids did to that old One Piece dub and even Sonic X really is interesting because a lot of the shit they did really does go far, FAR beyond “We need to do this to get it on television and Japan knows that and is okay with that” because, as it turns out, a lot of it really was not okay. There’s doing what they did for Pokemon and then there’s… whatever those other dubs were.

They titled the episode where Luffy cracks Don Krieg’s armor “The Crack of Don” and it’s fucking hilarious. Holy shit guys. Maybe… maybe think that one through a bit more, yeah?

Anyway, I’m stalling because the end of my reviews is coming up. In our final scene with Razor, he returns to Coral and gets some nice closure.

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When I saw this little girl character show up again I thought that HER name was also Opal and wondered if they accidentally named two of these sea creature characters the same name.

They don’t ever say her name here so I had to look it up and her name is “Pearly” which for some reason never sticks in my mind even though a much better Ace Attorney character also shares that name. Or has that as a nickname at least.

It ends with Razor and Coral hugging and then Pearly gets fucking scared on purpose by Crusher and she goes “BWAAGH!” and that’s the end of the scene. It’s great.

We cut back to our main boys. They live in Westopolis as a reminder and it always skeeves me out a bit. Like damn. Imagine if one of those blue beams from space just obliterated their house when the Black Arms invasion happened. 

They’re trying to get Meropan Sand Dollars (funny) converted into real cash. Because it was pay from royalty they assumed it’d be big money but likely because Meropis is so… ostracized from normal society I think they weren’t prepared for how little the reward would actually be.

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I reject the notion that Vector’s chain isn’t made of real gold. How dare.

I mean, it wouldn’t surprise me I guess but no. Nuh-uh.

Also, what’s with all the stuff Vector is saying here? They don’t have a color TV? Does Charmy not have access to video games? What do you mean 32-Bit?! Fucking what?!

Then Espio starts listing off stuff like the rent, light bulbs that work, the electric bill, and a lock for the front door that works… and I’m just like JESUS guys! This is not an environment to be taking care of a small child in.

Anyway, apparently they got VERY little out of that. Vector is shown back at the office, narrating that they don’t do it for money but to help people but money would be nice. They’ve got like a bag of chips, some giant disks that look like that fake “bread” you’d eat at church, and Espio picked up a six-pack of light-bulbs. Vector couldn’t even get his thesaurus.

This is really sad. They got jipped goddammit. At least let them get SOMETHING. Something cool would have been nice.

Anyway, here we are.

We close out this issue, this arc, Sonic Universe, and the entirety of the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comics on this, the final page of the entire series.

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The final lines were, “But hey, Charmy’s happy, at least. That’s gotta count for something right?”

Bless you, Vector.

What is the story of Archie Sonic if not the tale of how badly the old continuity treated Charmy Bee and how horrendously sad his life was?

I couldn't imagine a more personally gratifying and poignant line to end on. 

The fact that this time the narration is happening over a scene in full color must mean that he actually has that hat on his head here and not in his imagination this time.

That big yellow caption on the side is a lie and it’s fucking funny. We don’t end on the Freedom Fighters. It’s The Chaotix! The boys!

I got SO fucking lucky.

I closed the book on my binders of Archie Sonic comics. I slipped the final issue back into its protective plastic and shut it away. It’s done. There’s no more. The Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comics are officially over.

That doesn’t mean my posts are over, of course. I have best and worst lists coming up and maybe I’ll talk a little about the covers to the solicits that never materialized but as far as the comics themselves and the traditional reviews, this is it. 

Uh, so yeah, I’ve been doing this since 2019. It’s been four years and some change. Counting 2023 as the fifth year doesn’t feel quite right so I won’t but if I had that would mean it took me a half-decade to get through all of Archie’s shit just covering three issues every week. That’s a lot of damage. 

As for this final arc itself, it was a very good one. It was very well-written. It was a lot of fun. It gets by purely on the characters and their personalities and I’m sure it would have meant a lot more down the line when it came to whatever it was they were discovering in that cave. Whatever it was supposed to be has been lost to time because, as far as I’m aware, no one has ever asked about it. It doesn’t really matter but it’s interesting to think about. The art and expressions were all on point and seeing Adam Bryce Thomas give the Chaotix their due was always going to be a special treat for me.

Doing this was a lot of fun for a long while. Coming up on the end here, I did indeed feel myself burning out because making time for it just wasn’t something I was feeling up to doing anymore but I’m a stubborn mule and I need to finish what I start. I did and I feel great about it too. 

There’s been a lot of discussion about my opinions on these books and I’m grateful for it. Everytime I worried people would lose interest in following these reviews I was just proven wrong over and over again. There were definitely a lot of frustrations along the way, as there would be with any undertaking this long. Some were with the book and some were with the reactions I had to the book. The worst were the instances where I would say something over and over and over again and have that thing ignored for the sake of someone just choosing to be angry at me for my opinion rather than the actual merit behind why I have that opinion. Some people just don’t care about the why and will ignore you even after you’ve directly shown them evidence that they’re wrong and there’s nothing you can do about that sometimes.

That’s okay though. There were instances where I overreacted or didn’t know how to react so I would get defensive or say something dumb too. It’s amazing to think about how you really do mature with every day that goes by. Four years is a long time and there’s a ton I feel I wouldn’t react to as strongly now as I did back when I first started, going back over some of this stuff.

I did eventually just choose to avoid arguments all together because it got a little exhausting but I did appreciate every word said in response to this undertaking of mine regardless. Make no mistake.

These comics are fucking weird. They exist in a strange space within Sonic’s history. There probably won’t be a Sonic anything that goes on for as long as these comics did despite how inconsistent in quality and how confused it was with its own identity for so long. Their existence in the form it had before the reboot was an anomaly. Some might say it turned into a bit of a miracle. 

No Sonic the Hedgehog comic will ever fuse stuff from other continuities quite like this one did. No Sonic the Hedgehog comic will have an ego-centric maniac writing for its stories in ways that invoke real life war allegories and stolen poems that replace the victims of oppression with anthropomorphic animals in a bid to make the book more “mature”. No Sonic the Hedgehog comic will ever have art that’s so consistently bad for such a long time before shifting to being so consistently good for a thankfully even longer time. 

No Sonic the Hedgehog comic book will ever take me on a journey where what’s happening behind the scenes is BAKED so thoroughly within the book as this one. Good God, what a fucking beautiful train wreck of happenstance. I’ll never see anything like it again. 

Ken Penders killing off Robotnik. Ken Penders wanting to kill off Sally. Ken Penders writing Charmy out of the book in a story where he eats an LSD laced chili-dog. Ken Penders imprinting on Knuckles and writing in his father as a furry OC. The horror show that was Mobius 25 Years Later. Ken Penders ignoring everything Karl Bollers wrote. Karl Bollers writing the Slap but quitting before he could resolve it because Ken Penders treated him like shit. Ken Penders taking over the book and writing Evil Sonic having sex with Bunnie. Old Man Gallagher and his unfunny Off-Panels. 

Ian Flynn taking over. Tracy Yardley coming onto the book to replace the likes of Ron Lim and “Many Hands”. The string of banger after banger story arcs that followed. The controversial memory loss from Charmy. The birth of Sonic Universe. The Mega Man crossover. The fucking lawsuit that saw the book getting rebooted and the eventual slow death of the book anyway via Archie’s incompetence.

It’s so insane. It’s so weird. There’s no way this book should have been able to survive all that for as long as it did but it managed to. We were in a spot where it was good for a really, really long time and it’s old demons came back to haunt it and fuck with it again until it died.

I’ll always cherish how fucking weird and fun just observing this thing in its current state is. It’s not consistent, at all, and bless Ian for trying his best to steer it in a consistent direction but even then it wasn’t meant to be because of legal snafus. We got a lot of good out of it. A lot of good writers, artists, stories, and memories. Despite enjoying IDW Sonic far more than I ever enjoyed Archie, this really is an experience that was special in it’s own way. You just had to be there and I’m grateful I started these comics early enough to experience a fraction of this fucking insane journey. 

On behalf of myself and to the people who worked on these comics, thank you for all your hard work. 

Except for the assholes who ruined everything. They know who they are. Or they would if they had any ability to self-reflect. See ya~!

 

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4 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Old Man Gallagher and his unfunny Off-Panels.

And his quirky, punny, comedy stories that sometimes had a sexist overtone when dealing with Sally.

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On 1/22/2023 at 7:57 AM, Fieryfurnace said:

If anybody here wants to read a (mostly) completed, not-officially-released Sonic Universe issue, I've made an Imgur album of Sonic Universe #95 with Ian Flynn's original dialogue (not typo checked, though). These pages were released almost two and a half years ago (well, up to three years ago for the earlier pages) by Herms, so it should be okay to share now?

You can compare the dialogue and colouring here to the fan restoration of this issue - it's interesting to see the differences between the actual story that was told by Flynn and what a fan writer speculated the story would be like based purely on the artwork.

Thank you so much. That was a treat to read. A bit bittersweet considering it reminds me of what we lost, but still an incredible experience. ❤️

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I understand how you feel. I would have loved to see that storyline myself before its cancellation. It's a sad end to a long-running universe rich series, but what has happened has happened, and nothing will ever be the same again after that. 

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  • 1 month later...
On 1/29/2023 at 2:50 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Next week will be the last one and then after that I’ll do what I did at the end of Sonic X and just run down my Top 10 favorites (and probably some least favorites) of the stories I read and the covers I saw.

Did you forget to do this?

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On 4/4/2023 at 8:11 AM, SanPolo4389 said:

Did you forget to do this?

No. I just really need a break from this place.

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9 minutes ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

No. I just really need a break from this place.

Ah I didn't want to bother you with this, I just wanted to ask.

 

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  • 4 months later...

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the release of Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog issue #252. The issue marked the end of an old universe and the beginning of a new universe, and would mark the end of many characters as well such as Geoffrey St. John, Elias Acorn, Julie-Su, Fiona Fox, Scourge the Hedgehog, Hershey the Cat, and many more. It's still probably the saddest moment in Sonic the Hedgehog history, as not even the Super Genesis Wave survivors would remember any of the victims. It's not much better since Lost Hedgehog Tales still isn't fully released, and I'm just about done with the Sonic Comic community.

I remember making this Twitter thread and this SSMB thread too, and I even still remember a letter I wrote to Archie Comics, as well as a letter to various writers and artists of the former Archie Sonic creative team.

 

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What's going on in the Sonic Comic community that makes you done with it?

Or was I reading that part too negatively?

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1 hour ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

What's going on in the Sonic Comic community that makes you done with it?

Or was I reading that part too negatively?

I've just been losing interest in Sonic the Hedgehog due to what happened with Archie Sonic, as well as some other factors.

Perhaps there's a rare chance things could change, but I doubt it.

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On 9/4/2023 at 6:05 PM, NiTROACTiVE said:

I've just been losing interest in Sonic the Hedgehog due to what happened with Archie Sonic, as well as some other factors.

Understandable, my interest in Sonic has never been the same since Archie Sonic ended. I now don't really care as much about the present or future of the franchise, even though I'm still attached to the past.

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  • 1 month later...
On 9/4/2023 at 11:41 AM, NiTROACTiVE said:

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the release of Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog issue #252. The issue marked the end of an old universe and the beginning of a new universe, and would mark the end of many characters as well such as Geoffrey St. John, Elias Acorn, Julie-Su, Fiona Fox, Scourge the Hedgehog, Hershey the Cat, and many more. It's still probably the saddest moment in Sonic the Hedgehog history, as not even the Super Genesis Wave survivors would remember any of the victims. It's not much better since Lost Hedgehog Tales still isn't fully released, and I'm just about done with the Sonic Comic community.

I remember making this Twitter thread and this SSMB thread too, and I even still remember a letter I wrote to Archie Comics, as well as a letter to various writers and artists of the former Archie Sonic creative team.

 

This plot point is still really morbid to me thinking about sometimes lol. Even when taking all the legal shenanigans out of the picture, this plot point was kinda horrifying. These characters regain their memories of the old world, remember all their friends and family who no longer exist, and then overtime just. slowly forget everything about their old universe, and their friends and family who are now lost forever, not even remembered in memory. Honestly would've been less morbid if this was a full reboot and they had zero memory of the old world, because now they're left with this gripping horror that this is not really the world they grew up in, and again, remembering friends and family who no longer exist, and no one but themselves really remember, and who even they end up forgetting about over time too...

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On 10/13/2023 at 1:02 AM, Zaylok said:

This plot point is still really morbid to me thinking about sometimes lol. Even when taking all the legal shenanigans out of the picture, this plot point was kinda horrifying. These characters regain their memories of the old world, remember all their friends and family who no longer exist, and then overtime just. slowly forget everything about their old universe, and their friends and family who are now lost forever, not even remembered in memory. Honestly would've been less morbid if this was a full reboot and they had zero memory of the old world, because now they're left with this gripping horror that this is not really the world they grew up in, and again, remembering friends and family who no longer exist, and no one but themselves really remember, and who even they end up forgetting about over time too...

I have a vague memory that Ian wanted to do a full reboot, but his editor mandated that he do the thing where they regain their old memories for a while. Can someone confirm or deny??

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Just now, Monkey Destruction Switch said:

I have a vague memory that Ian wanted to do a full reboot, but his editor mandated that he do the thing where they regain their old memories for a while. Can someone confirm or deny??

I'm 80% sure you're correct.

To be clear, he didn't wanted any major changes to the world (like whenever to keep Sally around), just whenever cast will remember previous events.

Considering Sonic stopped mentioning Preboot like 6 issues in, it does feel like pointless inclusion.

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IIRC Ian wanted full reboot, editor wanted the characters to keep their memories and be the same characters just transposed to a new setting. "They have the memories but those fade away" was the compromise.

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