Blog on temporary hiatus Appreciation blog for the Archie Sonic preboot comics. All lovers of the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comic series are welcome here - have fun! I'll be tracking the tag #mobius-prime-blog, so anything you want me to see and perhaps reblog, send it there!
I hate to have to do this, but my mental health has taken a very steep dive in the past few days, to the point I can barely concentrate on anything, let alone writing. I really, really didn’t want to have to postpone any posts, especially so close to the end of the preboot, but I don’t really have a choice at this point. Consider this blog on a hiatus for a month or so while I get my priorities straight. Sorry guys, I feel bad about it, and most of all I feel like I’m letting myself down, but there’s not much I can do. I promise I’ll be back and I’m not abandoning this blog, I just need some time.
The Tails Adventure (Part 4 of 4): The Finale of… Trouble in Paradise!
Writer: Ian Flynn
Pencils: Tracy Yardley!
Colors: Jason Jensen
Faced with the tough Mole Mech robot that rivals even Bunnie's enhanced strength, the team gathers together to discuss a game plan after Bunnie disorients the 'bot with one of her laser blasts.
So, have you guys ever heard of the general trope in fiction where if a plan is said out loud where the audience can hear, it will definitely fail, and if it's wordlessly communicated or explained off screen it will succeed? That is one hundred percent not the case in this story! It's actually kind of jarring, given how near-universal this trope is, and unfortunately does take away from some of the suspense of the issue, but it's not a huge deal. Thus, the next few pages basically just show Bunnie and Antoine successfully sabotaging the base's wiring while T-Pup distracts the Mole Mech and Tails deftly dismantles its various joints. Of course, Dr. Fukurokov isn't happy about this at all, having believed his robot could handle anything.
The single "dink" of the wrench against the mech is enough to make the entire thing fall apart immediately, and Fukurokov begins muttering "inconceivable" over and over to give Tails a chance to make a timely Princess Bride reference back at him. Fukurokov runs for his life, and Tails begins to give chase only to hear a weak cry for help come from the mech. He's shocked, not having realized the mech had a pilot inside, and rushes to pull it apart and help as the base's alarms begin to wail dramatically.
Seems you've earned his respect, Tails! Unfortunately, Speedy still has too much pride to accept an offer of friendship, so he reverts back to calling Tails a freak, though he suggests he and his friends evacuate quickly before flying off. Tails, Bunnie, and Antoine reconvene to escape, passing a whole squad of terrified Armada troops running for the upper sections of the base, and while Antoine suggests they follow them to safety Tails insists on retreating back underground into the tunnels. Antoine is skeptical, thinking if the base is about to collapse this will only ensure they're crushed and/or drowned, and while Bunnie initially backs Tails' intuition up even she becomes nervous as the place shakes and begins to flood around them.
All at once, the entire base lifts off into the air, leaving them free to fly back onto Cocoa Island's shores and view from afar the flying fortress they had been inside the entire time. Bunnie is impressed Tails figured out what it was from studying the schematics she gave him, and her praise significantly boosts his confidence compared to Antoine's rambling from before. Really, in a way, this arc almost seems to act as a replacement for his missing character arc from all the way back in the Sonic Adventure adaption, helping him to grow more confident in himself and his own plans as opposed to relying on Sonic to help him with everything. As the base flies away, the furious Battle Lord shouts at Speedy for failing to inform him of Bunnie's true identity as well as scolding Fukurokov for not stopping the Freedom Fighters from causing so much damage to their base. He decides it's time to call the Babylon Rogues back to the flock, and apparently they're right nearby because they're basically immediately within visual range from on board their own flying fortress.
It's quite bizarre just how different the backstory of the Rogues is in the comics versus in the games. I mean, nearly every character has a fairly different backstory from their game counterparts, to be fair, but in the games the Rogues are essentially just a band of professional athletes who use their Extreme Gear racing money to fund their search for treasure and the truth about their ancestors, while in the comics they're defectors from a paramilitary organization that only use Extreme Gear as a basic method of transportation. They're also much more clearly meant to be villains in the comics, while in the games they may be rivals to the main group, but they're ultimately more jerks than actual bad guys, being perfectly willing to work together with Sonic and his pals towards a greater good when the need arises. But all that's a story for another time! For now, with the Battle Bird Armada kicked out of the area, Tails brews some mugs of hot chocolate back in his workshop and he and the two honeymooners - plus his new mechanical friend - kick back and enjoy being able to have a real vacation from now on.
The Tails Adventure (Part 3 of 4): Trouble in Paradise (Part 3)
Writer: Ian Flynn
Pencils: Tracy Yardley!
Colors: Jason Jensen
Weirdly enough, despite both issues before this one having some kind of subtitle, this one is just called "Part 3." Normally Ian is pretty good at keeping titles of running arcs consistent, but this arc is kind of all over the place on that front. Anyway, where were we? Uh - oh, right! Antoine has thrown himself out of the island fortress in a totally real expression of grief at his wife's apparent betrayal! A distraught Bunnie stares out after him towards the water, but seems to become briefly relieved by something she sees. A second later, the mask is back on and she slams the door behind her, yelling at everyone present for causing Antoine's death.
Well, seems you have everyone convinced except for one green nuisance, Bunnie. What exactly happened to Antoine, though? Well, turns out he noticed Tails waiting in the Sea Fox on the surface of the water, correctly deduced that Bunnie was pretending to be a double agent, and to avoid blowing her cover, merely pretended to throw himself to his death while in actuality landing in the Sea Fox to reconnect with Tails. He never doubted Bunnie for a second, of course! He's incredibly pleased with himself for coming up with such a cunning plan so quickly, and after a quick introduction to T-Pup, he and Tails make for Cocoa Island once more to infiltrate the base via the network of caves that connect the two. As they search for an entrance, Antoine finds himself reminiscing on the past, specifically on how once upon a time, Tails was young and wholly reliant on others to make the plans for him, unlike now.
Now's a good time to shut it, 'Twan… While an annoyed Tails leads them into the underground tunnels, Speedy visits one Dr. Fukurokov, who is like many of the characters of this arc based on an equivalent character from the Tails Adventure game. Despite the slight Russian flavor of his name, it's actually based on the Japanese word for owl, "fukurou," and apparently a lot of early English-speaking fans of the Sonic games had quite a bit of trouble pronouncing it. Thus, a running joke in this issue and the next is that absolutely no one knows how to pronounce poor Fukurokov's name, causing him to become increasingly annoyed that no one ever addresses him as anything other than "Doctor."
Speedy's purpose in visiting Fukurokov's lab is to use his computer to look up some important information - namely, all the data that's available on one Bunnie D'Coolette. Sure enough, he finds out that she was one of the earliest members of the Freedom Fighters, and her bionic limbs were a result of partial roboticization and not legionization. For whatever reason, he doesn't contact the Battle Lord right away, instead getting Fukurokov to agree to fix up a little "toy" he's got lying around in the lab. Meanwhile in the tunnels, Tails and Antoine encounter a squad of Battle Bird troops blasting a path through the rock, and use this to their advantage, taking out the soldiers and using their explosives to blast their own path through to a different tunnel which will take them straight to the base. Inside, they find more troops which they begin fighting against, and the alarm is sounded within the base. The Battle Lord informs Speedy over the intercom that he's sent the "D.E.L. liaison" to deal with the matter, and once again, Speedy elects to not tell his father her true identity, instead urging Fukurokov to continue his work on his mysterious machine. Come on, Speedy, I may be biased in wanting the heroes to win, but purely from a logical standpoint, you're mishandling this situation spectacularly. Since Bunnie is, of course, a hero and not a traitor, when she shows up at the location of Antoine and Tails' fight she helps rescue them from the soldiers that have begun to overwhelm them.
Antoine is overjoyed to see her alive and well, even more so when she hands over her borrowed sword for him to use, and apologizes for frightening her with his act. Bunnie enthusiastically thanks Tails for helping save her husband before revealing she has a gift for him too - the schematics for the entire base. After downloading them into T-Pup and analyzing the hologram, Tails figures out the best place for them to attack to weaken the base's infrastructure to force the Armada to stop operations, and they fight their way back in, only to find themselves confronted by Fukurokov in a storage bay. Their stumbling over his name infuriates him even further, and he sends in his newly-fixed-up giant robot to attack them.
Spoiler alert: it's the robot. Bunnie is knocked senseless, and Antoine and Tails are forced to run for their lives from the "Mole Mech" as Fukurokov sets it to attack them relentlessly…
It’s time for another apology for falling behind on posts, this time by several days. Unfortunately burnout is a real thing, and writing a post a day for almost a year straight has begun to take its toll on me mentally. For the record, I’m not going to delay my posting schedule for this, I’m just going to spend today and possibly tomorrow playing catch-up on the ones I’ve already missed. My goal for this blog was always to end my readthrough of the preboot right at the start of November, and that’s not changing. But I never did intend for my posting schedule to become so haphazard. The only reason I’ve fallen behind these past few days is because my sleep schedule is horrendously messed up, and it’s been affecting my ability to concentrate (I’ve pretty much done nothing but sleep, eat, and binge Game Grumps episodes these past couple days). I’m gonna do my best to get back on schedule, but please bear with me if posts are timed kind of chaotically right now.
The Tails Adventure (Part 2 of 4): Trouble in Paradise (Part Two): The Honeymoon's Over
Writer: Ian Flynn
Pencils: Tracy Yardley!
Colors: Jason Jensen
Well, that's quite a straightforward title, isn't it? No more honeymoon for you, Bunnie and Antoine! With the two lovebirds captured, Tails is left to face Speedy alone. It should be noted that Speedy, despite being a bird and even clearly mentioning wings as something necessary for flight, does not actually fly with his wings. He doesn't even appear to have wings, just ordinary arms, but he flies anyway, just sort of… Superman-ing his way through the air, I guess. Apparently, the Battle Bird Armada considers Cocoa Island to be their private training ground, having moved in sometime in between now and the last time Tails was here, and Speedy has a personal grudge against Tails for his "unnatural" flying, since only birds should fly.
Tails leads Speedy on a chase through a network of caves in the cliffside nearby, and Speedy is amazed at just how fast Tails is able to fly. He manages to catch up and smacks Tails downward, but when he turns around to finish the fight, Tails is mysteriously gone. Speedy then gets a message calling him back to the fleet, so he's forced to leave, while Tails, having concealed himself and T-Pup under an overhang, tries to catch his breath. Despite wanting to save his friends, he's exhausted, and admits he can't come up with a plan without sleeping first, so asks T-Pup to keep watch and wake him in the morning. Fast forward to… the next morning! Bunnie and Antoine have been placed in separate cells next to each other in the Battle Bird Armada's hideout inside the fake island, and apparently while they've been alone, they've come up with a plan, ready to execute it as soon as their captors enter the room.
So! You remember how the Eggman Empire has been expanding their recruits into the Dark Egg Legion lately? And how all those recruits are "legionized" by being outfitted with cybernetic limbs and such? Well, the current Battle Lord, Battlekukku XV (Speedy's father), has in fact mistaken Bunnie for a member of the Legion! She realizes pretty quickly what's going on as he sits her down for a friendly talk, and immediately falls into her new role, graciously "forgiving" the Battle Lord for not recognizing who she was and bragging about how she's a deep cover agent who married Antoine just to investigate the Freedom Fighters from within. She gets him to explain why his Battle Bird Armada is here, finding out that though they're not a part of the Eggman Empire they maintain friendly relations, and that their ultimate goal is to rule the skies and seek out their ancient homeland - though those annoying "rogues" have been hindering them lately. Hey, it's those "rogues" again!
Yeah, so the Babylon Rogues (and Bean the Dynamite) being defectors from the Armada has been hinted at here and there very subtly before now, but given that this is the first time we've actually heard of the Battle Bird Armada it just goes to show just how far into the future Ian plans his plotlines. Also, I know Bunnie is meant to be fibbing here about Tails' abilities, but like, she's not wrong about him being a child soldier. It's just that every other member of the Freedom Fighters is also a child soldier, or was once in the case of those who have aged into adults by now, so it's not even particularly noteworthy by this point. While Bunnie continues to get the Battle Lord talking about his Armada, Tails wakes up and makes his way back to the Sea Fox. It's under guard, but luckily he stopped by his workshop to grab some gas bombs, and thus the guards get to take a nice little nap of their own as Tails uses the Sea Fox to explore the edges of the artificial island from under the water. He can't find a way in, but he does find out that it's connected to Cocoa Island's extensive underground cave system, so he intends to continue his search there. Meanwhile, Antoine gets his cell guard talking in perhaps the greatest callback to the infamous "margarine torture" scene from SatAM to ever grace mine own eyeballs.
'Twan, you gotta be sneakier than that! Speedy calls the Battle Lord and raises the alarm, and Bunnie insists she be the one to pursue the escaped Antoine, as the situation needs her "personal touch." Under the water, Tails finds himself under attack from several of the Armada's troops in submarines of their own, and though he manages to defeat them he doesn't want to risk staying under there any longer, surfacing quickly. Antoine, racing through the base's corridors, happens upon a door and thinks he's found a way out only to be outraged that the door opens into nothingness, a long drop between him and the waves below. He briefly seems confused by something he sees in the water, but then Speedy, Bunnie, and several more Armada troops corner him, and Speedy and Bunnie get into an argument over who should take charge of the situation, during which Speedy clearly mentions her being a double-agent for the Dark Egg Legion. Antoine, hearing this, seems stunned, and Bunnie frantically tries to convince him to come with her so that she can explain things to him in a safe location.
Oh, no! I can't believe Antoine just totally committed suicide on panel in this comic for children! I'm sure this is completely real and not a ruse at all! What a cliffhanger!
Man, can you believe we've passed three hundred issues? We've got less than a hundred left to go in the preboot! It's a bit sad to think about, honestly, given how it all ended, but no need to dwell on it yet, as we still have a fair amount to go.
The Tails Adventure (Part 1 of 4): Trouble in Paradise (Part One): No Rest for the Weary
Writer: Ian Flynn
Pencils: Tracy Yardley!
Colors: Jason Jensen
So! Speaking of adaptions of Sonic video games, we're going all the way back to 1995 for this one. There was a somewhat obscure game for the Game Gear called Tails Adventure, and, well, given the title of this arc, I bet you can guess what it's an adaption of. Obviously, given how different this world is, there are some differences - for one, Bunnie and Antoine didn't exist back then in their current incarnations, while they're key players here - but in general, the setting and story of this arc is loosely based on that of the game. Interestingly enough, it's actually based on the Japanese version of the game's story rather than the English one, which is probably a good choice as the Japanese version's story took itself slightly more seriously (given that unfortunately, back in those days western localizations of Japanese games tended to dumb down plot points a bit).
We open with Tails taking Bunnie and Antoine along with him in the Sea Fox to his own private hideout, Cocoa Island, so they can take a much-deserved honeymoon. As they come into view of the island, Tails becomes confused, as he can see three smaller islands surrounding it.
Apparently, absolutely no one thinks this is suspicious despite there being at least one other instance of an artificial island run by badniks existing in this universe, so they land on the island and begin unpacking, unaware of a periscope spying on them from the strange new sister island. From below its surface, inside a hidden base several shadowy bird-shaped figures watch the heroes' movements, wondering who they are and why they're here. The figure that appears to be the leader tells them to just keep monitoring them for now. Tails, meanwhile, announces to Bunnie and Antoine that he'll be going to his workshop while they stay on the beach, and asks if they'll be bored at all, which they insist they won't.
I think the main difference between Penders' sexual references and Ian's is that Ian's are subtle enough that they could conceivably fly straight over the heads of younger readers, and aren't explicit enough to raise any eyebrows. Penders, on the other hand, tended to have all the subtlety of a brick flying through a windshield, and as such his "references" were more along the lines of people just straight up talking about sex, but replacing every offending word with "we didn't do… that!" or "nothing actually happened!" interspersed with shots of the characters just like, blatantly making out under a tree or something. I mean, remember the time they literally had to censor his dialogue regarding Evil Sonic/Scourge and Bunnie to make it about how they "took a nap" instead? In other words, Ian actually does it right, and doesn't make it awkward or inappropriate, while still leaving cheeky jokes in there for older readers.
Anyway, Tails heads up to his workshop while reminiscing about how he came to have a spot on this island in the first place. Apparently, he stumbled upon it when he was coming back from his adventures in Downunda waaayyy back in the Tails Miniseries, but didn't start coming here more often until Sonic "died" during the Xorda invasion, using the hard work of building a workshop to help him through his grief. He only revealed its existence to the others recently for fear that they would forbid him from coming here alone due to his age, but now that he feels everyone sees him as a fully-fledged Freedom Fighter he thought he would be fine taking others here. In high spirits, he takes to the skies, and everyone in the hidden base promptly freaks the hell out.
Ah, inter-Mobian racism, eh? That's certainly a strange take given the crazy superpowers half the Mobian population have naturally, but sure, drama, I guess. As the figure goes to meet with the "battle lord" to discuss the situation, we watch the day play out, with Bunnie and Antoine enjoying their time down on the beach scuba diving, setting up a tent and campfire, and enjoying each other's company, while Tails works hard on a new device which, when finished, turns out to be a little puppy-shaped robot he names T-Pup, complete with retractable helicopter blades so it can follow him around in the sky. Adorable! As the day winds down, Bunnie and Antoine find themselves in the middle of a heart to heart.
In case anyone was unaware, at this point in the story Bunnie is eighteen and Antoine is twenty, so yeah, they are pretty young to be getting married. That said, Mobians do seem to reach maturity just a little earlier than humans do in this universe - I mean, no one has really batted an eye at the many examples of sixteen-year-olds almost getting married so far - so there's that, at least. Everything seems lovely and idyllic, until suddenly a massive explosion wakes Tails up, and he rushes out of his workshop to see the jungle on fire. Bunnie and Antoine are trapped between the fire, the water, and a squad of birds armed with deadly machines and guns. Antoine steals a gun and he and Bunnie begin to fight back while Tails rushes to help them, only to be accosted by more birds. He has a brief flashback to how helpless he used to be as a younger child, before riding on a burst of newfound confidence and easily smashing up several of the birds' machines. However, a green streak speeds by him, and the leader challenges him wordlessly to a one-on-one battle in the air. Meanwhile, Antoine and Bunnie do their best to hold their own, but there's just too many enemies to handle, and they're overwhelmed and knocked out.
Well, what an interesting comment! Who might these "rogues" be they're talking about? Tails continues his fight against the green bird, angrily demanding to know who they are and why they're attacking, and the bird slams him into the ground before announcing that the only thing he needs to know is that he is known as *clears throat* Speedy, the sixteenth Battlekukku of the Battle Bird Armada, and that he plans to kill Tails for being a "freak." Strong words coming from someone who looks like he's wearing a diaper, bro.
Writer: Ian Flynn
Pencils: Steven Butler
Colors: Matt Herms
A flustered Sonic finds himself in the middle of two very angry opposing clans, trying to figure out how to keep the peace without Sally here to help him. Lupe states that she brought her people along to find Sonic because she'd figured that he may have been hurt or captured by the Felidae, though it really does seem like just somewhat of an excuse to confront the queen face to face.
The two sides start accusing each other of stealing the Ancient Onyx, while Sonic wonders worriedly where Sally has gotten to. In the intervening time, Drago's had her tied to a pedestal holding, but of course, the Ancient Onyx. Turns out, it's the very same black emerald that Eggman cracked to release Chaos way back in the Sonic Adventure arc! Remember, the Master Emerald had barely come into existence by that point, so they needed a different "container" for Chaos to come out of initially. Drago gloats about capturing Sally while Sally is mostly unamused by his cheesy villainous dialogue, and she begins to taunt him only to stop herself when she sees an opportunity. Instead, she acts like she's given up hope because Drago is such a brilliant tactician, pretending to be dumb in order to goad him into monologuing about his plans.
He explains that he went back to the Eggman Empire because he was tired of running with the Destructix, while Razorklaw here was - oh, hey, that's a familiar name! Yep, this is the same Razorklaw whom Locke bested in combat, again, back during the Sonic Adventure adaption. After he lost the fight, he was disgraced and exiled by the queen, and in looking for a new crew to join ended up with the Dark Egg Legion. Sally drops the pretense once he's finished, pointing out he's just another lackey and hasn't moved up at all, so Drago gloats that he's the one who came up with the idea for this operation, stealing the emerald to pit the Wolf Pack and Felidae against each other. And now with Sally in his custody, he has to decide if he wants to set her up as the one behind it all to turn her into the scapegoat, or kill her to bring in New Mobotropolis for a "nice three-way war." Meanwhile, Sonic paces, trying to figure out what Sally was up to, while Big stands in between the irate Lupe and Hathor, who are screaming accusations at each other. Sonic suddenly hits upon an epiphany, and gets everyone to quiet down for a moment so he can share it.
Eyy, look who's learning to use his smarts! As he convinces Hathor to agree to his plan, Drago plays at being indecisive about his choice over what to do with Sally, stopping Razorklaw when he tries to just kill her outright and scolding him for being "terrible at this villain thing." At least he's self-aware, man. A loud chorus of howls interrupts them, and Drago and Razorklaw are horrified to see both the Wolf Pack and the Felidae charging their hideout. Sonic shows both leaders that members of their own clans have betrayed them to join the Legion, and they're infuriated that any of their own would think to join such an evil organization.
Big, I love you so much. Sonic and Big untie Sally, and she congratulates him on figuring everything out without her there to help him, as well as bringing both warring nations together for the first time. Drago, Razorklaw, and the Legionnaires who haven't been captured all make a run for it, and Lupe orders her people to stand down instead of giving chase. With their shared enemy gone, the Wolf Pack and Felidae look like they might start going for each other's throats again, but Sally holds up the Ancient Onyx, and gives a nice speech about how they've argued over it for too long and how their enemy has used it against them, and yet they came together as allies today of their own volition.
Good enough, man! That night, Lupe inducts Sonic and Sally as well as Big into the Wolf Pack Nation, and while the festivities commence Sally asks Sonic if he thinks the Ancient Onyx has anything to do with the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic replies that he can't sense any Chaos energy coming from it, so while he doesn't know what it might be, it's definitely not related. This is a strange thing to claim, because, again, this is the artifact that literally held Chaos in it for millennia, but eh, that plot point was never really properly explained to begin with anyway. The story appears to be over, but an issue is never complete without a hook for the next plot arc…
We haven't heard anything from either the Arctic Freedom Fighters or Rotor's herd in a very long time! I guess it's finally time to see what they're all up to…
Writer: Ian Flynn
Pencils: Steven Butler
Colors: Matt Herms
We begin this era by going back to characters - and places - we haven't seen in a long time, some as far back as the Sonic Adventure adaption. Things start out tense enough, as Sonic and Big the Cat find themselves surrounded by angry Felidae warriors with spears. Remember, the Felidae are cat warriors who are A. led by a short-tempered queen named Hathor, B. live in the Mysterious Cat Country, also known as the Pais Misterioso, and C. were once very much oppressed by the ancient echidnas during the time of Chaos. Weirdly enough, though I suppose it should have been obvious, Big the Cat is part of this clan, though he lives on the outskirts and is shunned by the others for willingly conversing with "outsiders." Hathor is already unhappy about Sonic's arriving in her territory, and becomes even more so when Big lets slip that they're here to retrieve the "Ancient Onyx." Sonic tries to smooth things over, but Hathor refuses to listen to him, and calls for a much more interesting method of learning the truth.
This was something that was mentioned in her previous appearance, but never really delved into - which makes me glad that we're going into it now, as it's a pretty interesting aspect of the Felidae's culture. Sonic plays into this by claiming his gloves are interpreter's gloves, giving him an in to explain everything that's led up to this very confusing moment. Earlier that day, he and Sally flew down to the area to visit the Wolf Pack in the area, as they were to be made honorary members in light of everything they've done. They were surprised to learn when they arrived that Lobo, Lupe's husband, was the chief now, skeptical that Lupe would ever step down from a leadership position - of course, their instincts are right, and Lupe steps out to reveal her snazzy new getup and role.
Man, Lupe is just the best, y'all. She told Sonic and Sally that she'd managed to unite every scattered wolf pack into a grand nation recently, though she still considers raising her children to be a bigger challenge - not a surprise really, as she not only has her two biological teenage children, but also Aerial and Athena, the two Overlander girls she adopted. Glad to see those two are still with the Wolf Pack! Lupe informed Sonic and Sally that the ceremony would unfortunately be informal as they couldn't currently find their sacred relic, the Ancient Onyx, which Lobo was certain the Felidae stole. Lupe barely got through explaining the Felidae to Sonic and Sally, including mentioning that there's been no contact between the two clans in generations, when the alarm was sounded of a Felidae warrior entering their city. A huge, powerful, mighty warrior who could certainly take on all of the Wolf Pack's warriors by himse-
Really, it is nice to see Big again. He's obviously not the most popular character in the franchise - I mean, he's more of a meme than anything with most of the fanbase - but in the right hands, he's, if not quite compelling, then intensely likeable. And Ian certainly counts as the right hands. I find that, more than any other writer who's ever gotten their hands on Big period, he's able to strike the perfect balance between making Big the simpleminded comic relief without getting into actually offensive territory. Big isn't funny because he's stupid, he's funny because he's so used to a non-complicated, simple life that politics, wars, and other things just fly right over his head. But he's sweet, and helpful, and kind, and that's what makes him so great.
Sonic immediately rushed out to vouch for Big, explaining their history together during the Chaos incident in Station Square, only for Big to end up threatened by the Wolf Pack's warriors anyway when he says he's here to retrieve, surprise surprise, the Ancient Onyx for the Felidae. Man, why does everyone want this thing, anyway?
Good thing Lupe's actually level-headed. Sonic and Big went back to the Felidae to discuss matters, while Sally decided to check something else out nearby, intending to come back with more information later. Now in the present, as Sonic and Big try to talk things out with Queen Hathor, Sally slinks through the ruins of the ancient echidna city in the area, the very same one with that awful statue of a conquering echidna stepping on a cat's body. She figures that it's too suspicious that such an important artifact to two different, opposing tribes would go missing like this, leaving the two strongest powers in the region on the brink of war, and figures that this would be the perfect hiding place for whoever stole the gem. Sure enough, she discovers a chapter of the Dark Egg Legion has set up camp in the ruins, and is just about to go back to report this information when none other than Drago Wolf, having joined back up with the Eggman Empire after ditching the Destructix, catches her snooping around. He and what appears to be a Felidae defector chase her around, showing off their terrifying new cybernetic limbs complete with deadly claws while Sally begins to wish she'd brought Sonic along. Unfortunately, she's just not really suited to a stand-up fight alone, and quickly becomes cornered.
…okay, is it just me, or is Sally getting captured a lot lately? Like, every few issues or so now? Normally she's not the damsel in distress type, either, especially with Ian writing her, so I don't know where this sudden rash of hostage situations has come from. Sonic, unaware of Sally's plight, arranges an agreement with Queen Hathor to help them find the Ancient Onyx first, so that they might negotiate which clan takes ownership of it afterwards, and Hathor agrees, though she wants Big out of her territory in exchange.
Honestly, this is just so sweet and kind. Again, Big often gets kind of swept aside and dismissed as some idiot just obsessed with a frog, but I'm really happy that Sonic is shown genuinely caring about his wellbeing here, going as far as to make sure that he'll have a new home that's to his liking once this is all over. Sonic is just about to get started on their new plans when the alarm is raised that the Wolf Pack are marching on the Felidae city, led by Lupe, armed and angry…
Writer: Ian Flynn
Pencils: Tracy Yardley!
Colors: Matt Herms
I have to say, it seems a little strange to have an entire issue dedicated to just the epilogue of an arc, but then again, it's a longer arc than most - long enough to count as a full era in itself, albeit the shortest era in the comic. Unlike most epilogues, however, this story doesn't tie up loose ends so much as it turns those loose ends into new plot threads for future issues. We once again join Sonic on an excursion into the Eggdome almost a week after the Iron Queen's defeat, this time accompanied by Nicole (in handheld form) and Tails. Tails is a bit skeptical of Sonic's near-obsession with combing the Eggdome for clues, but Sonic brushes him off by saying that he just wants to make himself useful and doesn't want any more surprise invasions coming their way. Nicole, for her part, seems content to help him out, scanning every hallway they enter to try to find any trace of Eggman, but Eggman has scrambled the signals of all his technology so well that he's confident they'll never trace him until he's good and ready to come out. Snively tentatively suggests that since they're so secure here, they might still be able to make a quick trip to the Dragon Kingdom to rescue Regina, but Eggman is still firmly against the idea, not caring about Snively's lingering feelings for her, and merely asks him what the status of their "patient" is.
Well, it's good to know Lien-Da isn't dead, at least. I'd miss her treacherous nature if she kicked the bucket. Sally, meanwhile, has borrowed Knuckles' warp ring to take a trip back to the Dragon Kingdom to spend some time alone with Monkey Khan. He's feeling a little overwhelmed at the amount of rebuilding he needs to do in his home, as well as looking into Espio's comment about "other Khans," but Sally is confident that he can handle it, citing how much he's grown even in just the past few weeks compared to who he was before.
Aaaand there it is! The classic first kiss under the moonlight! It's all very romantic, and Sally admits that she is tempted by the offer, but can't abandon her own people when there's similar levels of rebuilding necessary in her homeland - not to mention it would be kinda weird going from not even officially dating to married joint rulers of an entire region basically overnight, right Sally? Ken, however, thinks he knows what's really holding her back - naturally, Sonic. She explains, somewhat worried for his feelings, about how she handled things poorly during their breakup, and wants to make sure she isn't throwing away a potential relationship with him too quickly.
PO! LY! A! MO! RY! Seriously, Sally, you clearly have strong feelings for him, and hell, he and Sonic even had a full-on bonding moment over being attracted to you, without any hint of jealousy! You three could totally make this work! *sigh* I guess 2010 is still too early to be positively portraying those kinds of relationships in media for younger audiences, though. Pity.
On Angel Island, the entire Chaotix group has a powwow around a campfire, with Knuckles insisting that Espio has to come clean about everything to them if there's to be any more trust between them. Espio readily agrees, and explains his role as a Shinobi spy to the group. Vector cheekily challenges Espio about having any dirt on him at all, and Espio immediately calls him out on being a Downunda native - hilariously, he apparently has a natural Australian accent, but hides it underneath an "overbearing 'street lingo' accent" as Espio puts it to avoid any questions about his past. That's… actually amazing. Knuckles, however, isn't so amused, and accuses Espio of knowing everything about his past that he searched for answers to for so long, but Espio insists he barely knew more than Knuckles did, only knowing that Knuckles was a Guardian and not much else. Julie-Su pointedly asks if he would have told him, then, if he had known everything, and Espio awkwardly tries to dodge the question. At this point Charmy interjects, cheerfully wanting Espio to spill some secrets on him, and Espio carefully explains to Charmy about how he was a prince once but lost his entire kingdom. Charmy refuses to believe any of it - apparently, his memory loss is still pretty extensive - and Saffron asks Espio to give him more time to try to remember. Mighty then chimes in, encouraging Knuckles to not be so angry at Espio.
…ouch. Big huge ouch, man. No time to dwell on it, though, as Sonic and Tails are still busy investigating the Eggdome. They're about to give up when Nicole begins beeping in earnest, claiming she's found a faint signal. They follow it to a hidden lab, and as they're speculating who it might have belonged to given that it's not arranged in Eggman's usual style, Nicole locates the source.
Gee, I wonder what, or who, might be trapped in a box inside a hidden lab in the Eggdome? As morning begins to break over Angel Island, Ray enters Mighty's home to find him packing for a journey. He's worried Mighty is angry, but Mighty assures him that while he's not happy, he's not truly angry, wanting to respect Espio's traditions despite his personal feelings. However, he's determined to find his sister, and Ray, unable to talk him out of it, insists on joining him, scared to death of being left behind again (remember, after the last time he and Mighty got separated, all the way back in Robotnik's old prison camp - it's heavily implied the trauma from that event is what gave him his stutter, after all). Mighty agrees that Ray can come along, and both feeling better, they prepare for their journey to find Mighty's sister. Meanwhile, Sally returns through the warp ring to New Mobotropolis to find Nicole waiting for her. Sally barely has time to ask where Sonic is before he zooms up, eager to hear how she's doing. She reports back that the Dragon Kingdom and Khan are doing well, and is curious when Sonic mentions something to Nicole about their "new friend" being taken care of in the science center by Tails. Sonic promises to tell her about it later after he's had lunch, but Sally stops him before he can run off.
Man, it's nice to see these two getting cozy once again. It's been almost a hundred issues since we saw them together in any kind of romantic capacity - I mean, it took them long enough to just repair their friendship, let alone begin thinking about dating once more. It's clear that they've both missed this closeness, probably more than they were even willing to admit to themselves. Unfortunately, due to the nature of comics like these, it's a pretty safe bet that this won't last - gotta have that will-they-won't-they to keep readers invested, after all - but we might as well enjoy it until then. For now, though, it's time to leave the Iron Dominion arc behind and head into the second-to-last era of the preboot comics!
Writer: Ian Flynn
Pencils: James Fry
Colors: Matt Herms
Unlike the last Free Comic Book Day special, which was mostly just a fun tie-in to the current plot of the comics, this one appears to be a "hook" of sorts. It spends an inordinate amount of time explaining to the reader not only what has just happened with the Iron Dominion, but basically everything that's happened since the first Robotnik died. It definitely has the vibe of like, hoping curious comic-book-shop-goers will pick it up and leaf through it and ultimately decide that this is a series they want to get into.
Ever since the Iron Dominion was defeated, Sonic has been taking a trip to the Eggdome every day, certain that this is where Eggman must have escaped to and wanting to find out what he might be up to. Eggman, for his part, has decided that for now it's best to lie low and pretend like he's not home, though he of course watches Sonic traverse his seemingly-empty base over a series of hidden cameras. He takes great pleasure in watching Sonic and cackling evilly to himself about how he'll never find where Eggman is hiding, and soon enough he'll strike back at the Freedom Fighters and Republic of Acorn.
That's a genuine goddamn "I didn't see you playing with your dolls again" moment and I am here for it. As Sonic slips inside the Eggdome and begins wandering its empty halls, a strange, plantlike being watches him from the shadows and… slobbers horrifically, talking to itself about how it can't believe Sonic is here after all this time. Eugh. Sure enough, right in the middle of his very detailed and specific thoughts about the finer points of the recent Iron Dominion invasion, Sonic finds his path blocked by the disgusting plant creature, which introduces itself as the Krudzu Hybrid Hydra. No, seriously, I mean it introduces itself.
So, show of hands. Who here remembers the Krudzu? This guy first appeared allllll the way back in the very first issue of this entire comic! Mind you, it wasn't the first first issue, given that the Sonic Miniseries came out before StH#1, but still, we're going back quite a ways for this one. Also, it turns out that Eggman isn't behind this one, as he's well and truly freaked out by the appearance of this thing. Snively explains to him that his predecessor created it from the seeds of the original Krudzu and designed it to combine itself with any robots it could find to strengthen itself, but he'd thought it dead when the bombs hit Robotropolis some time back. Eggman, at this, becomes very enthusiastic, certain that this thing is the key to his victory, and gets even more pumped when the Krudzu Hybrid Hydra explains to Sonic how it survived the explosions by burrowing a single tiny root into the ground, growing for some time, and then using any broken badniks it could find after the fact to make itself stronger. It thinks that Sonic should be utterly terrified by this news, but much to its chagrin, Sonic is actually pleased, thinking that Eggman's most recent forces have been boring and "not his style" and he appreciates the retro vibe of the old badniks.
And to think that Ian called the Classic Sonic purist ideology before it was cool. Sonic quickly rips the Krudzu Hybrid Hydra to pieces and walks away satisfied, but a moment later it rearranges itself and begins to beat Sonic in earnest, claiming that since it was hardy enough to survive a barrage of literal nukes there's no way Sonic's attacks could beat it. By this point, Snively has gotten in on the fun and is cheering the monster on, only to be surprised when Eggman walks away without a word.
…you know, as much as I've criticized various villains for doing exactly this many times before, in a way, I can almost empathize with Eggman here. Recently I've been stuck in a loop of starting new save files in No Man's Sky over and over because my second ship wasn't big enough, or my first base kind of sucked, or I didn't like the appearance of the overseer I ended up with. I straight up beat the game and then went "nah, I don't like this save file anymore" and started another new one. The point of bringing up my inability to actually stick with any project in particular is, feeling that to do something you're so passionate about, you have to do it right and have it go perfectly so you can savor it forevermore, is actually painfully relatable, I know not just for me, but for a lot of people out there. It's kind of played for laughs here, with Snively actually going to the back of the room to bang his head against the wall in frustration, but even here, even now, after having his revelation about the sheer unpredictability of Sonic, Eggman is still eager to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory just to ensure that everything goes exactly his way in the super duper final actual finale, sanity be damned. And that's exactly what happens - right as the Krudzu Hybrid Hydra is about to kill Sonic, the tiny golden bird that Eggman constructed flies down and gently taps it on the head.
The *light tap* *humongous mega-explosion* trope will never not be funny to me, honestly. Sonic is incredibly suspicious given that there's no way its sudden, unexplained self-destruct could be a coincidence, so as he leaves to rest and recuperate, he calls out to Eggman wherever he might be hiding and watching that he's going to keep coming back to find out where he is and what he's planning. Eggman merely cackles as Sonic legs it back home, ready for their next face to face encounter.
Writer: Ian Flynn
Pencils: Steven Butler
Colors: Matt Herms
After a brief recap of prior events, we launch right into the action as Sonic, Sally, Tails, and Khan burst back into New Mobotropolis to save the day. The Iron Queen is unconcerned when Geoffrey taunts her about her defeat being imminent, certain that with Iron Nicole under her control, she'll have no problem winning anyway.
You know, you'd think she'd have seen this coming, considering that right after Sally cut Nicole off from the Iron Queen's control for like five whole minutes, her plans started being thwarted left and right. The Iron Queen is furious and begins to use the nanites to fight Nicole, and Nicole likewise fights back with her own set of nanites, each conjuring up machines, shields, walls, and so on to battle it out. Sonic heads straight for Amy and the Iron King to help out, while Snively crawls around in a panic seeing everything he's worked so hard for fall apart around him in an instant.
You know, as much as I realize Snively is a self-serving traitor and thus obviously doesn't want to be captured by the very people he's screwed over so many times, what is he really so terrified of? Sure, Sally's angry with him, but A. she has every right to be and B. this is Sally we're talking about. It's not like she's about to sentence him to be publicly burnt at the stake or something. Even the worst of the worst get fair treatment in New Mobotropolis' prison system - three square meals a day, humane living conditions, and so on. At worst, Snively would spend a very boring few years in prison until he found a way to break out or otherwise reformed his behavior or something. Snively tries to remain confident in the face of Sally's accusations, reminding her that they still have three other clans to call on in the Dragon Kingdom, but, well, clearly he hasn't read the latest arc of SU. Khan descends on his cloud from above and calls out to the Yagyu that on his word of honor they’re free of the Iron Dominion, and to Lien-Da's shock and anger, the Yagyu on the field immediately pack up and leave, uncaring what happens to the Legion without them. However, Lien-Da suddenly realizes this could be a blessing in disguise for her, as with the Iron King and Queen tied up in their own fights and the Iron Dominion's support base crumbling, this is her chance to seize power of the Eggman Empire for herself. The Iron Queen overhears her announcement of the change in management to her troops, and tries to take control of the Legion's cybernetics to force them to continue fighting for her, but Lien-Da's already got that one covered.
…okay, yikes, definitely didn't see that one coming. The legionnaires panic upon seeing their Grandmaster basically explode in front of them, and look to Snively for guidance, but at this point Snively completely breaks and goes running off screaming, leaving the legionnaires to gather up Lien-Da's limp form and retreat to the Eggdome, leaving the Iron King and Queen to fend for themselves. The Iron King is doing a good job of holding his own on account of his invulnerability, but luckily, the heroes have access to just the macguffin they need!
It's actually never clearly stated, but the implication here is supposed to be that when the Iron King stole the fan, he hid it in the Iron Fortress, and when the Raiju occupied said fortress, Espio was able to go there and retrieve the fan with their blessing. Khan blows the Iron King straight out of the comic with the encouragement of Sonic's trash talk by his side (I mean it, too - this is the last time we ever see the Iron King), leaving the Iron Queen to fight alone. Snively sees the Iron King fly straight through the metal dome over the city and panics to the point of incoherence, heading straight for the prison and shakily typing in the code to open Eggman's cell.
Hey, look, it's exactly what I was talking about last issue. Snively, given the choice between surrendering peacefully to Sally and receiving fair treatment in prison, or going back to his abusive, controlling uncle, chooses the latter, simply because it's all he knows anymore. And even worse, Eggman totally called it. He knows just how much influence he has over Snively, and relishes it, using it to his fullest advantage to make sure he always has a loyal lackey in the end. The heroes back in the coliseum offer the Iron Queen a fair chance to surrender, but unwilling to give up, she uses the nanites to encase herself in a giant mechanical Chinese dragon in one last-ditch effort to win. Tails fires on the dragon from the Tornado, while Khan and Amy chime in with lightning powers and heavy hammering respectively, and the Iron Queen makes a break for the hole in the city's dome, trying to escape so she can come back and win another day. However, Sonic simply isn't having it, and runs all the way up the length of the dragon to ensure she can't get away.
Nice job using a catchphrase that isn't even yours, Regina. Antoine handcuffs the defeated queen while the rest of the heroes celebrate winning the day, none of them yet realizing the renewed storm brewing on the horizon now that Eggman has escaped and is sane once more. Snively tentatively suggests doubling back to rescue Regina, but Eggman refuses, saying that he's already got new plans and now that he's had time to "rest and recharge," he's more ready than ever to complete his world conquest…
Writer: Ian Flynn
Pencils: Steven Butler
Colors: Matt Herms
So two things before we get started. First of all, this is the first issue in a very long time to have a genuine intro page! Remember how Kenders loved those so much? (That's not a dig against him, by the way, he just genuinely liked putting them in his issues.) A few issues here and there lately have had… "pseudo intro pages," I guess, which were more just simple recaps at the start of an issue with a few images to show us what was going on. This one is a true intro page, though its function is identical, merely reminding us what the situation is in New Mobotropolis. That leads me into my second point: weirdly enough, due to the nature of the Sonic Universe spinoff, this issue actually came out before most of the ones we just covered, and considering that this is the issue of Sonic and co's epic heroic return to save the day, it definitely seems odd to cover everything that went down in the Dragon Kingdom after said everything went down. I mean, I can't fault Ian or anything, they did need to have one issue of each series come out per month, and dragging out the Iron Dominion arc longer than it needed to be just to make sure everything was presented in chronological order certainly would have been the wrong move, but even so, reading this in the order we have definitely makes more sense.
On to the actual story, we find Amy and Antoine beating a hasty retreat from a squad of Dark Legionnaires within the city, which is still tightly sealed by the metal dome overhead. They find themselves cornered when a bunch of Yagyu join in the fun, only for a bunch of darts to fly in and save their hides, fired by none other than Geoffrey St. John, back from a mission outside the city! Man, been a while since we've seen him around! He covers their retreat with a flashbang, remarking that things weren't even this bad under the first Robotnik, and joins them in their retreat into a base hidden inside an old hollowed-out tree stump - you know, for old times' sake. Bunnie's been guiltily hiding out there this entire time, upset that she's more of a liability than a help due to the nature of their foe. When Nicole appears Geoffrey is initially hostile before they explain that she's a spy and built this base for them, but the mood quickly turns tense when she reveals why she's here - the Iron Queen is about to hold a public "legionizing" in the New Mobotropolis coliseum, something which horrifies everyone present.
You know, when Geoffrey made the comment about things being bad, he was really freaking right. I mean, Robotnik may have also been a big fan of turning people into brainwashed slaves, but at least he did it in the privacy of his own base, and not live in front of an entire stadium full of traumatized civilians. Everyone files out to stop this from happening immediately, while the Iron Dominion leaders organize the "event." Snively, however, is a little less interested in the proceedings than everyone else…
Can someone say "terrifying"? Turns out Eggman, somehow, has managed to reason his way back into sanity, and not only that, he's figured out the one true reason why he always loses to Sonic no matter what he does. Turns out it's the fault of the eternal unchanging truth of this universe - chaos, or more specifically, Chaos energy. Sonic has absorbed more Chaos energy than pretty much anyone in this universe (well, probably aside from Knuckles, but Knuckles isn't the one who always thwarts Eggman's plans), and thus he's become the literal embodiment of chaos, totally unpredictable - and given that Eggman's plans always hinged on predicting what Sonic would try to do to stop him, naturally, he tended to lose all the time. Eggman demands Snively let him out of his cell so he can get back to conquering the world with this new revelation in mind, but Snively laughs in his face, telling him that he's never been more happy, that he's enjoying being free of Eggman's influence for once, and that, most importantly, he's in love with Regina and he's not about to give that up. Of course, Eggman takes this about as well as you might expect.
See… every time I talk about Snively deserving a redemption arc, it's this kind of stuff that's exactly what I'm getting at. I'm not gonna deny that Snively isn't a good person, but a lot of that comes from the fact that he's never had a good influence in his life. His father never paid much attention to him - we don't know the full details of why he hated his father so much that he was enthusiastic about the prospect of outright killing him, but it had to have been bad to provoke a reaction like that. And his uncle, the single most powerful influence in his life, is a crazy, megalomaniacal world-conqueror who basically tortures small animals for fun at this point. My point is that he's never really had a proper chance to be a good person - even the few times where he's ended up working with the heroes have gone poorly, simply because he always feels that pull right back to his uncle. I've pointed out before how they're basically in an abusive relationship - Snively hates Eggman, and resists working with him when he's stuck with him, but every time he gains his freedom, sooner or later he goes running right back, and I think it's because he just doesn't know how to live without Eggman bossing him around anymore. And now, he thinks he's finally found love, a genuine caring relationship with another human being, and Eggman laughs at him for it, planting insidious seeds of doubt in his head about how real their relationship even is. And to be clear, it's not like Eggman doesn't have a bit of a point - everything so far really has been pointing to Regina taking advantage of Snively, especially with her overbearing attitude when things don't go exactly her way, and Snively clearly does see her as a stepping stone of sorts to his gaining power of his own - but I do think that Snively did and does have genuine feelings for her, if only because she's the first person to really treat him with care, as a respected subordinate instead of a mere lackey. Only now, with Eggman getting into his head, he finds himself doubting even his own thoughts. Classic gaslighting at its finest. Poor Snively, man. He never stood a chance.
Anyway, once Snively goes back to the coliseum, the public legionizing is ready to begin. The Iron King, sitting in the stands with Regina, is grumpy, thinking all this pomp and circumstance is a waste of time, but then Regina explains her true reasons behind such a spectacle - she's noticed the suspicious precision of the resistance's strikes against her troops, and intends to use this event to draw out their spy, since it's so big they can't ignore it. Snively calls for the Legionnaires to bring out their first "volunteer," Rotor, to be legionized. Rotor immediately demonstrates the ridiculousness of their decision to bring him in without restraints by beginning a beatdown of all legionnaires in the vicinity.
I actually deeply appreciate Ian sticking to his guns on this one and making Rotor permanently disabled. I feel like a lot of writers would want to just throw in some magical fix-it that would bring him totally back to normal, but Rotor was injured in a battle, and now the aftereffects are something he's gonna be dealing with for the rest of his life. As the legionnaires grab him to take him to the operating table, Amy, Antoine, and Geoffrey, who had been watching from the shadows, burst in to rescue him. Antoine heads straight for the prison-pod-thingy to release the other captives and give them a chance to escape, while Amy and Geoffrey handle the soldiers. Geoffrey is at first amused at how weak they are, but quickly takes a bad blow from the Iron King, who's all too happy to join the fray. Amy jumps in to save him and orders him to go help Antoine while she handles the Iron King. I really do love that the comics play up Amy's super-strong side instead of her crushing on Sonic side - I feel like too much Sonic media, both official and fan-made, focuses so much on her romantic nature that they forget she's a badass in her own right whom Sonic himself fears the wrath of.
The Iron Queen triumphantly reminds everyone that she controls the nanites that make up the entire city, and for a moment, Geoffrey is actually worried they might lose… but then an explosion from the ceiling alerts everyone to the fact that Sonic and his friends have arrived back from their trip to save the day. Perfect timing coming back from your trip, guys!
Journey to the East (Part 4 of 4): A World Under Constant Vigil
Writer: Ian Flynn
Pencils: Tracy Yardley
Colors: Jason Jensen
So good ol' Espio's back from being a bad guy! Everyone's certainly surprised to see him, but Khan seems a little more than just surprised.
He's got a very fair point. I mean, let's be real, just how many friends would Sonic have left if he rejected everyone he's ever gotten into a physical fight with? Like two? Despite Sonic's words, Sally is suspicious of Espio as well, and when he informs her that he's only with the Iron Dominion because of his affiliation with the Shinobi Clan, she still insists that because of his previous actions she can't trust his word alone. So, he decides on a new tactic to gain their trust - by revealing all the dirt he has on each of them.
Oh, my god. I… honestly can't even imagine where that royal birthmark might be that's so embarrassing, first of all, given that she wears next to nothing all the time anyway. I suppose it'd have to be a place you really have to shift the fur around awkwardly to see. And second of all, look at Khan's freaking face! His reaction! This whole thing is just amazing. Khan still doesn't know what Espio is getting at, and no one really understands how this is supposed to make them trust him more, but Espio explains that his clan's entire philosophy is based on the collection of information, and by divulging it all, he's just lost any advantage over them he would have had, if he desired such a thing. That… doesn't necessarily make much sense and really just sounds like an excuse to have that page above of him hilariously spilling some secrets about the four heroes, but I digress! Espio blindfolds everyone and leads them to a secret cave, where they stand above a dark abyss, and he informs them that they must make it to the other side to meet with the bride of his clan before disappearing. Tails decides to try flying over, but Khan pulls him back before using his lightning powers to reveal a plethora of deadly traps hidden in the stalactites on the cave's roof.
Ah! Not quite the Indiana Jones leap of faith trick, but then again, this isn't a matte painting. Sonic, against Sally's wishes to take things slow, grabs a huge armful of dirt and races on ahead, bridging each break in the twisting path ahead through sheer speed like Mario over a one-tile gap and spreading the dirt everywhere so the path is plainly visible. They cross, expecting more tests, but to their surprise they end up immediately in the Bride of Constant Vigil's main chambers.
Shh! Khan, don't ruin the easiest set of negotiations you've had thus far! At first it really does seem like he's just mad they put so much effort into all this for the last clan to be so easy to win over, but when Sally makes him take a deep breath he reveals that the real reason he's angry is because he thinks the Shinobi Clan should have done more to stand up to the Iron Dominion and help the free people of the Dragon Kingdom. She calmly tells him that once upon a time the clan did just that, tried to act as the "police" of sorts to the Dragon Kingdom, and when they were nearly wiped out as a result they adopted their sneaky ways to survive. Definitely a reasonable position - but she then goes on to say that Espio has demonstrated to her with his actions that sometimes, those rules must be broken for the greater good. Espio, with his bride's permission, explains to everyone that he was never a native to Angel Island as everyone thought, but is rather a Shinobi spy sent to monitor the Brotherhood. W-wait, the Brotherhood? The ones who spied on everyone else across the entire globe for centuries?!
Right here, right now, the Shinobi Clan has earned my everlasting respect. They figured out early on exactly what I've been saying this whole time - that the Brotherhood is (or was, considering all but one member is dead now) shady as hell, and operating with extensive superpowers and no oversight essentially ensured that they became way too self-assured of their "right" to spy on, and potentially take over, the entire freaking world. I'm not even exaggerating here - remember their really creepy conversation in KtE#16 where they were talking about forcibly leading the planet into a new "golden age" under echidna guidance? The Shinobi are the smartest people on the goddamn planet for not only noticing what the hell was going on over there, but taking action to make sure it never went too far. It also adds a hilarious note of irony to the Brotherhood's ever-so-secretive nature - all this time they thought they were the ultimate spies, watching over all of Mobius to look after "echidna interests," with one of them even stationed directly in the Dragon Kingdom, and yet they never suspected for a moment that someone else was watching them.
Anyway, Espio goes on to recount from here how Valdez was his predecessor, keeping tabs on Locke, and when Espio was chosen as his successor he helped him settle into the Rainbow Valley on Angel Island, pretending to be just another local. Espio watched Knuckles for basically the entire time he was alone on the island after Locke disappeared, and the only reason he was permitted to reveal himself at all was due to an emergency, when the Freedom Fighters were captured and Knuckles was stripped of his powers in the Knuckles Chaotix special. His feelings eventually got the better of him, and he became close to Knuckles and the others despite being under orders to remain secretive.
Oh, boy. Even when your mom's the leader of a ninja clan, it's still hard not to be excited when she lets you do something fun, huh Espio? Espio is overjoyed to be free of his former duties, but Constant Vigil remains serious, reminding Khan that he has his work cut out for him in the future. In response, he takes the plain power ring band from his head and, uh… makes a fist around part of it, and after a flash of light there's some kind of little sigil on it. I can only assume this is meant to signify he's accepted his role as King of the Free People, but I have no idea how he just randomly decorated his bit of jewelry with no real effort. Constant Vigil offers to have her clan ensure the heroes' safe journey back to their own kingdom, and when Sonic points out that they don't seem like they can spare the muscle due to the lack of guards, several dozen chameleons melt out of the shadows, revealing they've been watching the conversation all along. Man, I really like these guys. The next day, the heroes thank Li Yuen for hosting them before flying back out, ready to retake their city and break the grip of the Iron Dominion for good.
Journey to the East (Part 3 of 4): No Love in a Conquering Storm
Writer: Ian Flynn
Pencils: Tracy Yardley!
Colors: Jason Jensen
So, what do the Destructix want with Sonic and his team, anyway? Well, Sonic, Sally, and Tails are pretty damn sure they're just looking for a fight, and so begin the battle on their own terms, though Khan is mostly confused and hilariously decides to speak to Sgt. Simian as the others battle around them, awkwardly trying to make small talk about their shared genetic heritage considering they're both, well, simians. Fiona calls a time out to discuss why they're really here, starting with what she's been up to ever since the Suppression Squad turned on Scourge. She escaped during the battle, and then went off in search of her own "quest," ending up at the Bottom of the Barrel Bar and Grill (which, if you'll recall, has been relocated to Mammoth Mogul's new digs) looking for the Destructix.
Well now, how interesting. If this seems like a very final conversation for this character, that's because it is. Sleuth never again appears in any of the subsequent issues, meaning that he really did just cut and retire somewhere for the rest of this world's history. Ostensibly, Ian got rid of him just because he wasn't that interesting of a character - I mean, the guy started out as a one-off joke about Snoop Dogg, for crying out loud. Either way, with Sleuth's disappearance, Fiona took over the Destructix, though they promised to follow her only if she helped them recruit Lightning Lynx back into their ranks. Sonic asks why, and surprisingly, Flying Frog, Sgt. Simian, and Predator Hawk all agree that they want him back simply because he was part of their original team, and they have a bond together that they don't want broken, no matter who's leading them.
…Fiona, sweetie, I love you, but you one hundred percent deserved that. Sally furiously tells Fiona to stop messing with Tails and just tell them what their plan is, so the Destructix announce their idea to team up with the heroes to infiltrate the Raiju Clan's hideout, since they both have business there anyway. That night, they head for the Iron Dominion's old fortress, the one where Sonic and Tails originally fought the Iron King and Queen in StH#60, which is where the Raiju have set up shop. The two teams work together to fight their way in past the ninja guards, and soon enough they stand before Conquering Storm, who's unimpressed by their display of violence, but does admit she likely wouldn't have agreed to see them otherwise. As Lightning watches from her side, she bids them to state their business quickly, so Khan launches right into it.
Tough customer, eh? Khan decides to play by her rules and proposes a duel between two champions, one from each side, with her leaving the Iron Dominion if she loses and the heroes surrendering as prisoners to the Iron Queen if they lose. Conquering Storm, though initially unimpressed, reasons to herself that either way she stands to benefit, and so chooses Lightning as her champion, with Sonic of course being the heroes' champion. Lightning is immediately horrified, having assumed that he would have faced off against Khan, and begins a desperate attack while yelling that he can't afford to lose this fight after all he did to be accepted back into his clan, his home. Sonic is shocked, not realizing how much this meant to Lightning, but reluctantly fights him anyway, knowing that his own city is more important than one individual. Of course, Sonic wins easily, and Lightning is left beaten on the ground.
Ouch. The Destructix reassure Lightning that he can get revenge on the heroes who got him banished a second time before vacating the base, and Sonic feels awful that he had to ruin someone's life over all this. Conquering Storm honors her side of the agreement, though she's still not interested in being friends and kicks the heroes out of the base as well. She's certain that with the Iron Dominion's weakening hold over the region, soon the Raiju Clan will be the ones to rise up and conquer the Dragon Kingdom. A real schemer, that one… Despite his regret, Sonic is able to celebrate a job well done along with the others, and Tails sincerely thanks Sally for standing up for him before. She's relieved that he's grateful, as she'd been worried that she'd actually been imposing on his own feelings instead of letting him handle things himself. Man, the team has come a looong way from babying Tails and acting like he's just some kid who doesn't deserve responsibility, huh? It's really nice, especially as you can see a very clear arc of maturation for him throughout the eras. In addition, we get this absolutely beautiful set of panels that has only convinced me even more that Sally is polyamorous by nature and that she, Sonic, and another individual (in this case, Khan) could totally make a three-way relationship work.
Look at that! Look at the lack of jealousy! Look at the camaraderie and shared enthusiasm for Sally's hotness! If you ask me, the only reasonable solution for a love triangle like this is for them all to just end up together in the end. Anyway, the mood sobers up a little as the group tries to figure out how they'll contact the Shinobi Clan, the most secretive of the four clans. Literally all anyone knows about them is that it's made up of chameleons. Hey, wait, did someone say chameleons?! Espio, quick, that's your cue to show up on the final page for a dramatic reveal that you're willing to guide them to the clan's hideout!
Journey to the East (Part 2 of 4): High Price for Rich Nights
Writer: Ian Flynn
Pencils: Tracy Yardley!
Colors: Jason Jensen
Their second day in the Dragon Kingdom, the heroes set out to meet with the Yagyu Clan only to walk right into an ambush from… the Yagyu Clan. They're certain it was all a set-up and the Yagyu don't want to talk, but luckily the ninjas they sent are all terrible, weak fighters, and the heroes take them down easily, Khan grabbing the last one to demand they be taken to the Yagyu's leader anyway.
They're already seeming like a bit of a disorganized mess, aren't they? The ninja brings the group to the Yagyu's hideout, where despite being the highest authority the clan has besides the Iron Queen herself, the local leader doesn't even get the privilege of being assigned a name.
What a peen. Khan is outraged and almost flies into a fury, but Sally silently calms him with a hand on his shoulder, and he swallows his anger long enough to announce why they've come. The Yagyu lord interrupts him to rudely announce that while he'll allow Sally and Khan to make their case to him due to their status, he doesn't want someone as famously brash as Sonic in his hideout, nor will he consent to discuss matters with a "mere child" such as Tails. Sonic doesn't particularly care whether he has to stick around or not, but Tails is deeply offended and has to be ushered out by Sonic. With the two offending parties gone, the boss has free reign to explain to Sally and Khan how he sees the current matter.
…he's not very bright, is he? Somehow he doesn't seem to realize that "wanting the freedom to do whatever he wants" and "serving a wannabe global dictator" aren't really compatible stances. Outside, Tails is ranting and raving about not being taken seriously, and Sonic is mildly confused as to why he would even care what someone as jerkish as the Yagyu lord thinks of him.
Oh, well hello, Fiona! Fancy seeing you here of all places! No, seriously though, where the hell has she been all this time? Remember, the last we saw of her was when Scourge was defeated, and she seemed to have a bit more of an emotional investment in her relationship with him than she was willing to admit. She promises to tell Sonic and Tails why she's here if they can catch her, and so they take off chasing her through the bamboo forest. They immediately regret it, as it's so thick they can't properly build up speed or fly, and with Fiona's acrobatic skills she slides through the stalks with ease, getting ahead of them quickly. Tails gets smacked in the face by a rogue bit of bamboo, and Sonic emerges on the other side of the thicket only to get his face smashed into the ground by a surprise Sgt. Simian. Both heroes are quickly grabbed and tossed around by the rest of the Destructix, noticeably sans Lightning Lynx, but quite apart from wanting to rough them up a little bit, Fiona and the Destructix actually seem to want to talk about something. Meanwhile, back in the Yagyu hideout, Sally tries to talk their way out of being attacked by pointing out all the reasons it would be beneficial for the clan to renounce the Iron Dominion, but the Yagyu lord thinks that the Iron Queen is the only thing giving them an edge over the other clans and isn't willing to give up his newfound power. Then, unexpectedly, Khan speaks up.
Hey-hey-hey! Well done, Khan! Finally using your words instead of your lightning powers. He and Sally walk out in good spirits, and when Sally asks if he's worried about them stirring up trouble in the future, he explains that he's pretty sure the members of the clan are so divided on what they actually want that they won't be more than a nuisance from now on. Sally's impressed, but Khan insists he was only able to think of such a deal because of her influence.
Okay, you gotta admit, Ian's Monkey Khan is smooth. Sally, though pleased by this display of affection, reminds him they still have two more clans to tackle and a city to save, so they start looking around for Sonic and Tails. Sure enough, just past the bamboo forest they find them, the Destructix standing over them getting ready to make their own terms known…
Journey to the East (Part 1 of 4): Endless Reach of Fate
Writer: Ian Flynn
Pencils: Tracy Yardley
Colors: Jason Jensen
We open in media res at the start of this SU arc, with Sonic fighting a spider ninja and retreating into the Temple of the Golden Lotus in Stormtop Village with Li Yuen. If this sounds like a lot to take in at once, don't worry. If you'll remember, Li Yuen is the lion who acts as the village elder, and the Temple of the Golden Lotus was… uh… originally located in Kar Leung, actually. I'm not sure exactly what to make of this inconsistency, whether Stormtop Village is Kar Leung renamed (the village at the base of Mount Stormtop was never technically named during its only appearance), or whether the temple was rebuilt or relocated considering it was blown the hell up last time we saw it, or even whether this is an entirely separate temple that also just happens to be named the Temple of the Golden Lotus. Either way, it doesn't really matter to the story, as Li Yuen and Sonic take shelter in the temple for now to get away from the attack from the Gossamer Clan, one of the three clans still stationed here in the Dragon Kingdom. Sonic recalls how a few hours ago, his party had arrived and Li Yuen had given them the tour of the place, including telling the story of how apparently, the Dragon Kingdom is so named because it was literally the birthplace of all Mobius' dragons.
In the end, the dragons left a statue behind - a very large, golden statue of a monkey king who just so happens to be the spitting image of one Ken Khan. Sonic, looking at it now, has to admit that the prophecy probably has some merit to it. Li Yuen informs him that unfortunately his friends have been taken hostage by the Gossamer Clan, and speaking of the devil, two members immediately enter the temple through the window. Li Yuen is outraged that they would bring violence into a peaceful temple, so Sonic grabs one and pushes him against a wall for a "friendly chat," noting that they haven't used half the amount of force they're capable of.
Yeah, Sonic's just like that, Li Yuen. If I didn't know better, I'd say he enjoys walking directly into and springing traps, just for fun. But that's ridiculous! The ninjas take him to the Gossamer Clan's base, where his friends are being held, and he agrees to meet the bride without a fuss if they let the others go. Tails is just happy to see Sonic having come to their rescue, Khan is furious about being captured at all, but Sally is quiet and near tears. Khan ushers Sonic into the building so he can talk to her alone, and though Sonic is a bit put out, he takes Tails inside. When Khan tries to talk to Sally, she blows up, crying and saying that she's been failing for a long time now, starting with not arresting Eggman right off the bat when the war ended, then losing New Mobotropolis, and now being captured when they're on an important mission. She feels she's fallen too far from who she used to be, as a young teenager leading a successful war campaign against a global tyrant. Khan initially doesn't know what to say, but then grabs her and launches into the best pep talk he can muster.
Hey, Sally, if it worked, it's not that lousy, is it? At least she's feeling better. The group enters the main chamber and meets with the Bride of Endless Reach, with Sally and Khan introducing themselves formally while Sonic and Tails are rather casual and borderline flippant. Sally is mortified, but Endless Reach doesn't seem to care, instead immediately asking Sally to tell her what happened to Uma Arachnis. Sally is surprised to learn Uma was part of this clan, but like, Sally? You did see that every single spider ninja we've encountered so far looks and is dressed exactly like her, right? Sally tells the truth about her working for Naugus, her change of heart and her eventual demise, and explains the incident with her children and how she initially gave up the Sword of Acorns to them before they were killed and the sword was destroyed. She's apologetic about all their fates, but Endless Reach doesn't seem bothered at all - in fact, she seems strangely pleased, announcing that Uma and her children fulfilled their duties to protect the Source of All from evil as told by their Web of Fate. This does seem to suggest that in the end, Uma was only ever allied with Naugus and Kodos specifically to fulfill her exact role, and I do like this interpretation, as by the time of her death Uma seemed like a genuinely cool but tragic character. It would also seem to explain why she decided to lay a clutch of eggs in the middle of all the chaos, to ensure that her children would be able to carry on her duties even after she was gone. But anyway, what is this whole Web of Fate business?
And now we're reminded why Khan is still working on his hot-headedness. He angrily asks Endless Reach why, if she can read the future, she had been fighting the other clans and leaving the free people of the Dragon Kingdom to suffer. She retorts that the web is theirs alone, that it can only see the broad strokes of the future and not the details, and that he'd better watch his tone when speaking to a clan bride. Things are looking bad for diplomacy, but Sally steps in to suggest that if there are many paths that the future could take, then surely there's one that will lead to peace. Endless Reach agrees she has a point, but demands that if they take this path the King of the Free People must honor her clan's holdings and independence, to which Khan gives his word of honor. Endless Reach consults the web, and after a few tense moments, comes to her conclusion.
Hey, look what happens when you actually talk things out instead of fighting, Khan! Granted, Sonic could learn that lesson as well, but it's a start, at least. That evening, the group celebrates in Li Yuen and Li Moon's house, discussing how things must be going back home with Nicole secretly keeping things stable for them, and though Sonic is still a bit unhappy about the attention Sally is giving Khan it doesn't spoil his good mood. However, tea and dinner is interrupted by a kunai flying through the window with a note attached. Everyone thinks they must be under attack, but Sally knows better.
Oh, boy. Didn't think we'd be dealing with the Yagyu so soon, especially since the majority of them are still stationed in New Mobotropolis. Who's leading them, anyway, with the Bride of Rich Nights gone? Well, guess we'll be finding out…
Writer: Ian Flynn
Pencils: Tracy Yardley!
Colors: Matt Herms
Sally is distraught as Tails attempts to hack into New Mobotropolis' mainframe from Freedom HQ. She blames herself for not putting the pieces together about Nicole, the nanites, and the Iron Queen sooner - and while I don't blame her specifically, she does have a point, as I mentioned before. Like, seriously, how did no one realize the danger there earlier? Sonic, in a lovely gesture of respect, allows Khan to be the first to comfort her despite his pangs of envy about their budding relationship, and after Khan does his best to reassure her, Sonic chimes in about how they're obviously fine since he escaped the city, and that she needs to stop wallowing in self-pity. She's indignant for a split second before collecting herself and calmly thanking Sonic for setting her straight. Sonic and Khan then good-naturedly tease each other a little about their very different approaches to wooing Sally, which I appreciate a great deal - similarly to with Sally and Mina, I'm glad the comics never devolve into petty jealousy even between two characters who are interested in the same person. It's definitely a welcome breath of fresh air in the midst of so many other crappy fictional love triangles.
Sonic and Sally get ready to be digitized, with Sally asking Khan to watch over them while they're inside. He protests that he doesn't even know how to work a computer, which seems ridiculous given the highly advanced futuristic world he lives in - like damn dude, I know Mobians in this universe haven't always been so friendly with technology, but you literally hail from a land ruled over by a technomage! I'm pretty sure the Iron Queen wouldn't have set up shop there if there was no techno for her to mage! Either way, Sally of course just meant for him to keep Freedom HQ secure while Tails manages the technical aspects of the mission, and with that, they enter the digital world, which conveniently just looked like a green, techy version of New Mobotropolis. They get ready to break into the city by breaking down the front do- uh, code, but before they can do so Iron Nicole arrives to confront them.
Of course, things are never that easy. The Iron Queen herself chooses this moment to show up in cyberspace, except she's gigantic, towering over the heroes and the city. Sonic grabs Sally and tears off to escape her rapidly-approaching hand, and they wonder how to rescue Nicole and how the Iron Queen is even here in the first place given that there's no digitizer in the city. Of course, she's a technomage, so we see a nice little scene of her crouching over her staff and yelling insults at it, while a bemused Snively watches, unable to see anything she's looking at. Annoyed, he leaves the room, and Lien-Da mocks him for not getting as much attention as he wants from his new beau before reporting that the capture of all the city's residents is going smoothly.
Somehow, I don't think that's a good thing…
Back in cyberspace, Sonic tells Sally to handle Nicole while he distracts the Iron Queen, but unfortunately, since this is a digital world Iron Nicole can do basically whatever she wants, and copies his spin dash effortlessly, redirecting any shots he tries to fire off at her master. In Freedom HQ, Khan becomes more and more worried as he sees them losing the battle, and asks Tails where the access to the city's mainframe is, leaving the room immediately when Tails absentmindedly gives him the location. Tails realizes his mistake a second later, and runs out of the room to confront Khan as he tries to fly back to the city. Khan admits he plans to "put Nicole out of her misery," justifying his decision by pointing out how traumatized he is from being used by the Iron Queen in a similar manner to murder the Dragon Kingdom Freedom Fighters and how he doesn't want Nicole to suffer in the same way. Tails struggles with him physically, trying to stop him and yelling that they can trust Sonic and Sally to save her.
Aw c'mon Khan, more murder isn't the answer, even if it's supposed to be a mercy murder! In the digital world, Sally figures out that she can "cast" a firewall that Rotor built some time ago, and puts up a red wall of coding to try to block the Iron Queen's magic, though the Iron Queen realizes what she's trying to do pretty quickly and blasts the wall apart. Sally, undaunted, rushes to Nicole and yells for Sonic to once again take on the Iron Queen, and while Sonic distracts her by deftly planting his entire spiky body into her digital eyeball, Sally builds an entire firewall "room" around herself and Nicole. Instantly, Nicole's connection to the Iron Queen is broken, and within seconds she's building more defenses in her code to ensure she can't be controlled again. She's furious and humiliated that this happened at all, and when Sally tries to reassure her that they're in control once more, Nicole sadly explains why she doesn't agree - most of the populace is imprisoned and the Legion and Yagyu are stationed everywhere, and even if they were to somehow immediately take the city back, the Iron Queen still has three other clans as reinforcements abroad, and could come back even stronger and wise to their weaknesses.
A decent plan, actually. I mean, who better to act as a spy than an AI who can transform her body and skillfully act, independent of any accidental emotional displays that an organic might be susceptible to? Nicole immediately shatters the firewall and pretends to "purge" the code trapping her, and Sally puts on a great show of running terrified, yelling at Tails to get them out of the simulation. Sonic and Sally vanish, and "Iron Nicole" reassures the Iron Queen that the invaders have been forced from the system and the city remains under her control. Back in the real world, however, Sally happily explains to the others her success, and Khan and Tails both report in that absolutely nothing of note happened while they were gone, sharing a secret glance while Tails pulls an absolutely perfect "I-told-you-so" smug smile. The four of them quickly pack up some supplies and then pile into (or onto, in the case of Sonic and Sally - seriously, Tails, you need to build more seats) the Tornado to head straight for the Dragon Kingdom, to ensure that when they do retake the city, the Iron Queen will have no more reinforcements to call on.
