Katrice Georges
Jan 1, 2004, 12:33 am
Reviewer: Katrice Georges, lianne_ka@hotmail.com
Quick Rating: Average
Story Titles: Home (Part 2 of 4): The Gathering & Mobius 25 Years Later: Prologue
The Freedom Fighters and their allies assemble and the prolonged glimpse into the future begins now.
Title: Home (Part 2 of 4): The Gathering
Written by: Karl Bollers
Penciled by: Ron Lim
Inked by: Jim Amash
Lettered by: Jeff Powell
Colored by: Jason Jensen
Assistant Editor: Mike Pellerito
Editor: Justin F. Gabrie
Managing Editor: Victor Gorelick
Editor In Chief: Richard Goldwater
Last issue ended with Robotnik detailing his Operation: Triple Threat, and #131 starts with the heroes figuring out how they are going to deal with Robotnik's latest scheme.
Not much actually happens in this story in terms of action. Considering this issue also lacks the emotional impact of #130, the story has a more standard just doing what needs to be done feel to it. That does not make it bad, just average. However, Karl Bollers does reveal some minor details concerning the new status quo, which those who pay rather strict attention to the story like me really want to know. One of these details concerns General D’Coolette and his men who have been stationed at the new Fort Acorn, which is near Robotropolis. In the comic, General D’Coolette says that they have been there for the “past ten years,” which makes no sense in terms of continuity. Karl Bollers informed me that the comment was supposed to say the “past ten months,” which actually does make sense. It is a lettering error and one that should be pointed out. Still, a couple of parts did stand out. The conversation between the President and Commander Brass that ended with a slightly humorous appearance by Rouge is one such moment. The only thing that could have been slightly improved was the ending. Some sort of emphasis should have been placed on why Robotnik was waiting to fire the missiles. While it truly is not necessary to the story, if the emphasis was worded a certain way, then it could have made Robotnik’s surprise a bit funny to give a more stand out ending instead of that standard feel.
Ron Lim’s artwork for the story is a mixed bag. The human characters are drawn well, but the furry characters suffer at times. Whenever Sonic is in an action shot, Sonic is usually drawn well. However, when Sonic is just standing still, such as on the last panel on page two, Sonic’s spines are drawn much too long. The only other major problem with his artwork for this story is in his rendition of Knuckles. Knuckles’ eyes are not drawn correctly, except in the first panel on page seven. Unlike Sonic, Knuckles does not have “mono-eyes,” so Knuckles should not ever be drawn with them. Considering, Lim has been around for a while on the comic and has drawn Knuckles’ eyes correctly, there is no reason for continuing to draw Knuckles with mono-eyes on occasion. I will give Lim credit for giving the characters a slightly wider range of emotional display than he has in the past.
Jason Jensen gets a mention here because despite his nice overall coloring job, he has again colored Rouge incorrectly. Just like in #125, she is all-white. If she had not been colored correctly in #124, I would not have as much of a problem with it as I do. However, considering Rouge has been a part of the cast from the Sonic video games for over two years, her color scheme is not difficult to know. In that sense, I would have a problem with it. Unless it is an editorial decision to change Rouge’s colors, I will continue to complain when it happens.
With the battle lines drawn up and most principle players ready to strike, an action-filled story is practically guaranteed next issue.
Title: Mobius 25 Years Later: Prologue
Written by: Ken Penders
Penciled by: Steven Butler
Inked by: Ken Penders
Lettered by: Vickie Williams
Colored by: Jason Jensen
Editor: Justin F. Gabrie
For about five years, we have been promised a glimpse into the future lives of the current cast of characters. While the originally promised story, Knuckles 20 Years Later, never saw print, an on-going substitute for that story begins with this issue.
Much like the main story, Ken Penders’ story here lacks any major action. However, similar to #130, it sells itself in terms of the revelations of things that are unexpected. The story is slightly heavy on the dialogue side, except at the end, which I felt needed it the most. The last two panels on page seven with Lien-Da and Dimitri conversing seem to be missing some dialogue. If dialogue is not missing, the flow of their conversation is most definitely off in any event. Now while I did not mind seeing Dimitri as I have come to like him as a character over the years, in ‘Ultimate Power’ we were led to believe that he should be dying sometime soon as well as the fact that he basically wanted to die. I really hope it is actually explained how and why he is still alive. The best part of the story for me was actually in the midst of the argument Knuckles and Lara-Su were having. On page ten, the fifth panel right after Knuckles tried to turn over the duty of talking to Lara-Su to Julie-Su was pure gold. The argument ended a little too neatly for my tastes and instead of the nearly full-page panel, the argument should have been fleshed out a little more, particularly with Lara-Su’s inner thoughts. Most of the argument came from Knuckles’ perspective, and we already have a good idea of Knuckles’ personality. Lara-Su, being a new character, we do not have a clear picture of how she thinks. While the argument was mostly handled well, her perspective was short-changed and left the reader having to do a little guessing as to why it ended the way it did. I am personally a sucker for future storylines, though considering this is not Sailor Moon, which is written and mainly controlled by one person, I am more than aware that things can and probably will change later on down the road. Nevertheless, I have no problems entertaining the thought of this being the future.
Steven Butler, as usual, delivers the goods in terms of the art. The only thing on his end that surprised me a little was the fact that Lien-Da does not look like she has aged at all. However, due to the nature of how the story went and given Ken Penders’ history, I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt instead of automatically calling it a mistake. Only other art-related issue was what I believe was supposed to be a “steam” effect over Lara-Su on page two in the sixth panel. Whether it was due to not being properly drawn, inked, or colored, the result was that it looks off. However, with Butler’s facial expressions, the “steam” was not necessary, but it would have been nice if it had been done correctly.
ART:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonhalf.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonnone.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonnone.jpg
STORY:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonnone.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonnone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonhalf.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonnone.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonnone.jpg
Quick Rating: Average
Story Titles: Home (Part 2 of 4): The Gathering & Mobius 25 Years Later: Prologue
The Freedom Fighters and their allies assemble and the prolonged glimpse into the future begins now.
Title: Home (Part 2 of 4): The Gathering
Written by: Karl Bollers
Penciled by: Ron Lim
Inked by: Jim Amash
Lettered by: Jeff Powell
Colored by: Jason Jensen
Assistant Editor: Mike Pellerito
Editor: Justin F. Gabrie
Managing Editor: Victor Gorelick
Editor In Chief: Richard Goldwater
Last issue ended with Robotnik detailing his Operation: Triple Threat, and #131 starts with the heroes figuring out how they are going to deal with Robotnik's latest scheme.
Not much actually happens in this story in terms of action. Considering this issue also lacks the emotional impact of #130, the story has a more standard just doing what needs to be done feel to it. That does not make it bad, just average. However, Karl Bollers does reveal some minor details concerning the new status quo, which those who pay rather strict attention to the story like me really want to know. One of these details concerns General D’Coolette and his men who have been stationed at the new Fort Acorn, which is near Robotropolis. In the comic, General D’Coolette says that they have been there for the “past ten years,” which makes no sense in terms of continuity. Karl Bollers informed me that the comment was supposed to say the “past ten months,” which actually does make sense. It is a lettering error and one that should be pointed out. Still, a couple of parts did stand out. The conversation between the President and Commander Brass that ended with a slightly humorous appearance by Rouge is one such moment. The only thing that could have been slightly improved was the ending. Some sort of emphasis should have been placed on why Robotnik was waiting to fire the missiles. While it truly is not necessary to the story, if the emphasis was worded a certain way, then it could have made Robotnik’s surprise a bit funny to give a more stand out ending instead of that standard feel.
Ron Lim’s artwork for the story is a mixed bag. The human characters are drawn well, but the furry characters suffer at times. Whenever Sonic is in an action shot, Sonic is usually drawn well. However, when Sonic is just standing still, such as on the last panel on page two, Sonic’s spines are drawn much too long. The only other major problem with his artwork for this story is in his rendition of Knuckles. Knuckles’ eyes are not drawn correctly, except in the first panel on page seven. Unlike Sonic, Knuckles does not have “mono-eyes,” so Knuckles should not ever be drawn with them. Considering, Lim has been around for a while on the comic and has drawn Knuckles’ eyes correctly, there is no reason for continuing to draw Knuckles with mono-eyes on occasion. I will give Lim credit for giving the characters a slightly wider range of emotional display than he has in the past.
Jason Jensen gets a mention here because despite his nice overall coloring job, he has again colored Rouge incorrectly. Just like in #125, she is all-white. If she had not been colored correctly in #124, I would not have as much of a problem with it as I do. However, considering Rouge has been a part of the cast from the Sonic video games for over two years, her color scheme is not difficult to know. In that sense, I would have a problem with it. Unless it is an editorial decision to change Rouge’s colors, I will continue to complain when it happens.
With the battle lines drawn up and most principle players ready to strike, an action-filled story is practically guaranteed next issue.
Title: Mobius 25 Years Later: Prologue
Written by: Ken Penders
Penciled by: Steven Butler
Inked by: Ken Penders
Lettered by: Vickie Williams
Colored by: Jason Jensen
Editor: Justin F. Gabrie
For about five years, we have been promised a glimpse into the future lives of the current cast of characters. While the originally promised story, Knuckles 20 Years Later, never saw print, an on-going substitute for that story begins with this issue.
Much like the main story, Ken Penders’ story here lacks any major action. However, similar to #130, it sells itself in terms of the revelations of things that are unexpected. The story is slightly heavy on the dialogue side, except at the end, which I felt needed it the most. The last two panels on page seven with Lien-Da and Dimitri conversing seem to be missing some dialogue. If dialogue is not missing, the flow of their conversation is most definitely off in any event. Now while I did not mind seeing Dimitri as I have come to like him as a character over the years, in ‘Ultimate Power’ we were led to believe that he should be dying sometime soon as well as the fact that he basically wanted to die. I really hope it is actually explained how and why he is still alive. The best part of the story for me was actually in the midst of the argument Knuckles and Lara-Su were having. On page ten, the fifth panel right after Knuckles tried to turn over the duty of talking to Lara-Su to Julie-Su was pure gold. The argument ended a little too neatly for my tastes and instead of the nearly full-page panel, the argument should have been fleshed out a little more, particularly with Lara-Su’s inner thoughts. Most of the argument came from Knuckles’ perspective, and we already have a good idea of Knuckles’ personality. Lara-Su, being a new character, we do not have a clear picture of how she thinks. While the argument was mostly handled well, her perspective was short-changed and left the reader having to do a little guessing as to why it ended the way it did. I am personally a sucker for future storylines, though considering this is not Sailor Moon, which is written and mainly controlled by one person, I am more than aware that things can and probably will change later on down the road. Nevertheless, I have no problems entertaining the thought of this being the future.
Steven Butler, as usual, delivers the goods in terms of the art. The only thing on his end that surprised me a little was the fact that Lien-Da does not look like she has aged at all. However, due to the nature of how the story went and given Ken Penders’ history, I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt instead of automatically calling it a mistake. Only other art-related issue was what I believe was supposed to be a “steam” effect over Lara-Su on page two in the sixth panel. Whether it was due to not being properly drawn, inked, or colored, the result was that it looks off. However, with Butler’s facial expressions, the “steam” was not necessary, but it would have been nice if it had been done correctly.
ART:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonhalf.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonnone.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonnone.jpg
STORY:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonnone.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonnone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonhalf.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonnone.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/sonnone.jpg