#pencils: frank strom

[dirtyriver]

"The Perils of Elvira" in Elvira Mistress of the Dark #32, December 1995, written by Frank Strom, art by John Heebink (pencils) and Ricardo Villagran (inks)

[shadowwingtronix]

"Yesterday's" Comic> Sonic The Hedgehog #60

BW's "Yesterday's" Comic> Sonic The Hedgehog #60

Monkey Khan’s BBQ had a few crashers. Sonic The Hedgehog #60 Archie Comics (July, 1998) INKER: Jim Amash EDITOR: J. Freddie Gabrie Sonic & Tails: “Arsenal Of The Iron King” WRITER/ARTIST: Frank Strom COLORIST: Barry Grossman LETTERER: Vickie Williams Tales Of The Freedom Fighters: “Princess Sally: The Ultimatum” WRITER/COLORIST: Ken Penders PENCILER: Manny Galan Continue reading “Yesterday’s”…

[mobius-prime]

153. Sonic the Hedgehog #87

Heart of the Hedgehog (Part 2): Lava Story

Writer: Danny Fingeroth Pencils: Sam Maxwell and Jim Amash Colors: Frank Gagliardo

Things are getting dicier by the second, the lava within the volcano's mouth roiling and getting ready to erupt at any moment. With Tails still trapped mere feet above the lava pool, Sonic recovers from the blow delivered by Metal Sonic last issue and continues to push on at top speed to reach his friend. However, predictably, Metal Sonic has more traps set for his quarry along the path - including a net that entangles Sonic before he has time to stop.

Well well, the power gem gave Metal Sonic not only a personality and sentience, but also apparently a raging thirst for sadism! Metal Sonic cackles at Sonic's determination, reiterating that while he intends to give Sonic a fair chance to save Tails, "fair" is a highly relative term, as he can change the rules of his own game any time he wants. Sonic, uninterested in hearing his evil spiel, continues to run on, and Metal Sonic continues to show off how he's faster and stronger than Sonic, putting obstacles in his path at every opportunity.

Sonic is reminded of how powerful he himself was when transformed into Mecha Sonic, and decides that for the moment, instead of trying to outrace his doppelganger, he can perhaps put him out of commission until he's gotten Tails to safety. He grabs the remnants of the net he was trapped in and quickly uses it to wrap Metal Sonic up against a nearby tree, then races away, with Metal Sonic genuinely impressed at his ingenuity, as if it takes a special kind of genius to figure out that tying someone up when you want them out of your way is a good idea. With his main obstacle removed for now, Sonic makes it the rest of the way to the volcano unmolested and finds Tails, still hanging there above the lava.

With Tails freed, Sonic gets ready to race out of there before Metal Sonic shows back up, but of course, a net can only hold a superpowered robot for so long, and said robot chooses that moment to make his reappearance, mocking Sonic for thinking he stopped him.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, Metal Sonic, this is a comic for kids and teens! Don't be inserting your kinky sadistic fantasies into this situation! Sonic tries to reason with Metal Sonic, calling back to when he was also a robot and how instead of going with his programming he fought it, and citing the joys of life and love as a reason not to be a murderous asshole, but Metal Sonic refuses to listen, saying having power and strength is more important. Sonic, realizing the futility of talking to him, tells Tails to fly away to safety while he holds off Metal Sonic, but Tails refuses to leave his side even if it means death. At that moment, the volcano begins to quake, and Sonic and Tails both get their feet caught in a crack in the ground, unable to escape the lava or fight back. Things look bad, until…

Metal Sonic uses, uh… a blast of air, or something, to hold the lava back, while saying that he now realizes Sonic was right and he can be more than his programming. Sonic and Tails try to argue with his sacrifice, but he convinces them this is the only way any of them will survive, and as they run away from the volcano to safety, Metal Sonic sadly says that it's better if he sacrifices himself, as he's just a cold unfeeling robot. That's… actually hella tragic, man. Someone tell that robot we love him after all, already. It's interesting to note as well that in many ways this actually mirrors the ending of the Sonic OVA (which was released in English only a couple of years before this issue came out), in which Metal Sonic is similarly consumed by rising lava while sacrificing himself to save Sonic's life after coming to gain his own emotions and feelings. As Sonic and Tails look back from a safe distance at the lava pouring from the volcano, Sonic tells Tails that it was his actions that turned Metal Sonic around in the end, as while Sonic's words were just that, words, to him, Tails' refusal to abandon his friend made those words real, and in a way helped Metal Sonic gain a soul. And on that bittersweet note, they turn and head back to their friends at the crashed shuttle, ready to finally head home.

Against the Haunted Past (Part 2)

Writer/Pencils: Frank Strom Colors: Frank Gagliardo

So, back to Monkey - uh, sorry, I mean Ken Khan's predicament. Somehow, he's been captured by Eggman, who's turned the Temple of the Golden Lotus in Kar Leung into a base of operations for the roboticization of the locals. However, he wouldn't do something as demeaning as roboticizing Ken outright, no… instead, he's going to implant him, awake and without any anesthesia, with control chips directly into his brain to ensure he can never rebel again!

This! Is! Horrific! Seriously, what's with all the messed up stuff in these past couple issues? Ken is of course entirely unwilling to sit around and let this happen to him, and uses his strength, enhanced by the power of his headband made out of the golden ring, to break free from his restraints, which shocks Eggman as he doesn't remember him being so strong before. He orders his swatbots and roboticized slaves to recapture Ken immediately, and Ken makes a break for it down the hallway, looking for a way to take the facility out of commission so that Eggman can't roboticize his entire village. He successfully finds the main power generator of the place, but while he's looking for a way to disable it, the swatbots burst in and fire wildly, hitting the generator and causing it to go critical.

…welp, we just witnessed the creation of a brand new tragic backstory! Seriously, though, Ken has been through a ton of horrific events in his life - being used as an experiment for cybernetics against his will, losing all his friends and family to the same experiments, being sealed away alone in a tiny pod for ten years, and now, just when he thought he could settle down in his ancestral home and protect the citizens of his village, he loses all of that as well. This is a strong setup for some serious future angst.

[dirtyriver]

"Goon River!" in Elvira Mistress of the Dark #49, May 1997, written by Frank Strom, art by Tom Simonton (pencils) and Louis LaChance (inks)

[shadowwingtronix]

"Yesterday's" Comic> Sonic The Hedgehog #55

BW's "Yesterday's" Comic> Sonic The Hedgehog #55

“Dulcey doesn’t have your dragon balls.” Sonic The Hedgehog #25 Archie Comic Publications (February, 1995) COLORIST: Karl Bollers LETTERER: Jeff Powell EDITOR: J. Freddy Gabrie “Monkey Madness” WRITER/ARTIST: Frank Strom INKER: Ken Penders Uncle Chuck: “Rise Of The Robians” WRITER: Karl Bollers PENCILERS: Andy Underwood & Edwards Artistic Studios INKER: Pam Eklund Continue reading Untitled

[mobius-prime]

152. Sonic the Hedgehog #86

Oh god. That cover, though. What the heck is with that terrifying sharp-toothed robot smile? How does a robot even do that? *shudder*

Heart of the Hedgehog (Part 1): Evil's Return

Writer: Danny Fingeroth Pencils: Sam Maxwell Colors: Frank Gagliardo

While Sonic and Tails are on their local reconnaissance, Sonic decides to make it more fun for Tails by continuing his intermittent training of the young fox in matters of speed. Tails does his best to keep up, but when a gust of wind knocks him off course Sonic has to rush over to catch him before he falls out of the air, which puts a damper on his ego.

Hmm, we certainly haven't heard any mention of Sonic's little roboticization accident from StH#39 in a long time. I wonder if its sudden inclusion here as a random example of hardship ties in, in any way, to the plot of this issue? Naaahhh, I'm sure it's a total coincidence! Tails heads out to find some firewood while Sonic gets the fire going, but minutes stretch into an hour, and still there's no sign of him.

Sonic, getting worried, goes against everything Smokey Bear taught him about campfire safety and just leaves the fire going while he rushes away to find his friend. He runs all over, calling Tails' name to no avail, until a very different voice finally responds to his calls - with a plasma blast.

Well now, other-robotic-version-of-Sonic, we haven't seen you in a long time - since aaaall the way back in the Knuckles Chaotix special, in fact! Sonic remembers his robotic double's apparent defeat at the mitts of Knuckles back then, but Metal Sonic arrogantly recounts how as a robot he was able to rebuild himself so he could come back for revenge. That's right, he was the saboteur of the Freedom Fighters' aircraft, and interestingly enough, he hasn't been sent by Eggman, who presumably doesn't even know he's here. Instead, he's purely in it for vengeance against his organic counterpart, having kidnapped Tails to get back at Sonic and planning to go after Knuckles as well once Sonic is dead. Sonic is enraged that Metal Sonic would dare to touch his friend, and tries to attack him while demanding to know where Tails is being kept, but Metal Sonic easily dodges every blow Sonic tries to land while landing some of his own with ease. He's both faster and stronger than Sonic, and basically just toys with him by doing things like wrapping him in a wire shot from his wrist and flinging him around to tire him out. Once Sonic is good and exhausted, Metal Sonic finally grows tired of the game, deciding to actually explain his plan while Sonic realizes just why he's so powerful.

In case you don't remember, Metal Sonic (back when he was still misnamed as Mecha Sonic) merged with the power gem during the Knuckles Chaotix special, and apparently it's helped him come back and become even stronger than before since then. Metal Sonic explains that he plans to give Sonic a fair chance to save Tails by letting him free, telling him that he's currently being kept at the top of the nearby Mt. Mobius, an active volcano which is due to erupt any minute now. Even more worryingly, Metal Sonic is able to make it there and back in an easy five minutes, with a now truly worried Sonic estimating it would take him closer to half an hour to get there on his own two feet. Still, he refuses to give up, racing off as soon as Metal Sonic lets him free to save his friend, with Metal Sonic ominously promising to make things harder on him as he tries to reach Tails in time. How will he make things harder, exactly?

…well, I guess it is indeed harder to save a captive friend when you're unconscious on the ground! Metal Sonic, leaving the woozy Sonic behind for now, flies back to the mouth of the volcano, where Tails, strapped by his wrists to the rock just above a lava pit, insists Sonic will come to save him even as Metal Sonic laughs at his unfaltering confidence…

Against the Haunted Past (Part 1)

Writer/Pencils: Frank Strom Colors: Frank Gagliardo

All right, who's ready for another installment in the life of everyone's favorite character, Monkey Khan? Just in case no one's picked up on it yet, every time Frank Strom gets to be in charge of plot we jump right back to The Many Adventures of Monkey Khan - I guess since he created the character he's quite attached to him, after all. We jump back to ten years ago (well, the text says ten years ago, but considering that we open with Julian Robotnik pleasantly discussing his scientific endeavors with a very much unimprisoned King Max, before he even got his hands on the original roboticizer, it has to be more like twelve). Julian, irritated after Snively accuses him of sucking up too much to the king, decided that he needs some live test subjects for his experiments on cybernetics. Worried about attracting obvious attention if he started kidnapping local citizens, he instead decided to go after a village on the other side of the world, at the very fringes of the kingdom.

Cut to the peaceful village of Leung West, which you might recognize as sharing half its name with Leung Kar from Sonic Super Special #8. This is where some canon details get extremely fuzzy, so I'll try to detangle the mess for you as best I can. The original village from the Super Special was called Lau Kar or Leung Kar interchangeably. Now we have Leung West, which was presided over by the village leader Lau Khan, both names of which seem to suggest a connection to said village. However, later in this same issue it's claimed that Monkey Khan's ancestral village is called Kar Leung, which is literally just Leung Kar with the two halves of the name swapped around. Despite the obvious connection between the two names, Ian Flynn later on apparently stated he considers the two villages to be separate, just having coincidentally similar names. I'm not sure how easily I buy this, considering the circumstances, but eh, whatever, if anything it just comes down to a minor inconsistency in canon that's easily overlooked. Moving on! Lau Khan was Ken Khan's father - yes, that's right, Monkey Khan's given name is actually Ken, and for whatever reason he and his father don't seem to follow the trend of family name first, given name last that the other inhabitants of Not-Asia all have. Lau Khan was disappointed to find Ken roughhousing with the other kids his age, and scolded him for acting like, you know, a normal kid (or teen? It's not made clear what his age is, but he's clearly not a little kid at least), because their village was completely pacifistic.

This is a brilliant time to do the I-told-you-so song, Ken! Julian quickly rounded up everyone in the village and began experimenting on them, with the end result being the death of literally all his test subjects except for Ken the only one whose body was strong enough to survive becoming a cyborg. Julian decided to test his new pet on a group of Overlanders nearby, and Ken easily wiped the floor with them singlehandedly. Julian was of course very pleased, but as he started talking about what he planned to test him out on next Ken turned and vehemently refused, saying he would never work for Julian after he killed all his friends and family, which kind of completely ignores the fact that he was literally just attacking a group of Overlanders on his order two seconds ago. Julian, disappointed, declared his project a failure, zapped Ken unconscious, and sealed him away in a capsule, which, as we know, was found years later by chance by Sally while on a mission of her own.

Oh, well, that's probably good! I know I definitely enjoy waking up strapped to a table in the base of my mortal enemy whom I previously believed to be dead. I find it a little odd that Eggman seems to "remember" Ken, considering he's not even the same entity that originally experimented on him, but it's entirely probably that Eggman does in fact know a version of him, as it's stated that the zone he originally came from was very similar in most respects to Mobius Prime, with the main difference being his eventual self-roboticization. What's perhaps more strange is that Ken recognizes Eggman, since he looks so different from Robotnik, but eh - big stupid mustache, robotic servants, and evil demeanor will give a villain away, I suppose.

[mobius-prime]

118. Sonic Super Special #8

Zone Wars: Prelude

Writer: Dan Slott Pencils: James Fry Colors: Josh D. Ray

So this story is kind of infamously hilarious, but it also introduces a rather important concept. Sonic is racing around the hills, avoiding blasts of magic from a bizarre being that basically just looks like someone put boobs, pigtails and fishnets on Robotnik and who is apparently known as Ivana Robotina. A figure that appears to be standing sideways, called Zonic, gets a report of this happening from another zone and heads out to investigate. Before Zonic can get there, however, a few more people arrive on the scene - Sally Moon and Chibi Rose, who look like exactly what their names imply, that is to say Sailor Moon characters. Then Robotina is knocked out by a rather flimsy blow from a rose, and another unexpected figure makes his entrance - Tuxedo Knux!

Don't worry, Sonic, we're all just as baffled as you are.

At this point Zonic arrives through a portal and ushers everyone back through it, back to their home zone called the Luna Zone. He explains to Sonic that he's a Zone Cop, coming from a parallel dimension that runs 90 degrees through all other dimensions, allowing them to effectively police any attempts to travel to alternate zones. Sonic challenges him, saying he's been to plenty of other zones, but Zonic informs him that he deliberately sent Sonic there from his home zone, Mobius Prime (eyy, blog title drop!) to help restore order.

Oh c'mon Sonic, we're only like a third of the way into this comic. You have plenty of time to win Sally Prime over! (Well, technically, he already has, but don't tell him that!)

Running on Empty

Writers: Roger Brown and Nelson Rebeiro Pencils: Nelson Ribeiro Colors: Frank Gagliardo

Sonic and Amy are hanging out on a hill overlooking Knothole, admiring the view, and when Amy gets cold, Sonic races down to the buildings and back in a fraction of a second to retrieve her coat. When she compliments his speed, he decides to tell her about a time it almost got him killed. One day a few months ago (at least that's what I'm assuming, since Sally wears her trademark blue vest throughout it, and she didn't always have that near the beginning of the comic) Sonic thought he heard Sally calling for help, so he rushed to the gazebo where she appeared to be standing. However, his hand went right through her like she was a hologram, and then Snively, hiding behind the structure, activated his trap, zapping Sonic.

Ooh, dramatic. Sonic rushed back towards Knothole and encountered Rosie roaming the woods looking for an apple grove. Sonic rushed to lead her to it, trying to catch one of the apples before it fell from the tree, but suddenly found himself unable to stop running and smashed into the tree, dropping a whole heap of apples onto his head. At least this helped Rosie collect the apples she wanted, but on the way back Sonic noticed a Robotnik surveillance drone above the trees and decided to run back to Knothole to warn his friends. However, again, he was unable to stop running in time, and what's more, his sheer speed created some kind of vacuum behind him, sucking up tons of junk and depositing it directly on top of his hapless friends.

Rotor offered to run some tests to figure out what was causing Sonic to suddenly be able to run so fast that it was causing him problems, and had him run on a treadmill, which of course quickly overloaded and exploded. The data Rotor collected before it was ruined informed him that whatever had zapped Sonic had given him super-super speed, but along with it, every time he used it he aged further, causing him to quickly turn into a feeble old man. Everyone (except a fearful Antoine) teamed up to infiltrate Robotropolis and find the machine Snively used to cause this effect, hoping to get it to run in reverse and turn Sonic back into his former fifteen-year-old self. Once they got inside the city, Rotor discovered that although he was able to alter the machine to run in reverse, they needed a security code to actually activate it. However, as you might expect, at this point Robotnik and Snively, along with a host of swatbots, entered and sprung an ambush. Sonic was determined to save the lives of his friends, so despite his decrepit state, he used his speed one last time to destroy all the bots and kick Robotnik out of the room.

Exhausted from his feat, he collapsed, and his friends still didn't have the code needed to save his life. Sally, thinking fast, grabbed the gloating Snively and put her acting skills to use.

And just like that, the aging process was reversed, and no one ever thought to try to reverse-engineer that to help anyone else suffering from age-related problems ever again! Back in the present, Amy is pleased with the story, and asks for more, which Sonic happily obliges. It's nice to see that despite her obvious crush on him, Sonic is quite friendly with her in this universe, considering that in other canons he's often been shown to be somewhat callous toward her feelings.

Den of Thieves

Writer/Pencils: Frank Strom Colors: Barry Grossman

It's time to see what ol' Monkey Khan has been up to lately. He's been residing in a village called either Lau Kar or Leung Kar (it's called both over the course of the story, for whatever reason), along with two Mobians who… well, I can't tell what animal they're supposed to be by sight, but the wiki tells me they're rabbits, and they're brother and sister, named Liu Fang and Liu Chi Mei respectively. One morning they're distraught to find the Temple of the Golden Lotus being robbed by some bat ninjas of the Yagyu Clan, and call for help, which comes in the form of, you guessed it, Monkey Khan. He beats on the ninjas for a moment, but then they pull the smoke bomb trick and vanish, to his surprise.

Khan, Fang, and Chi Mei head up to the lake, where they're predictably ambushed by several more Yagyu ninjas. They try to get to higher ground, perhaps hoping to imitate their favorite Jedi Master, but find themselves dropped through a trapdoor into an underground room.

Okay, first of all, that does not look like a dragon, that looks like Godzilla with stegosaurus legs. Second of all, it's obviously a robot and not a mythical terror, something which Khan focuses in on right away. The "dragon" attacks him, hoping to steal his headband to become another piece of the Yagyu's stolen treasure collection, but Khan beats it back and then attacks its circuitry, confusing it and causing it to turn on the Yagyu ninjas instead. As it chases the Yagyu away, Khan, Fang and Chi Mei collect all the stolen treasure - fifty years worth of it, in fact - and take it back to their town, triumphant. Good to see Khan's found himself a place in the world, huh?

Ghost Busted

Writer/Pencils: Jay Oliveras Colors: Frank Gagliardo

This story is actually a retelling of an episode by the same name from the SatAM TV show, told from the point of view of Tails. Sometime in the past, he had gone out into the wilderness with Sonic and Antoine for some good old fashioned roughin' it in the wilderness, when Antoine, supposed to be hiding so Tails could practice tracking him, fell screaming down a muddy slope into the water below. He claimed that he had seen a ghost, but Sonic and Tails brushed him off, saying there's no such thing. That night, Sonic kept Tails and Antoine up late by telling ghost stories, including one about the "Headless Gopher" who was cursed by a stolen gold medallion. Antoine irritably (and somewhat nervously) demanded Sonic stop talking so he could sleep, and feeling tired, Sonic and Tails joined him. However, in the middle of the night, Tails found himself awakened from creepy dreams to something even creepier…

Tails was certain that he'd seen the Headless Gopher, and what's more, Antoine was now missing. Sonic decided to humor him and they split up to search the immediate area. However, Tails hadn't gone far when he circled back around and to his horror, saw Sonic standing right next to the fiery ghost, appearing to be working together with it to find him! He tried to fly away to find Sally and get her help, but ran smack into the ghost…

I don't know about you, but I'd love to find a bush like that, 'cause a bush that perpetually glows like it's on fire sounds awesome. The next morning, Tails, emboldened by his scary nighttime experience, asked Sonic for some more ghost stories as they packed up to leave. Sonic offered to tell some more later, but just then, Tails noticed a shimmering gold medallion on the ground near their camp… and thus, the three brave souls ran away screaming their heads off, certain that they really had gotten a visit from the Headless Gopher in the night. And ever since, it's been their little secret that they've never admitted to anyone else. Great job, guys! Truly a tale worthy of the legendary Freedom Fighters!

[mobius-prime]

99. Sonic the Hedgehog #60

Arsenal of the Iron King

Writer/Pencils: Frank Strom Colors: Barry Grossman

This is another one of those issues that introduces someone who would appear to be a one-off character, but ends up later becoming a major player. I won't spoil it for those who don't already know, but just go ahead and pay attention to some of the people introduced here and see if you can guess.

Sonic and Tails are continuing their adventure, this time flying not by plane but by Tails' namesakes, when they encounter a mountain that is completely engulfed in flame, yet somehow isn't burning the forest around it. They quickly become exhausted by the heat and land in a nearby village, hoping to get some water and answers.

Seeing the dire state of things in this land, Sonic suggests the residents of the village simply pack up and leave, but an old Mobian lion nearby shoots that idea down. He introduces himself as Li Yuen, and the girl as Li Moon (the whole area is given a very Chinese flavor, and indeed was revealed to be in not-Asia later in the comic), and explains why the mountain is burning like this.

Truer words have never spoken of thyself, Sonic. They begin heading towards the Iron King and Queen's fortress to retrieve the fan, but the two see them coming - the Iron King appears to be a massive Mobian bull, while the Iron Queen is a normal human (er, Overlander) woman, making this comic years ahead of Sonic '06 as far as portraying interspecies relationships. The king and queen send out a pawn of theirs to intercept Sonic and Tails, and the pawn turns out to be none other than Monkey Khan himself, brainwashed to do their bidding!

I really like Sonic's line about Monkey Khan being a "harmless psycho," honestly. I don't know, something about it strikes me as hilarious, especially because it does basically describe Monkey Khan in these earlier issues. Anyway, the Iron Queen makes the mistake of showing up in person to egg Monkey Khan on and taunt Sonic, and while Khan is distracted cornering Sonic at the edge of a cliff while the queen heeheehees  maliciously, Tails dives for her staff, knocking the magic crystal off of it and robbing her of her control over Khan. She flies away on her cool-ass floating tech platform in anger as Khan comes to, and Tails points out that it appears she was using the power of some magic rings to exert control.

Now with Monkey Khan along to help their mission, they head into the imposing-looking fortress to search for the king's arsenal. They find it fairly easily, but of course, the king arrives to try to beat them down. Tails goes searching while Sonic and Monkey Khan fight back against the king, and soon, sure enough, Tails finds the thing they're looking for.

Wow, it's that easy? You'd think this guy would have had it better locked up if it's this powerful, man. With the Iron King blown away, Khan gives Sonic a ride above the mountain on his magic cloud, and despite the queen reappearing to try to stop them with more magic, Sonic blows the fan onto the mountain, putting out the entire fire at once without issue. The queen flies away promising future revenge, and the three heroes return to the village to let Li Yuen and Moon know about their success. And apparently, Monkey Khan's a pretty special guy!

You don't say, Sonic! Seriously, everyone in the comic at this point has some kind of mystical prophecy surrounding them except Sonic. But then again, you could say that's what makes him so special and interesting as a main character - that in a world of prophecies and chosen ones, he's just an ordinary guy with extraordinary powers, who's determined to keep saving the world even though he doesn't necessarily have to. Just another reason why I love Sonic as a character, man.

The Ultimatum

Writer/Colors: Ken Penders Pencils: Manny Galan

All right, ready to see Sally's night ruined, everyone? Her father calls her into his room, and he mentions how she's been avoiding him lately, admonishing her for "questioning his judgment" ever since the "let's dismantle all the Robians" incident. Despite her protestations, which are totally, 100% reasonable considering that she had witnessed her father calling for the Robians' mass murder not once but twice not too long ago, he opens a closet and leads her into the secret passage hidden within, much to her amazement.

Sure enough, he leads her into the room containing the pool of the Source of All, mentioning that she should have undergone this ritual when she was ten years old, but due to the war he was unable to ensure such - but now that he's back, he intends to have her complete the ritual now. Also, apparently she'd be the first female Acorn to undergo the rite, a detail which seems a little unnecessary to include. I mean, there's been really no indication within the worldbuilding of this universe so far that sexism is really an issue, no one's ever questioned any female character's abilities just because of their gender (barring that one really bizarre issue that made Robotnik out to be a misogynist, also penned by Penders, shockingly enough), so what, did the Acorn line just have a general propensity towards having male babies or something until now? Penders wrote this into the Guardians' history as well, with Janelle-Li being the only female Guardian in the line's unbroken history, again with no real precedent in the worldbuilding. It just seems odd and I don't really have a good explanation for it other than Penders' own unacknowledged biases.

But I digress. Sally is immediately ready to fulfill her duties until the king interrupts her to say that once she undergoes the rite, she will need to think about marriage so she will have a suitable king to rule alongside her one day. She waffles a little, mentioning how she's not ready to get married yet and how "Sonic would run for the hills if I even mentioned the subject," and the king practically explodes, yelling at her about how Sonic is absolutely out of the question. Apparently, the Acorn line just loooooves arranged marriage, with the king's own wife having been chosen for him when he was eleven and their marriage commencing on his eighteenth birthday. Sally is still a bit confused and uncertain until her father mentions Antoine being a good fit for her husband, at which point she loses it and starts shouting at him in anger.

Okay, honestly? Good for her. I mentioned before how this whole thing seems incredibly cult-like, and I fully believe that the only reason this thing has been going on for so long without any issues is because all the future monarchs are essentially tricked into bonding with the Source of All when they're too young to understand what such a thing would entail. King Acorn even mentioned this to Dr. Quack in that earlier issue, that at the time he was just instructed to dunk himself under the surface of the liquid, but that he "didn't know at the time" that he'd bonded with the Source. Now the king is facing resistance from his daughter, and I'd wager the reason is because she's actually had it explained to her what such a thing would mean, not to mention that she's been an independent and strong leader from the very beginning without him, since he was lost at the beginning of the war. She's had almost her entire childhood to make her own decisions and grow into her own vision of a leader, and now that her father is back and trying to exert his more traditionalist control over her, she's fighting back. She's being put into a very hard situation, torn between her traditional duties and her belief in her own independence - ironically, in a way, life was easier for her when her father was still missing.

Furthermore, that last line of the king's is a little bizarre and ominous - his "other option"? Who or what could he be referring to? I wouldn't be surprised if some people thought that the other option was Geoffrey given the "Next: Geoffrey" text right next to him, but no, it's not him. He doesn't have the precious royal blood, after all. *sigh* *grumble* Stupid monarchy…

[mobius-prime]

87. Sonic the Hedgehog #55

Monkey Madness

Writer/Pencils: Frank Strom Colors: Karl Bollers

This issue's intro page gives us a small amount of backstory on Julian Robotnik - apparently, before he ever became Warlord, he experimented with cyborg technology, but finding that he couldn’t control his creations, gave up on them and moved on. However, apparently one of his creations still lives on today…

After the alert they received last issue, Sally, Sonic and Antoine are out to investigate what the Eggbots are up to. Despite Antoine begging for some rest as he can't keep up with Sonic's speed, Sonic rushes on ahead anyway, something which Sally admonishes him for until they hush up, noticing the Eggbots digging ahead.

Antoine manages to catch up, and as he and Sonic discuss what the Eggbots might be digging for, Sally follows a signal that Nicole is picking up to a nearby mechanical crypt, which she opens, only to find a person within.

Despite looking entirely organic, this guy is apparently mostly made of cyborg parts. He's been trapped within the pod for ten years, but now that he's free, he's immediately ready to take his revenge on the world! While this is happening, the Eggbots have managed to dig up a powerful ring to Snively's dismay, as he was hoping they were tracking down Ixis Naugus' energy signature, but he doesn't have long to be angry as the ring flies toward Monkey Khan instead.

Oh boy, I can see we're dealing with a real doozy here. Monkey Khan, now emboldened by his freedom, proceeds to wreck house amongst the Eggbots, which infuriates Snively as he watches from his cell in the Devil's Gulag. Sonic, seeing only Monkey Khan's destructive nature, immediately attacks him despite Sally yelling for him not to, and Monkey Khan becomes so enraptured by Sally's beauty that he forgets to care that he just got smacked in the face at high speeds by a living spiked mace ball.

Sonic and Antoine attempt to rush after them as Monkey Khan literally just flies away on a cloud with Sally in tow, but a second Eggbot ambush stops them in their tracks. Antoine and Sonic begin fighting for their lives beside the chasm that the first Eggbots dug to find the ring, arguing with each other all the while about whether Sonic is capable of solving problems with his words instead of with his fists. Meanwhile, Sally irritably pokes fun at Monkey Khan as he attempts to woo her with the charm of a "king of the jungle type," noting that if he spent his power on doing good instead of boosting his own ego he could really make a difference. As this is going on, Antoine and Sonic have been cornered against the chasm, and note that they finally managed to work together for once, hoping for a rescue…

Sally has managed to persuade Monkey Khan to not be a douche after all, and now he's happily decided to become allies with Sonic and co. But first, he decides he needs a long vacation after his decade of imprisonment, and flies off into the sunset on his weird magic cloud thing. Uh… okay buddy! Some real strong character development you got here!

Rise of the Robians!

Writer/Colors: Karl Bollers Pencils: Andy Underwood and Edwards Artistic Studios

The racial tensions between the Mobians and their roboticized brethren, now being referred to as Robians, are beginning to get worse. A scared Robian turkey has been cornered against a wall by an angry Mobian mob, finding herself accused of treason for being found near Robotnik's old lab, until a blinding flash distracts everyone for a moment.

Chuck confronts everyone over their hysteria, and they all agree to take it to Sally for judgment on the matter. However, when they get there and explain the situation, Geoffrey informs them that Sally is currently out. King Acorn then appears and insists that despite his condition, he's still able to pass judgment, and has in fact heard the whole matter already. And so, he gives his verdict…

*sigh*

I know I've said this many times before, but this is why absolute monarchy is a bad idea, guys! Doubly so when the ruling monarch is extremely sick and clearly not in his right mind! Even the normally unfailingly loyal Geoffrey has his misgivings, and attempts to interrupt him to ask him to reconsider, but the king rages at him and slams him aside with his scepter to everyone's shock. At that moment, Sally, Sonic, and Antoine walk in and are stunned by the scene that awaits them.

Exhausted by his outburst, the king collapses, prompting Sally to immediately shout for Dr. Quack to come and look after him. However, to compound matters, the crew then immediately gets a message from Knuckles, citing trouble on the Floating Island and asking for their help. I guess it's time to see what Knuckles has been up to this entire time, eh?