Artail Productions - Sonic Blast (48 page Special) Review

Sonic Blast Special #1 ["Official Sega Game Adaptation!"] Review by Dan Drazen

Once again, Spaziante favors us with a haunted cover. In this case, the ghost in question is Tails, who shows up transparently on the left-hand side for no apparent reason. In fact, on the copy of the cover that appears in the ad opposite the first "Find Your Name In Print" page, the image of Tails doesn't show up at all! The technique didn't help the Mecha Madness cover and here, while intended to balance the composition and give it some symmetry, it's simply a confusing add-on. I like the faux-reliefs of the Flickies, though.

"Sonic Blast" Story: Mike Gallagher/Art: Art Mawhinney Snively, still smarting from having been stripped of the key to the executive washroom at the end of "The Death Egg Saga", deliberately sabotages a transmission from Robotnik to make sure that the Knothole gang can eavesdrop. While Tails and Rotor head for their respective submersibles, Sally takes the overland route and arrives at the "harbor" first. There, in a VERY nice 2-page drawing, Sonic is supposed to be kicking back and drowning worms. Instead, he admits to being miffed at Sally for changing her story about her and Knuckles between "Triple Trouble" and "Mecha Madness". Freddy's editorial box could also have mentioned the version in "Black and Blueand Red All Over" (#44) and gone on to say: "Yeah, I know it's a plot inconsistency. Hey, we're making this up as we go! You rugrats got a problem with that?" Anyway, Mawhinney then favors us with a GREAT close-up sequence while Gallagher shows that HE knows something about quoting from movies, too. The quote from Bogie and Bacall's "To Have And Have Not" feels kinda forced, but goes extremely well with the extreme close-up. OK, multiple choice time:

[Note to Ken Penders: You've wondered out loud why nobody commented on the third to last panel of "Last Game Cartridge Hero", wondering if maybe you had been too subtle. You have to realize that Sonic fans are of two minds on this matter: either they don't want to deal with "mush" or (as in the conclusion of the "Doomsday Project" episode) they want to see Sonic and Sally engaged in some serious tongue-wrestling! Unless it's going to go somewhere and build to something major, subtle doesn't make it.] Before we can get a definitive answer to the multiple choice question, Rotor and Tails show up to make sure Archie stays within the Comics Code guidelines. Sonic comes on board and the boys head off to Flickie Island.

Welcome to Flickie Island! No, that isn't your host, Mr. Dork; it's Robotnik and the only R&R he's here for is "rob and roboticize". He demonstrates his scientific knowledge by saying that the "flora and fauna bloom not with flowers, but with precious gemstones." I should HOPE that the fauna doesn't bloom; unless you're a Chia Pet, animals can't grow much that blooms. Stick with the bots, Ivo! The only local fauna, BTW, are the terminally cute Flickie Birds (or is that "Flicky Birds"?). In addition to having those baby heads with the big, appealing eyes, they have no natural enemies and are thus unafraid of strangers. So it's an easy matter for Robotnik (and they don't come any stranger than him!) to roboticize them and begin scouring the island for a Chaos Emerald.

As our guys arrive offshore, Tails takes to the air to intercept what he thinks is a flock of friendlies. However, the Flickiebots don't treat him any better than the Wing Dingoes did in "Southern Crossover" and he dives into the drink. Which is actually pretty fortunate because the sea water serves to deroboticize the birdies. Tails is pulled aboard Rotor's bathysphere where he puts one hand behind his head in a weird gesture. That hand CAN'T belong to Sonic because HIS right hand is leaning on the bathysphere. Unless Sonic has grown a second right arm when I wasn't looking. Or maybe Tails is trying to dry himself off by doing the Macarena. For the record, Bill Mauldin once drew a cartoon for "Stars and Stripes" showing three guys and SEVEN HANDS clearly visible. You're in good company, Art. [Yet another note to Ken Penders: If you do subtle and it doesn't work, you'll soon discover that everybody's an art critic!].

After an implausible bit of business to confirm the effects of sea water on Flickiebots [I'm sorry, no matter how fast Sonic was working, the only kind of water that can act that way within the realities of molecular chemistry is the kind of water you get when the outdoor temperature drops below 32 degrees Fahrenheit], Sonic leaves Rotor and Tails to deal with the Flickiebot flock while he skitters to shore. They arm themselves with supersoakers and Gallagher risks incurring the wrath of leathernecks everywhere with that "Semper Fi" gag.

We take our leave of the birdbath sequence and follow Sonic inland. With the aid of a Flickie Bird, he comes across Robotnik as he discovers a Ring/"dimensional portal". After about three pages of toing and froing wherein Sonic gives Robotnik a wedgie (actually, the more I think about it, the more in-character it seems), Robotnik jumps into the Ring with Sonic right behind him.

The following two pages I'll have to assume are an accurate representation of the relevant level in the game. Nice artwork by Mawhinney in the service of crass commercialism. And someone will have to explain that "Is this the end of Rico?" gag to me.

Anyway, just when it looks like Sonic has got this thing all wrapped up, he finds himself wrapped up in Robotnik's cape as the Big Guy goes after the Chaos Emerald. He finds it in the head of a giant stone Flickie Bird which COMES ALIVE when the stone is removed. As Ivo Robotnik wonders if Indiana Jones ever had days like this, Sonic has a bad case of deja vu. He's been there and done that when a Zone collapses. Giving himself a case of the shakes, he manages to bust out of the cape and escape the Flickie Zone before it collapses. Robotnik manages to escape as well, but the emerald disappeared down a Flickie Bird's gullet. He further discovers that the Flickiebots have all been deroboticized, the roboticizer he brought to the island has been smashed by Tails and Rotor, and the exoskeletal battlesuit that got trashed in the Zone was what got him there in the first place. Well, it hasn't been his day, his week, his month or...hey, you know how the tune goes!

I'll be the first to admit that I approached this issue with a certain amount of fear and loathing. I thought the story idea would be too slight and that the end-result would be nothing but a glorified print ad for the game cart. I've never been so happy to have been proven wrong. This story worked for me! The narrative was strong and devoid of puns in favor of actual humor, so mush so that it was easy to forgive some of the lapses like the business with the waterball. This is Gallagher's best work to date, even eclipsing "Rage Against The Machine" which I HAD thought his strongest. And Mawhinney's artwork is as great as ever, even with that ambiguous hand bit on page 10. And I don't know if the Flickies are depicted here as they exist in the game, but they are a rare bird indeed: minor characters who have great breakout potential. I don't know who gets the credit for their design, but the more I look at them the more I can see that the four basic Flickies might each plausibly possess well-defined personalities (despite their limited vocabularies). My favorite is the lavender Flickie with the "pigtails", BTW. Brilliant, and a good reason to double-bag this one!

Sonic Blast: What A Blast! -- I suppose one of the perks of working in the comics industry is getting to test-fly a game if you're going to adapt it. Don't rub it in, Fred. Another plug for the outsides and the insides of "Knuckles: The Dark Legion". I'm a little more interested in Knuckles bio than I am in the cover art. And #45 features the return of Mobie (so what?) and the continuation of Knuckles' Quest. We also see Sonic and Geoffrey comparing dental plans on the cover of #46, and get an (unexplained) sneak at part of the cover of #47.

"The T.U.F.F. Awards" Story: Angelo DeCesare/Art: Dave Manak I would have described this as "two pages worth of running in place" but that would have implied that those concerned actually worked up a sweat in the course of getting this done. It's a knock-off, pure and simple, something to fill two pages. The writing is a no-brainer. Ever since "Court Martial" Dave Manak has proved that he can do sustained artwork with a measure of quality; this stuff, though, reminds me of a Mad Magazine Don Martin parody of Art Mawhinney's style. Sally had the right idea: pull the plug!

Find Your Name In Print x 4 "Moronic" Melody Hillard?

"Bugged Bunny" Story: Angelo DeCesare/Art: Dave Manak OK, when the first panel features Robotnik and Snively dressed up like they want to audition for the Waltz Of The Flowers, you get an idea of the tone. The plot itself isn't such a travesty--the two slip a homing device on the sleeping Bunnie expecting her to lead them to Knothole--but it's played for slapstick all the way. Likable if you're into that sort of thing. Wake me up for the Dance Of The Fertilizer Fairy.

Fan Art And Then Some Ever since the fan art section in #44 with a Pepto-pink female fox, I've supposed that it was for Archie's benefit that they accepted only black-and-white submissions. Nice to see that they've gotten with the program and then some!

Favorites: Kelly Griner's drawing of Sally and Aura Moser's envelope art. As for Ginger Hartman's envelope art, too bad Archie couldn't have enlarged it a bit--it's a bear trying to read those word balloons! Speaking of bears, head for the hills cause Mobie's back in town. Personally, I'd rather commune with a Care Bear!