SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #53
	"Unfinished Business" and "Sounds of Silence"
	By Archie Comics

	Review by Roland Lowery, aka Jim Doe

	------------------------------------

	Remember way back when?  Y'know, when I said that Brave New World
would determine whether I would continue buying Archie's Sonic comics?
Well, it determined that I would.  Though it was not a return to the good
old days, BNW was a marked improvement.  While I still can't say much for
Mr. Pender's character artwork, I must say that his backgrounds and
landscapes for Robotropolis were superb.  And though the plotline needed
some definite plugs, his writing still saved the story.  I'm not too
happy about the reasons behind Spaz stepping in to re-do one pic of Sonic,
but the fact that the problems with the roboticized Mobians was brought up
made up for that.  Overall, I think it was a slightly above average
special . . . but then, that's about ten times better than the stuff they
HAD been putting out for awhile now.
	So, I am going to continue buying the Sonic comics until . . .
well, until they totally screw up.  Hopefully, though, that won't be for
years and years and years from now, preferably after I've just celebrated
my 90th birthday and died peacefully, knowing that Sonic comics are, if
not totally exemplary and beacons that all other comic books aspire
toward, at least pretty alright.
	Well, enough of that drivel!  On to the guilty parties, neh?

	GUILTY PARTIES ---------------------------------------------

	Well, this one has two stories in it.  It suprised me, because the
first one is so short!  I though maybe they were going to have three or
four seperate stories in this one!  But, they didn't.  It's too bad they
didn't put the first one last, but I understand why not:  the story flow
would've been off.  Ah, well.  Here's the guilty parties for both stories.

	JOB		"Unfinished Business"	"Sounds of Silence"

	Writer		Ken Penders		Karl Bollers
	Penciler	Art Mawhinney		Sam Maxwell
	Inker		Ken Penders		Pam Eklund
	Letterer	Jeff Powell		Jeff Powell
	Colorist	Karl Bollers		Karl Bollers
	Editor			J. Freddy Gabrie
	Managing Editor		Victor Gorelick
	Editor-in-Chief 	Richard Goldwater

	THE COVER -------------------------------------------------

	Another snappy job by the Spaz/Harvo team!  Could've done without
Dr. Quack, but, hey, it's a *well drawn* Dr. Quack, and that's what
counts, right?  =]
	Let's see, we got Sonic, who is turning to see what the gaping Dr.
Quack is, well, gaping at.  And who does he see?  It's Bill Cosby!  He's
finally turned into the well known geletain he so often tries to sell us
on those happy-giggly Jell-O commercials!  Run!
	Okay, okay, it's really Warlord Kodos in green crystal form,
holding a green crystal axe and, well, that's just about it.  Well,
there's that braid-type-thing in the upper left hand corner, but anyways
. . .
	Uh huh huh huh . . . sweet!  I've never really been a fan of how
they would change the colors on their Sonic logo, but this time it REALLY
paid off!  There's- . . . well, you just need to see it for yourself!  It
plays a funky number on your eyes!

	SPLASH PAGE ------------------------------------------------

	I'm guessing that this is some more . . . yep, there's the
signature.  Maxwell/Harvo art.  Here we have an excellent rendition of
Ixis' wand/staff/thingamajigger half-erased and covered with inane
commentary that I'd swear Editor Freddy the Hypemeister writes himself.
	Oh, well.  Hey, look!  A Kit-Kat ad!  Let's fold it in, shall we?
 . . . . . . cool!  Oh, wait, wasn't there something important I
was supposed to be doing?  . . . oh, yah!  Sorry.  Inane drivel causes me
to slip into a mometary lapse of concentration.  Or something.  Turn the
page!

	-------------------------------------- "UNFINISHED BUSINESS"

	Whilst working on wrecking and/or repairing Robotropolis and
converting it into Mobotropolis once again, the Freedom Fighters (or is
it EX-Freedom Fighters now?) are paid a visit by a Dark Legion hovercraft
(neat!  I wonder where Julie-Su stored THAT little doohickey . . . ) with
one Knuckles T. Echidna and one Julie-Su . . . er, . . . also T. Echidna,
I guess (no relation =] ).
	So, what does this get us?  A flashback to Knuckles #4, of course!
In return, we get a short flashback to Sally meeting the fake "King",
then (finally!) a scene of her trying to use the Royal Sword to revive her
father.  The fact that she doesn't really need to be by her father's side
to use the sword to find the Crown of Acorns is of little consequence.
It was shown for the effect, of course!
	Anyhoo, Sally says that Rotor tested the sword out and found that
it's a fake!  Of course, WE know that Mammoth Mogul still has the REAL
sword (e-vile elephant that he is!), but the others don't.  So, there's
actually some weight behind Sonic's question about which is fake, "That
chunka metal or the story behind it?"  Is it possible that the FF will
give up on trying to find the real sword, especially with the revelations
in the "Sounds of Silence" story?  Ah, well.  We'll see.
	Okay, what's next?  Another flashback from the Knuckles series,
and then Sally suggesting that Sonic and Knuckles might benifit from
having a "heart-to-heart talk" about their mutal problem with parents.
Yah, right, it's just like a woman to suggest that two men have a
"hear-to-heart talk"!  *snicker* *snort* *laugh* *cough* *ahem*
	What do they do instead?  Why, ol' S & K start in on the "cool
talk", banging their fists together and generally, well, getting along.
It's seems that they really did patch things up after the EndGame fiasco!
I, for one, am glad to see it.  Sure, the Sonic Vs. Knuckles thing had
its high points, but the war is over now and it's time for all former
enemies/rivals to make amends, even these two walking egos.
	Then there's the sound of a strangled turkey screaming "Maurice!"
It turns out to be Sonic's dad, Jules, calling for his son.
	Now, a little sidetracking here.  When I first read Brave New
World, I almost yelled - out loud - "MECHA-SONIC!"  Then I looked closer
and realized that it was simply Jules.  Then I went on to notice that
Jules looked like not Jules roboticized, but Jason Voorhees (of Friday
the 13th fame) roboticized!  I still don't like this design, no matter who
draws it, because of this fact.  But, skip it, I'll just have to live
with it, I guess.
	Back to the story.  Antoine runs out, threatening to tell everyone
Sonic's middle name (which is, of course, "Maurice", . . . ick), and
Sonic runs off after him.  There is a hint that Sonic isn't really Sonic's
first name, either!  Oo!  Oo!  I know what it is!  "Yuji"!  His real last
name is "Naka"!  =]
	And then Jules and Knuckles walk off into the sunset, and Jules
lays on the moral message of the story.  Next story!

	-------------------------------------------- "SOUNDS OF SILENCE"

	Aaaand . . . we have Sam Maxwell art.  Whoop-de-doo, eh?
Actually, I've always thought that Maxwell has always had great
potential, and even in this he shows some improvement, but he STILL needs
some work.Hey, at least he finally got the idea that Sally should be able
to zip up her vest, neh?
	And now to our regularly scheduled story . . . can anyone say
"bubble head"?  Sure, I knew you could!  Listen to the very first words
to come out of Sally's mouth:  "Wow, Sonic!  Would you look at that
building over there?  It's Doctor Robotnik's laboratory!  Who knows how
many diabolical schemes were cooked up in that most complex of complexes .
. ."  After which her speech is totally back to normal.  I think that the
writer, Karl Bollers, just couldn't think of anything to start the
conversation which spans the next 3-4 pages, and just whipped this up at
the last minute.
	Oh, well.  That's what they get for letting a colorist write the
script!  (Just kidding!  =] )
	Sonic and Sally start to climb down from the cliff from which they
had viewed Robotropolis from while Sally started up the chit chat.  They
talk mostly about the problems that have presented themselves to Sally
over the last little while.  All of this is, of course, stuff we already
know, so let's skip ahead to the letters pag- er, I mean, to where
Geoffry St. John (who's sporting a lovely new cloak with a green gem/gold
chain clasp to go with it) appears and tells the two of them that a probe
has been sent into the Zone of Silence in an attempt to study it in an
attempt to save King Acorn in an attempt to save the Acorn Kingdom etc.
etc. etc.
	Then something blows up.  Go figure.
	Sonic, Sally, and St. John (hurm . . . lotta Ses these days . . .)
run into Robotropolis to find Rotor, Uncle Chuck, and Dr. Quack
dog-piling on the lab equipment.  Standing over their unconscious forms
are Ixis Naugus, creater of the Zone of Silence and former Royal Wizard of
the Acorn Kingdom; Kodos, former Warlord of the Acorn Kingdom and All
Around Not Very Nice Guy; and some spider person.  Her name, apparently,
is Uma Arachnis.  I don't recognize her.  Either she was in a comic I
missed, or someone new (I beleive strongly that it's the latter).
Whichever she is, she's a nice addition!
	Another little aside here:  Does Sally look strange to anyone else
in this panel?  I think someone is trying to play the same old switcheroo
that was played in Brave New World with Sonic.  Unless they both messed
up somehow in their techniques, this pic of Sally was neither penciled by
Maxwell nor inked by Eklund.  Anyways . . .
	Ixis introduces himself and promptly tries to zap Sonic, who says 
that he doesn't like people who keep the company that Ixis is keeping
(namely Kodos) nor those that, well, try to zap him.
	BATTLE SCENE!  Whee!  Sonic grabs Sally and begins to dodge blasts
from Ixis' . . . er, . . . scepter thingy, which appear to turn things
into green crystal.  Kodos is about to hew them into pieces with that big
ol' axe of his, but St. John sinks three crossbow bolts into the axe's
hilt.  And - get this! - St. John thinks to himself "Missed!"!  MISSED?
So, St. John shot THREE arrows at this seven foot tall, five foot wide
powerhouse, and all THREE of those arrows thunked into the two foot tall,
one INCH across AXE HILT?  That's some mighty fine missin', there, bud!
	St. John is about to load up some more bolts, but gets knocked out
by Uma, the spider ninja!  Ki-ya!  And then . . . and then . . .. and
then I'm not sure WHAT happens.  Sonic goes into a Sonic Spin, it would
appear, and then does . . . SOMEthing to Ixis' . . . er, green ball on a
stick.  He doesn't break it, seemingly, 'cause he does THAT later on.  For
now, the effect of . . . whatever it was he did is that shards of crystal
go everywhere and Ixis and his groupies cry out and hold their heads in
horror.
	This momentary distraction allows everyone to escape through
Robotnik's hidden tunnels (which aren't really that hidden, seeing as you
can just walk through a door to get into them =] ).  Meanwhile, Ixis and
his lackeys recuperate and vow to do HOREEBLE, TERRRREEBLE things to
them.
	Then we reconvene to King Acorn's bedroom in Castle Acorn
(formerly Robotnik's HQ) where we find that Smiley and Fleming have been
working out!  =]
	Oh, uh, we return you to our story, already in progress . . . "no
idea that launching the probe would release that deadly trio!" says
Rotor.  I have a question, though . . . why didn't that deadly trio sneak
out any of those other times when both Robotnik and the FF just kinda left
their doors to the Zone WIDE OPEN?  They shoulda just snuck out while the
FF were busy trying to save the King the first time around!  Did they?
Nooooo.  Why not?  'Cause it wouldn't have fit in the story, that's why!
Oh, well.  Let's all just act dumb and maybe everything will be better.
=]
	While Sonic somehow goes from a standing position to sitting in on
a stool which wasn't there a second ago, King Acron drops the bomb that
Ixis is actually the rightful ruler of Mobotropolis (not Mobius, you
understand, just Mobotropolis . . . but let's all act dumb for just a
while longer . . . =] )
	Hey, cool!  The King's crystallized hands are see-through!  I
wonder, . . . does that mean if you look into the crystallized side of
his head, you'd see . . . eww!  Cool!
	Oh, wait wait wait wait!  The King shown in this comic is
shuffling around, talking in a pained voice (as evidenced by the word
balloons), and speaking in broken sentences.  What happened?  Did those
hissy fits he threw in Brave New World wear him out?
	Okay, back to the story.  Here is history as the King states it.
The King's gradual crystallization is not due to the properties of the
Zone of Silence.  See, while in the Zone, he pretty much went skipping
around from floating rock to floating rock, trying to get by (what did he
eat or drink?  Who knows.  Act dumb!).  Eventually, though, he gave up
trying.  The Zone of Silence, named so because of its ability to do
untold damage to your hearing, finally drove him to try suicide.  Just as
he was about to jump into a black hole, he was "saved" by Ixis Naugus.
Using his maciks, Ixis was able to reverse the maddening effects of the
Zone on the King.  In return for this, he demanded the King's unswerving
obedience.  He turned the King into organic crystal, with the ability to
switch back and forth between reg'lar flesh and crystal flesh.  He lost
the ability to control that change when he escaped the Zone.
	Now, here is the history as WE saw it unfold previously.  The King
was shoved into the Zone, where he met up with Kodos, who was later
zapped by Feist.  Why Feist didn't zap the King, or how the King escaped
Feist, we don't know.  Anyways, the King pretty much ended up skipping
around from floating rock to floating rock.  One day, he hits his head,
gets amnesia, and is found by some demon-like creatures, who dress him as
a knight, give him a freaky laser-lance and a neato keeno horse.  He just
kinda hangs out for a while until the FF come along and rescue him (I
don't think that the King exactly "escaped" the Zone like he said he did,
neh?).
	How can both of these stories be true?  Well, it's possible, but
highly unlikely.  It would take quite a bit of twisting.  Oh, well,
hopefully SOMEone (probably Ken Penders) will wrap this bit up.
	Where was I?  Oh, yes.  It's pointed out that if the King pledged
his allegience to Ixis, then Ixis is the King.  However, Sally points out
that after her father disappeared, SHE became acting ruler of Mobius, and
thus SHE was the only one who was in any position to make any royal
decisions.  Because of this, I can only guess that Ixis and the King's
pact only binds them at a personal level.  i.e., the King is his personal
slave, but Ixis can't make any ROYAL decisions.  But then, that's got to
do with oral contracts and binding leagal agreements, and I slept through
that part of my Business Law class.  *shrug*
	YES!  ANOTHER explosion!  This is shaping up rather well.  =]
	Ixis and his flunkies burst into the King's bedroom (how rude!),
and St. John's flunkies decide to take 'em on.  While they don't get to
take on the bad guys, they do take on some new haircuts thanks to Kodos'
big axe.
	Hey!  Here's a great sig quote!
	Kodos:  "Who else would battle Kodos face to face?"
	Sonic: "ME!  But do we have to do it face to face?  You're kinda
ugly!"
	Next he'll ask if anyone has ever told Kodos if anyone has ever
told him that he's ugly and dresses funny.  =]
	While Sonic and Kodos have it out, St. John and Sally work at
keeping Uma from cracking down on the King.  They have a strange method
of doing so.  If *I* were Sally, *I* would've let St. John KEEP his
crossbow!  He coulda had a GREAT shot!  But, oh, yah, this comic is
approved by the Comics Code /-\uthority.  What was I thinking?
	So, Ixis gets tired of all this and turns Kodos and Uma into
crystal with is . . . er, magic wand dealy.  In this form, they are able
to deflect St. John's bolts, Sally's laser gun (hey, it's about time they
got some lasers), and Rotor's pointing finger.
	"TIME OUT!" Sonc yells, then he confronts Ixis.  He steps forward
and says that he has put two and two together and come up with "you gonna
lose, Ix!"  He dares Ixis to shoot him, which the sorceror does in his
anger.  Just as Sonic had thought, the blast only affected his shoes and
gloves . . . inanimate objects (Kodos and Uma were effected only becuase
Ixis turned them into "inanimate" material: organic crystal).  This is
the reason that Ixis would only blast the area in front of the FF . . . he
wanted to scare them by turning some prime real estate into shiny green
rocks.
	Sonic, now sporting some stylin' new green apparel, zooms around
Ixis, and then grabs the . . . er, stick with a green ball on the end and
smashes it.  Uma and Kodos suddenly decide to play statue while Ixis
decides that he doesn't want to stick around for an encore butt-kicking.
	And so life goes on . . . but wait!  What about the King?  When
Ixis' thingamabopper gone, where does that leave ol' buddy Acorn?  Argh!
They did it again!  Now we won't know what happened until they explain it
in next month's letters page!  I HATE that!
	Oh, well . . .

	LETTERS PAGE ----------------------------------------------------

	Hurm . . . no letters!  No fan art either.  They probably cut them
for space for the story.  They COULD have just cut "Unfinished Business"
and put it in the NEXT issue to make room for these two features, but . .
. oh, well.  It's not all THAT important.  What IS important is . . .
NiGHTS!  By SPAZ!  And HARVO!  And, uh, Galan . . . yay . . .  =]  YES!
I want it I want it I want it I want it!
	*ahem*  ANYways . . . not much else here of any interest except a
mention of Sonic: Firsts, and a cupon for it on the facing page.  Now, I
know not everyone else seems to be too eager to see these, but *I* am.  I
missed these stories the first time around, and I want to see them!
(That, and I want to see the full sized version of that Spaz/Harvo cover
they show in the ad!)  I want it, too!

	PARTING SHOTS ---------------------------------------------------

	This, I must say, is a marked improvement over what has occured
over the past year.  If handled correctly, this could concievably lead us
back to the good old days of Archie's Sonic.  Because this was not
absolute crap as I thought it might be, I will continue to buy the Sonic
comics . . . for now.  Hopefully, they will NEVER drop back to the
"Discovery Zone" level again!  Never!  Never ever!
	Ah, you've been a wonderful audience!  Good night!

		Roland Lowery, aka Jim Doe
			

    Source: geocities.com/timessquare/dungeon/5221

               ( geocities.com/timessquare/dungeon)                   ( geocities.com/timessquare)