The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 73

“The Truth Is Out There” Back In Business II - Sonic the Hedgehog #73

It’s the wedding anniversary for Sonic’s parents and, he, Uncle Chuck, and Nate Morgan give them a pair of wedding bands made from Power Rings. Since their old ones were lost during the war. 

And this is my biggest problem with Karl Bollers as a writer. While I don’t necessarily dislike Nate, he’s such a redundant character. There was no need for him to be the secret creator of the power rings when we already had Uncle Chuck. The same goes for the wish granting Ring Of Acorns, when the One Billionth Ring could have sufficed. He just has this nasty habit of adding in or forcing unnecessary shit onto the comic.    

Anyways Sally calls a meeting to discuss the weird events that have been happening lately. But before that she has a heart to heart with her bother Elias.

No, he wouldn’t, Elias. No, he wouldn’t. 

Friendly reminder that Bollers is just as equally responsible for making Max an abusive dick as Penders is. 

I honestly like Elias quite a bit. It took a while for me to warm up to him, but now he’s genuinely the character I miss the most since the reboot.  

I love that Amy’s already considered part of the group. 

Anyways all the Freedom Fighters gather to hear Nicole’s evidence. Turns out all those satellites we’ve been seeing have been activating whenever something bad happened and, our heroes put two and two together.  

This is a good pay off to the months of long term story telling the comic’s been attempting during this era. All the subtle hints and random events being connect by this simple device. 

While they are talking, the last satellite activates and, then all of the satellites come together to make a space station.   

Turns out this correlates with all of the Robians from Knothole going missing, leading us to our cliffhanger for this issue.  

The second story in the comic is the continuation of “Tales of the Great War.” 

It’s ironic that the Overlanders are always being accused by Mobians of being overly violent and xenophobic and, yet is was Mobians who caused the Great War in the first place. I wonder if that was meant to be intentional commentary or not.    

The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 72

“I, Robotnik” Back In Business I - Sonic the Hedgehog #72

This issue is mainly both set-up for the upcoming story arc and a recap. 

Rotor and Nate build a bunch of televisions so King Max can broadcast a speech. And everyone tunes in to watch. 

Now Sonic is at his folks’ place watching and Sally’s with her dad as he makes her speech, so my question is, “Who’s house is this?” All of the FF are there so is it a special dorm for them all? Is it Twan’s place cause he’s technically 18 and therefore an adult who can legally live on his own? Is this Rosie’s home and all of the FF without parents right now still live with her? These are the questions that keep me up at night!  

Anyways the broadcast is hijacked by those satellites that we saw back in issue 62, and an “unknown” announcer proceeds to recaps Robotnik’s life with a very slanted/biased view of events. All while bringing up some very painful memories and regrets for our cast. 

Everyone save Antoine that is.    

Look at this wonderful dork! He’s so proud of his service for his country! 

Also, who’s house is this, again!? 

The broadcast ends with no other incident, Rotor leaves to go find his family, and Snively has been captured by…….dun, dun dun! Robotnik!!!! 

The other story featured in the comic is the first part of the Tales of the Great War arc, which is a series a flashback stories chronicling the history of Mobius.  

The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 71

“Zoneward Bound” Sonic Kids II - Sonic Super Special #9

Oh, looky there; more flashbacks in a Sonic Super Special. I’m beginning to question my decision of reading this marathon in release order. It makes the chronological placement if things really confusing at times and makes it harder to break down certain important character beats. 

For example, in this story we open up on the kids all gaining up on Antoine. 

Now this behavior is shitty all on it its own, but depending on the placement of this story the behavior can become exponentially worst. 

Because Tails is flying we can deduce this takes place after “When You and I Were Young, Sally”. But the real question is weather or not it takes place before or after “Stop…Sonic Time!”. Which would dictate weather or not Antoine’s parents are alive or not. Because picking on your friend is already bad enough, but picking on your friend after he’s experienced severe trauma and loss makes you outright dick. And while fully expect young Sonic to to be a little prick, I have a hard time believing the rest of the FFs are as well.   

But the comic does a really poor job of applying context to these events so figuring out it’s placement is tricky. So lets look at the evidence. 

Tails is wearing shoes. He didn’t usually wear any until Sonic gave him some special ones as a gift, back in “Stop….Sonic Time!”. That said it is cold weather and they could just be regular old shoes cause Rosie wouldn’t let him play barefoot in the snow. 

 Specking of Rosie, she seems to be caught between the two extremes of “When You and I Were Young, Sally” and “Stop….Sonic Time!”. She is both stern and disapproving, yet more willing to go easier on the kids.   

I still don’t agree with this portrayal of Rosie, but if you place this between the two previous stories you could argue she’s going through some sort character development. 

I think in an effort to make everyone appear in a better light, I’m going to have to place this before “Stop…Sonic Time!” and before Antoine lost his folks. 

And to the comic’s credit it does take the time to show that Sonic’c behavior can be problematic towards everyone not just Ant, and also takes the time to show the all kids getting along together at least once. 

But enough fluff, lets get to the real point of this story. He kids discover a power ring for the first time hidden in the old well. This causes portals to open up and they all get sucked in. 

Meaning this is the first time Antoine traveled to an alternate zone. 

Oh and he’s met the Ancient Walkers. You know the gods of the Archie Sonic universe. 

Or rather they met him. Weather or not he and the rest of the gang knew of their presence or even remembers them being there is open to interpretation.  

Anyways everyone makes it back again safe and sound. and all agree to put the magic ring back where they found it. 

The rest of the comic covers Sally and Knuckles first meeting and how they became friends, and the birth of Tails on the eve of Robotnik’s coup. 

Look, I know you’re a new to this whole mother thing, Rosemary, but THAT’S NOT HOW YOU HOLD A NEW BORN!!!! 

You know I really need to sit down and write out an actual chronological order of events for the comic when I’m done with all these flashbacks. 

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“Ghost-Busted” - Sonic Super Special #8 

Ok so this story is …..odd. Not to mention pointless. 

For starters we have yet another flashback story, but this time it’s being narrated by Tails. Only, given his commentary on Antoine, he must be telling this story beforeissue 46 or possibly even before issue 23. 

Meaning that this is now a flashback within a flashback. Once again, the Super Specials can’t keep up with the regular comic. >_>

Yet, it gets weirder folks. This story is also an adaption of an episode of Sonic SatAM. A show, that at the time of this comic’s publication date, had been canceled for nearly over a year. Of an episode that was actually one of the weaker stories on offer from the series.

Just… why? Why is this a thing? What was the purpose behind retelling this particular story, long after it was ever relevant? 

Anyways, turns out Ant was frighten by a “ghost”. This inspires Sonic to tell ghost stories all night, which give both Tails and Twan nightmares. 

This just might be the worst artwork we’ve seen in the comic yet. 

Tails wakes up from his nightmare only to realize Ant has disappeared. He and Sonic split up to go looking for him. They run into a mysterious glowing body. 

Only it turns out the the “ghost” was Antoine all along. 

Also, Twan apparently sleepwalks. I now demand a fanfic where Bunnie has to deal with waking up in the middle of the night to find her husband rummaging around the kitchen while still being asleep. 

I watched the episode this story is based off of before reviewing and while it’s a pretty accurate adaptation, adds very little to the proceedings outside of Tails’ unnecessary narration. On top of that it cuts out a lot of the atmosphere building and character interaction that made the original some what enjoyable.

I suppose, though, that this is is possibly the best time to give my thoughts on SatAm as a whole and why I personally prefer the comics to it’s sister series. 

While there is a lot of good things to recommend about SatAM; the art, the character/story concepts,a fantastic voice cast, ect. I can’t help but feel the show was lacking in regards of developing its characters and world. The series just felt too static and there was very little in the way of character focus drama despite having a very interesting cast to work with. 

Compare that to the comics. While one can debate the objective quality of the going series, there’s no denying that the book has manged to survive to this day because of its ability to grow, change, and adapt. Characters develop, the world they inhabit is expanded upon, and new things are constantly added into the mix.  

    

“Ghost Busted” highlights this problem. It’s one of the very few stories from the show that doesn’t center around Sonic or the gang defeating the threat of the day. Yet nothing actually happens. The characters’ perception of themselves or of others isn’t challenged in anyway, nor does anyone learn anything at the end. Antoine doesn’t over come any fears, Tails doesn’t learn to be brave, and Sonic’s well Sonic. It’s filler, pure and simple. Both here in the comic and in the original series.    

 The rest of the issue features a story about Monkey Khan, yet another flashback story where Sonic starts to age rapidly, and a prologue for the up coming Zone Wars arc. But most people remember it as the issue that’s also a Sailor Moon parody. 

Only it does absolutely nothing with the concept outside of dressing Sally, Amy, and Knux in silly outfits. 

Also is Amy Rose Knux and Sally’s kid in this world? Who would be the other sailor scouts? I vote Blaze as Mars, Bunnie as Jupiter, Nicole as Mercury, and Mina as Venus.

The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 69

“A Day In the Life” Juice Joint Jeopardy I - Sonic the Hedgehog #69

So kind of like with a “Brave New World”, issue 69 is a bit of a slice of life type story in order to setup future character arcs and establish the world more. I‘m a sucker for such stories and, I honestly feel the comic needs more of them.    

Both Sally and Elias are still recoiling from the major adjustments to both their lives. Their mom’s sick, their dad’s a dick, and both feel as if the life they wanted is being pulled away from them. 

Here’s the thing, Uncle Chuck pulled this same shit on Sonic just 20 issues ago. But Uncle Chuck apologized, talked to Sonic and listened to his concerns, and then never did it again! Max’s so called apology is filled with excuses and personal validation with no thought as to what his children feel. While turning around in the very next sentence and deciding their lives for them all over again. He’s not sorry. He’s a controlling asshole! 

  

Seeing how Sally is emotionally drained by what’s happening, her friends decide to take her out on the town for some fun. They also take Nate Morgan, so as to give him the tour of the city. They offer Elias the opportunity to come along as well, but he declines. Elias is very much an introvert and tends to distress by himself or with one person he’s really close with. A whole group of strangers dragging him around a crowded city wouldn’t have been a good time for him.  

  

They all go to a Juice Bar that also has a disco floor and we get this scene. 

Originally posted by worthbeingcrazy4snowbarry

We had Bunnie’s admittance of love back in issue 46, and now here’s Antoine’s. Granted he doesn’t confess his feelings to her just yet, (that’ll come later viewers) but he is acknowledging that this is more than just a crush. 

Also headconnon is confirmed: Antoine writes sappy poetry and serenades Bunnie with corny old French love songs. 

Anyways the whole reason Soinc pulled Twan aside wasn’t to talk about his love life but rather to discuss his father. 

Remember, unlike the rest of his friends, Antoine had given up all hope of ever seeing any of his family ever again. All these family reunions must be extra painful to watch when you’ve grown up as an orphan. 

Sonic decides to tell him about his papa being alive. Which is interesting because back in KtE #12 Sonic was willing to keep General D'coolette a secret. Presumably for the same reasons as to why and Uncle Chuck and now King Max did. What made him change his mind? It’s never stated outright, but I think Sally did or rather seeing Sally so upset over her dad keeping such important secrets from her did. Combine that with his own experiences and Knuckles’, Sonic’s realized that keeping information about someone’s family hidden only harms everyone in the long run, no matter how good your intentions are for doing so.    

Also overprotective girlfriend Bunnie is best Bunnie. 

However all of this angst is cut short as the action arrives on the scene. Everyone is attacked by the escaped convicts from #63 and they kidnap Nate Morgan. 

The second story is the further adventures of Lupe and the Wolf pack. 

The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 68

“Parallel Paradigm” - Sonic Super Special #7 

So here we come to the infamous Image crossover issue. And honestly I haven’t got much to say about it. But it does set up a important (though stupid) plot point for later. 

Antoine makes a passing mention to a previous love affair. One that wasn’t Sally, and it apparently didn’t end well. Said love will make an appearance much later on down the line in what is perhaps the dumbest Antoine/Bunnie story, but more on that later. 

He jokes, but Linkara’s reaction perfectly demonstrates the main problem of this story. To us fans, we know that Antoine really is a genuinely nice person who is stuck in this transitional period during this part of his character development. But to non-fans, and any Image fans picking up the book at the time, wouldn’t know that from the way the characters are presented here. Same goes for the Image characters. If you’re here for the Sonic portion, you’re going to be left high and dry wondering just who the fuck are these people. 

 The comic does a very poor job of defining everybody, their individual stories, and personalities. Though I guess, given how little they’ve been featured this era, we should be grateful that the FFs were still deemed worthy enough to appear rather than Knuckles extended family.Though, Dimitri and Locke still manage to make a cameo anyway.     

Oh and apparently this story takes place before the World Tour arc; despite  not being released until said arc was nearly over.  

What is with the Super Special series and flashback stories? Why can’t they release things in semi order? 

Anyways, if you want a more thorough break down of what is wrong with this comic I highly recommend Linkara’s previously mentioned review.  http://atopthefourthwall.com/sonic-super-special-7/ The guy gives a pretty fair and unbiased opinion on the individual work itself rather than trying to drag the whole series like some reviewers have been known to do. 

The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 67

“Surprise” - Sonic the Hedgehog #68

So we finally come upon another birthday episode for Sonic. Keep in mind these’s are important since they are our only marking for the passage of time in the book. And this one is extra important, since we are finally given an age for Sonic himself. 

This gives us approximate ages for the rest of cast. Sally should be the same age as Sonic and according to issue 9, her birthday is right before his. Back in issue 46, in the fan letters, Rotor’s age is given as 16 already. Depending on when his birthday lands, he is either the same age or just a year older than Sonic. Bunnie’s age is stated in the fan letters of issue 90 as being 17, meaning she is definitely one year older than Sonic. As for Antoine, we are give two points of reference for his age, in #46 he is 18 and in #90 he’s stated as being 19. So Ant is two years older than Sonic and his birthday possibly comes earlier in the year than any of his friends. There is no point of reference for Amy or Tails, but canonically I think they’re suppose to be ten here. 

So the real question is how old was everyone back in the beginning of the comic? Because most sources don’t give a timeline for those years. Sonic’s age wasn’t stated in the last birthday issue. And given just how many events occurred between the two, one could make the convincing argument that it was more than a year.   

Between the two birthdays, we have approximately 95 individual adventures. Not counting certain solo adventures that could overlap with with those, (the Knuckles series for example) or untold stories that’ll be filled in later through flash back. Even if every adventure happened approximately with in a week’s time of each other than we are still looking at over a hundred weeks. An earthly year is only 52 weeks, and even if Mobius follows a different calendar it still wouldn’t be that far off to ours given what we’ll find out later with the planet. 

To further back up this claim, the Mobius wikia has this issue during the year 3236 while placing both the Mecha Madness arc and Endgame at the beginning of and end of 3235 respectively. Anything before Mecha Madness is simply stating as taking place before 3235, but with no indication of precisely when. 

So we are effectively missing a birthday story. One that should take place in around Mecha Madness. So here’s my timeline of everyone’s ages based of the information given. 

I’m going to theorize that three years have past since the first issue of the Sonic Miniseries, and that this is the start of the fourth, and the starting ages for the FF’s was thus….

• Sonic, Sally, & Rotor - 13
• Antoine - 15
• Bunnie - 14
• Tails - 7 

So where to place the missing birthday….hmm…. well everyone was attending a big dance party at the end of issue #30.  The event could be Sonic’s birthday, and would roughly align with the rest of the timeline so I’m going with that as a place holder for now. 

   Anyway’s this story also formally introduces Elias to the rest of the Freedom Fighters and hints at the larger story arc with the satellites from issue 62 causing a meteor shower.