The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 75

“I Am the Eggman!” Back In Business IV - Sonic the Hedgehog #75

So the new Robotnik is revealed to actually be Robo-Robotnik. Remember him from issue #19?  He’s popped up a few more times since then. However this time he’s defeated the Sonic from his world and has come to Mobius Prime seeking a new challenge. 

This of course doesn’t sit well with Bunnie. 

Originally posted by pastandpresentdanger

While the FFs are all trapped “Robo-Robotnik” sends his swatbots down to attack Mobotropolis. We get to see some of the non-Freedom Fighters be heroes and rescue some people, but ultimately the city has to be abandon again. 

Fortunately while the villain’s back is turned, Snively, of all people comes to the rescue.    

Have I ever mentioned how much I love, Snivley? Cause, like I really do. The Iron Queen maybe my fav villain in the series but her boyfriend here is a very, very close second. 

Sally’s brought a bomb to blow up the satellites, while Sonic heads off to rescue his family. He’s too late to save the rest of the Robians, but as luck would have it his mom and dad kept their free will though the power of their magic wedding bands.  

Everyone escapes, the base blows up, Mobotropolis is now Robotropolis once again, everyone not a robot has evacuated to Knothole, Robians have lost their free will again, including Uncle Chuck once more, and “Robo-Robotnik” gains a new body. 

And with that I shall now refer to him only as “Eggman”. Because that’s who he is and it helps distinguish him from the original Robotnik better. 

So all in all, with the exception of a few minor things here and there, we’re back to square one. I would call this retroactive, but there’s just enough here that’s unique to keep it from feeling like a retread. Though the question still remains on weather or not the coming era can differentiate itself from the early comic’s formula. 

But before we find the answer to that question, tune in next time when we recap this era. 

The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 74

“Don’t Call It a Come Back” Back in Business III - Sonic the Hedgehog #74 

So when we left off last time, all of the citizenry of Knothole disappeared. Sonic and company believe the disappearance to be connected to the mysterious satellites that have become active lately; along with several other disasters. Sonic wants to go up and investigate, but the Royal Dick-bag refuses.  

Oh, if only that were the case. Also being monarch isn’t a real reason Sally. Especially when said monarch has proven himself time and time again to be incompetent.  

Anyways, everyone comes around and agrees to help Sonic get to the bottom of whatever is going on and find his family. 

Nate helps them get one of Robotnik’s old space shuttles working, but they need Ducly to help them break through the atmosphere.  

Witness, the only thing Ducly’s ever done that’s worth a damn.  

Once there, everyone enters the satellite space station through the garbage shoot and are immediately attacked by swatbots. 

This is super nice to see again. The brilliance behind the 51-75 era is that they took a refreshing break from the normal formula, so that by the time they came back to it we wanted to see it again.  And that’s not to say the previous 20 something issues were boring, far from it actually, but rather seeing the old gang back in action after such a long break is indeed exciting.  

And everyone is contributing in a way that highlights how special each individual is. Sonic’s taking action, Bunnie’s kicking butt, Antoine is being nervous but brave, Tails is looking out for his buddies’ well being both emotional and psychical, Ducly’s flying, Nicole is giving strategy, and Sally is mediating between everybody. Even Amy gets to be a sweetheart and look out for everybody on the ground. The only thing missing is Rotor and his tech skills. He’s been replaced by Nate here, because Nate is redundant. 

So Robotnik seemly returns from the grave and the very first thing anybody does is to punch him in the face really, really hard!     

Did I mention how much I missed Bunnie doing stuff during this era? Cause, guys, this is beautiful!!!  

Originally posted by dormtainment

Moving on; turns out “Robotnik” captured all of the Robians and stripped them of there free will again and has them slaving on his ship. This thoroughly pisses Sonic off and he goes ballistic trying to pound the dude’s ass into the ground. Prompting concern from Tails. 

Antoine using his girlfriend's leg as a ladder to get down, ha! Oh and yes this a reminder that both Ant and Bunnie are really important to the on going story. They actually know things about Sonic that even his best friend and girlfriend doesn’t. 

“Robotnik” gets splattered with some toxic ooze during the fight and doesn’t die immediately. Leaving us with the cliffhanger for this issue. 

There’s a second story in the comic which is yet another chapter in the Tales of the Great War arc. 

More proof that Armand is awesome and one of the best parental figures in the comic’s history.  

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. 

The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 70

“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.