Tag: comics

Super Comics: Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) – #15

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

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Sonic the Hedgehog (the comic book series) and all the images you see in this recap are owned by IDW and SEGA of America

Things are starting to get serious around here now that Eggman has a robo-virus thingy as well as two ignorant test subjects to use it on!  The villains have certainly been the highlight of this arc to be sure and giving Rough & Tumble a cybernetic upgrade could certainly bring them up to Eggman and Starline’s level, but the more and more the writers put into that side of the story, are they letting the good guys fall to the wayside?  Let’s find out!!

The issue begins with Sonic and Amy who are trying to suss out Eggman’s latest plan and end up finding his lair which is adorned in typical Eggman fashion.  No one can expect him to inhabit some place with anything less than Baz Lehrman levels of flair, and frankly that’s why I love the guy!  I mean how can you NOT respect someone who will exert that much effort on something so vain!?

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“YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY, I’VE GOT SONIC IN MY TUMMY!!”     “Did he have to install the speaker system too?”

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Super Comics: Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) – #14

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

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Sonic the Hedgehog (the comic book series) and all the images you see in this recap are owned by IDW and SEGA of America

We’re back with another issue of The Excellent Eggman Escapades which should be the OFFICIAL title of this series if the villains’ story line continues to be such a big highlight of this series!  Ever since Eggman came back to his senses and took the villain role once again, the series has improved significantly with a much more focused story line and an interesting new antagonist in the form of Doctor Starline.  With his first fight against Sonic himself, can this new villain continue to impress along with everything else the bad guys are doing?  Let’s find out!!

The issue begins with Sonic and Silver climbing a mountain which helpful little box informs us is FROZEN PEAK, but I can’t tell if it’s a pronoun or just a vague description of where they are.  I mean sure, in a world where half the charactesr have a first name foled by THE SPECIES it wouldn’t be that hard of a leap for things to be named so bluntly (I’m guessing that would mean Sonic was chillaxing on HOT BEACH in the last issue), but it must be a nightmare for the Woodland Critter Cartographer Society.  Why are we even up here in the first place?  And why do neither of them have jackets?  While the latter question will remain a mystery that’ll haunt me to the end of my days (does sonic have fur?  IS HE ONLY FURY ON THE BLUE PARTS!?), the former is a lot easier to answer.  Apparently SOMEBODY, not gonna name names, walked up to Silver, told him Eggman has a base on a mountain somewhere, and then disappeared without a trace.  I don’t know about you, but that sounds like an A PLUS lead right there!

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“If I didn’t foolishly dive head first into danger, then I wouldn’t be going fast!  It’s possible that I’d be… going slow.”     “Don’t say that, Sonic!  Don’t EVER say that!!”

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Super Comics: Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) – #13

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

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Sonic the Hedgehog (the comic book series) and all the images you see in this recap are owned by IDW and SEGA of America

We’re back with a brand new issue of the brand new Sonic comic!  A bit late to be sure, but I’m gonna go ahead and blame that on this being the thirteenth issue… and the fact that I’m SUPER behind on everything else I’ve got going on.  ANYWAY!  Now that Eggman is back in business and ready to take over the world once again, what will his opening salvo be, and will Sonic and crew be prepared for what happens next?  Let’s find out!!

The issue begins with a quick recap of the status quo since the last arc ended.  Amy is running The Resistance which has been rebranded as The Restoration (thankfully they didn’t go with The Reconstruction), Knuckles is watching guard on Angel Island which he SHOULD have been doing this whole time, and for some reason they want us to know that Silver is still out there looking for whatever it is that may be threatening THE FUTURE, so chances are he’s gonna play a role in this story later on.  Oh, but what about our dear pal Sonic?  What’s HE been up to since saving the world!?  Well instead of doing something IMPORTANT like seeing if Mr. Tinker is still where he left him or possibly checking into what Metal Sonic is up to, he’s just chillaxing on a beach.  I mean sure, down time is necessary for mental health, but considering what he just went through the LAST time they assumed Eggman was gone for good (if you recall, the series started after the supposed death of the guy) it might be prudent to take a few preventative measures as well.  Heck!  If nothing else, make sure that the guys you captured back in issue 3 are STILL in Resistance/Restoration custody!  Oh, whatever!  I’m sure there’s no extraordinary evil schemes underway that are gonna blow up in his face any minute now, right!?

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“I’m probably gonna get blamed for this, but whatever.  I’ll fix it just like I fix EVERYTHING ELSE that goes wrong around here…”

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Super Comics: Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) – #12

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

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Sonic the Hedgehog (the comic book series) and all the images you see in this recap are owned by IDW and SEGA of America

Well now that we’ve dealt with that distraction from Team Sonic Racing (again, they REALLY should have gone with Sonic Team Racing!  It sounds SO much better!), we can FINALLY get back to the actual series and all that juicy plot we’re all so ready to lap up!  Will the defeat of Super Metal Ultra Chicken and the return of Angel Island to its former glory signify a longstanding era of peace and prosperity for the citizens of… wait, have we officially called this place Mobius yet?  Maybe they’ll clarify that in this issue!  Let’s find out!!

The issue begins with Sonic and Tails who are in some sort of basement with Metal Sonic chained up in a very suggestive manner; not something unfamiliar to Sonic Comics (check out the cover for issue 175 of the Archie series), but you can all relax because they’re about to let him go.  It seems that between the end of the last issue and the beginning of this one, they repaired Metal Sonic from the damage he incurred in their last battle, but JUST enough to get him moving instead of in fighting shape.  That said, even if he doesn’t have his laser beams and whatnot, he still very clearly breaks through his metal constraints, so it’s not like he’s totally harmless, but I guess Sonic is too impatient to either wait for Tails to utterly de-power him or find a better way to keep him in place.

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“Eh… a little from column A and a little from column B.”     Hey!  Sonic says that forgiveness is the truest measure of strength!”     “Oh please, can we just NOT with the whole Sonic Says thing?  It wasn’t cool when you did it back in the nineties!”

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Cinema Dispatch: Top 10 Best Movies of 2018

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

At this point, the only thing more cliché than being thankful that the preceding year has finally come to a close is whiny Star Wars fans being wrong about The Last Jedi. Yes, I am in fact THANKFUL that we have finally gotten out of the horror show that was 2018, but 2019 looks to be a lot more of the same, albeit with a SLIGHTLY less destructive Congress and a lot more speculation on the 2020 election.  Jeez, the idea is so deflating to me that I’m actually kind of glad to take one last look at the preceding year before charging face first into whatever nightmares 2019 will surely have for us.  Anyway!  Let’s take a look at the GOOD movies that came out and hope that the year ahead of us will bring us even more great films to love!  ON WITH THE LIST!!

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Honorable Mentions: Black Panther & Ant-Man and the Wasp

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Black Panther Review; Ant-Man and the Wasp Review

While Marvel’s usual output is at a consistently decent quality, this was a year of great highs and one PHENOMENAL low for the company which we’ll get to on the bad list.  On the good side though, these are the first two movies they’ve released since I’ve started doing these lists that have come close to making it on the top ten, and frankly they are my favorite films that they’ve released in some time with the exception of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 which arguably should have been included on last year’s list.  Black Panther, while still feeling a bit too conventional to the Marvel Formula and having a few oddly placed ideas here and there (how does a civilization THIS advanced still determine their leader through DEATH MATCHES!?) was quite the revelation and became something of a harbinger of things to come for the rest of the year which we’ll get to further down on this list, and while I’m not quite on board with it winning for Best Picture, I do see where a lot of people who are advocating for it are coming from.  Ant-Man and the Wasp on the other hand felt like something new as well, albeit in a much less radical way as Black Panther, and is the template I’d like to see from Marvel films going forward; where there’s room for films that don’t take themselves QUITE as seriously and don’t hinge the fate of the world on the outcome of their adventure.  Sony and WB might be gathering a bit of steam with their recent films, but this year showed once again that it’s gonna take a lot more to unseat Marvel and Disney from their well-deserved throne of money, and hopefully THESE are the kind of films we’ll be getting from them going forward instead of… well we’ll get to that one later.

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Super Comics: Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) – #11

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

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Sonic the Hedgehog (the comic book series) and all the images you see in this recap are owned by IDW and SEGA of America

We’re back with the final installment of the BATTLE OF ANGEL ISLAND, where our heroes must stop Neo Metal Sonic once and for all; a task not made easy since he turned into a giant chicken!  Will our woodland critter revolutionaries stop this mechanized onslaught!?  Let’s find out!!  The issue begins with… let’s go with MEGA ULTRA METAL SONIC wreaking havoc on Angel Island.  Things are looking good for the Freedom Fighters who were tapped out BEFORE Metal Sonic went Super Duper Saiyan, and since the Master Emerald is now embedded in his robo-stomach and Angel Island itself is starting to fall out of the sky!  Sadly they don’t have Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and The Vision to help keep this rock from wiping out all life on Earth on impact, but Sonic has a plan to stop their version of Ultron before it’s too late!  What is that plan!?  Well we’ll have to wait to find out because there’s still that pesky Eggman subplot we have to deal with!  Darn you, writers!  All this suspense is gonna sharply increase my insurance premiums!  Maybe I should get a better doctor while I’m at it.  Say, what about this guy?

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“This glove is going places you couldn’t possibly imagine!”

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Super Comics: Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) – #10

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

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Sonic the Hedgehog (the comic book series) and all the images you see in this recap are owned by IDW and SEGA of America

We’re back with another issue of Full Metal Sonic Jacket which begins where the last one left off; namely with SUPER Neo Metal Sonic getting Sonic and Knuckles acquainted with the concept of unyielding terror as he proceeds to beat them harder than Neil Pert in a drum factory.  We’re talking Perfect Cell levels of unbalanced power gain which is certainly a decent way to up to the stakes as even Sonic’s mouth can’t really save them this time since Super Neo Metal Sonic is making sure it’s being used for… other things.

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“Tell me, Sonic.  How does the dirt taste?”     “MMHHHHHFFFFFF!!”     “Really?  I heard differently on Yelp.”

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Super Comics: Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) – #9

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

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Sonic the Hedgehog (the comic book series) and all the images you see in this recap are owned by IDW and SEGA of America

We’re back with another issue of The Mobius Dozen where our heroes now know what they heck they need to do but may not be fully aware of what they’re up against!  Does Neo Metal Sonic have something up his robo-sleeve that even our heroes won’t’ be able to overcome?  Let’s find out!!  The issue begins on a slightly different note than usual as we start with Neo Metal Sonic giving his expositional villain speech (to no one in particular) which catches us up to speed on what he’s been up to while Sonic and The Resistance (I’m CERTAIN they’re gonna call themselves Sonic’s Forces at some point) were off trying to uncover the most obvious evil plot imaginable.  In case you didn’t know already, Neo Metal Sonic flew his ship to Angel Island… and that’s it.  No one was guarding the Master Emerald that resides on there, and he just… took it and put it in a giant cage that he now sits on.  Kinda dropped the ball there, didn’t you Knuckles?  I’ll give the book credit for changing things up a bit here as this early scene gives Neo Metal Sonic a modicum of presence and a slight amount of menace, but then I also question how perfect of an artificial being he is considering he starts four sentences IN A ROW with “I have”.  Sure I’m barely a writer myself, but at least I know enough to check for that kind of repetition!

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“I have a copy of The Terminator on Blu Ray.  I have given the movie five stars on Amazon.  I have learned much from it, and will not be making the same mistakes.”

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Super Comics: Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) – #8

~ Matt Vetrano ~ 1 Comment

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Sonic the Hedgehog (the comic book series) and all the images you see in this recap are owned by IDW and SEGA of America

We’re back with another episode of Inglourious Hedgehogs, and now that Sonic knows who’s been behind the revival of the Eggman Army, can he and his fellow resistance fighters stop him before it’s too late?  More importantly, will Sonic get his robot scalps!?  Let’s find out!!  The issue begins with Sonic infiltrating yet another abandoned Eggman facility in the hopes of stealing some of the Not So Good Doctor’s old plans to hopefully get an insight into what Neo Metal Sonic is planning since it was revealed in the last issue that not only is he in control of the Eggman Army, he is also trying to carry on with this as if he was Eggman; going so far as to imitate his appearance from time to time.  Well I guess this is a decent plan at first glance, but haven’t these facilities been raided like a dozen times already?  Heck, I’m pretty sure The Chaotix swept through them all like three issues ago!  You’re telling me NO ONE thought to back up the hard drives while they were there!?  These are questions I’m sure will be answered at some point (snark), but for now Sonic is making his way through whichever facility this is and manages to meet another classic Sonic Character along the way (snark); namely Silver the Hedgehog!  Now if you don’t know, this guy is from the LEAST GOOD Sonic Game, Sonic 06, and was an irritating little twerp from THE FUTURE who took himself WAY too seriously and really screwed up Blaze’s continuity in the process.  The writers seem to be aware of this however because he’s actually got a much more relaxed and even jolly demeanor in this issue than he ever had doing his Trunks from DBZ impression back in Sonic 06; especially when it becomes clear that the duo are not alone and are being helped by someone that Silver might just know about.

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“YOU THINK SHE’LL GIVE ME AN AUTOGRAPH!?”     “If you’re lucky, she might write it in the blood of our enemies.”     “WOW, REALLY!?”

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Super Comics: Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) – #7

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

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Sonic the Hedgehog (the comic book series) and all the images you see in this recap are owned by IDW and SEGA of America

We’re back with another issue of Tails and Sonic’s Excellent Adventure as the two of them are on the hunt for whoever is behind these recent robot attacks now that they’ve officially crossed Eggman off the list; him getting plot convenient amnesia and all that.  Does this mean we’re FINALLY done with introductions and kicking off the story in earnest?  Let’s find out!!

The issue begins with the duo JUST SO HAPPENING to run into the Egg Carrier while flying around in Tails’s biplane known as The Tornado.  I guess that’s one way to hit the ground running, but how the heck did we even GET here!?  Sonic makes sure to let us all know that they couldn’t track it on radar so I don’t know; maybe that’s what MAIN CHARACTER POWERS are for.  Either way, the two of them are now closer than ever to finding out who’s REALLY leading the Eggman Army and Sonic isn’t about to waste this opportunity.  Jumping from the wings of The Tornado to the carrier itself (from an absurd height naturally), he speeds his way to the bridge of the ship to see who’s there and finds none other than… DR. EGGMAN!  SONIC SHOCK!!  Okay, it’s not THAT surprising considering the last issue revealed that as the final page stinger, but Sonic certainly can’t believe what he is seeing!  In fact, he doesn’t believe it.  He calls Bull Pucky on this situation right off the bat since he already met the amnesiac Dr. Eggman in that one small town, so he demands this imposter to reveal himself!  Sure enough, he’s right!  The true villain turns out to be… Metal Sonic!  Okay, THAT one deserves a SONIC SHOCK!!

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“My Dr. Eggman, what big SPIKES you have!”    “All the better to KILL you with, my dear!!”     “Well that seems a bit excessive…”

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