Comic Review: Sonic Mega Drive #1

2016 saw the 25th anniversary of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise and with that two new game announcements in the form of Sonic Mania and the tentatively titled Sonic 2017. So of course with Archie Comics being the comic license holder for the past 25 years it's only fitting that they get in on the celebration too. What better way to do that than to take a step back to where it all began, the 16-bit classic Sonic era.

Sonic Mega Drive is an original story set after the events of the Sega Genesis/CD games that sounds like it came right out of an instruction manual from the time. Dr. Robotnik, now referred to as Eggman, is searching for mysterious relics known as the Ancient Gears to power a new super weapon, the Mega Drive, to dominate the world and get revenge for the Death Egg incident. That's it in a nutshell but Ian Flynn's hilarious dialogue and handling of the characters will keep you wanting more.

If you haven't guessed from the cover, the stars of the story are Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and a more confident and capable Amy Rose than when we met her in Sonic CD. Much to my personal delight the SatAM and original Archie characters are nowhere to be seen. Not that I don't like those characters post-reboot of the Archie universe (that's a discussion for another time), I just feel that if you're celebrating the anniversary of the games this is the way to go.

The artwork in this issue, with pencils by Tyson Hesse (@boxerhockey) and colors by Matt Herms (@MattHerms), is just stunning. It reminds me of the art style of the Sonic CD cut scenes and the Sonic OVA touched with Hesse's personal flair. The poses and expressions used give the characters such fluidity it sometimes seems like you're looking at stills from a long lost animation. I would kill for a new animated feature in this style.

I highly recommend picking up a copy of Mega Drive for all 16 bit gaming fans looking for a nostalgia trip outside of playing the games themselves. If you're a Sonic the Hedgehog fan you simply can't miss it, even if you're not a comic collector. The cover art itself would make an excellent backdrop for a Japanese Mega Drive cart collection, don't you think? You can really tell each page of this book was a labor of love for this franchise and I would love for this to become a stand alone series outside of the Archie universe on a long term scale. Bravo!

Review of the next issue, Sonic Mega Drive: "The Next Level" coming soon.

Highlights of 2016: Retro Gaming and Other Stuff

Since I didn't post anything during 2016, I thought I'd share some highlights on some of my favorite pick ups from last year. I can at least say 2016 was good for my retro gaming hobby.

Sega Master System Games

All found in the wild, except for Sonic 1. I don't like to resort to eBay but I couldn't pass it up for 10 bucks from Europe.

Comics

If you haven't had a chance to read the Sonic Mega Drive mini series by Archie you need to get on that. Especially if you're a fan of classic Sonic. Expect reviews of these soon.

Sonic Lego Dimensions

My kids and I have joined the Lego Dimensions crazy with Sonic of course being my favorite of the series. It's a lot of good silly fun. I'll be doing a review of this in the near future as well.

Old School Sonic Fan Art

I discovered this fan art folded up in a cheap complete copy of Zero Tolerance, along with a bunch of passwords. It's really cool to see some classic Sonic fan art from back in the day. I wonder if I can ever find the original owner, haha.

So those are some of my favorite finds of 2016. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you find your way back here for the upcoming reviews. Until then!

Comic Review: Worlds Unite #5

In the next issue we join our heroes in the Sky Patrol where they observe the devastation taking place below as their worlds combine. With no leads to go on and no clue where Sigma is hiding, things are looking grim for the combined universes.

Meanwhile on the Lost Hex, Wily and Eggman flee for their lives from the Deadly Six. Out of options and hiding places, the Doctor's are saved in the nick of time by Xander Payne who materializes from a Genesis portal out of nowhere. He offers no explanation for helping them, other than it is "his destiny" to do so.

Back on the sky patrol the heroes continue to grasp and some semblance of a plan when Wily, Eggman, and Xander step out of a Genesis portal right onto their conference table. Soon after (literally the next panel) the trio is thrown into the brig. Wily and Eggman attempt to negotiate their way out of captivity by offering to reveal Sigma's location and plans to the heroes. With no other option available, X and Sonic agree to free the Doctors in exchange for information and their help despite Mega Man's protest.

With Sigma's location and master plan revealed, the Sky Patrol alters course for the Lost Hex. While they catch Sigma somewhat off guard, we discover that he has been using the Genesis portals to resurrect Mavericks from the past. The Mavericks are dispatched to deal with the heroes and buy Sigma enough time to achieve his transition to God hood.

Most of this issue is entertaining banter between the heroes of Sega and Capcom with very little action until the very end. Sticks has become one of my favorite characters in this crossover, spouting her usual nonsensical conspiracy theories at everyone. Some of my favorite moments are when she encounters the "main universe" versions of Sonic and Knuckles. She asks Sonic "how can you fight evil without your sports tape" while also convincing Knuckles to train harder because he could potentially be much bigger and stronger. She fails to mention the dumb as a brick part though.

The art quality is jarringly different from the previous issues, opting for more simplified line work and a brighter more pastel color palette with far fewer levels of shading. Not that it's bad per se, I just felt like it was inconsistent with the previous issues. I personally prefer the look of the previous issues myself and for consistencies sake.


Click here to go back to issue 4

Thanks for reading!

Comic Review: Worlds Unite #4

This episode of the Worlds Unite crossover saga picks up in the milestone 50th issue of the Mega Man comic series. Unfortunately there's no time for the Mega Man cast to celebrate, but then again that wouldn't make for much of a comic would it? Once again if you haven't had a chance to read this issue I would urge you to return here later to avoid spoilers.

In the opening act we're treated to a 2-page spread that makes it abundantly clear that Sigma's plan to unite Sonic and Mega Man's worlds has succeeded. Once the worlds are united, Sonic Man and M'egga Man catch sight of one another and a secondary directive, unbeknownst to Sigma, forces them to do battle with one another. Fortunately for the characters caught in the cross fire, the battle between the corrupted heroes affords them some time to regroup and begin to form an understanding of the situation.

During the fight they cut briefly to show Sticks, Mega Man X and friends arive (I guess Orbot and Cubot weren't trying to betray them after all). Princess Sally quickly steps up to introduce herself and catch them up on the situation.

Meanwhile across Mega City (or whatever it may be called now that the worlds are combined) we catch up with Xander Payne, an anti-robot terrorist, in Federal prison where we see Sonic themed platforms and mega mack sprouting throughout the prison. He finds amidst the chaos that his cybernetic eye is able to somehow produce Genesis portals thanks to his exposure to some tachyon particles in issue 37 of the Mega Man comic. This scene felt a little too random and out of place in my opinion, then again I'm sure they have an idea behind reintroducing Payne to the story.

We return to the Sonic Man vs. M'egga Man to see they've just about exhausted their weapon arsenals on each other. As luck would have it, the Doctor's left a weakness to a specific weapon per robot master tradition. The use of "Egg Laser" and "Spin Dasher" end up freeing them from their roboticized master forms as Eggman and Wily had intended. The heroes return and Sigma knows he has been betrayed. The fate of Wily and Eggman is anyone's guess as they are chased into the darkness by members of the Deadly Six.

Sonic learns that, like Wily, he too had his memory restored to the events prior to the original Worlds Collide event. A flash back starts, showing us the final moments of the Worlds Collide event as Sonic catches Mega Man up (as well as any readers that haven't read Worlds Collide).

In the aftermath, the forces of both worlds rally behind Mega Man and identify Sigma as the enemy behind this whole mess. Sigma, who has surveillance on the heroes, only seems amused by their rally and reveals his own army. If you've played any of the Mega Man X games you'll have to agree Sigma's army is quite formidable judging from the castle bosses revealed.

Once again the action and artwork are consistently awesome and I'm still digging the story. This issue did a great job of assembling the heroes and setting the stage for what will likely be a war of worlds.

Since this was the 50th issue of the Mega Man comic it's not without some extras. We get a 2 page spread showing all 50 of the main variant A covers of the comic as well as an extra story. In it Mega Man and Mega Man X meet in a sort of training room reminiscent of the shoot the target stages from Super Smash Bros. The two "brothers" use this training room time to reveal their original stories to one another, which I thought was an excellent way to wrap up the 50th issue.

Click here to go back to Issue 3

Click here for issue 5

Thanks for reading!

Comic Review: Worlds Unite #3

This issue drops us right into the action as Sonic Man and M'egga Man begin their assault on their alternate worlds. As such we get to see how the reformed robot masters and the Freedom Fighters fair against the corrupted heroes.

We learn that their main objective is to install and activate the Unity Engines which are designed to combine both worlds. How exactly and the damage it will cause is yet to be seen, but regardless of the aftermath Sigma seeks to harvest the extreme amount of energy output by an event of this magnitude.

This issue illustrates what comic book crossovers like this are all about; action packed fight scenes that pit your favorite heroes and villains from alternate realities against each other. In the case of this issue they're very well done. Yardley is on his A game again and each panel flows together so well you could use it as the story board for an animation. It takes me back to reading the Udon Street Fighter comics for the first time many years back. I love the creative new attacks given to Sonic Man and M'egga Man, such as the egg wrecker (think the wrecking ball from the first boss of Sonic 1, only attached to M'egga Man's buster) and pinball bumper fists.

As for who is featured in these battles and their outcomes, you'll have to pick up this issue for yourself to find out. With the fate of two worlds on the brink, can the remaining heroes stop the Unity Drives in time?

Stay tuned tomorrow for my review of the next issue, but be sure you read the comics first to avoid spoilers.


Click here to go back to Issue 2

Click here for issue 4 

Thanks for reading!

Comic Review: Worlds Unite #2

The next episode of the World's Unite crossover picks up in Sonic Boom #8. Fair warning, it's going to get increasingly difficult to avoid spoiler information as I move forward from here. I would advise you to stop reading here if you haven't already read this issue.

The chapter begins with the Sonic Boom crew in the middle of a battle with Dr. Eggman per the norm. Or rather, the end of the battle as we see Sticks get knocked off panel, followed on the next page by a single shot of the group celebrating their victory, where Amy asks "Did anyone see where Sticks landed?"

This is the setup to separate Sticks from the rest of the Sonic Boom cast. If you haven't noticed from the promotional images released by Archie, Sticks is the representative of the Boom universe for this crossover. In my personal opinion, I feel like they could have found a better way to pull her from Boom and introduce her to the crossover.

Since Sticks has the time to conveniently meet Mega Man X and crew, get an explanation of their predicament, recruite Fastidious Beaver and Comedy Chimp, infiltrate Eggman's volcano base, and force Orbot and Cubot to create a new Genesis portal for them, I can only surmise that she was knocked half way around the world back on the first page. Otherwise, wouldn't Sonic had been able to find her in seconds? That or none of her so called friends bothered to look.

Never the less, we now have Sticks teamed up with the Maverick Hunter team and on their way to the next part of the story. Did anyone else think that Orbot and Cubot looked particularly sinister while opening the portal for them? I wonder where exactly they'll end up.

We cut back to the Hex zone to see more of Sigma's ultimate plan unfolding, but not before Eggman refreshes Wily's memory on the events of the Worlds Collide crossover, conveniently told from his point of view. This scene actually acts as a handy catch up for anyone that may be just as in the dark as Wily (his memory was restored and the events of the Worlds Collide forgotten once they returned to the Mega Man universe). Even though Eggman's account of the events are twisted a bit in his favor.

Soon after, we learn that the final two robot masters (or roboticized masters if you will) are none other than Sonic and Mega Man, twisted in favor of the designs of their opposing world's mad scientist. Sonic looks much like Mecha Sonic, with the addition of a Wily "W" on his forehead and arm cannon, while Mega Man dons a darker paint job with helmet trim that resembles the Eggman mustache.

In the final pages we see the corrupted heroes venturing to their opposite worlds to lay waste and set Sigma's plans in motion much to the dismay and terror of the inhabitants. Just what are his plans and will the remaining heroes of either universe be able to stop the corrupted Sonic and Mega Man? We'll have to wait until the next issue to find out.

The story is moving along at a nice pace, though I felt the uniting of Sticks with the Maverick Hunters seemed a bit rushed thanks to the details I mentioned above. As for the art, most of it is great, though you can tell that the Sega universe is definitely Yardley's comfort zone. The Capcom characters just seem a little more off than usual. The color work is excellent though.

Hiccups in this issue aside, I'm still hooked and can't wait for the next issue!

Click here for my review of Issue 1

Click here for Issue 3

Thanks for reading!

Heroes Con 2015

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending Heroes Convention in Charlotte NC thanks to my buddy Rob. Once again dude, thanks for the ride to the con, letting me crash on your couch, and for always being such an awesome host. It was an incredible weekend!

I think this was probably the biggest vendor room I have ever seen. I've been to a lot of anime and smaller comic cons in my day but this thing was huge. Had to be at least the size of a football field or more. I think for the first 45 minutes or so we just kind of wandered around aimlessly just to take it all in. I don't think I've ever seen so many comics, toys, and aother nerdy junk all in one place before.

The thing I loved the most about this convention was the focus on meeting artists and writers over big celebrities.

As such I was able to meet Ian Flynn, writer of Archie Comic's Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man series, and his wife Aleah Baker, who is a colorist for the Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Universe books.

I asked them if they could say any more on the cancellation of the Sonic Boom but they didn't have anything else to reveal that we didn't already know, just that the word came down from higher up at Archie and that it wasn't due to poor sales or by the request of Sega. I suppose the cancellation will have to remain a mystery, for now at least.

I was also able to meet Tracy Yardley, who is an artist on just about all of Archie's action series comics. Unfortunately I couldn't get a picture of him as his booth was pretty swamped with people trying to get him to do sketches for them. Eventually I did get to speak to him for a moment and got him to sign some things for me.

So thanks to the great folks at the Archie Comics booth, I'm now caught up (until Wednesday anyway) on the World's Unite crossover event with signed copies of each to boot!

Ian also hooked me up with this sweet signed collection of Sonic Boom alternate covers that all line up in a single image. I've got to find a way to safely display this thing.

That's it for the comic loot I scored over the weekend. Stay tuned for my follow up post where I'll be sharing my favorite cosplays from the weekend.

Thanks for reading!

Comic Review: Worlds Unite #1

This week saw the beginning of the Archie Action series super event, Worlds Unite #1 (aka Sonic Universe #76), which begins a year long multi-universe spanning adventure starring your favorite heroes from Sega and Capcom. From the looks of their preview images this thing is set to include pretty much any IP from both companies though I suspect the majority will be in the form of single panel cameos in some kind of massive heroes vs villains climax.

Never the less, I want to focus on the here and now by sharing my thoughts on the most current issue of this new saga. I promise not to discuss any spoilers, other than the blatantly obvious, such as Sigma being a major player (c'mon he's on the freakin cover).

The story opens in Mega Man X's timeline where we quickly learn that Sigma has discovered the existence of the Genesis portal anomalies left over from the toying of reality done by Dr. Wily and Dr. Eggman in the Worlds Collide story arc. As such he's been using them to scout out other realities looking for baddies he can recruit in his grand scheme of conquering all realities. X arrives just in time to see Sigma blip out of their reality without a trace.

We cut to Mega Man and Sonic's current comic book timelines where Mega Man is enjoying a more peaceful time and has actually taken up more of his original helper robot duties. Sonic on the other hand is still dealing with the shattered world (think Sonic Unleashed) also caused by the Worlds Collide arc.

After catching up with the main heroes, we see that Sigma has forcefully employed both Wily and Eggman as little more than laborers in constructing his army of conquest. As expected, they begin their own scheming though it's more along the lines of trying to escape Sigma's clutches.

I can't reveal much more other than by the end of the issue you'll find out who the new "eight masters" will be. The story continues in Sonic Boom #8 though the cover will clearly read Worlds Unite #2, so be on the lookout for that.

The artwork is top notch and though the material is based upon flagship mascot video game characters, the writing has more depth than I would expect. They've actually been carefully setting the stage for these events to take place in the past two years of the main Mega Man and Sonic comics, though don't let that intimidate you as they give you the information you need to catch up. It's enough so that you can jump right into this story arc without being lost on anything. I do however recommend picking up the trade paper backs of the first Worlds Collide arc (Archie actually has deals on them now on their website) especially if the idea of a huge climactic battle between all the Sonic characters and every robot master there ever was excites you.

Fair warning, whether you're a Mega Man or a Sonic fan or even Capcom and Sega in general, if you pick up this story you'll likely be hooked. If you grew up with the 8 to 16 bit console generations this story is ready to grab your nostalgia by the heart and never let go.

Click here to check out Issue 2!

Thanks for reading!

Nerdy News Digest Week of 3/9

Here we are half way through the month of March already. I've been doing some major slacking here even though there's been plenty of cool entertainment news to talk about. To be honest it's not been the best week for me by a long shot. I've decided the best way to get through this depressing time is to focus on my kids, hobbies, and my writing.

But before I get started I wanted to quickly offer my condolences to the families, friends, and anyone else that was deeply effected by the loss of Leonard Nimoy and Terry Pratchett. The world has lost some truly brilliant people this year. I hope that their legacies continue to inspire generations to come, for that is the best way to eternally honor them.

----------------------------------------------------------
Nerdy News Digest - Week of 3/9/2015

Disney Announces new Ducktales series - Okay so this was actually announced at the end of February but I'm a huge Ducktales fan so I wanted to at least mention it.

Disney has announced they are planning a new Ducktales series to premier some time in 2017 on Disney XD. There's not a whole lot to know about this yet other than the announcement itself. I hope the original cast is still up for returning to reprise their roles since they did so well in the Ducktales Remastered game release.

Click here for the official announcement.

Street Fighter Assassin's Fist now available on Netflix and Hulu - If you live in the UK then you can check out Assassin's Fist on Netflix now. If you're in the United States though look for it on Hulu Plus.

Assassin's Fist is a much watch for any fan of Street Fighter or martial arts films in general. Check out my review of it here.

Archie Comics has revealed the solicitation blurbs for the first upcoming issues in the worlds unite series - Check this link to read a synopsis of each of the premier issues of their new worlds unite crossover series.

It looks like Sigma is going to be a major player this time around. He's always seemed more sinister than Wily and Eggman to me, so it'll be interesting to see what he tries to do. Check it out! The tree felling robot from Sting Chameleons stage in X1 made the cover of the issue to the left.

Be sure to join the Retro After Dark forum and check out this thread to discuss the Worlds Unite event with us.

Don't forget, tomorrow is Pi day. Math enthusiasts typically celebrate Marth 14th as pi day because the western calendar date matches pi, or 3.14. However, tomorrow is unique because we get a more complete set of digits (3.1415). You can take it a step forward if you decide to celebrate precisely at 9:53 which gives you 3.1415953. This is a once in a lifetime moment as it will not occur again until the year 2115.

So how do you celebrate pi day? If you're a math nut you could calculate digits endlessly as pi never falls into a repeating pattern. Or if you're a simpleton like me you could use it as an excuse to have a slice of your favorite pie for breakfast, which for me would be a pizza pie of course. Breakfast of champions!

Thanks for reading!

Archie Comics Worlds Unite - More Characters Revealed!

*Update!*

Today the Worlds Unite teaser image has been completely filled! I think Ryu was the last person I was expecting to see on there due to Udon Comics having the Street Fighter license. I'm no lawyer though, I'm sure Capcom and Sega can license out their properties to however many they please.

It's been a long time since I've been this excited about a new comic series. I can't wait to see what we do with this!

---original post---

It looks like they've revealed more characters in the teaser image and I was actually right about everyone I guessed at.

Other than those I mentioned, we now see NiGHTS, Billy Hatcher, Amaterasu, and Tyris Flare!

I'm having trouble identifying anyone else. Maybe that's Dante above Mega Man? That's a shot in the dark though, literally.

Do you have any theories on the teaser image or perhaps your own wish list of characters?  Discuss it with us in our thread here.

Thanks for reading!

Archie Comics Worlds Unite - My Thoughts

Archie Comics announced yesterday that they'll be doing another crossover series with Capcom and Sega characters. Characters from my two favorite video game companies together in one comic? This is awesome! The Sonic and Mega Man crossover they did a year or so back was really entertaining and had excellent artwork so of course I'm excited to see what they come up with here.

So far all they've released is the teaser image to the left which at least tells us that the Sonic Boom universe as well as Mega Man X will be joining. There are a few others I can recognize from their silhouettes and it looks like they're digging deep into both companies' franchises.

So far I see...

Alex Kidd to the right of X
Viewtiful Joe to the left of Sticks
Nina from Breath of Fire above X
Maybe Red Arremer a few characters above Sticks
At the very top that could either be one of the beasts from Monster Hunter or perhaps Hauzer from Red Earth.

I'm very excited about this cast so far. Both companies have a huge library of characters to draw from and I'm happy to see they aren't leaning on the Sonic and Mega Man casts too much. This is "worlds" unite after all. I never thought I'd say it but it looks like I may be picking up Archie Comics again come May.

Thanks for reading!