STH#277 Spoilers & Discussion

[Ian Flynn]

Some folks are getting their issue a bit early, so go ahead and tear into the snippets that are floating around out there.

[Meliden]

Sally has a transitional design that references her pilot design. That's neat.

[DudestofGuys]

I thought it was meant more as both a bridge from Lil' Sally to Teen Sally (remnants of the huge ponytail, but closer to her current outfit) and an acknowledgement of her SatAM (open vest) and early 00's Archie (longer hair) designs.

[Meliden]

The reference to her pilot design was solely in the hairstyle. It had that same hairband/ponytail combo.

[DudestofGuys]

Yeah, I guess you're right. Looks a bit longer than it used to, though.

[lalalei2001]

At first I didn't realize you meant 'pilot episode' and thought you meant Sally was a pilot at some point.

[SatAMhog]

How is Lupe in this reality? Is she anything like her previous counterpart in the old reality or more a free agent?

[SonicWindAttack]

I have to admit, it's a bit odd seeing Lupe as a teenager when she was a wife and mother with half-grown children in the old reality... but I think this role suits her just fine too. I just wish we got to see her for more than 10 pages.

[Meliden]

I dunno if she's a teenager, Sally and Antoine were in outfits denoting them as being younger, while Lupe looks no different (Sonic can't look that different because of mandates, but he did seem a tad more squat in proportions). Maybe she's not the age where she'd be a wife and mother, but I'd say she seems late teens/early 20's at youngest.

[Tylinos]

The main story was...okay, I guess? There was some nice characterization, but I had some annoying issues with it.

First off, I've got a bit of a bone to pick with the flashback. It's a bit...disjointed, mainly in the middle. It's jumping between two scenes from panel to panel in a really awkward way. I get it, sure. The half with Sally and Lupe are basically extra boxes on top of the main action with Sonic and Eggman, but the layout just ends up feeling muddled around. It also didn't help that E-118 has a really similar design to the mech Eggman was using in the flashback, so it took me a moment to realize the Sonic part was still in the past with the Sally and Lupe panels.

Also, it's a really weird coincidence that the prison egg with the missing Chaos Emerald, which could have crashed anywhere in the world, just happened to crash right near Lupe's place, and then only got found by Chip wandering around. It was just too lucky.

The art was also... I don't know, really. It's certainly not bad, but something about it felt really off to me. The only thing I can really put a finger on was that some of the facial expressions were kind of weird.


The second story was fine, but I was bugged by that alarm gate. The coloring made it look like it was active the whole time, and with Sally and Bunnie's reactions going through it, I was really confused for a bit as to what the heck even happened there.


Nice to see the editorial back. Not really sure it needed a whole page, though.

[captainsean]

I liked this story, including the flashback. I'm all for seeing more well done back story on this continuity.

My favorite part of the flashback is we seem to see the first time Sonic calls Robotnik by Eggman. Just like the SatAM days, we find out that Sonic calls Robotnik by "Ro-butt-nik" a lot. Robotnik angerly tells Sonic to stop calling him that, so Sonic says "Have it your way... Eggman". A neat way to tie both the status quo of SatAM and the status quo of the games together.

[TheFatPanda]

I politely request pictures!

EDIT: oh, scratch that. Buying the digital version now!

[Meliden]

I request a reason from Archie as to why the comic wasn't released as initially scheduled. Seriously, the solicits said today and there was no sign of it in FP.

Gonna have to hit their Twitter later or something.

[TheFatPanda]

Well it is out digitally as I just said. Just throwing that out there...

Why were Sonic and Lupe randomly using those rings from Knuckles Chaotix?

[SonicWindAttack]

Well it is out digitally as I just said. Just throwing that out there...

Why were Sonic and Lupe randomly using those rings from Knuckles Chaotix?

Apparently Dr. Ellidy gave them to the team after Spark of Life. Not necessarily sure why they NEEDED them, but it does make for some good teamwork. Even Nicole mentions Sonic and Lupe use the exact same strategy she and Sally used against Phage.