Extinction Event

[generator_rex]

Wow, I think it's been awhile since I did a Sonic post. So I'm doing a two-fer with Sonic 243-244.


Also knowns as "Endangered Species" part 1 & 2.



LAST TIME ON DRAGONBALL Z... I mean... SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!!!


Lien-Da leads an incursion into Albion, the Echidna homeland; capturing their leader, Knuckles' Mom!


Sonic and Team Fighters aid the Echidnas and confront the Legion Grandmaster.


But Metal Knuckles enters the fray! Knocking Sonic out, leaving the azure speedster at the mercy of Lien-Da! To BE CONTINUED!!!


Wait... where did Lien-Da go? As a matter of fact, where are all the others? There was a full scale war going down last issue and now literally only Team Fighters and Metal Knuckles are present?


Good question Knuckles...

Enter Thrash...



Quick Backstory: Thrash and his kind were native to Downunda, when some Echidna came and they decided to experiment on them and turned them into a race of Devil Dogs. The High Council of Echindas found the Devil Dogs to be abomanations and had most of them destroyed. 3 infant Devil Dogs survived, one of them was Thrash. After a brief stint on the Downunda Freedom Figthers, Thrash moved on to his revenge on the echidna.
So Thrash used Dr. Finetivus' research and a Warp Ring (Given to him by Knuckles) To remove all the Echidnas and the Dark Legion (and apparently Lara-Su and Saffron). Leaving Knuckles the last of his kind...


Which will lead into a final showdown with Thrash in 245.

Now there is a reason why for this. According to Ian Flynn editorial mandates have seriously altered the path of this story. The theory is that Archie is removing all of Ken Penders' created characters following a settlement with him. This is supported by the Removal of Rob O' the Hedge from the current Sonic Universe arc. All characters were put into limbo pretty much. So we may see them again.

Oh gosh... I just realized Knecapeon Mace, is gone! KKKHHAAANNN!!! (Not Monkey though. I still like him).

Comments

[silverzeo]

So this means Hershey is really.... CURSE YOU ANTI-AWESOME AGENCY WITH YOUT ANTI-AWESOME RED TAPE!!!!

[crinos]

Yeah, a friend of mine talked about Ken Pender at length a while ago on a webcast show he does on cartoons. Guy sounds like a total asshole.

He's actually the reason we didn't get a SatAm Sonic animated movie, cause he stole the creators ideas and stole the movie rights out from under him, and never actually made the movie.

[silverzeo]

That... twizzler.....

[silverzeo]

Wait... is that also the reason why we're stuck with Sonic X for the past half a dozen years now!?! That they can't make a newer Sonic series with the comics now because of him?

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Nah, SEGA just doesn't seem to have any interest in the SatAM/comics stuff outside of the comics themselves.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Actually, as I remember it, the guy who was one of the main proponents/writers for the show, Ben Hurst, approached Ken, due to his involvement with the comic at the time, and asked if he wanted in on it.

Apparently, Ken approached SEGA with the idea, and... well, let's just say things didn't go well, and Hurst got a rather nasty call from SEGA.

I believe it's recapped either in this video or the second part: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLPdocAdHNw

[crinos]

The version I read said that Ken called up one of the Sat Am creators one day and asked if he wanted to work together on a Sat Am Movie, the two bounced ideas back and forth and then Ken hung up.

Later, when the creators approached SEGA with the sales pitch, they discovered Ken had already used the ideas he took from the phone call to make his own pitch.

So he basically stole their ideas under the pretense of working together, and used it to get the movie rights from under them for a movie that he never actually got around to making.

If true, then that is Edison level of asshole.

I mean, Uwe Boll is a terrible human being, he makes crappy movies for tax write offs, he beats the crap out of his critics, but as far as I know he never lowered himself to flat out plagiarism.

[rebecky_mo]

I hate this Penders removal. I loved the world building he did with the Knuckles comic book, and now all of that is being taken away.

I'm suddenly terrified for the fate of one of my favorite characters (and another Penders creation), Julie-Su. I swear, if she 'mysteriously disappears' and leave Rouge to pick up the pieces of Knuckles' broken heart...

[generator_rex]

Actually she is gone. Thrash mentions that when he super charged his Warp Ring he tested it on the two girls who were watching the Master Emerald. Those girls were Julie-Su and Charmy Bee's Wife Saffron.

[silverzeo]

So are they in limbo now? Like the word Superboy between Infinite Crisis till Lo3W?

[generator_rex]

Pretty much. Thrash threw sent them to another zone so I think now the only Echidna are Knuckles and Finetivus. I think they did that in case they could use those characters again.

[silverzeo]

Plus, killing off characters as a means of "shelfing" them has happen too much nowadays....

[q99]

Yea, doing limbo just makes more sense.

[silverzeo]

Oh man, Charmy is the Tim of Sonic Universe... first his friend dies from drugged chili-dogs, then his home/colony is destoryed, then he got his head fried, and now his wife is gone...

[lbd_nytetrayn]

I don't think they were actually married, just sort of arranged to be...

[rebecky_mo]

...This is what I get for skimming scans of an issue I haven't gotten yet.

*waits for Red Lantern ring to arrive*

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Nah, it's not being "taken away," so much as "relocated."

At least, if Penders has his way with it, he intends to re-release his stories on his own and create knew ones using his characters, like "The Lara-Su Chronicles."

[lonewolf23k]

Okay, let's look at it this way... They aren't Dead. They're effectively "On the Bus".

Doesn't mean they can't get brought back later, right?

...Right?

[q99]

Right.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

For what it's worth, the popular speculation is that given the lead time for the comics (six months) and when Archie brought on a new legal team to represent them, it was under the advisement of said new legal team to ditch any Penders-related stuff in the comic for the time being.

The outcome, terms, or anything else regarding the settlement are currently unknown.

[q99]

Yea, a pre-emptive job by the sound of it.

[silverzeo]

Wait, what about Dimitri, AKA Enerjak? Last time I checked, wasn't he a head working with Nicole in New Mobotrobolis?

[kintotech]

Nowhere to be seen. After a talk with Knuckles, Dimitri was sent to Angel Island to help run what was left of Haven.

Only in this issue's flashbacks, we see Knux attempting (attempting being the keyword since he's not a tech head) to repair some of the equipment, without him seen, nor Julie-su mentioned by name.