Other-M, "Knowing Your Friends"
issue #5, 17 pages
Review written by Matt Johnson, a.k.a. Tergonaut
Summary: When Sonic asks Bunnie a question, it eventually leads
to a discussion of his original reality, and how Sonic finds a
way to deal with his current state of being.

Credits:
Cover: Luckettx
Story: Ian Potto
Art: Lisa
Other-M logo design: Jeffrey "Z-Kara" Houston

Plot: The story opens up in the room that Sonic and Antoine
share.  Sonic is peacefully sleeping, while Antoine is cleaning
his sword.
     Then Sonic wakes up and gets treated to an insult from
Antoine.  Sonic's comeback for that is greeted with a growl, and
Antoine then asks Sonic where he learned to fight like that
(review #3!  -Tergonaut).  Antoine then desists when Sonic teases
"My secret," and then tells Sonic to heal up fast.  When Sonic
asks "Why?" Antoine replies, "Because I'm sick of sleeping in the
straw!"
     Sonic then suffers from a mock-bout of pain, which is heard
by Bunnie, who is just coming in to check on Sonic's injury.  The
exchange of dialogue has a joking air to it as she shoos Antoine
out of the room, and then she begins to clean Sonic's wound out.
     Sonic begins asking Bunnie questions about the various
disfigurements that the core members of the rebellion have.  He
notes that he and Fiona have roboticized parts, Bark appears to
have had the same thing happen to him, Antoine's hands are raw
from swordplay, but falters when it comes to Bean's multiple
injuries.  Bunnie goes ahead to explain that Bean has an inherent
magic power that allows him to create the bombs that he's always
tossing around, but the cost is his flesh.  He then concentrated
the power through that arm so that he wouldn't lose his body, and
the arm became so charged with mystical energy that even when it
was reduced to bone, he could still use it.  Bunny then tells
Sonic that Bean's left eye and legs were damaged by explosions,
and it was after the incident with his legs that Bean and Bunnie
first met and fell in love.
     But then Sonic drives the topic to Bunnie and Rotor, who
appear not to have any disfigurements at all.  Then Bunnie
proceeds to tell him that she hasn't seen much action, so she
hasn't had as much opportunity to get injured.  And Rotor lost
his parents and brother when the Guardian attacked Mobotropolis,
specifically to the Chaotix.  Rotor is bottling up his emotions
to the point where Bean is seriously worried that he might
someday lose his temper and do something stupid enough to get
killed.
     After a moment of awkward silence, Sonic is about to tell
Bunnie about his previous reality, but they are sidetracked into
discussing just how useful Sonic was (before our Sonic came to
this reality).  Apparently, Sonic had been so useless and
cowardly that the rebellion had been thinking of turning him out. 
But then Sonic says, "Well, that's namely because I'm not the
same Sonic you knew a week before."
     And then Sonic begins to tell her that he's actually a
different Sonic, but Bunnie anticipates his line of thought, and
then tries to explain that since he had been such a pain in the
tail, he created his own world where he could be the hero, and
that the grenade blast knocked his thoughts and memories into a
jumble.  Sonic crosses his arms and states, "I'm not the man you
knew."
     Bunnie doesn't answer that as she picks up her medical
supplies and makes to leave, but she does turn around to warn him
not to tell Fiona about that because he would break the vixen's
heart.  Sonic is then left to ponder what Bunnie has said.
     Later that evening, Bean and Bunnie are walking arm-in-arm
when they see Sonic waiting outside of Bunnie's cave/room. 
Giving a questioning look to one another, Bunnie then goes ahead
to see what Sonic wants.  After asking if they could talk for a
bit and going into her room, Sonic then reveals his thoughts on
exactly how he's going to deal with this reality.  If his
previous reality isn't real, then he wasn't really a member of
the rebellion, as he had been a slacker who didn't pull his own
weight.  And he needs to know whether he can really have a place
in the rebellion, for the cause.
     There's a tense pause, then Bunnie opens her arms up and
says, "Welcome home Sonic."
     As the two of them hug, Bunnie looks over Sonic's shoulder
and smiles at Bean, who is smiling right back at her.
     Then, a scene switch, at night, on top of the mountain.  The
sky is vast and open, and Fiona is gazing up at the stars.
     And then Sonic, struggling to climb up to where she is
sitting, takes a misstep and cries out, surprising Fiona with the
noise.  After enduring a joke as a reply to his request for help,
she drags him up, and then they look up at the stars together.
     Then Fiona slides right over to Sonic and gets comfy on his
shoulder as he puts an arm around her.  As she falls asleep,
Sonic tells her good night, and then he thinks to the open
darkness...
     "Good night, Sally."

Analysis/Opinion: I, for one, like the cute little exchanges
between Sonic, Antoine and Bunnie on the first three pages. 
They're the sort of thing that remind us that not all is dark in
this alternate reality that Sonic has landed in.
     And in this issue, we learn more about said reality, or at
least about Bean and Rotor.  Now Bean's powers and Rotor's
attitude are explained to a certain degree.
     To her credit, Bunnie didn't continue the argument with
Sonic on page 9, but instead left Sonic's last statement
unanswered, save that she gave him a warning not to tell Fiona
about his previous reality.  This once again shows her
sensitivity to matters of heart and spirit.  And her lack of
acceptance that Sonic just might have had a dimensional body-
switch is realistic, although she might have given it more
thought, considering just how skilled and useful Sonic has become
in such a short space of time, at the same time that he "lost"
his "memory"!
     Sonic has apparently decided that the easiest way through
this conundrum is by dealing with the fact that he might have
mixed-up memories after all, and appealing to Bunnie for a place
in the rebellion.  Since he can't prove his previous existence,
he might as well live in the current one the best he can, which
is a sensible approach to the matter.
     Fiona's shifting attitudes again gave me a moment of pause,
but I think I can explain it: her first reaction, her accusing
question of what Sonic wanted, was because she had been
frightened by Sonic sneaking up on her and she put up her 'tough-
girl' attitude as a shield.  Then, her mocking applause in
response to his need for a hand was to recover face for said
tough-girl attitude.  And finally, her sultry reply to him and
scooting over right next to him were a result of her knowing that
Sonic wanted to be there with her at that moment.  At least, this
clarifies things a bit for me, if no one else, so I hope it
helps.
     Alert!  Alert!  The artist, Lisa, did what I think to be an
excellent job portraying emotions and the Mobian physiology, but
on page 16, we've got a blooper: in all the other panels, Fiona
is on Sonic's *right*, but in the second panel of page 16, just
as she's sliding right up beside him, she's on his *left*.

Final Word: Sonic has now dealt with his current state of being
in a practical, simple fashion, and has truly joined the cause of
the rebellion.  While he will definitely be faced with it again,
for the moment it's too far away for him to do anything about.
     But it is important that Sonic not lose his previous
existence completely.  After all, even if it was a dream world (I
doubt it.  Too much detail, plus Sonic's got some skillz popping
up out of nowhere when he was too afraid to use his fast feet
before?), it seems to have altered him to the point where he is
valiant and heroic, and these traits are what is needed in the
many battles ahead.