Other-M, "One Man's War"
issue #7, 22 pages
Review written by Matt Johnson, a.k.a. Tergonaut
Summary: By chance, Sonic and Rotor meet alone in the forest, and
the results become incendiary.

Credits:
Cover: Blaze Hedgehog
Story: Ian Potto
Art: Kit Katz
Lettering: Ian Potto
Other-M logo design: Jeffrey "Z-Kara" Houston

Plot: The opening scene brings us to a forest setting, with Rotor
the walrus standing with his knives in hand.  He almost appears
to be contemplating something as he gazes down at the keen edge
of his blades, so lost in thought that he doesn't notice Sonic
nearby watching him as he practices his fighting stances,
thrusts, and slashes.
     Then he notices Sonic and immediately stops to put his
blades back into his backpack.  According to Sonic, Bean called a
summit and when Rotor didn't show, Sonic was sent to find him. 
Also, Rotor had been gone for six hours, and from his foul-
tempered reaction to that fact, it doesn't look like Rotor meant
to stay out for that long.
     Just as Rotor is passing Sonic, the blue hedgehog glances
down and grabs Rotor's arm.  Rotor gets steadily more irate as
first he reacts to Sonic, and then reacts to the blood dribbling
down his arm from a cut wound he had inflicted during his berserk
knife-wielding session.  Dropping his backpack onto the ground,
he quickly brings out a bandage to wrap around the injury.
     Sonic makes an innocent comment about checking in with
Bunnie once they get back, and Rotor's impulsive response is
quickly followed by a reasonable statement that the cut was clean
and he didn't need it looked at.  Then, Sonic asks Rotor exactly
what he was doing out in the middle of the forest, but Rotor
becomes evasive, and for a short while as they're traveling back,
they are both silent, although Sonic is giving Rotor sidelong
looks.
     "So..." Sonic begins.
     "So what?" is Rotor's reply.
     What follows is several pieces of dialogue that are
punctuated by moments of silence, all leading up to a basic
point: Rotor's training is in preparation for his meeting with
the Chaotix, at which point he will find out which one killed his
family, and then he will avenge his family.  But Sonic's sudden
change has, at least in Rotor's view, slowed down the process of
revenge, and Rotor does not like that.
     Oi.  Serious understatement.
     Sonic's reply becomes very antagonistic as he tells Rotor
that he's a coward for concentrating solely on his revenge when
he should be focused on the cause of the rebellion.  At least
when Sonic was being useless, he was doing it for the rebellion,
but Rotor's ambitions are purely selfish.
     Rotor's rebuttal comes in the form of a knife at Sonic's
throat, and the pressure builds as Sonic tests the fine line
between "being right" and "being dead meat".
     Fortunately, Sonic's destiny is not meant to be cut short,
as Bark saves the day once again (review #4 for the last time he
helped out! -Tergonaut) by stepping in and stopping the fight. 
He rebukes Sonic for causing trouble, and then escorts them back
to base.
     Later, Sonic is trying to get comfortable in his "bunk" when
Rotor comes knocking on what passes for a door in the rebellion's
underground lair.  Rotor apologizes, and notes that his family
would have wanted him to make more of a commitment to the
rebellion.  Sonic lets him know that everything's cool, and that
the rebellion will be there for the rest of the Chaotix.
     Just at the end, when they are parting ways for the night,
Sonic accidently uses Rotor's nickname "Boomer", which naturally
catches Rotor's attention because only his brother called him
that, and there was no way that Sonic could have ever known it. 
But he shrugs it off and heads off to bed, leaving Sonic with
another reminder of his past existence.

Analysis/Opinion: Now, finally after just about every other
member of the rebellion, we get to take a look at Rotor!  And
boy, what a contrast to the Rotor from our Sonic's reality! 
Instead of being easygoing, shy, and inventive, he is hostile,
temperamental, and while he still stays away from everyone else
most of the time it's not because of shyness.  More like so he
can let off some steam without anybody getting hurt.
     The artist, Kit Katz, did what I thought to be an excellent
job in portraying Rotor's emotions throughout the issue.  We see
him get angry, surprised and berserk, and the tears blast away
any conception that Rotor is the rock-hard tough guy.  His past
has affected him deeply, and while he puts up a defensive wall
around himself, he really is a normal person trying to find a
purpose in life.  And that purpose is revenge.
     And about Sonic's response, can you say "Boy, that's one
lucky 'hog"?  He pushed the argument to the edge with his
insulting manner, and probably figured with the knife to his
throat he had nothing to lose.  Lost in the fury of the moment,
either one or the other were going to break and do something both
would regret.  Thank goodness for Bark!
     Bark shows yet another example of how much of a stabilizing
influence he is in the rebellion.  Although he is off-stage for
most of this issue, he stopped the argument briskly and firmly,
and then later on gave counsel to Rotor instead of turning a cold
shoulder.  Stern reprimand followed by love, that's the way to do
it.

Final Word: A look at Rotor's character, and Sonic makes a
mistake that's easy for anyone to make in the face of insult and
the heat of emotion.  In retrospect, he has done some pretty
spectacular things for the rebellion, and hasn't really shown
much in the way of weakness.  Then again, there wasn't time
before for him to make mistakes, only to live through the mission
and kick it to the Legion.
     But we are haunted again by yet another reminder of Sonic's
original reality: Rotor's nickname.  If his brother called him
that, and he had died before any of the orphans gathered together
to become the rebellion, then how could Sonic have possibly
learned that Rotor had a nickname, much less specifically what it
was?  I doubt even if Sonic created a dream world for himself
(suggested by Bunnie in issue and review #5! -Tergonaut), that
he'd happen to create a nickname for Rotor at the same time that
coincidentally turned out to be his nickame in this other
reality.
     But Sonic is now healed, and the summit that was called was
obviously meant to plan a new mission against the Legion.  It's
business as usual, folks.