Other-M, "A House Divided"
issue #10, 19 pages
Review written by Matt Johnson, a.k.a. Tergonaut
Summary: Things get even more complicated in the war when a
mysterious figure appears and offers to take Bean and Sonic
into the inner sanctum of the Guardian, revealing to them one
of the greatest secrets...and potentially the most deadly.

Credits:
Cover: Blaze Hedgehog
Story: Ian Potto
Art: Lady Laguna
Lettering: Lady Laguna
Other-M logo design: Jeffrey "Z-Kara" Houston
Credit also goes to: Tim Fewell and Matt Lenz, work
appreciated

Plot: The story opens deep within what appears to be an
underground shrine/temple area.  We can see a misshapen form
sitting quietly at one end of this place, eyes closed in
apparent meditation.
     We turn around, and two figures are coming out of a
tunnel.  Both of them are wearing full-body jumpsuits, only
their eyes, tails and part of their headfur exposed.  Since
the suits conform to their body shape, we can tell that one is
male and one is female, and that the male has a longer fox's
tail while the female has a shorter tail of indeterminate
species.  They are wearing swords at their waists, and as they
come into the wide room with its pillars on either side, they
set fire to two torches, one each, and then put them up in
holders for them in the pillars on either side of the
misshapen form.  They kneel and greet the form, referring to
him (it?) as "Master."
     The mutant begins to explain about how his thirst for
power left him in his crippled state, and how there is
currently another being who is on that same path, save that he
would suffer madness and that he would destroy all of
creation.
     The male figure interrupts, asking how they could fight
this being, and is admonished by his sister (by her use of the
word "brother" we can infer that they are biological brother
and sister, as opposed to the monastic title).  The mutant
seems to ignore the interruption and continues, mentioning
that the rebellion would have to be shown "what the Guardian
possesses."  When asked how by the male (who is again
admonished by his sister, at which point she calls him
"Alpha"), the mutant points at him and tells him that he must
go and take "the leader and the outsider" to the Guardian's
base to show them what is truly at stake in the war.
     The female is the one who speaks up now, asking about
"the girl."  The mutant then tells Alpha that he must free her
(the girl) from the "evil one's reach."  Alpha seems surprised
and protests, saying that even he (the Master) knew that the
girl was the key to "our destruction."  Wisely, the mutant
tells him that such a key would not be used...in the right
hands.
     Charged with his mission, Alpha walks back through the
tunnel, leaving the female and the mutant alone.
     The scene shifts over to the rebellion's mountain base,
where most of the core rebels appear to be watching Sonic and
Bean, who seem to be playing some kind of game.  Bean drops
down some coin-shaped objects and seems to win the game,
according to the exchange of dialogue between him and Sonic,
who is in denial about how Bean could have won three times in
a row.  Antoine barks off a laugh and warns Bean to watch out
in case Sonic started betting bunks again, and everyone has a
good laugh over it while Sonic blushes (the joke behind this
is back in issue and review #3).
     Bark comes up and gets Bean's attention, and everyone
stops laughing as they follow Bark's pointed mitt with their
eyes to see a mysterious jump-suited figure (Alpha), who
greets them.  Bean returns the greeting, and Alpha quickly
gets to the point about bringing Bean and Sonic to the
Guardian's base.  When Bean asks how they're going to
accomplish that when the Guardian's base is the most heavily-
guarded place in the world, Alpha explains that he'll use his
magic to accomplish the task.
     When Bean is convinced that this guy's being serious, he
assures a concerned Bunnie that he's going to come back, and
he's ready to go, but Sonic is a little preoccupied with
"saying goodbye" to Fiona...with his lips.  After finally
disengaging, he and Bean tell Alpha that they're ready to go,
and Alpha tells them that he'll meet them outside.  Bean and
Sonic watch the newcomer as he mysteriously floats over the
underwater entrance and goes in feet-first, and then they dive
in and come out on the other side.
     Alpha holds out his hands, and as soon as Bean and Sonic
get a hold of them, the three of them vanish in a puff of
smoke and reappear inside of a technological complex.  Alpha
explains that this is the Guardian's storage area, where he
keeps his personal projects, namely things like the
experimental roboticizer and other artifacts of that level of
importance.
     Then Alpha reveals to them King Maximilian Acorn, the
monarch of the Acorn Kingdom before the Guardian crushed it
underneath his toe.  He is in a stasis field that uses
technology and the Void's properties to keep him in suspended
animation.  Bean and Sonic are struck by this discovery, but
Bean all the more, for this is his liege.
     Then it's time for the prime-time shocker: Amy Rose. 
Apparently, Robert O'Hedge, the Mercian Vassal-Lord, sent his
niece to the Guardian as a gift, and the Guardian put her away
inside a containment unit, constantly monitoring her for
psychic powers.  The testing resulted in a retardation of her
physical age; she should be eight years old, but physically
she's only four or five.  As for her mental state, Alpha is
afraid to admit that she is advanced far beyond comprehension.
     Just as it comes time for them to pull out, alarm klaxons
ring and they have to hurry.  Bean is only momentarily
indecisive about whether to rescue the king or to escape with
the child (he decides to follow Alpha's advice to save the
girl), and so Sonic grabs Amy Rose and is about to dash away
when he skids to a halt and looks back at the containment
unit, which appears to be unopened and unbroken.  He seems
confused, and he doesn't notice the little smile that plays
across Amy's face.
     The little group meets together back in the main room of
the complex just as the Chaotix and several Legionaries pour
inside.  Reaching out with his hands, Alpha seems ready to
pull his escape trick again, but Julie-su is faster with her
gun and the shot strikes Alpha.  Left without their method of
escape, Sonic and Bean are about to be captured when suddenly
they are teleported out of the base and right back in front of
the watery entrance to the rebel hideout.  The only possible
cause for this is Amy Rose, and Sonic and Bean realize that
things have gotten more dangerous than they ever thought
before.
     Back at the Guardian's inner sanctum, the Guardian
himself is coming in to see the damage.  Mighty the Armadillo
is holding Alpha's arms to keep him from escaping, and the
nervous looks on the faces of everyone around the Guardian
seems to foreshadow what happens next as the Guardian asks who
Alpha is.
     He replies, "I am Alpha, the first-born of the last House
of Acorn.  You are doomed."
     Enraged by this remark, Knuckles swings down a fist and
fortunately we can't see exactly what happens to Alpha's face,
thanks to Mighty's body being in our line of sight, but we
hear an audible CRUNCH!  Taking a cloth offered by one of the
Legionaries, Knuckles wipes his hand and tells the Chaotix to
throw the body away.  The scene closes with Knuckles walking
out, leaving the Chaotix with saddened faces and the limp body
of Alpha on the floor, a pool of blood growing around his
corpse.

Analysis/Opinion: The mutant is Ixis Naugus, and instead of
being the evil power-hungry wizard from Sonic's original
reality, he's a patient soul who now suffers in a twisted body
as penitence for his search for power.  While we've seen one
of the two figures before (the female one, in the first issue
and review), in this issue we actually get more of a clue as
to who it is.  If there was any doubt before that these two
figures are actually Elias and Sally Acorn, then this issue
dispels that doubt.
     Since we know that Naugus is a wizard, Elias's magical
abilities are explained quickly enough.  And it would also
explain just how Elias and Sally were able to light those
torches without any apparent lighters or heat source.  But
this takes a certain amount of inference.
     Sonic and Fiona's relationship has advanced at a rather
incredible rate, in my opinion.  But despite my doubts, there
isn't a definite time frame between this issue and the last
time that Sonic and Fiona showed romantic affection toward
each other (back in issue and review #5), so maybe it's been a
couple of months, plenty of time for two people to more fully
fall in love during a wartime situation.  Still, even though
I've generally liked the romance that fan fiction writers
usually put into their work (including myself), this seems a
little convenient...
     Sonic's utter shock at seeing the Other-M reality's Amy
Rose is understandable, since the Amy Rose he remembers was
protected from evil.  But seeing such a drastic contrast, as
well as seeing a child's abilities being exploited for evil
intentions, is certainly enough to warrant Sonic's reaction.
     I wasn't quite sure exactly why Sonic was so surprised
about the capsule when he looked back at it, but I inferred
from Amy Rose's later display of teleportation that she had
teleported out into his arms, thus leaving the capsule fully
intact, which was what confused Sonic.
     I'm not quite sure why Elias didn't just poof himself
away in a cloud of smoke instead of letting himself get
killed.  However, it seemed important to him to let Knuckles
know who he was, and perhaps Elias couldn't because of his
injury (since it would take a certain degree of concentration
and stamina to perform such a magical feat, both of which were
sapped by his wound).

Artwork: By popular request, this is the new section of my
reviews focusing on the artwork and artist(s) of the issue.
     Blaze Hedgehog did the cover for this one, and we can see
Sonic and Bean's backs facing toward as they look at the
silhouette of some figure (Amy Rose) in the lit background,
and Alpha is calmly standing by, ready to explain exactly what
they're seeing.  The focus of the cover is on the scene when
Sonic and Bean see Amy Rose, which is the central point for
the whole issue, appropriately done.
     Lady Laguna was our feature artist for all of this issue
(and the one who convinced me that I should go ahead with this
section: give her a hand, folks).  Her style reminds me
heavily of anim‚/manga (since she uses a healthy amount of
sweatdrops, sigh clouds and other anim‚/manga emotion
symbols), and for the most part she's a good artist who pulls
across the point.  And somehow her cheerful style manages to
convey some of the darker tones of the Other-M world, which
seems like a paradox.
     However, while she has good proportion for most of the
characters, she gives Sonic these incredibly long legs as
opposed to his rotund short body, and Mighty seems to suffer
from the same ailment later on (although not as much).  I
particularly noticed that on page eight, first panel, where
Sonic and Fiona are holding each other's hands and are looking
into each other's eyes.  Fiona's proportions are decent
enough, but Sonic's stomach is approximately on the same level
as Fiona's chest.  Yike.
     There was some confusion among some of the fans about
whether Elias was knocked out or killed, but it was clear
enough to me from Lady Laguna's art (and her use of the word
CRUNCH!) that Knuckles didn't pull his punch.  Not too many
punches could create a bloody pool on the floor without
opening a good-sized hole in someone's head.

Final Word: Alpha, who we know as Elias Acorn, was introduced
and killed in the same issue.  I don't see this as an
especially bad thing, although a smart-alecky comment comes to
mind: "At least Ian didn't waste his time with character
development on that poor sucker!"
     Seriously, I got a good impression of Alpha's personality
and upbringing even through this one short issue, but
ultimately I'm not attached to him as much as say, Sonic and
Bean (who we've lived with through ten issues now).  And there
are implications that we'll be seeing his sister in action
again sometime (we saw her back at issue #1, just to remind
you).  And since we know that she's Sally, I anticipate that
Sonic is going to be drop-dead surprised when he sees who she
is.
     Speaking of implications, Amy Rose's psychic powers are
incredibly advanced.  How her power and her personality mix as
she is introduced into the care of real-life people for the
first time in years will be incredibly important, since such
powers being abused could lead easily to devastation
uncontrolled.  Fortunately, while the rebels can't offer her
that much in the way of comfort, at the very least they can
give her a place to sleep, some food to eat, and friendship
and comfort on all sides.  I predict that she might come to a
point where she has to make a decision concerning her
abilities, which might be the focus of an entire issue, but
that's a long way off at the moment.
     In any case, Amy's existence makes it possible that there
are other psychics out there, which might make Knuckles go out
in search for them if he deems it necessary for his goals. 
And hopefully the rebels will be prepared for that.