Other-M, "Alter Ego" issue #12, 25 pages Review written by Matt Johnson, a.k.a. Tergonaut Summary: The rebellion's down in the dumps, but with a new player in the war against the Guardian, the parade celebrating the victory over the rebellion is going to get a lot more exciting! Credits: Cover A: RONE Cover B: Blaze Hedgehog Story: Ian Potto Art: Jon Echidna, pgs. 1-7; Lady Laguna, pgs. 8-10; Jeremy Acorn, 14-25 Lettering: Jon Echidna, pgs. 1-7; Lady Laguna, pgs. 8-10; Jeremy Acorn, 14-25 Other-M logo design: Jeffrey "Z-Kara" Houston Note from Tergonaut: Remember my review of Other-M #11? I made several references to the year-and-a-half interval that was between issues #10 and #11. I would like to apologize, because my assumption was wrong. RONE informed me that the rebellion had been fighting for a total of one and a half years, and that the entire comic begins near the end of that time period. Therefore, my complaints about the long period of time and how certain things did and did not make sense are annulled with regard to this interval. I hope this clears things up a bit. Plot: It's back to Echidnaopolis, and this time the first face we see is that of Perry Quinn, the richest non-echidna in Echidnaopolis, if not the world. He is a blue-feathered bird who, at this point, is dressed in a business suit that reflects his upper-class status. He steps out of the Echidna Towers and walks the short way to his waiting vehicle. As he looks to the side just before he enters the car, we can see three echidnas with angry, hostile expressions on their faces, and judging by the stripes around their quills and their clothing, they are lower-class echidnas. But they make no move besides their expressions, and Quinn is unmolested by the ruffians as he enters the car and picks up the newspaper that is ready for him to read. He has a short conversation with his chauffeur, a dingo by the name of Harry, asking him how his wife was doing. Harry politely responds that his wife is well now, but back when he had told Quinn that she had been sick, he had received some money in his account. Quinn replies with a small smile, saying that obviously someone like the dingo's work. His chauffeur begins driving the vehicle down the streets at Quinn's word. Then the tone changes when Quinn happens to read one of the headlines, which boldly proclaims the destruction of the rebellion's base (check back at issue and review #11! - Tergonaut). During the next few exchanges between Quinn and Harry, it's made clear that they both hope that the rebellion hasn't been completely defeated, especially because the persecution of non-echidnas is getting worse in recent days. But as their conversation draws near to a depressing close, Quinn reads that there will be a grand parade to celebrate the victory over the rebellion. Harry contemptuously informs his employer that he is going to find something to busy himself with, his feelings on the matter readily apparent. Mysteriously enough, Quinn grins as he says that he, too, will be busy at the time. Meanwhile, in a run-down short building wedged between two taller ones, the remaining rebellion is shattered. Injured rebels are everywhere, and their expressions are just as varied as their species. Some are angry, some are sorrowful, and some are desperate. The blow struck against them by the Guardian has hurt all of them in some way, that is clear. Bean, Rotor, Antoine, Bunnie, and Fiona are leaning up against one of the walls of the decrepit building. These core members of the rebellion all have saddened expressions, save for Bean, who looks a lot like he's thinking, "I screwed up. I should have done better, I could have done better." The silence is broken by Bunnie, who quietly asks Bean to speak up and help everyone move on after this terrible defeat. He remains quiet. Fiona then asks him the same thing, although in slightly different words. Bean still does not speak, although he looks a little more thoughtful. The situation is obviously very awkward, but things get tense when Rotor tactlessly makes the comment that Bean's angry because the rebellion was caught completely off their guard by the Guardian. Antoine promptly tells him to shut up, which begins an argument that grows in volume and participants among the core members of the rebellion, with Bunnie trying to break it up unsuccessfully. That is, until Bean gets to his feet, which brings a halt to the argument and hushes any other conversation in the room. Without saying a word, Bean walks to a nearby ladder and climbs up to the hole in the ceiling that leads to the roof, leaving the rebellion for solitude. The view shifts over to Sonic, who has this whole time been leaning against the wall with his eyes closed. He opens his eyes, pushes himself away from the wall, sets one of the wooden crates inside the building onto the ground with a *thap*, and stands tall on top of it. He looks around at the faces of the rebels, who are all turned to him with eyes yearning for some answers or guidance. And then he speaks. He talks about the desperation of their situation. He talks about how the Guardian will not win until they are all dead. He talks about the sacrifice of Bark, and how that sacrifice compares to Bean and his current responsibility of holding the rebellion together. He talks about how the rebellion has to keep it together and push forward until the Guardian is defeated once and for all! It is at this point of his speech that he realizes that the entire rebellion has pushed forward to hear him, and the four other core members of the rebellion give him affirmative gestures from their position at the back of the crowd. Then he pumps his fist into the air and asks who is going to win this war. The response is immediate and positive, shouted out by a rebellion inspired out of their depression to the point where they are practically celebrating by the time that Sonic is crawling up the ladder to the roof, where he approaches Bean. Sonic opens up the conversation by commenting that it is dangerous to be hanging out in the open. Bean replies that the Legion won't bother because the building is a quarter size of the adjacent ones, and thus isn't worth the effort. A leaf flies by, and Bean compliments Sonic on his speech, which Sonic cheerfully responds to with a thank-you. There is another brief moment where the two do not speak, and Sonic shuffles his feet, which prompts Bean to ask Sonic if he believes they should hit back hard. Sonic responds with "As soon as possible." Bean then says, "Good...I have a plan." Prominently sitting next to him is a newspaper that has a headline saying the two words of PARADE TONIGHT. That night, Quinn is looking down over the city from his apartment balcony. He is deep in thought as he turns around and goes inside, opening up a closet and switching out of his business clothes into a set of gear that includes taloned gloves, boots, a bandolier of grenades, and a pair of metal earmuffs (I would tentatively assume that they are meant to deaden the loud sounds of the explosions from, say, his grenades). While he is changing, his thoughts are turned to a conversation that he had with Harry once regarding his financial status. Apparently, his father was one of the original refugees of the Guardian's assault on Mobius. He founded a business with a friendly echidna before non-echidna persecution got really bad. This business went extremely well, and during the course of events, the echidna died, leaving his half of the business to his partner. Quinn's father left all that he owned (which then included the entire business) to his son when he (Quinn's father) died. It's clear that Quinn doesn't like the injustice that the Guardian allows under his rule, and even though Quinn easily has it much better than other non-echidnas, he isn't going to stand by and let the Guardian trample the freedom of his fellows. Out on the balcony, he raises his arms and shouts out two magical words that create a pair of wings that finalize his alternate identity as Predator Hawk. He flies off into the night on these new wings. Now we're at the parade, and on the first of the parade floats stands the assembled Chaotix around the Guardian himself. The turnout for the parade consists of echidnas, and Mighty Armadillo is thinking dark thoughts about how they are hypocrites for cheering the non-echidna who slaughtered the non-echidna rebels. This is only a brief look into his thoughts, however, and we quickly move over to one of the nearby alleyways... Sonic and Bean are prepared to cause a panic, which will be their way of letting the Guardian know that the rebellion isn't down yet. But before they can leap into action, they are surprised by the sudden appearance of Amy, who has teleported onto the scene to tell them to wait one moment. She cryptically tells them to wait until the new contender plays his hand, and then disappears again. While Sonic and Bean are trying to figure out what she meant, Predator Hawk makes his entrance and tosses around a few grenades, sending echidnas running in terror and creating havoc. Sonic heads up a nearby building while Bean uses his magic to throw a rocket at one of the tanks forming the procession. Predator Hawk, seeing that the rebellion yet lives, drops down and throws a few more grenades that take out some other Legion vehicles. A group of Legionnaires form up and take aim for Bean, but with a swipe of his unnatural bony arm he summons up a wide variety and quantity of explosive devices, which naturally stop the echidnas in their tracks for fear of death. The pile of explosives detonates just as Bean is rescued from above by Predator Hawk, and the two of them introduce themselves to each other even as they continue the fight. Bean is dropped off onto a nearby building and tosses explosives all over the street, watching in satisfaction at the flaring result. Knuckles is seeing all of this from his throne on the front parade float, and he's getting angry because not only is the rebellion not dead, but they are fighting back and ruining the victory parade in purpose and earnest! Turning his crackling anger onto Miles (who had been in charge of the assault on the rebellion's base), Miles denies responsibility by saying that he had promised no more than the rebel base itself, although it's clear that he's doing this merely to save his own skin. As if things couldn't get any more interesting, Sonic jumps onto the float, right in between Knuckles and Miles. His attitude is cocky and confident until he realizes just who the Guardian is. Shocked to find the familiar face of Knuckles in the place of the Guardian, he barely dodges out of the way as Knuckles lets loose his anger in a energized blast from his palm. With its intended target out of the way, Miles is the next person in the line of fire! Miles deflects the beam at an angle (presumably with his own powers), and unfortunately for Sonic, it happens to strike him right in the back, knocking him temporarily unconscious on the floor just in front of Knuckles. In an attempt to get back into the good graces of the Guardian, Miles offers to take care of the rebel himself (suggesting a rather gruesome method in the process), and he prepares to carry through with this when Sonic wakes up. Sonic barely has enough time to recognize the face of Miles when he's rescued from danger by Predator Hawk, who drops a final grenade toward the Guardian. Knuckles contemptuously refuses to flinch, even as the Chaotix all rush to him, and Julie-su's quick aim with her sidearm destroys the explosive just before it gets into a dangerous range. Predator Hawk then swings over to Bean, and he carries the two away from the scene, their mission a success. Later, Sonic is lying on his back on some hastily- gathered newspapers and straw in one corner of the rebellion's new home, and Fiona is with him, trying to comfort him after his bad injury to his back. But that isn't what is bothering Sonic when he tells her that she wouldn't understand what his thoughts are focused on. Fiona leaves him alone and goes away, since Sonic's body language is telling her that he doesn't want to talk at the moment, and the final scene is of Sonic lying on his side, his arms wrapped around himself and tears in his eyes as he thinks of his friends Knuckles and Tails, both turned evil in this twisted alternate reality that he has stepped into. Analysis/Opinion: Perry Quinn, a.k.a. Predator Hawk, brings to mind countless superheroes who are millionaires by day, and crime fighters by night. Still, while he is kindly to his fellow non-echidnas, he has a serious violent streak towards echidnas, as demonstrated by his free use of explosives in the parade area. It's clear that while he supports the rebellion, he didn't have any contact with them until this point, or at least that is the assumption. And then there's the magic words that he used to summon his wings. What is the story behind that, I wonder? Magic is fully plausible in this reality, but it strikes me as odd that a millionaire would happen to have found such a magic spell. Is it an inherited ability? Did he learn it from his father? Maybe we'll see the answers to these questions in the future, or perhaps this will remain as mysterious a power as Sonic's super speed. The rebellion suffered a critical blow with the destruction of their hidden base. Gone were the shreds of security that they thought they had while in the hidden haven, gone was their dignity after such a crushing defeat. It is no wonder, after seeing their friends roasted alive by lasers and torn to pieces by bombs, that they are so dejected. It makes a certain degree of sense that Rotor is the one who starts up the controversy that begins a shouting argument. His nasty temper and gritty personality combined with the tension that they all felt to make an explosive almost as deadly as one of Bean's magical bombs. Antoine's reaction also makes sense, since he is, to a certain degree, prideful, and he would naturally take offense when his abilities were put in such a bad light, even as indirectly as Rotor put it. After Rotor and Antoine started heating things up, Fiona joined in, her tough exterior bristling in the incendiary atmosphere. It is only fortunate that Bean's sudden exit calmed them all down, or else the rebellion would have had something more to be demoralized about. Sonic's speech was pretty good. It's not all that surprising that he was able to inspire the hearts of the rebellion to keep their hopes up, since he came from a lighter reality, and he carries the light of hope within himself. Somehow, it seems a little odd that he has become so eloquent, but perhaps the clash of this reality's darkness and his inner light has forced him to take on a more serious aspect toward his existence. It's clear from Mighty's thoughts that he hates the echidnas just like the echidnas hate the non-echidnas. This is the first real look at his motivations for quietly rebelling against the Guardian, and they are not noble. I'd guess that more than a few of the rebels have this same viewpoint, which is ironic because in this line of thinking, they are just as bad as the echidnas. Knuckles and Miles are both powerful magicians, judging from the powers they have displayed thus far. They are definitely more powerful than their counterparts that Sonic knew in his original universe. Then again, Sonic is also better than he was in his previous universe, with his roboticized feet providing him with even more speed. Still, as proven by his near-defeat, he'll have to focus his thoughts and remain nimble if he ever faces them again. At the time, however, he was caught off-guard by their familiar faces, and so that distraction impacted his performance. Hopefully he learns that he will have to face them again and prepare for that eventuality. Bean was really enjoying himself as he was throwing bombs all over the place. He was not necessarily rejoicing in the death he was causing, but he was certainly feeling a lot better when he was accomplishing some mission objectives after the rebellion's defeat. He also had a lot more magical power to draw upon this time than at any time before in this comic. When his abilities were first displayed in issue #2, he had a hard time summoning up a single explosive, but in this issue, he materialized several crates of explosives with minimal effort. While some readers find this to be a discrepancy with Bean's powers, and even though I agree with that to a degree, it is reasonable to assume that he was in a better condition to use magic this time around. In issue #2, he was under pressure because of timing and depending on the others to do their parts. This time around, he started off strong and kept it up, meeting little resistance. It is rather hard to approach an enemy who's throwing a wide variety of explosives at you, after all, and he must have depended on the element of surprise and Legion disorientation to keep up the attack. He had another advantage in the sense that he didn't care how much damage he did, while the Legion had to protect the civilians and the Guardian on top of taking out Bean. This brings up the matter of Bean's ethics. After all, this is an attack on civilians as much as on the Guardian's military might. By attacking civilians, he's making it harder for echidnas to sympathize with non-echidnas and for the rebellion to actually look like the good guys. Judging from his smirk as he watches the explosions, it could be that he's enjoying this much more than he would admit. Does this mean that Bean is evil? That is an interesting question, because before this issue, he was presented as a capable no-nonsense leader. In this issue, we see him assaulting civilian echidnas who have no real defense. It could be justified if he was attacking the military, since the rebellion would actually be achieving a solid goal, but by attacking civilians, even brainwashed civilians who might eventually join the military, he is compromising some basic principles for the sake of terrorizing the Guardian's people. How can peace be achieved when Bean is committing acts that actually give the Guardian a good reason to put down the rebellion? Near the end, Fiona used "love" instead of Sonic's name to refer to him as she was talking to him. I don't know quite why, but my stance on the relationship between Sonic and Fiona has been shifting. In some ways, I like it, but in others, I feel like they're getting familiar with each other too quickly. Heck, it took Sonic several years growing up with Sally to establish their relationship in the Archie comic, and yet it was still unstable (partly due to the writers and partly due to SEGA itself). Then he meets Fiona in a different reality, and their relationship starts off with a bang in issue #4 and seems to have kept on growing at an exponential rate. And it seems kind of funny to me that it is a vixen (or more specifically, ) Artwork: This issue was done by five separate artists. Two of them created covers for the issue, and the other three did the actual issue itself. So, for the sake of organization, I'll simply give each artist their own paragraph: RONE: She did one of the two covers for this issue. Her cover shows a shocked/anguished Sonic and a determined Bean on the left side, an angry Guardian and frustrated Miles on the right, and Predator Hawk as the centerpiece with flames in the background. There's a bit of foreshadowing in this cover, with Sonic's surprised expression as he is looking at Knuckles and Tails. I think that it also covers the emotions of the other involved characters very well for this issue, very nice. The only complaint that I have is in regards to the long, flowing sash at Predator Hawk's belt; I suppose this is a bit nit- picky, but he never wore a belt like that in the issue, but instead had a bandolier around him stacked with grenades. Blaze Hedgehog: He did the other cover for this issue. On the right side, we see Predator Hawk and Perry Quinn, both of them looking determined. On the left, Sonic is looking almost surly with a neutral Bean standing behind him with his right bone-arm flaming in an ethereal way (a nice touch). In the middle and more in the background glow the two scary and angry-looking eyes from a silhouette who, judging from the shape of the quills, is Knuckles the Guardian. I think that, in a sense, this cover blows away any sense of surprise that readers might have about whose secret identity is about to be revealed. It also seems a little awkward to have two of who is essentially the same person on the same cover. Still, the artwork is nice, and the sinister glowing red eyes are always a great touch to add to the silhouetted figure of any comic cover. Jon Echidna: He did pages 1-7 for this issue. I think he did a good job of expressing the emotions of the characters, as well as the subtler humor of the exchange of dialogue between Harry and Perry Quinn. I also think his shading technique does justice to the grainy texture that sometimes permeates the life of the Other-M world. There were some parts where character posturing was awkward, especially with Rotor on page 7, but overall a nice job to get us started for this issue. Lady Laguna: She did pages 8-10 in this issue. Lady Laguna's style, as it has in the past, makes good use of showing emotions in an anim‚-like way. I also think that her placement of the dialogue balloons complements the postures of the different characters. I do get the feeling, however, that she didn't do the hair of the characters very well. Sonic's and Fiona's hair in particular are a lot more roundish and oval-shaped than they should be. Sonic's forward-facing quills are definitely short and spiky, while Fiona's hair has usually been...I can never describe most styles of hair, but I looked back at issues 4 and 10 where Lady Laguna has had some of her other work that involved Fiona, and the hairstyle is definitely different between them and this issue. And I've already harangued the artist for the proportions of Sonic; this issue was already drawn before my review for issue #10 was finished, so it's too late to save Sonic from having incredibly long legs compared to his short round body. His nose seems to be especially long in this issue, as well. Apologies for over-emphasis, LL, but I cringe when I see Sonic in this issue, cringe and laugh my head off because it's so insane when compared to the decent proportions of just about everyone else. Still, I liked how she was able to match Sonic's expressions and emotions with his speech, and it emphasized the speech very well, especially in the last panel that she did for this issue. To be able to pull that off considering the comic proportions she gave Sonic is no mean feat. I'm not sure who that elf-looking lady with the crystal in her forehead is on the last panel of page 9, but she doesn't particularly look like a Mobian to me. Could it be a cameo from some of Lady Laguna's other artwork? Jeremy Acorn: He finished off the remaining 14-25 pages. Jeremy's artwork also uses certain anim‚ elements to show emotions, and I think he did quite well with them as well as the facial cues that affect emotion that the eyes project. There are a couple of spots where the movements of characters are cartoonized (Sonic and Bean's surprised reaction to Amy's sudden appearance, the fourth panel where Bean's rapidly throwing bombs), but it fits smoothly with the rest of the art style and doesn't disrupt the mood too much. With many of the characters' mouths when they are facing the reader, it looks a lot like they have a big gap in the middle of their top row of teeth, although I finally interpreted that there weren't any teeth involved at all in those pictures but rather it was Jeremy's style of showing the insides of the mouth. A little awkward, in my opinion, although it is kinda cute. I swear that in the top panel of page 12, the second person from the left, looks like the same character as in Jeremy Acorn's personal picture on the Other-M message board. Coincidence or cameo? I think it's the latter in this case. Final Word: The day is done in this issue, and the rebellion has gained a new ally while at the same time delivering a critical blow to the Guardian and his Legion of Justice. But the Guardian and Miles gave Sonic a metaphorical punch to the gut in return, so it was not an entirely one-sided affair. It seems so strange that Sonic never thought to figure out that the Guardian was Knuckles. Since Miles was never really a public figure up to this point, his identity couldn't possibly have been known to the rebellion at large, but the Guardian Knuckles is so prominent that it seems difficult to believe that Sonic never saw one of his statues or asked who the Guardian really was. Still, it isn't wholly impossible that he just assumed that it was some nutcase echidna who had managed to take over, and what with the distraction of this whole new world where he's still learning the rules, it probably never crossed his mind to wonder who the Guardian actually was. Sonic is going to have to toughen up, though, because if he lets himself get shell-shocked by every surprise that comes along, there may come a time when someone dies because of it. Does this mean that he should just grit his teeth and kill Knuckles or Tails at the next possible opportunity? No. But he shouldn't let his associations with the Knuckles and Tails of his original existence affect his performance around the Other-M versions, because the rebellion needs all the help it can get in this desperate time.