Other-M, "A Day In The Life" issue #14, 22 pages Review written by Matthias Johnson, a.k.a. Tergonaut tergonaut@aol.com Summary: We follow Julie-Su through a day in her life, from morning to night, and see in her a person who is perhaps one of the most tragic figures of the war between the rebellion and the Guardian. Credits: Cover: RONE Story: Ian Potto Art: Kit Katz, pgs. 1-10; Jeremy Acorn, pgs. 11-22 Lettering: Kit Katz, pgs. 1-10; Jeremy Acorn, pgs. 11-22 Other-M logo design: Jeffrey "Z-Kara" Houston ABYS Chan: Work appreciated Plot: The scene opens in the dawn, in the private chambers of the Guardian Knuckles. Julie-Su is standing at the window with her back to the bed, where Knuckles is still sleeping. Slowly, leisurely, Knuckles awakens and sees Julie-Su looking out of the window. He asks whether she was about to leave without letting him know, and her expression away from Knuckles is one of surprise. She turns her head as she finishes buttoning up her Prelate's uniform and says that she was just getting ready for her day's duties. Knuckles then says that she should inform Prelate Vector that he has granted the Chaotix a day of rest. When Julie-Su begins to protest, citing the rebels as a reason, Knuckles interrupts her and restates "a day of rest." He explains that she "earned" it for them. Julie-Su blushes and seems rather happy at this comment, saying that he was honoring her too much. Then Knuckles dismisses her, saying that of course he wasn't honoring her too much. She is, after all, a Prelate. Julie-Su's happy expression immediately drops as she leaves. Hitting the streets of Echidnaopolis, Julie-Su becomes introspective as she is enthusiastically greeted by echidnas wherever she goes. She thinks of her half-brother who is a commanding officer of the Legion, that the echidnas have been restored to the city that is their home, and that she is a Prelate of the Chaotix, a high-ranking position indeed. She also acknowledges that she is the "sole consort of the Guardian," a weighty statement in and of itself. But, she loves Knuckles. She feels that Knuckles is the perfect person, strong and powerful, and yet she doesn't feel that he knows of her love for him. As she walks down the sidewalk, her arms close around her, she wonders whether it is good that she is so close to him physically, or bad that she can't seem to be that close to him emotionally, spiritually. She is interrupted in her thoughts when a dingo is thrown out of an alleyway, and three echidna punks taunt and jeer, clearly taking advantage of the dingo whose Worker's Band they've taken. They are about to "enforce" martial law when Julie-Su makes her presence known, and the punks immediately back off as they realize that a high-ranking official member of the Chaotix is present. Julie-Su immediately takes charge, kicking the dingo onto his back and asking him directly whether the Worker's Band that the echidna teens have is his. When the punks try to tell her their view on where the dingo got the Band, she tells them that she was addressing the dingo, effectively shutting them up. The dingo begins to talk, trying to avoid the question, but when Julie-Su asks him again, he answers that the Band is his. Julie-Su grabs the Worker's Band from the punk who was holding it and tosses it to the dingo, admonishing him to wear the Band wear others could see it from now on to avoid getting into trouble. She then berates the punks, telling them how it was good to ensure that the dingoes were reminded of echidna superiority, but that they shouldn't waste their time with the dingoes when there were rebels to worry about. The three punks nod dumbly, then start beating up the dingo again the instant that Julie-Su turns her back. Julie-Su is perfectly aware that the nameless dingo is being beaten up, while a mother and her child are watching no less, and she wishes that they wouldn't do that so openly, but she makes no further move to stop them. Suddenly, there's a cry of "Help! Rebels!" and Julie-Su sees two members of the rebellion - who we recognize as Rotor and Antoine - running out of a butcher's shop. She gives chase, but just as she passes the shop, someone screams about a bomb, and she immediately turns back to enter the store and ask where the bomb is. The scared echidna who cried out about the bomb, his knees knocking and his teeth chattering in fear, points to the freezer, where Julie-Su goes even as she tells him to run to safety and to find Legionnaires. Julie-Su then sees the dead body of the shopkeeper, which scares and disgusts her for a moment before she goes to the freezer and opens it, clearly frightened that the bomb sitting on the floor could go off at any moment. Telling herself to calm down and to rely on her training, she begins to take apart the bomb so she can diffuse it before it goes off and takes many more lives. Diffusing this bomb is allowing the rebels to get farther away, but she can't afford to let the bomb go off. Despite the chill of the freezer and the short amount of time she has available, she cuts the one wire she needed to and the bomb shuts off, one second left on the timer before detonation. Taking only a single moment to breathe a sigh of relief, she runs out of the shop and races down the sidewalk at top speed, crashing through a pair of pedestrians in her desperate chase after the rebels, who she sees up ahead turning into an alleyway. Confident that she's gotten them, she turns the corner to find that the rebels aren't there, the other end of the alleyway open. As she stands there trying to figure out how the rebels got out of the alleyway so fast, a Legionnaire on a hover-sled comes down from above to inquire of Julie-Su what the situation is. She explains it to him, and he immediately goes up into the air to spy out the area, spotting the rebels and then coming back down to tell Julie-Su of their location. She tells him to go for backup, and he obediently follows her command as she runs off once again to try to catch up to the rebels. She turns the corner to see Antoine's leg as he runs down the other alleyway, and Julie-Su runs to the opening to see- An alleyway whose sole inhabitant is a single dingo holding a piece of meat. The end of the alleyway is blocked by a wall that would have required help to get over. Julie- Su, fuming, stomps down the alleyway, not understanding yet how the rebels could have gotten away again. Then, as she's standing in the alleyway, she suddenly turns her attention to the dingo. This dingo has a bandage over a head wound, a head wound she had seen on the same dingo who had been beaten up by the three echidna punks. He is holding meat, and she recalls how the rebels had attacked the butcher shop. Her eyes flaring with anger as she pieces everything together, the dingo can only shake in fear as Julie-Su pulls out her blaster pistol and fires it, leaving the alleyway and casually tossing her bangs away from her face. Time passes quickly and it is nighttime, with Julie-Su looking out of a pair of glass doors in the Guardian's quarters. Knuckles enters the room, just having cinched his robe, and he notices that Julie-Su looks heavy with thought. He asks her what is the matter, and Julie-Su starts and stops as she tries to sort out what exactly she should say to the Guardian. He says that she can speak freely, and then she asks him whether he loves her. Not just what they do every night, but her, for herself, for all of the qualities that make her her. Knuckles is silent for a moment before turning away and saying casually that he was sorry, but he had sworn away his heart long ago. With that single statement, Julie-Su's hopes and dreams about his love are shattered. As she cries, Knuckles then goes on to say that despite his lack of love for her, he does consider her to be the only woman who is worthy of his presence. Julie-Su manages to control her crying and is about to leave when Knuckles apologizes for upsetting her, and saying that he would understand if she didn't continue to spend her nights with him. Julie-Su stops as she partially opens the door, torn in her heart for what she is to do. Then, closing her eyes, she states, "My life for you, Guardian," and she closes the door, still inside the Guardian's chambers and ending the issue. Analysis/Opinion: It's pretty clear from the first three pages what Julie-Su had done to please the Guardian. And the fourth page confirms it for those who didn't get the implication earlier: Julie-Su is Knuckles's consort, his lover, his play- toy. This issue's dramatic weight is increased by this alone. Taking a look at Julie-Su's thoughts gives us a rare view into the life of not only a highly-respected member of the elite Chaotix, but into the life of a woman who wants to know whether the man she spends her nights with truly loves her or not. Love is a very powerful emotion, one that can transform any person who lets it affect them. How it shapes that person depends on how they react and think of love, whether it is a thing to be cherished and strengthened through care and affection or whether it is a thing to be used to control others. Julie-Su is devoted to the Guardian not only because she is a Prelate, but because she loves him. Her way of dealing with the dingo was much more fair than what the three punks would have wanted, but to me it shows that she is also affected by the prejudice that the echidnas have for all other Mobian species. True, she is more considerate and conservative, but mostly the reason she doesn't want the dingoes to be beaten in public is so that echidna children don't have to see that sort of brutality. However much we can sympathize with her situation, it is hard for us to condone her prejudice, even when we consider that she is directly involved with the war against the non-echidna rebels and she would naturally have an intense dislike of non- echidnas. The situation with the rebels showed us that Julie-Su isn't just some fawning light-headed servant to the Guardian, nor a blind soldier in the glorious cause of destroying the rebels, but she's also a living person with her own fears and thoughts and yet she's able to master them to do her duty. It is certainly a hard thing to have to make the choice between catching murderers and diffusing a bomb, as both have the capacity for deadliness. But she recognized that there was the possibility to catch the rebels later, and that the bomb would definitely go off and harm or even kill many more people if not dealt with immediately, and so I think that she made the right choice in choosing to diffuse the bomb. Her meeting with the random nameless Legionnaire is, I think, a somewhat significant event in a sense. Specifically, I admire that young Legionnaire. While I do not agree with blind loyalty to any cause, much less a tyranny, one has to admire his willingness to serve and his swiftness to obey. That is the kind of person who is the best soldier, one who works to be effective in whatever duty he is charged with. Although perhaps most people would have overlooked him, I thought I would take this moment to point him out, for not every person can serve so diligently for even the best of causes. The dingo probably helped the rebels escape by boosting them over the brick wall, and they gave him a piece of meat stolen from the butcher shop in return for his help. Julie-Su mercilessly destroyed him for what he had done, but considering it from the perspective of a tactician, she did the right thing. After all, someone who had aided the rebels could do so again, to let murderers escape and in so doing be somewhat responsible for the deaths and damage they caused. I do not wish to sound cold and heartless in so saying that, but ultimately that would be the reason for why she blasted the dingo. That, and she was probably ticked that the rebels had gotten away. Although I suppose I've demonstrated my impeccable skill of stating the obvious in that last sentence. One must wonder as we see Julie-Su asking Knuckles whether he loves her, how long have they been together? For surely it doesn't make sense that if they had been spending nights together for a long time that she would only ask this question now. But who am I to judge a woman's feelings, especially considering the position that Julie-Su is in? Admitting that you love or even like someone is always an awkward sort of thing to do, and asking if someone loves or even likes you back is never easy, because there is that ever- present fear that the answer will be no. Building up the nerve to finally ask must have been especially hard on Julie- Su, who had become the Guardian's consort and who had that physical act to distract her from her feelings. It became a controversial subject on the Other-M message board as to whether Julie-Su had done the right thing in staying with Knuckles. He said, in effect, that he did not love her, and yet she was still willing to stay with him. The arguments ranged from whether Knuckles truly had any feelings for her to whether Julie-Su was a mindless soulless sex toy for the Guardian. I myself am divided somewhat on this controversy. Ian Potto mentioned during this discussion and in the profiles that were available on the site at the time that Julie-Su and the Guardian had a soul-link of some kind, one that in the Other-M universe had been corrupted by Knuckles choosing to use his power for his own ends. What I think is that Knuckles, despite what he said, did have a strong need for Julie-Su for comfort, even if it was only the physical kind. I don't think that he was completely evil or malicious, and he clearly shows Julie-Su more respect than for any other person besides himself so far. He compliments her, however crudely, and he allows her to speak freely. As for Julie-Su and whether she truly had a choice or not in choosing to stay with the Guardian to be his consort, I firmly believe that while she was influenced by her emotions and the link that she had with Knuckles, it was entirely her choice to remain in that room for that night. She could have left him to lie alone in bed. But while I disagree with her selling herself so short to someone like Knuckles, I sympathize with her situation. She was the only one who could offer warmth to Knuckles in this alternate world, a world where he was cold, cruel, tyrannical. She loved him, and despite her crushed heart, she remained loyal to him. Psyguy posted on the board about this issue and how he believed it to be not a really plot-moving story. To him I reply that this issue, while not pushing the plot forward in the same way as other issues, was certainly an important story to be told. Here we got a glimpse of not only Julie-Su's thoughts and feelings, but we also got to see from Julie-Su's perspective about the rebels. We saw that the rebels had murdered a man and placed a bomb in his shop, with the intent to kill many others. In that sense, we can actually see the rebellion as a terrorist group, the same terrorist group that Sonic is beginning to regret going on missions for. And in an indirect way, we see from Sonic's perspective as well, and can more easily understand his unwillingness to help the rebellion blow up civilians. And it is important that we see what the Guardian is like in other circumstances, when he isn't wearing the uniform and cape, when he isn't blasting people or handing down orders. It is important in my viewpoint that we get to know all of the players in this game of war in the Other-M world, and I at least have found another reason to dislike both the Guardian and the rebellion. This is truly a darkened world, and we must keep both eyes open if we are to see every side of this conflict. So ultimately I'd say that this issue was productive, informative, and worth reading. Artwork: This issue's cover was done by RONE, and it depicts Julie-Su holding a smoking blaster on the sidewalk, with some echidna bystanders pointing at her in obvious admiration and recognition. She herself, however, looks disheartened, and there is the image of the head of Knuckles looming above her, grinning ferociously. I will particularly point out that the dreadlocks/spines/quills of Knuckles's visage hang down and seem to hang on and hug to Julie-Su, touching her and serving as a subtle yet clear reminder of her link to the Guardian. This last touch especially impresses me, as it is a perfect way of expressing how Julie-Su can't escape her feelings for the Guardian, however evil he may be. Pages 1-10 were done by Kit Katz. This artist did an excellent job of portraying Julie-Su's emotions, her sadness, her anger, her thoughtfulness and introspection. I also think that the artist did an excellent job in doing the proportions of the characters. I sort of have this somewhat idealistic view on how Other-M characters' proportions, in which they retain the cartoony quality from the comic in which they originally came, and yet they are more realistic in the way their bodies are built. It's sort of weird to try to describe this, but in effect I think that Kit Katz accomplished that very well in my opinion. Kit even remembered such details as Knuckles's knuckles and his chest symbol. The only thing I do think needs improvement is the design of the heads of dingoes. The one in this issue seems to look more like a cat to me than a canine. Jeremy Acorn did pages 11-22. I think that he extended the proportions a bit past what I would've liked, but it isn't so terrible as to truly disrupt the feel of the issue or even have too much effect on it. He conveyed Julie-Su's emotions well, including her shock and horror at seeing the dead body behind the butcher shop's counter and her sigh of relief after she had diffused the bomb. He also makes the dingo look more like a feline than a canine, although he did rather accurately make sure that this dingo looked the same as the one depicted by Kit. Guess maybe this dingo's just slightly disfigured or something. Finally, his more visual style of showing emotions (like the fiery anger in Julie-Su's eyes, or the shattering heart behind her after being told by Knuckles that he doesn't love her) serves to enhance the dramatic impact of those moments without disrupting the scene. From an artwork perspective, this issue was well done. Final Word: While we haven't exactly walked in Julie-Su's shoes, we have spent an entire issue with her and find a woman who has feelings and thoughts of her own, and yet they constantly take the backseat to the Guardian's will. Even Sonic fans who have a dislike of Julie-Su can find a character here to sympathize with. She had to make some hard decisions, and even though I don't agree with all of her choices, I certainly have a higher respect for her being able to make those decisions and act effectively even in the face of imminent danger. There are some times in all of our lives when there are hard choices to make. It is often unclear for us whether we can keep on going or whether we're even doing the right thing. But there is a point at which we can't stay indecisive, for life is about making choices and acting upon those choices, accepting the consequences and going on to face new challenges. The Guardian, Knuckles, is still a person who has allowed evil to overtake his heart, and yet he is not irredeemable. He showed that even though he is a heartless cad taking advantage of Julie-Su's feelings, he is just as fallible and dependent on her emotions as she is dependent on him. And he even showed Julie-Su some respect. Some would argue that this was only because he wanted to keep her trapped under his thumb, but I feel that he does have feelings for her, it's just that he can't admit that even to himself, perhaps because he sees his dependency on her as a weakness. I hope that as the war continues, that Sonic and the other rebels can somehow find a way to free Julie-Su from her prejudice and that she will be able to either escape from the Guardian's influence or touch his heart so that some peace can be established. I'm probably hoping in vain, but hope is never something to be taken for granted or belittled, for it is the light of hope that drives Sonic onward in this steadily darkening world and gives him the courage to face his own difficult challenges.