Rouge: No offence but the pages were awfully cluttered and had a lot of dialogue so it got a bit confusing, otherwise pretty good.
Sonic: I mustve forgotten a load of stuff from the previous issue but how the hell did Sonic suddenly end up with Grouchio? Im confused.. Also, it looks like Kane isnt framing him, hes just making money... I wouldnt hazard a guess who is though just yet...
Oh great, faux-dark. I know STC Sonic was a dick but this is way too far.
This is NOT STC.
Listing old villains does not make for funny. What are we supposed to do? The whole page is a bit desperate.
Great art. Dull, dull story overall.
I could have sworn Calisto was drawing this one
Rouge:
Wow, it's really obvious Robert wrote this. Again, so far it's nothing like STC.
Rouge in a hat is pretty. >_>;;
Nothing to say about this one. Belongs in a different comic, like all the stories of almost the entire run. You know, I'd have no problem with STCO if it didn't purport to be a continuation.
Tekno and Shorty:
Gah. Autopilot.
Q-Zone:
Pointless. Sorry.
Review:
Excellent, astonishingly.
Edit: HANG ON.
"Sumo Digital have justifiably managed to shoehorn tennis into some of Sega’s arcade hits, somewhat reminiscent of Typing of the Dead, and makes you yearn for some updates to Sega’s back catalogue."
...Justifiably? Proof-read more!
"Virtua Fighter, Rez, Shenmue, Panzer Dragoon and Phantasy Star among others. All of these games don’t feature a style entirely different from those included in Sega Superstars Tennis."
"Virtua Fighter, Rez, Shenmue, Panzer Dragoon and Phantasy Star among others. All of these games don’t feature a style entirely different from those included in Sega Superstars Tennis."
Yes they do!
Yay, first review of my review.
On the visual style, I don't think so, anyway!
Comic time:
Sonic, it was ok, the story is picking up pace nicely.
Rouge, I don't really know what's going on. Other that Rouge wears a cool hat and generally kicks arse. I suppose its building up to something. Good dialogue with the elephant though. "I didn't know Robotnik has a wife!"
Shorty and Tekno: I think I need to read the previous stories of this. I feel a bit lost in it.
- First up I have to say the artwork is nicely done. Some nice (but not over the top) blurring. After that I have to say I really did like the direction here. In my view, a comic does have to evolve to survive. Original old STC was just a series of random stories, the next "version" started introducing more individualistic elements of a continuing setting, but still was pretty much self contained stories. Bring on the "golden days" when things started to mesh together between stories really well. It kept things mixed up.
As such, I really like the direction STCO has bravely taken to not just try and repeatedly go about the same stuff over and over but has continually proven that it can create it's own "era" of STC. As such, that of how Sonic and Mobius (now that it's free) interact once you start considering more than just hero and villain. The fact that Sonic can't seem to escape this mindset is an interesting character direction.
I do occasionally wonder when we'll see a Sonic Spin Attack again, or some robot busting though. But I am content and patient enough to at least let this section run it's course and enjoy what it's trying to show, instead of just wishing and wanting something else before even giving it a chance.
Rouge Alert:
- Ok, I may feel slightly biased seeing as I coloured it and all (and thus have a sense of pride) but I would just like to state this.
WHY DIDN'T YOU GET ROBERT WRITING EARLIER?
The man can write some great stuff, and the rather blatant "Britishism" is a nice style to provide a more unique script overall, and in a way a sort of emphasised note to a recurring (and popular) theme in STC of old. "Jolly well close the door!"
Not to mention that all the clues are there...
Shorty: High Noon
- Great artwork, it's rather different from normal style, but then so was Mike McMahon's back in STC, so I'm always willing to investigate. As such, I do like it.
I do wonder slightly about the pacing though, as although we get a fight and have Techno and Shorty being revealled to their captor, something feels...bare a little, like something else was to be said.
Again, I'll see how it rounds up.
"Some say he's not really from Glasgow...and that he could roundhouse kick a bullet train right off the rails. All we know is...he's called The Stick! ~ Pete on meeting Retro a sixth time
worshippers of the atum (sun) didnt build pyramids.... and also that religion didnt have anything to do with the old gods, including Seth.
Sorry I am nitpicking but I used to be well into it and to see stuff like that just makes me want to correct them! XD
Hehe, don't worry it's all just a vague egyptian pastiche. Afterall, Set(The name used in his first appearence)'s really just an alien who took on that form to fool the silly locals. He's also quite fond of the bling, hence a big-ass golden pyramid!
Mike
~Michael
If you need to contact me, or need a response on something, email me: michael@stconline.co.uk
Don't send me private messages as I'm not on the forums that much so you may be waiting a loooong time for a reply if you do.
Post by Arch_one_zero_one on Jun 29, 2008 22:51:20 GMT
Really enjoyed this issue, I'm especially looking forward to finding out where the Sonic story is going. Nice twist with Set being the Shorty and Teckno baddie.
Loved the Sonic strip - especially the art, one of the closest matches to "Elsonesque" yet, I'd say.
The Rouge strip, though, is practically unreadable. No offence to him, but Robert Frazer just doesn't know how to shut down his extended vocabulary when it's necessary - and it rather hurts the strip. It's long-winded and words like auspicious and spiffing just... don't fit. It's meant to be a kid-friendly comic, had I been reading this at the age I was reading STC, I don't think I'd have understood half the words used.
The lettering was also insanely small and the font too curvy - it was just a pain to read in general. :/
The classic original STC mailing list. It's a useful archive of conversations between STC fans, plus Nigel Kitching. And more! (Not much more these days.)
Sonic: top art, good script. Made me interested in Kane for the first time ever. Ed, you've played Panzer Dragoon Saga, right? The missile bit made me think of the Deathmaker.
Rouge: good art, decent script but the actual writing was a bit too verbose. Top marks for using "spiffing", though. More things should have the word "spiffing" in them.
Tekno & Shorty: pretty good, but seemed oddly brief somehow. Set's one of the guys they met during the Eternity Ring bit, right?
Calisto had some other commitments that could have delayed the issue so I decided to take it on. We've got some other projects lined up for Calisto though! There's plenty of art chores to go around I assure you, lol!
As for the issue itself;
Sonic - I'm probably biased but it's my favourite part of the arc! Lots of things foreshadowed and a thrilling confrontation between Sonic and Kane. Ed really hit this one outta the park imo. And he gave me so many cool visuals to draw which really got rid of the cobwebs (Which I really needed considering how much I've got to draw this year for upcoming issues, argh!)
Rouge - I must admit I got a bit overloaded by this story at first. There's an awful lot of text to read, but I think it's a fun story and I'm sure Robert will get used to writing within the confines of 5 pages, which (trust me) takes a lot of getting used to at first!
SW - Again, I'll be biased and say I like it! Though honestly it's so long since I wrote it I'd almost forgotten all but the clef notes. I'm more familiar with the next 2 parts (I'm drawing them too, more argh!) though and it gets very exciting!
It seems a few little gremlins crept into the issue and there's few mistakes I'll edit when I get home tonight but I'll stick them on here too so you know:
Jamie J wrote page 2 of "Whodunit?"
The Q Zone is definitely by Iain, not John. Can you tell I used the Review Zone template??
Megadroid is yellow! That's not an error, I just wanted to point it out as no one mentioned it yet.
Mike
~Michael
If you need to contact me, or need a response on something, email me: michael@stconline.co.uk
Don't send me private messages as I'm not on the forums that much so you may be waiting a loooong time for a reply if you do.
Art's alright =P fav is TS story, reminds me I should work on my own some more...
1st and 3rd strips go woo, Rouge was text heavy, if this Set guy is some one we've seen before can I ask for a quick back issue reference to when he appeared? Then Sonics was ok, revisiting characters, Gambles character seemed a little redeemed, I always loved how sinister he came across in the first story he ever appeared on =(...
It's long-winded and words like auspicious and spiffing just... don't fit..
"Spiffing" is a brilliant word! Its sooo British! Heck, its soooo Robert! he he Tbh I would have known those words when I was reading STC as a kid but yes I think some may have not... depends on how bright the reader is, I guess! For readers of our age is shouldn't be a problem! But yes, there was too much dialogue in that strip. I know Robert loves to write in terms of quality and quantity but I think next issue needs to be a bit more concise. Just some constructive criticism there. The other thing is, I'm not sure how comfortable I was with the story in terms of the organisation Rouge has just infiltrated. Does such a thing exist in STC's universe? I was led to believe the Mobians of STC lead pretty simple lives compared to what I was seeing here. Brain implants, for example? Is Mobius that advanced? I though the only technology that was readily available was Robotniks and most of that has been destroyed, surely? (Apart from the egg cameras that say "KBC" which Kane has blatantly stolen from Robotnik's old surveillance systems!) Where would stuff like brain implants come from?
I'd always thought that Robotnik had lots of research staff working for him. Tekno was a scientist under his reign. I'd assumed that these people had just been adopted into army based facilities. It'd make sense for Mobians to want to know they're protected if another threat like Robotnik were to surface. Especially with a lot of people losing faith in ol' Blue.
Post by Mambo's Here! Look Busy! on Jun 30, 2008 13:34:28 GMT
Yeah this is true... although I thought Tekno was only one of few scientists who was not forced to work for Robotnik (after escaping that is!). But yes, I guess that would make sense.
We've seen in plenty of issues that Mobians have access to large technology, not to mention there are continued appearances of exceptionally intelligent Mobians. (Porker, Techno, Dr Freeze, Vector and the like)
There's no reason to think they are the only ones, Mobius is far ahead of Planet Earth in terms of technology, and we here have almost reached stuff like neural implants. I wouldn't be surprised if Mobians could piece them together. Albeit under scrutiny and ill-thinking from most. But then the High Academy is considered to be "blood-minded" after all.
"Some say he's not really from Glasgow...and that he could roundhouse kick a bullet train right off the rails. All we know is...he's called The Stick! ~ Pete on meeting Retro a sixth time