Ah yes, it’s that time of the month. No not –that- time of the month. The comic review time of the month.

Issue 154. The cover shows Sonic standing protectively in front of a spacey-looking Mina. They are both in front of a large bulls-eye and the caption at the bottom states ‘TARGET!’

‘Songoose Part 2 of 2’
Written by Bollers, drawn by Lim.

Note: NP will be short for Nitpick. So I don’t have to write ‘nitpick’ all the freaking time.

The story starts in Mina’s dressing room (I’m assuming) where Sonic, Tails, Bunnie, Amy, Fiona, Mina and Ash are gathered. Mina is smiling as she states she feels safe with the FF’s protecting her at her upcoming concert.
NP: Boy, do I hate Sonic’s quills that long. They look so stupid. Ah well.

Sonic winks as he says: ‘And if Doctor Robotnik hates your music so much that he’s willing to put a hit on you, that’s one more reason for the rest of the planet to listen to it!’

Whatever you say, Sonic. I bet if the rest of the planet jumped off a bridge, you'd-

Ash, never losing that ‘this pole up my ass really hurts so I’m constantly grimacing’ look asks to talk to Mina in private. Sonic objects stating that even though Ash might be Mina’s boyfriend, he can’t allow her out of his sights. Ash protests and Mina steps between the two guys to break ‘em up. (The relationship between the two is beginning to remind me of Geoffrey/Sonic all over again.)

Mina says she’ll be ok for a minute alone with Ash. Sonic says ‘Ok Mina. For you,’ and he and the FFs leave.

Ash and Mina immediately have wild sex!

Hahaa…had you fooled, right?

Ash thinks they should cancel the concert. Mina can’t believe he would suggest that; how could she let down all her fans? With Sonic on the job, she’ll be just fine, anyway.

‘Oh HIM, again,’ says Ash, crossing his arms all indignantly.

Mina wonders why Ash hates Sonic so.

“Have you forgotten how that so-called ‘hero’ broke your heart, Mina? I’ll never forgive him for it, and neither should you!’

Hmm…well considering Sonic and Mina were never an official couple…I don’t see how it’s really Sonic’s fault. I mean…he didn’t break up with her or anything!

Mina says it’s not in her nature to hold a grudge. Ash thinks Mina’s still sweet on the ole hedgehog and Mina can’t believe he’d think that.

Ash grabs a batch of Mina’s songs and shakes them, angrily stating how all her song lyrics are about Sonic. Mina denies it and Ash demands she say she doesn’t love Sonic anymore. She is silent.

‘That’s what I thought,’ sneers our tough-guy boy-band singer. ‘From now on, what do you say I stick to just being your manager?’ He exits, leaving the despondent Mina alone.

Outside, Sonic peers out from behind the curtain backstage, noting the large crowd. Sally calls him up on his comm-watch, asking his status. The rest of the FFs are in position. Tails is keeping an aerial watch over the crowd. Bunnie and Fiona are patrolling the crowd for suspicious types, while Amy is up front watching the stage. Sonic says he’ll be standing just offstage during the entire concert.
NP: Since when does Sonic call her ‘Princess Sally?’ I know they’re not a couple anymore, but geez…why the need to be so formal and cold! They’re still friends, aren’t they? Or not…

Sally asks where Mina is and Sonic replies that she’s in her dressing room. Sally is angry that Sonic let her out of his sights; doesn’t he know Eggman has a hit out on her? (No really, gee, I thought Sonic was just playing bodyguard for fun.) Sonic tries to protest that he warned Mina but the Jekyll-turned-Hyde Sally says she doesn’t have time for excuses and Sonic better get his blue ass to work. Yeah.

Sonic returns back stage to find Mina sitting, still looking depressed. Sonic asks what’s wrong and Mina replies she wouldn’t know where to begin. Sonic looks concerned. He knows exactly how she feels.

the CONCERT begins! YAY! I wish comics had sound cause I want to hear Mina’s singing so much.

She puts on a happy face as she trills her lovely lyrics.

“You’re the one that I want
I love you cause you’re you
There’s no need to be blue
Oh, it’s true I felt haunted
By memories that taunted
But you’ve helped me see things anew.”

Eh…a bit better than that last song. But not by much. Heh.
Seems to be a song to Ash, or at least that’s what I gather. The mongoose stands in the crowd finally losing his pissy expression for once. He looks mildly bewildered/sad or something. Poor guy! (LOL)

Meanwhile…in the EGGY EMPIRE

Eggman moans that he can’t stand Mina’s sugary lyrics and he can’t wait till Heavy and Bomb take her out. M asks where H&B are and Eggman replies that they’ve infiltrated the concert area of Knothole. I didn’t know M was back. Did she come back recently? I must’ve missed that. Ah well. (I don't always pay close attention. XD)

NP: So that concert area WAS in Knothole. I thought it was somewhere else, considering there are palm trees and shit, and last time I checked, Knothole was not in a tropical forest!

Anyway, sure enough, a bunch of Bombs are making their EBIL sneaky way towards the concert crowd. They walk between the unsuspecting Mobian’s feet. DUN DUN DUN…

Tails, still flying above, notices one of the bombs. Before he can shout an alert, one of the Mobians screams out ‘BOMB!’ and the crowd flees in panic. Tails shouts to Sonic that the FFs will take care of the Bombs. Sonic dashes to Mina and grabs her in vaguely-obscene looking pose. Ash runs to the stage.

The Freedom Fighters approach the mass of Bombs. Ash sneers that maybe Sonic should go help his friends because he can take care of Mina. Ash just can’t get it through his thick skull that Sonic is his girlfriend’s bodyguard.

‘Ex-girlfriend,’ Mina corrects.

‘Since when?’ Sonic asks, as in the background, the FFs being fighting and throwing the Bombs so they can explode at a safe distance away.

Who cares about that? Mina got along fine for a whole year without Sonic’s spiky blue ass. But maybe fine isn’t good enough anymore!

Sonic threatens Ash to back off, but Ash is getting pretty pissed and I can’t wait to see these two get into a huge bloody fight, but sadly, they are interrupted by Heavy as he (it?) bursts up through the ground.

Sonic tells Ash to get Mina away from there; which Ash does. Sonic faces down Heavy, dodging several of the robot’s blows. The FFs continue to dispose of the Bombs.

Sonic finds himself at the end of one of Heavy’s rushes, and he laments that if Heavy hits him, he’s going to be a pan-caked hedgehog. Hmm…well, if Sonic had no problem dodging Heavy’s blows at close quarters, I really don’t see why it would be so hard to evade the oncoming robot. I guess ‘fastest thing alive’ is a bit of an overstatement.

Sonic gets an idea as Heavy draws near; he goes into a drilling spin and drills down into the earth. Heavy follows him down into the tunnel and Sonic waits for him to approach. Then he darts up, drilling upwards and apparently into the nearby lake. Water gushes in to fill the tunnel and Heavy floats away into the deep blue.
Everything goes black for Sonic….

He wakes up, coughing and sputtering, to Bunnie’s voice. She had rescued him from the water, and helps him to his feet as the FFs, Mina and Ash look on. He asks if the Bombs have been taken care of. Affirmative!

Sonic calls up Sally to let her know the threat has passed. (Oh, he calls her Sal this time. XD So much for the formalities. Maybe it’s because he was on duty before.)

Sally praises the FF team and states that though the concert might be over, Mina will sing again. OH YAY.

Mina hugs Sonic gratefully. How can she repay him? Eh, why not go have chili dogs with Sonic sometime?

Ash looks rejected in the background as Mina says, ‘Consider it a date.’ Sonic waves to her as he and the FFs leave.

Mina returns to her dressing room/bedroom/whatever and is about to close the door when Ash appears. He’s pulling the sad puppy-dog face now, pleading that he wants to talk. She turns away and says there’s nothing left to discuss; it’s over. Ohhh not in your nature to hold grudges, huh?

Ash says :sniff: ‘But I love-“ He is cut off as Mina notices a Bomb sitting on top of her dresser. She squeals! Ash snatches up the Bomb and races out the door. Mina screams and runs after him.

As the FFs walk, there is suddenly a huge explosion over the hill. They race to the site and find Mina sobbing over a battered unconscious Ash. Hey, his glasses managed to stay put even during the explosion! Sweet.

Hmmm. Heroics or suicide attempt? Ash had plenty of time to throw the Bomb away, me thinks!

At Castle Acorn, medical wing:

The group is gathered in front of Doctor Quack, inquiring to Ash’s state. Quack, looking odd and sporting an eye patch, says he’ll pull through. He says Mina can go see him.

She and Sonic walk down the empty hallway and she enters Ash’s room. She crouches by his bed and puts her hands on his chest as she cries and possibly dispels the possibility of any Mina/Sonic romance. At least for now…

“I’m so sorry for everything that happened. I know you were only trying to protect me the same as Sonic. A part of me will always hold a place for him in my heart…but I don’t love him. I love you. I was a fool not to let you know that. Maybe you should have let Bomb finish me off…” AWWWWW Isn’t that TOUCHING!?

Ash smiles (OMG) and says he wouldn’t have wanted to miss this ‘killer reconciliation.’ Then he and Mina smoochies. Sonic stands dejectedly in the doorway and leaves without a word.

IN the SUPER-SMART Tyrant’s Headquarters!!11!

Eggman slams his fist down, ranting how difficult it is to kill a singing Mongoose. ADAM makes a dumb statement and Egg paces the room in his anger. Sure, Mina’s first album might’ve been catchy but c’mon why doesn’t she just give it up already! I love how Eggman has time to listen to pop music. That’s so great. Oh yeah, and I love how the Mobians have time to establish radio stations during the ‘EGGY WAR’. Hahah.

Egg decides to give up on killing Mina for now. (AWWW.) He insults Nack as he continues pacing. Then he begins to whine anew about his flesh-and-blood body.

“I miss my former body. This one is so weak and…breakable. Oh, that give me an idea.”

NEXT MONTH: EVIL GENIUS + EVIL IDEAS = BIG TROUBLE.

Yeah.
Right.

Eh. This story was.. I dunno. Ok. I didn’t mind the Mina/Ash stuff. Sonic’s defeat of Heavy was…eh. Just eh. XD Overall, it just seemed unnecessary, I guess. I mean, two issues about Mina being threatened at a concert? At least the issue of who Mina wants to be with was settled for now, although I have a feeling Sonic won’t let go so easily. He seemed quite dejected as he left the hospital room.

Oh, but there’s more. Much much more.

“More Than Meets the Eye”
Art and story by Penders

The Knothole Braintrust: Rotor, SNIVELY (*heart*), Tails, Fiona, Chuck and Tommy are all sporting goggles and standing around a table. Above them, arcs of green electricity are zapping into a petri dish on the table, which contains the nanites from a few issues ago. Snively states that if the electricity doesn’t make the nanites respond, then nothing will. Tommy wonders how Sniv would react if he was being zapped by 50,000 volts. Wow, seems a bit dangerous to be standing an arms-lengths away from those electrical bolts. O.o

Chuck says the nanites like electricity. It’s just like chili dogs are to Sonic.

The electricity is turned off and Sniv notes that there is no reaction.

Tommy gasps. ‘You killed the nanites!” he says to teh Sniv.
Chuck pushes back his goggles and puts an arm around Tommy. He reassures the turtle that you can’t kill something that isn’t alive.

Tommy isn’t so sure. Sniv pushes back his goggles as well, revealing his awesome green contacts, and tells Tommy that he’s a stupid ass.

Ha, just kidding. Ah, it's good to see Snively acting so pleasant and being accepted into the fold with no more than a glare from Tails (issue 152)

Sniv says SWATbots, Mecha, nanites…all they are is just wires and circuits and all that roboty-stuff. Robotnik never created life, he just made better robots. He then leaves the room with the others. Tails is the last to go, telling Tommy that Sniv is right and then cheerily suggest they go have a ‘frozzle’ (Mobian soft-drink, I’m ASSuming)

Tommy says he will, later. Soon, he’s left alone with the petri dish. He stares into it, his face reflected in its green surface and a tear forms in his big sad turtley eyes and drops into the dish. He’s sad because he was always teased for being small and slow and the nanites shouldn’t take that shit, or something.

There is a reaction from the nanites. They begin to rise out of the dish. Tommy is excited, stating ‘YEAH, BABY!’ and he runs the door, yelling for the others to come see. He turns around to see the nanites coming at him like a gooey green rope.

Tommy retreats into his shell, hoping if he doesn’t fight, the nanites will know he’s not a threat. Suddenly the nanites begin to tickle him and Tommy rolls around laughing.

Chuck enters the room and finds Tommy’s shell lying there. He asks if Tommy’s alright. The turtle comes out of his shell and says he was just startled by the nanites. Chuck is perplexed by Tommy’s shell. It seems different somehow. He touches it with a finger and then is thrown back. Tommy’s shell has suddenly sprouted wings!

Chuck was unaware of Tommy’s ability to do that. But Tommy replies that it’s not him, it’s the nanites. Impossible, says Chuck, as he grabs a magnifying glass. Tommy’s shell seems to be made out of nanites.

‘How parasitic!’ Chuck exclaims.

‘Symbiotic is more like it, sir!’

We need an explanation box for all them big words! Tommy figures the electricity plus his tears enabled the nanites to connect. And once they did, they connected with his nervous system and became part of his body. Ok, I’ll take your word for it, Thomas old chap.

OH BTW, I can’t hear the word ‘symbiotic’ now without thinking of that god-awful creepy ‘alien symbiotic fursuit’ thing from that Gonterman Foxfire comic.
If you don’t know what the hell I’m talking about…you’re better off. TRUST me.

*Ahem* After my shuddering subsided, I was able to continue this review-thingy. Yes.

Chuck asks how Tommy will benefit from this symbiotic connection. Tommy doesn’t know. He wonders if he or the nanites have control now.

Later, the braintrust is gathered again. Snively now has blue eyes. His contacts fell off between frames, I suppose. Tommy is showing off two jet rockets that have grown from his shell. He says all he had to do was think about going somewhere and the jets appeared. NIFTY! I so want some symbiotic nanites in my body now.

Sniv interjects saying: ‘If you came up with the original thought, what did the nanites do?’

‘Good point, except I only thought about going somewhere – not where and how!’ As he speaks, Tommy’s jetpack ignites and he goes flying out through the lab’s roof or something.

Chuck clasps his chin, stating the question has been settled once and for all. I guess that means that Tommy is in control of the nanites, then?

Tails, Rotor and Sniv (with his contacts back in place), stare up into the sky where Tommy has written in smoke letters: ‘We’re just going for a test drive.’

DEFINETLY NOT THE END!

Insert Sonic checklist here. The end.

I dunno about that last story. I guess its ok, if a bit nonsensical. So Tommy has like super powers now or something. Oh yeah, and Snively was in it. So who cares about anything else. HAHAHA.

But…how HARD is it to color Sniv’s eyes blue? C’MON NOW!
Hell they can’t even follow their –profile- on the seXy little dweeb, which states he has friggin’ red eyes. XD