#stc liveblog

[zippy-reacts]

Sonic the Comic Liveblog: Issue 129

Ooooh, next issue is the 5th anniversary for StC, will be interesting to see if that extra-long story rises to the occasion

It is a touch difficult to draw mobians that have aged, but I'm not sure if this is the method to go about it.

Interesting detail is that most of the people in the crowd are eldery looking; I suppose less people would be wanting to have kids if this is the world they'd be born into.

I'm sure this was a fun page to draw

Oooooh it'll be Sonic vs Metallix next issue! Although considering past encounters, can this ever turn out well for Robotnik?

Anyway, in this Tails side story we come across a chameleon, first we've seen other than Espio. Although this guy's design really isn't nothing to write some home about.

There's something rather funny about that cartoony-ass chameleon being led away by realistically styled penguin police officers. Especially with the police woman in the old-fashion checkered tie and pencil skirt weilding a baton all while power-stancing and staring directly at the audience.

Good god, three comic strips? In a comic that has a fortnightly turn-around? If that fella drew any faster the pages would catch fire.

The Amy and Tekno story today is movie-making themed! And I see a little Airplane! reference snuck in there.

…do Mobian birds even have fingernails?

I Do Not Terribly Like how these action stars are drawn with bulges

[zippityzap]

Ever get the urge to do like, five or ten different things simultaneously???

[libelelle]

HIIIIIIIII time for me to be ANOYING

[ddagent]

Irina is so wrong. Margo doesn't want power. Every choice she has ever made has been for one of three reasons: science, Sergei, and Aleida.

The Margo/Aleida reunion is *glorious*. The hug. The tears. The anger. I love how they get back to the science so quickly.

Also, I need a S4 AU where everything is the same but Emma defects with her. Them killing Emma is such BS.

So 405 was fairly blah, apart from Dani finally reading Ed the riot act. I will put good money on Javi working in Mission Control in S5. Also, this season seems to be really serving as a backdoor pilot for Star City.

Now onto 406. Already my heart cannot contain Margo watching Aleida through the cameras!

[themetalvirus]

thoroughly enjoying the stc liveblog. have you gotten to extra life yet cause that short was FUCKED for no reason ahsjkldg

i did! it truly was fucked for NO REASON

[completeoveranalysis]

While you’re posting these liveblogs, I suddenly remembered. Are you going to watch the STC OVA now that you’ve finished the Nihon arc? Or does your outline plan(?) make it that you should watch it after this/a specific arc?

I put it up for consideration but the general consensus was that we should continue with the Manga for now and save the OVA as a treat for the end.

Which makes sense in hindsight, since these plot twists are WILD.

[geoffreystjohn]

i'm gonna do all of these eventually but i can't decide lol. also i'd be reading them from the beginning (+in fleetway's case i'll probably read stc online too, and with archie i'd try to piece together the side stories in order lol)

[youfilthyhumes]

I know new content is dropping tomorrow, but I thought I'd take a moment to read the VERY first ever Sonic comic:

This is The Official Sonic The Hedgehog Special, possibly better known as the Sonic 1993 Yearbook. This special predates STC and Archie, and features a few people involved with STC: Alan McKenzie (who wrote Issue 1's "Enter: Sonic"), Richard Elson (who did the cover art for this issue and would start contributing to STC around Issue 7 I believe?) and Jon Haward (artist for Shinobi. This issue also contains a Shinobi story, funnily enough). I've been trying to order a copy of this but my bank's being weird, so I'll have to settle for reading the one story I can find online: Cartoon Concerto.

Unlike issues 2-5, this will be a liveblog. For all intents and purposes, I'll be tagging this issue as "issue0." If I ever get my hands on the full comic, I might go through the other stories or at the very least write short reviews on them.

[digamma-f-liveblogs]

I think I found the canon Sonic the Comic voices

[thankskenpenders]

Yeah I had made an attempt at a StC liveblog a while back, though I dropped it because I would go months at a time between issues and it turned out I'm not the type of person who could easily liveblog something so I just decided to straight up read the issues by myself. (if someone ever comes across the blog, be warned that a lot of the earlier issues were liveblogged "pre-Destiny Debate" so to speak)

Yeah, I don’t think it should be understated that running a liveblog like this is a LOT of work. Posting random silly panels is one thing, but actually trying to post enough to convey the narrative while talking about continuity, characterization, the evolution of the art, how things connect to the games, and the behind the scenes turmoil... it’s an undertaking. There’s a reason why I only do four issues a week

I’ve been back for over two months now, which means that this is now the longest streak this blog has ever had without a months long hiatus. I initially only ran the blog for a little under two months before the hiatuses started

[zippy-reacts]

Sonic the Comic Liveblog: Issue 125

Issue 125! It's a smaller milestone than 100, but a milestone nonetheless

I think they've offered this jacket as a competition prize before and I am just as jealous now as I was then. Also, you'll spy the name Andrew Murray in the list of winners there, I was wondering if this was perhaps the tennis player since he would've been about the right age but on looking it up the location isnt quite right. Funny conincidence anyway.

StC artists have drawn Knuckles' chest mark as a necklace before, but this one is going all in, check out that metalic shine! You can also spot in the bottom right corner that whoever scanned this made a little whoopsie when setting the page down

Now that's certainly a sentence.

Oh geez, what a surprise! Who could've predicted this?

RIP

I was trying to fugure out for ages where I had heard the term junk culture before and after a bit of searching I think it's just a different way of saying trash culture. This comic has made a joke out of the term by using it quite literally.

This guy's outfit is kinda giving the dalek bumps joke from The Curse of Fatal Death

He couldn't do any worse than any of the ones we had with the previous government * ba dum tss *

Oh!! An axolotl character, neat!

You can see when they're side-by-side like this that Amy and Tekno's designs really compliment each other

[zippityzap]

Will probably wait until I’m done with Sonictober but I am interested in the future of potentially opening up requests for StC/Fleetway characters to draw because StC has SO MANY cool characters I can’t choose on my own who to draw

[havinagiraffepixelbrain]

Alright, is this fucking thing on?

So, what you’re looking at, if the tagline didn’t tip you off, is one American’s liveblogged rereading of STC, the UK’s Sonic the Comic. occasionally known as Fleetway Sonic even though it has a fucking distinct name already you peons.

Now, some backstory here: I first encountered this series back in 2008 via STC Online, one of its fan-made continuations, and not long after sought out a torrent of the whole thing. Given that scans of Archie Sonic weren’t nearly as easy to come by then as they are now, I ended up becoming a lot more familiar with STC at the time than I did my own native comic that I’d grown up with.

Suffice to say, this comic has a special place in my heart, despite never having actually seen or touched an issue of it in person before. It’s been years since I read it all the way through, and the fantastic Bobby Schroeder and her blog @thankskenpenders​ have inspired me to copy her shtick wholesale follow in her footsteps.

As for the title? You can blame this: https://twitter.com/Faulerro/status/1411406646937587714

[sepdet]

Star Trek Discovery: ep 2

Okay, I absolutely adored the premiere, which I liveblogged Sunday night. But I’ve been feeling rotten and groggy and didn’t watch episode 2 until tonight. 

I’m kind of glad I waited.

I’m transcribing remarks I made to a friend in a private chatroom while watching, and then I’ve added some thoughts afterwards.

SPOILERS.

Ep 2.

Raw remarks transcribed from private chat while watching (slightly edited)

So, our cliffhanger ended with Michael committing mutiny trying to save them, her captain betrayed and pointing a gun at her, and a whole Klingon fleet warping in like several buckets of shit flying towards a fan.

I’m still trying to get used to Sarek being nicer to a human trying to Vulcan than he was to a son whom he practically disowned for leaving Vulcan to join Starfleet. But I love Sarek so will try to muffle the "buts." I want Amanda to show up.

Parting word to Michael: "Behave." On the bright side, seems like it took her seven years before she LOL NOPED.

I hope the Klingon fans are happy. This is a very ponderous language to listen to when it's whole scenes of dialog and not just quick commands or insults. But I know there's a whole branch of fans who embrace Klingon culture and language, and I hope they're as thrilled as I was to hear Sindarin Elvish spoken.  (And that they're not too perturbed that the Klingon look has mutated again.)

Oh SHIT. I know the Captain was trying to defuse situation with diplomacy, but did they not have their shields up? Or was this just an old ship and/or Klingons managed to puncture shields. Ouch ouch ouch.

Wow, Michael is not having a good day. Waking up in remains of brig with failing containment fields around her — whole sequence is impressive and sad.

I like the way they're employing FX in service to story. It's hard not to let CGI overwhelm. But here, no matter how spectacular FX are, they're functional, rather than an end to themselves: like incidental music the Big FX moments help set mood/tone and give audience catch breath to process what just happened. As opposed to only using FX to foster one mood, maximum adrenaline, and keep audience off-balance so they have no time to catch breath and reflect on situation.

Intense telepathic scene with Sarek. Man he really likes this kid. He is one crazy ass Vulcan, even if he won't admit it: sharing a katra with a near stranger, especially a human child, is pretty drastic. (Also I'm confused: thought he adopted her after parents died in attack, but it looks like Michael was already his ward during attack?

ARGH.

Sarek: "I did not come here to judge your actions. I came here to—"

*Pumpkin, who likes to snooze on desk next to keyboard and occasionally use it as pillow at inconvenient moments, carefully and deliberately stretches out paw and plants it over ESC key, backing up browser window to several URLs ago, losing livestream.*

Cats. Such exquisite timing.

Back online.

Okay yes [STC sounded slightly noncommittal when I was enthusing about restraint of FX] now they're getting a little show-offy. But yikes. First time I've ever seen a space battle using classical Greek naval warfare maneuver. Trireme beak-ram!

...although it could be coincidence, and I'm reading it that way because of my classical studies background. They might've come up with that unusual and dramatic visual independently. At any rate, impressive.

OOOOO. Just hit scene where Captain, out of options, sees Klingons beaming up their dead, and she sees option.  I've been kind of waiting for her to be proactive instead of reactive. Earlier her hands were tied by trying to avoid conflict (following orders).

...DAMMIT. Just Googled to find out spelling of Phillipa's last name and saw the kind of spoiler I really hate to see. Stupid, stupid me.  I really honestly didn't know, since I had been so strenuously avoiding behind-the-scenes stuff. 

—

[At this point I stopped babbling in the chatroom to watch final scenes, so rest is post-watch thoughts.]

At least we have one great sequence between Burnham and Captain Georgiou, although the lull to confront one another and devise a strategy was a little forced— Klingons being very polite about not finishing them off. And YES, YES YES, finally seeing Michelle Yeoh fighting, which believe it or not I never have. (I don't watch many films or really much media.) 

:( Ouch. So close. Just a second or two longer.

So that's that. Man, that's gotta be a record even for Trek; can't even get through two eps without ship's destruction and crew evacuation. (Mom and I used to get annoyed at destroying Enterprise for shock value; first time was so dramatic and meaningful, whereas repeat felt gimmicky.) 

Not sure Michael's Expository Speech is did her any favors at this trial, but at least now we hear what she thinks.

Teaser for next episode (or "real" Discovery show) follows. Kinda confusing that they're convicts but on a Federation ship? Or did she get transferred from prison?

I am still mourning the captain and really not in the mood to parse the trailer. DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT. I was wary of this show, but after watching Ep 1 I let my guard down and was SO EXCITED.

I had seen one article about this series last spring showing what looked like a predominantly white-dude bridge with generic-looking white male captain and a few tokens, just like TOS. That had dampened my enthusiasm for this show and prevented me from getting into it or looking forward to it.

But recently I saw posts saying, "Yo, WOC captain and first officer!" (or rather, in Tumblr's usual WE MUST MAKE YOU FEEL GUILTY FOR NOT SUPPORTING THIS THING YOU WEREN’T AWARE OF, SHAME ON YOU!!! way, there was a post berating Tumblr for lack of photosets and buzz and excitement over Michelle Yeoh and Sonequa Martin-Green, and why weren't we getting behind WOCs when we'd been all excited for Gal Gadot?) And I thought, Wait—what?! I thought this was going to be generic white dude captain with token black female first officer which is okay but not ANYTHING LIKE as cool as what you're saying?

And since I do try to avoid spoilers and PR I didn't know Yeoh wasn't going to be the regular series captain. Or rather, I was confused why the hype I was seeing now differed so drastically from that one article I’d started to skim and then closed thinking, “Nah, I’m going to avoid spoilers.” Had the showrunners changed their minds and decided to bring in Michelle Yeoh as an upgrade after seeing their version of Captain Pike wasn’t good enough to anchor a series?I was just going to wait and see.

I forgot any doubts when Episode 1 gave me EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED: Two great female characters with a friendship and professional working relationship. Banter. Excellence. Skills and wits. Clunky TOS tech and new shiny bridge set. Smart captain. Brave first officer. With two WOC they couldn't be tokens; they had to be expanded as just... 3 dimensional characters.

I was so here for that. I loved that whole opening minisode, and also the Captain sending Michael off to play in a brief voyage of discovery and enjoying that her first officer was enjoying herself.

Their friendship was perfect, legendary Kirk and Spock material. It was distracting me from the other bridge crew— even Saru, who is an interesting character, but I was focused so much on these two women— but I figured other characters would get filled out in subsequent episodes.

And now?

"Here. Here's what you really wanted. Two women being superbly competent officers with a meaningful friendship, leading a show just the way Kirk and Spock did. And it's going to be about discovery and an older woman mentoring another one, and tackling difficult ethical problems without providing easy answers and— PSYCHE! 

“...FOOLED YOU! Two leading women in a Kirk-Spock dynamic? Oh, we could never do that. So we're killing off your already-favorite character. As consolation prize, here, have an incarcerated and demoralized WOC who has to be 'grateful' to a white dude for letting her out of jail. Power imbalance between her and captain, no close friendship, and oh yeah, instead of voyage-of-discovery and complicated-ethical-problems Star Trek, it's going to be various people being macho and angry, and a depressing Federation-Klingon War."

 I hope I'm wrong.

It feels like they gave me everything I'd hoped for and more, and then, once I'd let my guard down, they took it away. I'm left with a character and actor (Sonequa Martin-Green) I like enough that I'm going to watch anyway...for now. But I'm back to being wary. And here we have yet another WOC/minority being killed to make way for generic white dude. So now I'm disillusioned and won’t trust this show, and we're only at the end of ep 2.

Okay, yeah, I'm pissed. 

Discovery could redeem itself and turn out to be fantastic. There is a lot of potential here and a lot to like. Saru and Burnham are good characters, and I assume some of the others will be too. But they're going to have to pull off a miracle now to keep me from fantasizing about the better show that COULD HAVE BEEN.

ETA: so maybe I should have read the behind-the-scenes stuff beforehand so I’d be prepared for this premiere to be backstory, in effect. I guess everyone else knew her death was coming, and could appreciate the drama while anticipating this would be a tragedy. Either I’m naive, or too groggy/tired to pick up the Obi-Wan vibes.

[themetalvirus]

the speed at which you are reading stc is terrifying btw

whaddaya mean?? im reading it at normal speed? im actually reading it a liiiittle bit slower than i would otherwise because im liveblogging it

[transfemshard]

Ohh my god scruckly