Glitcher appoints himself Egypt's new Pharaoh....

Sooooo it seems that the long-disputed lawsuit between Archie and Ken Penders has finally been dismissed. I'm glad to say it's finally over, since it's done nothing but hurt the comic series by placing many of its characters in limbo - literally in the case of the echidnas. I'd like to say that everything will be back to normal now, but time will tell if Geoffrey, Hershey, Lien-Da and Knuckles' people will ever return from the brink. After all, Penders is still going his own way creating The Lara-Su Chronicles, so what do you think the chances are of his characters returning in the comics?

Speaking of which, Sonic has reached his 250th milestone issues!

This time he's celebrating the occasion with his blue partner, Mega Man. Anyone who read my previous entries on the crossover knows how disappointed I am with it being rampant capitalism on action over story. So with the prospect of more Robot Masters set to fight our heroes, I was naturally sceptical that this milestone will just be more of the same. And while it is still shallow and it is more exposition.... this issue was actually a lot of fun to read!

This time, Ben Bates takes over for Tracy Yardley as the third artist in the crossover. And I gotta say - Wow! - he really digs this crossover out of its rut. The issue features a lot of two-page extensions that allows Bates' artwork to breathe and show the amount of effort he put into this comic. I can't even count the number of Robot Masters featured in the opening scene, but it reminds me of some of the more laborious group shots from UDON's Mega Man Tribute. As far as action scenes go, this is some of the best work I've seen since Sonic and Bunnie's desert op in issues #217-218. Panels are drawn very dynamically with a good sense of perspective, choreography and inertia. Lighting and dust effects flow across the page to convey the scope of the chaos. The attention to detail is amazing with moments like Spark Man crashing into Bright Man, an impressive pyrokinetic display from Blaze, some ninja-on-ninja action from Espio and Shadow Man, and a two-page takedown from Sonic that is just breathtaking.

All of the characters look top-notch and I love some of their expressions, especially the look on Light's face observing his would-be attackers. Unlike Yardley, Bates can draw Mega Man properly and depict wild takes without making them look stupid. His backgrounds are excellent too; just look at the depth of the tunnel when Metal Sonic is dragging Light. And let's not forget cover artist Pat Spaz, who does another great job illustrating a wraparound cover for this issue.

Of course, all of this is just the visual side of the comic, because the story still doesn't have a lot going for it. While I did appreciate Eggman's déjà-vu of Mecha Sally ejecting Sonic, there are some things that just bugged me. Shadow doesn't seem the least bit affected about Rouge being roboticized even though she's a close team mate. It also bothers me to see Megsy fighting Concrete Man, Pharaoh Man and Splash Woman like nobody's business, despite the fact that they're all friends in their native dimension. It just goes to show that the rapport between characters is non-existent. It seems Ian Flynn is once again focused on delivering a purely action-oriented story while omitting any emotional connection that allowed the characters to perceive the falseness of reality during the last Genesis wave. So this milestone ends up being a treat for the eyes, if not for the mind. Short of getting a new writer, I hope Archie retains Bates for the rest of the crossover to give it more style than substance.

PS. Will be back on the drawing board soon. I haven't been feeling too well because my eyes, lips and thumb are all badly infected. I've been to the hospital three times already.