#075 – The Maltese Chameleon

Kevin

27 October, 2007 22 September, 2023

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COMIC NOTES

“The Maltese Chameleon” was completed on 27/10/2007.
The subtitle is a reference to the film The Maltese Falcon
This comic is storyline, despite what the disclaimer might infer and is the first to feature the Chaotix for a long time indeed. It is also the (one of if not) the first to directly mention the absence of Espio from the comic in storyline.
Fans of Espio eager for his inclusion won’t be pleased this seems to give reason for his absence.
That Espio might have gone willingly, is, as you can see from the asterisk, a reference to Radio Redux episode “The Chameleonic Show” (#024). During which Echo Hawk (referencing her appearance in the comics as traitor “Hawk”) talked with Espio about the benefits she gets for being a part of the Robot Legion – interesting the impoverished chameleon.
HAS he joined the Robot Legion? Who can say…
The yellow asterisk section is reference to Archie’s Sonic The Hedgehog comic which at this time was increasingly making reference notes to previous comics, a’la Marvel and DC.
Charmy and Vector’s discussions about a female bee are a reference to Charmy’s girlfriend Saffron in the Archie series.
Emerald Coast‘s “Just In Time” comic series celebrated its 150th issue by author Vger revealing a mysterious shadowy character was – in perhaps a reference to hit series The Prisoner – the author Vger himself. The resultant two Vger-paradox caused the comic to fall apart.
Hedgehog character Brian the Hedgehog then appeared dismissing the whole thing as ridiculous and wondering whether or not Sonic Wrecks “were hiring”.
Brian’s appearance in this comic (including CV clearly saying JIT 150) are a receipt of that reference.
The Wescin Rocks logo appeared at the end of 2006 til the beginning of 2007 as a placeholder until the new version of Sonic Wrecks came online.
Storyline comics have been building to Wescin Rocks for some months – hence Charmy’s confusion as to why its first appearance in the comics is given away so cheaply. Heh.
Wescin Rocks is of course an anagram of Sonic Wrecks. The logo is a take off of the logo of the Torchwood Institution from Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood.
Canon and Hewlett Packard both make printers, of course.
The description of Sonic Wrecks is a reference to Morrissey song “First Of The Gang”.
At the time of writing, AAUK had just had a playtest of Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games and was indeed undefeated.
Wescin Rocks as a name was eventually brought back in 2022 through ‘Wescin Rocks Records’ – Kevin’s independent record label for releases of curated music.

Kevin

Writer of words and comics, streamer of games, presenter of radio shows and eternal 'just a guy'. LMC's boss-man has worked on projects for SEGA, Square Enix, Konami, Capcom and more. Once co-created and hosted an international fan-convention because he can do that sort of thing. Used to be known as AAUK/ArchangelUK.