Analysing Sonichu Issue #15

Sonichu #15 was one of three comics being worked on at the same time by Chris (the others being #14 and the yet to be reviewed #16). Originally intended to serve as a reboot of the Sonichu franchise, things would take a sudden change during development.¹

Around this time, an artist by the handle of Trickie was producing a comic called Rosechu's Story, an adaptation of the first three issues of Sonichu told from Rosechu's perspective, whilst also mixing in elements of Chris Chan lore (Liquid Chris is a major character in the story) and making adjustments to the characters to make them feel more rounded and believable.²

Chris, being Chris, decided instead to plagiarise much of the comic for his own issue, as well as throwing in a fair bit of Idea Guys lore along the way. Safe to say, Chris' writing is nowhere near the quality of Rosechu's Story, as he heavily watered the story down in his desire to avoid causing the characters any distress. Chris would later justify his plagiarism by claiming that, as Sonichu and Rosechu belonged to him, it therefore was not stealing.

The cover is a recreation of the immortal cover of Sonichu #0, albeit with genderswapped Chris and Sonichu is now floating. To Chris' credit, although the art quality still isn't good, it has still improved since 2004, with the people no longer having feet melting into the ground. Not so sure about Chris' outfit, mind, or Sonichu's expression...

Curiously, this issue has no disclaimer page, meaning we are sent straight into the story.

The panel layout here was copied directly from Rosechu's Story, which goes a long way to explain why it's actually comprehensible. This page incorporates lore that Chris invented later on; in the second panel, the Pokemon on the right is a Luxray, or a Lion Pokemon.³ This is presumably where Rosechu gets her Incredible Lioness form from. You will also have noticed that the Raichu has a rounded tip, rather than a pointed one. This indicates in Pokemon that a Raichu is female, indicating Chris was trying to answer the question once and for all over Rosechu's gender (as you've probably guessed, he drew this page before the Idea Guys came along).

However, this means Chris seemingly missed a point of drama in Rosechu's Story, as in that story it's revealed Rosechu was originally male before the Chaotic Rainbow flipped her gender, amongst other things.

Chris has also retconned the date of these events to 2003, not 2000 when he declared the story originally took place.

Super Sonic, making his first appearance in the series since 2004, falls backwards onto the Pikachu who would become Sonichu. Notice that Perfect Chaos' design, whilst better than in Sonichu #0, still looks off. It appears to be inspired by the redesign seen in Sonic Generations.⁴

A lot of story beats added later are incorporated here, making the plot flow more naturally. Though, for some reason, Station Square is now in Rhode Island despite the geography of Sonic Adventure bearing little resemblance to Rhode Island. The transformations are also considerably better drawn.

Though the Raichu suddenly has a pointed tip again...

Many of these panels, as stated earlier, were traced from Rosechu's Story, which is why they look so much better than Chris' usual output. Not only that, David the Dragonite makes his onscreen debut, having first been mentioned all the way back in Issue #0.

Chris has also started filling in the backgrounds, although the colours leave a lot to be desired. Still, a background of some description is better than an empty white void.

The last panel also looks pretty good, I must admit.

Chris also took the opportunity to clean up the typos; no longer is Sonic a 'hedgegog', but an explanation for his lack of a parent figure is finally explained; captured by Pokemon trainers.

This particular page was not taken from Rosechu's Story, hence why the text boxes are suddenly back to having run on sentences and awkward syntax. For instance, in the second big text box, the text should say 'after realising he had wandered into New Jersey, he boarded a southbound freight train, headed towards Charlottesville, Virginia.'

Sonichu's direction shows us how lost he was; he would have had to have wondered through New York State and Connecticut before arriving in New Jersey. The train would take him through Maryland and possibly DC before arriving in Virginia (probably either a CSXT or Norfolk Southern train, although the engine on the front does not particularly resemble any locomotive in service with either company, instead bearing a close resemblance to the engine that pulls the Friendship Express).⁵

Although unintentional, the use of colour in an otherwise colourless series of scenes is eerily reminiscient of Schindler's List, a movie shot in black and white with the exception of one object; a girl's jacket.⁶ Rosechu's remark about being put back in the computer is a meta joke regarding Pokemon. In the games, the player can only carry six Pokemon with them at a time, and any others need to be stored at a Pokemon Centre.

The bottom of the page reveals the Brunswick Stew is back, which is still weirdly specific.

Much of the dialogue is recycled from Issue #0, including the problematic lines about David. Having said that, the text balloons are at least arranged in the correct order this time, meaning we can follow the conversation.

The infamous split textbox has been fixed, and Rosechu's nonsensical line about being called 'anytime' has been reworked to Rosechu stumbling over her words. There's a level of awkwardness here (lifted from Rosechu's Story) which helps to make the character relatable, proof that Chris' characters do have potential to be interesting. The bizarre 'break bread' line has also been sorted out.

Unfortunately, Chris cannot resist the urge to expound on irrelevant details in the middle of a scene. How is Sonichu's height in any way relevant to them having a meal?

Good Lord, Sonichu must have been hungry. I know the temptation to dive into a meal you really like, but the resulting indigestion is usually horrific.

Rosechu's remark about being able to resist hot food indicates Chris missed the point of the scene he was copying. In Rosechu's Story, Sonichu wolfs down the soup because he has no table manners, not because he can resist hot things. Then more exposition.

Chris' habit of squishing as much text as possible into a small space returns again, rendering several of the text boxes incredibly hard to read.

This sequence with Rosechu revealing she was born male is lifted from Rosechu's Story, which in turn is referencing the furore over Rosechu's Tail. Since Chris redrew the Raichu's tail with a curved tip in this comic, this induces a plot hole.

Once again, Chris dilutes what is otherwise a quite powerful moment with wonky artwork and weird scale issues. Having said all that, Rosechu's response to seeing such a stereotypically feminine description on the Pokedex and Kel's suggestion surrounding Sonichu is a drastic improvement over previous issues.

Sonichu experiences something only two humans, a supersonic hedgehog, and a species of lizard have ever experienced.

Chris' repeated use of notes in the text is rather irritating, as it needlessly interrupts the flow of the story with information that could be more naturally incorporated into the story. Furthermore, Sonichu stopping on water if he's run over water before makes no sense, as he would surely know that stopping on water is not a smart move. Astonishingly, Chris appears to have done his research; hedgehogs can actually swim, contrary to what is depicted in the Sonic games.⁷

Chris reuses the 'multiple Sonichus to create illusion of speed' here to much better effect than previous issues.

Another page lifted straight from Rosechu's Story, complete with dialogue.

The ongoing plot theme of Rosechu playing along with Sonichu makes sense in the original comic's context; she's merely pretending to like him for Kel's sake. Sonichu also drops some legitimately good advice at the end, although the order of the word balloons is slightly confusing.

Chris briefly references an infamous episode of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (the TV show that started this whole mess) in which Sonic's feet are depicted, and look pretty weird.

I'd like to say that Chris has finally figured out that love at first sight doesn't happen, but then I remembered he plagiarised this from somebody else's work. What was that about other people using your work without your permission, Chris? Does that somehow magically not apply to Trickie's work?

Chris is still addicted to infodumping, it seems.

You'll probably have noticed by this point that several panels are different colours to one another. This is because whenever Chris discovers a mistake, instead of redrawing the page he draws a new bit of paper and sticks it over the top. Chris could avoid this problem by producing his panels digitally and the stitching them together, but Chris remains convinced his method is the best simply because it is his.

Not really got much to say about this one, to be honest.

Older readers here will recognise Sonichu and Rosechu using a Game Boy, the platform on which Pokemon debuted.⁸ Magi-Chan also appears for the first time, at least in this continuity, and then Chris drops a run-on sentence.

In copying this scene and editing it, Chris seems to have missed the joke. In Rosechu's Story, the pair making up deliberately bad pickup lines was meant to spoof Chris' inability to write compelling dialogue and his bizarre manner of writing.

And we're in colour again, with drastically better arkwork than before. Seems that tracing can work wonders for some artists. As this is taken from Trickie, notice how Trickie is able to convey more emotion in a single adjustment of Sonichu's eyes than Chris ever could in pages of dialogue.

Well, that explains the sudden fireworks. Notice how Chris has again missed the undertones of the original scene. The scene he copied has Rosechu merely pretending to love Sonichu to keep him around (as who falls in love this fast?). Chris eliminates this, meaning we're back to the stupidly rapid romance of the early days. I'd still rather have that than terrifying, badly drawn pornography though.

We now have a recreation of the final panel of Genesis of the Lovehogs. Chris used this page as evidence his art had improved in the previous 13 years.⁹

Here's the original for comparison. Whilst it certainly looks better, this was the first page of Sonichu #15 released, before anybody knew Chris was tracing somebody else's comic.

Chris' note at the side of the page introduces even more confusion. The text refers to the 'transgender Rosechu' retcon brainwashed into Chris by the Idea Guys, but adds an extra note that Rosechu underwent gender reassignment at some point. Chris seems to be unaware that science is currently unable to give trans people the ability to give birth owing to the male and female body having completely different shapes. Having said that, it's possible that Rosechu's body was altered using magic, as that has been shown to exist in this increasingly complex and convoluted setting.

Chris then ends the page with unsubtle innuendo. Classy, Chris!

Chris has run out of content to plagiarise, and as a result we are back to gigantic blocks of text and confusing speech bubble placement. Magi-Chan has also readopted his role of telling characters where to go, as the plot now has no other way of moving forward. Sonichu also has no reason to trust this Magi-Chan, seeing as he had absolutely no clue who he is.

And we are suddenly back in CWCVille Mall. How I've missed this place. Does that shirt look familiar?

Classic Chris makes his first appearance in the comic since 2010, although the design has been noticably overhauled. The structure of the face and the glasses make him bear a closer resemblance to Liquid Chris rather than Solid, funnily enough. Here they are for comparison:

Note how Chris, despite his infamous laziness and apparent inability to fill this in, takes the time to carefully colour his avatar in properly. This speaks volumes about his priorities.

This is an incredibly long winded way of restating information we already know, and also an extremely dull way of getting it across. Chris briefly refers to Sonichu as 'prime'. This is a callback to the Archie Sonic comics Chris read as a child, where the original Sonic is called 'Sonic Prime' when interdimensional stories are in play.¹⁰

Chris still has very little to do as mayor. I can't speak with any authority as to the workload of a US Mayor, but where I live the Mayor has an awful lot to do!

Another Idea Guys leftover is the 67 Sonichu eggs, which as previously explained adds up to 69.

How does Chris know all this stuff about Sonichus and Rosechus if Sonichu is the first one he's ever encountered?

Magi-Chan then channels God. Sonichu's surprised reaction is, well, surprising, seeing as the last time this being contacted him remotely he had no particular reaction.

Chris recycles a joke from Sonichu #12-9.

Magi-Chan alludes to one of the darker aspects of the Idea Guys' brainwashing. The duo succeeded in convincing Chris that he was half Sonichu, and amongst other things were able to trick him into licking walls and urinating onto towels.¹¹

I'm not sure if Sonichu's admission of confusion is Chris being self aware or un-self aware, but it nicely reflects how how the audience feels at the moment. For a long time, Comic Chris and IRL Chris were distinct individuals in Chris' mind, as demonstrated by this video, but not any more.¹²

The opening of the very first issue is then recreated.

Notice how Magi-Chan has a literal third eye attached to his skull. This is a result of Chris misunderstanding the expression 'third eye', a concept representing enlightenment in Eastern culture.

The transition from original content to plagiarised content is nicely depicted here, as when Kel and Rosechu enter the comic suddenly becomes a lot easier to read.

This segment is meant to explain how Rosechu and Bubbles know each other in Sub-Episode 2 despite that issue being released and taking place before Bubbles is introduced.

Bubbles' last line is especially hilarious, as in 2020 Chris decided to add a male Rosechu to the character lineup.¹²

It may also be because there are so few Sonichus and Rosechus.

You know Chris, there is such a thing as onomatopoeia.

Kel has realised, like most readers, that Sonichu canon makes no sense and is an incomprehensible mess. The bottom panel is an edit of one of Trickie's. The original panel Chris traced has the last two letters of 'Virginia' obscured, spelling 'virgin' (something Chris was until 2012).¹⁴ It can be safely inferred that Chris missed the joke.

Pages 51 to 63 are yet to be uploaded by Chris (and in all likelihood do not exist), so we skip ahead to the last known page of this issue, Page 64.

The fate of Sonichu's parents is yet another Idea Guy retcon, and is a thinly-disguised WW2 reference that only somebody who slept through history class would fail to spot. Magi-Chan then sends Sonichu off to meet Rosechu, and there the story ends.

Owing to Chris currently being behind bars, it is highly unlikely this issue will be finished any time soon. However, unlike Sonichu #14, it actually has a plot of sorts, although convoluted and messy.

See you tomorrow for the penultimate analysis of the main Sonichu series. Yes, the road we started all the way back in November is close to reaching its end.

List of References:

¹ https://sonichu.com/cwcki/October_2017_Patreon_posts#Sonichu_.2315_Cover.21
² https://rosechustory.tumblr.com/post/85929898301/very-first-page-the-authors-notes-will-be-around
³ https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Luxray_(Pok%C3%A9mon)
⁴ https://sonic.fandom.com/wiki/Perfect_Chaos_(Sonic_Generations)
⁵ https://mlp.fandom.com/wiki/Friendship_Express
⁶ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schindler%27s_List; Chris has almost certainly never seen this film, considering that he missed obvious Holocaust references in the lore the Idea Guys spoonfed him.
⁷ https://www.videogamer.com/news/revealed-why-sonic-cant-swim/
⁸ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Boy_Color
⁹ https://sonichu.com/cwcki/October_2017_tweets#Sonichu_0_and_15_cover_comparison
¹⁰ https://sonichu.com/cwcki/Sonic_the_Hedgehog#Comics
¹¹ https://sonichu.com/cwcki/Dick_Licker;_that_is_I; https://sonichu.com/cwcki/All_Star#Singing_All_Star_.28Sex_Tape_version.29 (WARNING: VERY HONEST CONTENT.)
¹² https://sonichu.com/cwcki/ECV_00002
¹³ https://sonichu.com/cwcki/Vamprosa
¹⁴ https://sonichu.com/cwcki/Virgin_with_rage

Comments

[wingdingaling]

This is more like it. After that bland, dull issue #14, I can really blow some gaskets. Ready?

1. The redone cover is something that is often seen in the comic book world. However, the artist usually improves with time. To Chris' credit, the art has improved, if only minimally. Characters still look boneless, perspective shifts on their bodies at different levels (notice how Chris' chest is turned the wrong way for how he's pointing), characters remain consistently off model, the colors are still sloppily applied, perspective itself has gone bye-bye (if it ever was there), and the title box shows that Chris has still not yet learned how to use a ruler!
2. Plagiarizing pages does not make them your own. You'll notice how Pikachu's stripes are in the wrong place at the bottom pane of page 1. I'm also getting some serious 'American Rabbit' vibes from that Pikachu origin story. Yes, I bothered to watch it again, and I only noticed more grievances the second time around. But, that's another gripe.
3. Oh! Chris predictably forgot his own rebooted lore and made Raichu a guy! Guess that's the significance of the rainbow. It has the power to transition genders. But, oh my, if you look very closely, you'll see that Chris fixed the order of the rainbow's colors.
4. Even when tracing other people's panels, Chris forgets how to use a ruler. And doesn't Sonic need the Chaos Emeralds to go into Super Sonic mode? Or was that information omitted on account of author stupidity?
5. I'm sorry, but I have a hard time believing that Sonichu can't stomach the idea of hunting animals for food. The way that he violently deals with everything else makes me think that he once started by torturing small animals and collecting roadkill. Like Jeffrey Dahmer. Shit, the last few issues read like a serial killer's confession.
6. I'd question why somebody who can run faster than the speed of sound would need to take the train, but I already know these pages are plagiarized from someone else's work. And how does a laboratory explosion derail a train? Was the lab in one of the train cars?
7. I'd say that the use of color in an otherwise monochrome world might have been inspired by Sin City, wherein everything is black and white, except for primary colors on things and characters that are meant to stand out.
8. Amazingly, the dialogue balloons are ordered in a way that we can follow the conversation. The dialogue itself, however, still reads like alphabet soup.
9. Creepy stranger shows up to beg for food? How about we direct him to the nearest restaurant and spot him a few bucks? Naw. Invite him in. Nobody ever got stabbed, robbed or molested that way.
10. So, I know that a lot of my work is very dialogue heavy. What makes people enjoy it is that it reveals more of the story through it (mainly because narration is a weak point of mine). Even when Chris plagiarizes other people's dialogue, he makes it a puerile mess of hog swill that ain't even fit for hogs.
11. Alright. Rosechu's pokedex entry states that she's 3' 6". If that is true, and we're assuming that Kel is at least the same age as most beginning pokemon trainers (ten or eleven years old), she'd be around chin height to Kel. Instead, her height changes from panel to panel. Just like how she shrinks when Sonichu is carrying her. Does her entry say anything about her power to change her own size? Is she actually part Jigglypuff, inflating and deflating on command?
12. I'd say Sonichu running on water is more akin to Chris' Christ complex. And the multiple Sonichu's, while done more competently, is still poorly done. Usually, the 'speed doubles' are drawn as see-through or blurred to imply that they're just some after image for the reader to follow. Here, they're all the same.
13. Even when he plagiarizes another person's work, Chris nulls and voids any kind of conflict or drama. Let's compare him to my ten year old niece again. In the Monster High fanfic that she's writing, the OC that she created is a human boy who has trouble developing any kind of relationship. He ditches any offer to hang with his friends, and he harshly rejects the girl who starts getting close to him. And it all comes back to bite him hard. Why does he do this? Because he's actually a witch who has been repeatedly persecuted by his human peers, and automatically doesn't fit in as a human at a monster school. My point is that a ten year old has a better grip on what makes an interesting story than Chris does.
14. Now, I would say that the whole scene at the lake is a pretty good one. It has some vibes of Kiki's Delivery Service where Kiki and Tombo are riding on his flying bicycle, before they crash at the beach and have a good laugh about it. Unfortunately, I already know that this is not anything that Chris has written.
15. This is no gripe, but the scene with bad pickup lines is uncannily similar to something I did with my first girlfriend back in my teen years. I guess it's just something that a lot of people can relate to. Also, Chris missing the ribbing at his own awful dialogue (Heartsweet? Ugh!) is to be expected.
16. Plagiarizing artwork does not mean that it's improved. It's only proof of theft, and can lead to some serious repercussions. Not that Chris would expect such a thing. To him, incest, vandalism and attempted vehicular manslaughter are no big deal.
17. Annnd we're back to some seriously creepy shit with Kel spying on a private moment and some creepy innuendo that wouldn't look out of place in porn.
18. First rule when you go to the mall: don't go anywhere with a stranger. Especially one who doesn't wear an age appropriate shirt, and who smells like body spray and soiled underwear.
19. I'd assume that the third eye thing was lifted from Killer7. That is, if I thought Chris had the intellectually capacity to understand anything about Killer7, or anything that was made by Suda51. And the black and white makes it very difficult to tell the Sonichus apart. It's like those early Ninja Turtles comics where you could only distinguish the turtles by which weapon they were carrying and how their dialogue read. Interestingly, the Rosechus are quite distinct from one another.
20. Now, I would be excited to see what has happened to Sonichu's parents, but we already know Chris' propensity for torpedoing any kind of exciting conflict.

I must say, that particular issue was much more interesting and exciting than any other Sonichu. And for many good reasons, instead of the usual Wiseau-esque fare. And this was only because Chris plagiarized most of the content. Real nice.

[Eurvos Morgenbrise]

One nitpick, Pokémon Red/Green/Blue came out on the original Game Boy.

[The Blue EM2]

5659073
Corrected.

[The Blue EM2]

5658783
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you. Life's been a bit crazy here!

1. Chris' steps move very slowly. By the time he's in his sixties, he may well have the drawing skills of a 12 year old!

2. Chris, as we know, considers his first attempt perfect, and as a result rarely bothers to go back and do them again. As noted higher up, Chris claims the pages are his because he owns Sonichu. That's like me saying I own a picture I commisioned of my ponysona once because I own my ponysona. As you correctly observe, American Rabbit permeates through every aspect of Chris' being, an impressive feat for a crappy Don Bluth ripoff.

3. That's a consequence of tracing someone else's work.

4. This is probably me being incredibly generous, but Sonic probably powered up offscreen,

5. This is early Sonichu, remember, before he acquired Chris' psychopathic tendancies.

6. For the same reason, why does Sonic have a car? I can only assume that the explosion resulted in debris landing on the track that derailed the train.

7. Interesting.

8. Chris plagiarised the page layout, but removed all the dialogue and rendered powerful conversations utter nonsense.

9. Kel and Rosechu are absurdly naive in that regard.

10. Dialogue, if handled well, can tell us a lot about a character (Mark Twain does an excellent job of revealing his character's attitudes and thoughts through their words, for example). The problem is that Chris is not Mark Twain. He has no insight into other people, which is why Sonichu reads like it was written by an alien.

11. Not that I know of. Chris is just shit at drawing perspective (admittedly, I am too, but I'm not trying to make a living from drawing).

12. I didn't spot that. Good spot.

13. Chris believes his characters are real and that giving them challenging lives is akin to torturing a living being, which is why they all are so happy and lovey dovey. The result is, as you point out, a fun vacuum.

14. Indeed.

15. Certainly sounds fun. I've had a crack at it once or twice with people I know.

16. Trickie admitted on Kiwi Farms that she was not at all surprised when Chris copied her comic, and that pressing charges would be pointless.

17. Especially considering some of this comic is porn...

18. Chris doesn't even clean up properly when he shits himself. Another reason not to accept a ride from him (although Son-Chu has gone to the great motor showroom in the sky).

19. It shows how the characters are all carbon copies of each other. Chris struggles to understand anything intellectual; he played Bioshock for about an hour, then dropped it as he found the themes too confusing. I'd be interested to see what would happen if he played Spec Ops: The Line...

20. Indeed we do.

It's sad that an author can only write a good story through theft.