Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 132

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 132
Publication Date: January 2004

Man, does it bother any one else when big plot arcs get split up by years? Just me? Okay. But, yes, the “Home” series headed into its third part as Archie's “Sonic the Hedgehog” began 2004. After a strong start, the story line would cluttered apart into uninspired action. I remember 2004 and 2005 being especially weak years for Archie's “Sonic” series. So I'm not exactly excited to be heading into these next 26 issues. Let's get this over with as quickly as possible.

With all the pieces moved into place last time, Sonic and the Freedom Fighters begin their offensive strike against Robotnik's empire. Sonic and Tails confront Eggman on his battle ship, unprepared for the doctor's new mechanical children: A sentient computer virus named A.D.A.M. and a super strong female android named M. Outside the Kingdom of Acorn, the Chaotix faced down an army of ShadowBots. Princess Sally, meanwhile, watches helplessly while her friends get their asses kicked.

Once upon a time, Dave Manak was the regular artist on this book. As the book grew more serious, Manak's cartoonish illustrations appeared less and less often. Usually, Manak only contributed to back-up stories or brief appearances during landmark issues. For some reason, Manak was brought back to draw issue 132. Along with his angular pencils, a certain degree of silly humor has also returned to the book. In “Home Part 3: A.D.A.M. & EVIL,” Tails distracts the evil computer virus with corny jokes. Vector blows away an entire fleet of evil robots with loud music, beamed from a pair of giant amplifiers. Considering the crux of this story revolves around Robotnik threatening to nuke two heavily populated cities, it's an odd decision to include jokey elements like this.

As the title indicates, this story does successfully introduce Robotnik's “children” as serious threats. A.D.A.M. proves unhackable, impervious to Rotor and Tails' attempts to combat him. Apparently, Tails' navigational computers are compatible with whatever system A.D.A.M operates on, as he causes Tails' Tornado to zip-zag through the sky. M, meanwhile, prefers to beat the shit out of people. The statuesque female robot kicks Sonic in the face, bends him over her head, and tosses him into the water. Manak's handle on action isn't the best but these moments are mildly diverting.

This is far from the only action in the book. Since getting her Chaos Emerald assisted growth spurt, Amy Rose hasn't contributed too much to the book. She hasn't had much of a chance to develop beyond her status as Sonic's number one fan girl. (Even then, Mina mostly eclipsed her in that capacity.) In “Home: Part 3,” Amy suddenly reveals herself as a massive bruiser. Armed with her magical hammer, she single-handedly destroys a whole army of ShadowBots. It's a surprising change, that's slightly hard to believe, though the book would run with it. Amy's hammer swingin' robot massacre is certainly easier to believe then Vector wub-wubing apart an equally impressive selection of mechanical soldiers.

In all this chaos, the book pauses for two brief moments of emotion. Before the ShadowBots descend on their outpost, Julie-Su and Knuckles have a conversation. She's reluctant to have Knuckles fight in this battle. After only getting him back recently, she's afraid to loose him again so quickly. This sweet moment is bordered with some nice humor, when Knuckles jokes that death ain't nothing he hasn't lived through. Julie-Su, showing her toughness again, swats at him, not appreciating the humor. This sequence certainly works better then the one devoted to Sally. Once again, Karl has reduced the Princess to pining for Sonic from a distance, her hands tied by royal bureaucracy. Gee whiz, haven't you hit that note enough already, Bollers?

For a while, I've been complaining that Archie didn't know how to utilize the new characters Sega was introducing in their more recent video games. This continues to hold true with “Home.” Both Shadow and Rouge appear in this story. Both saunter on-screen suddenly, providing heroic support when the other characters need it the most. In other words, the “Sonic Adventure 2” additions continue to float around the comic's universe, entering the story only when the writers can find a slot for them. Which is weird, considering this comic has always had a massive cast. You'd think Bollers and the bunch would be better as juggling characters.

In the back pages, Ken Penders continues his lo-fi “Mobius: 25 Years Later” epic. “The Unveiling” is, as you'd expect, devoted to Lara-Su's unvealing party. Which is like a weird puberty prom or something. Lara-Su dresses up in a pretty gown, dances with her dad, uncle, and potential boyfriend, while everyone else stares at her. Meanwhile, Rotor and his partner Cobar make a startling discovery about the dimensional fortitude of Mobius' Prime-Zone.

Last time, I compared unveilings to a bat mitzvah. I think Ken was still kind of going for that but the purpose of the ceremony seems different. Instead of Lara-Su entering adulthood, and becoming responsible for her own actions now, the unveiling seemingly has a different purpose. It's about presenting Lara-Su as a sexually mature individual, ready to be romanced. Which is pretty creepy and exacerbated by Lara-Su dancing with both her father and her uncle during the ceremony. This can't help but bring to mind those symbolically incestuous “purity balls” that were all the rage among Christian nut jobs a decade ago. Considering Knuckles was so eager to abandon traditional in the last issue, it's weird that he would be so insistent on something as traditional and regressive as an unveiling. (There's also a really lame panel where Julie-Su insist that Mace, Knuckles' previously unmentioned half-brother, get married soon. This does not seem in character for her.)

Once you get past the creepy subtext, “The Unveiling” isn't a bad story. Lara-Su continues to express ambivalence, if not outright disinterest, in tradition. The best panel occurs when Knuckles retreats to the balcony. He bemoans how quickly his daughter has grown up. It's a cliched moment but a sweet one, that any parent can relate to, especially once Julie-Su comforts her husband.

This story also introduces us to Argyle, Vector's son. Unlike his braggart, blowhard dad, Argyle is shy and soft spoken. As the son of a braggart blowhard, that seems like a realistic development. A cute moment has Argyle cutting a rug with Lara-Su, continuing to develop their romance. (By the way, we never meet Vector's “wife” so this in no way disproves my head cannon that he's queer as hell. Argyle could be adopted, for all we know.) These small, character-driven moments are certainly more interesting than Rotor discovering that repeated dimensional travel has weakened the physical laws of the universe, leading to another one of those prophecized disasters that Ken loves so much.

The cover story has one or two interesting moment, mostly thanks to a clever action beat, but remains a bit on the dull side. The back-up story creates some unfortunate implication but is otherwise pretty good. If the post-time jump world continues to go the way I remember it going, things are going to stay that way for a while now. [6/10]