Sonic Universe: Issue 44

Sonic Universe: Issue 44
Publication Date: September 2012

In retrospect, it's pretty sad that Ian Flynn spent so much time setting up the Secret Freedom Fighters. After several months, and endless stories it seems, of build-up, the new team finally got their four issue arc in “Sonic Universe.” And then, in a few months, all but one of them would be wiped out by the reboot. I guess that just goes to show that the reboot really was sprang on Ian Flynn and his team at the last minute. Then again, there were some plot lines that got set-up and didn't even get as much payoff as this one. Guess we should've been lucky this story was delayed a few months.

Part four of “Unsung Heroes” is clearly a Public Enemy fan as the subtitle implores you to “Fight the Power.” Naugus' plan to bend the Council of Acorn's collective minds to his will is ready. The Secret Freedom Fighters interrupt the ritual and take the fight to the wizard. Meanwhile, the Council attempts to assemble above. Luckily, Larry the Lynx is there, his bad luck constantly preventing the meeting from going forward.

“Fight the Power” is primarily an action story. It should probably not be surprising that the main way the Secret Freedom Fighters disrupt Naugus' magic spell is with punching. Silver and Shard fight Naugus. Elias and Silver fight Naugus. Lyco and Leeta fight Geoffrey. Elias fights Geoffrey. Pretty much every combination you can think of plays out. As a fight scene, it is pretty cool. There's so much going on that it's hard to get bored. Despite outnumbering the enemy, Naugus and St. John are formidable enough to keep the tension high.

In fact, the stakes get more and more high as the issue goes on. The subplot concerning Naugus loosing control over his own body continues to build here. Even after seemingly winning the day by exploding his magical altar, the Secret Freedom Fighters aren't out of the woods yet. Naugus freaks out, grows more monstrous, and attempts to trap the team in the tunnels. It's a neat trick on Flynn's behalf, keeping the drama going even after the plot is more-or-less resolved.

Luckily, this isn't just a punching and kicking orientated issue. Flynn wraps the comic up with a surprisingly bittersweet series of panels. In narration boxes, Harvey Who talks about how the Secret Freedom Fighters' good deeds can never be publicly acknowledge, how they most operate from the shadows and give up the things they want most. Flynn contrasts these words with shots of Elias looking in on his dying father and Larry watching the other members of the Substitute Freedom Fighters leave the Council building. The last two shows Shard watching Uncle Chuck, Jules, and Bernie have a pleasant dinner together. This page was probably meant to emphasize the personal sacrifices the characters are making by becoming spies. What it actually ends up doing is giving us insight into the sadness and dissatisfaction each member feels with their lives. Which is actually a far more noble goal.

Speaking of Larry! Harvey Who smartly realizes that someone who generates bad luck shouldn't be around during the big fight. Instead, he puts Larry's jinxing to good use. The scenes of the Council of Acorn's meeting being repeatedly interrupted by stupid bullshit – the new bill of rights they've come to sign going missing, the power in the building going off – are pretty funny. It's amusing to see that, even in an action book like this, people can still be inconvenienced by stupid bullshit. These moments also provide decent comic relief to the big fight scene happening underground.

Geoffrey St. John's character arc in this story line has been one of its most promising elements. We got some pay-off to that development here. St. John is still serving his master but not in the most enthusiastic manner. When the Secret Freedom Fighters pop in, he uses the fight as an excuse to not help Naugus. He even rather literally tosses Elias a hint that he's going back over to the side of the angels. In a surprisingly chilling panel, St. John outright leaves Naugus to die in the explosion. Of course, the wizard survives and Geoff has to backtrack but it's still a surprisingly nasty turn of events. It seems St. John really is fed up with his boss' bullshit.

Issue 44 wraps up by promising a conclusion to Silver's quest for the traitor. For those who are reading through these books for the first time, I'll just say the resolution to that is super underwhelming. The Secret Freedom Fighters arc was pretty uneven. However, even its weaker issues managed to be pretty entertaining. If nothing else, it's a fun idea, even if Flynn had to jump through way too many hoops to get it rolling. [7/10]

Sonic Universe: Issue 43

Sonic Universe: Issue 43
Publication Date: August 2012

Issue 43 has Ian Flynn addressing some of the issues I've had with the Secret Freedom Fighters story arc. Part three of “Secret Heroes,” subtitled “Occupational Hazard,” fuses the two story lines of the arc thus far. Silver and Elias' teams escape their missions by the skin of their teeth. They regroup in Mobotropolis, reporting their failures to Harvey Who. Meanwhile, Ixis Naugus explains his latest plan, a magical spell to take over the mind of the Council of Acorn, to Geoffrey St. John... And the skunk is not entirely okay with that.

Usually, I address the artwork at the end of these review but I'm doing shit backwards today. Since I've looked at hundreds of his illustrations over his years on the comic, I feel qualified to speak about Tracy Yardley's artwork. Though he's done lots of great work over the years, he has his flaws too. A same-y quality can fall into his work and he frequently gets sloppy. It sometimes feel like he's phoning it in. And his work on issue 43 has that quality. The facial expressions can be identical or uninspired. Everyone's on model but a little lifeless at times. Yardley has done so much “Sonic” art over the years that it starts to blend together at times.

Anyway, that aside, let's talk about the plot. Flynn uses this issue to expand on the mythos of the Ixis wizard tribe. The issue begins hundreds of years ago during the Forgotten War, showing Mammoth Mogul and a previously unseen bird-wizard named Ixis Vale. This is a callback to a very obscure bit of lore. All the way back in issue 53, Naugus used “Vale's bones!” as an exclamation. Now, years later, we actually see Naugus retrieve the bones of Ixis Vale to use them in an incantation. This also further defines the Ixis order as something that's been around for a very long time.

But what's most interesting about “Occupational Hazard” is the development we get on Geoffrey St. John. From the moment it was revealed that Geoffrey was a traitor, and an apprentice of Naugus, I felt like Flynn was kind of screwing over the character for no reason. However, that attitude snaps back some with this issue. Upon hearing that Naugus plans to use magic to instate total tyranny over Mobotropolis, St. John gets seriously pissed. He signed up to protect his kingdom, not to serve the mad whims of a control freak.

Honestly, I'm not sure why Geoffrey St. John hasn't noticed before that Naugus is a bad guy. However, the skunk having a crisis of conscious about his mission is refreshing. Yardley's panel here I like the most is a slow zoom on St. John's panicked face. Later, Silver has a conversation with the skunk where he sells out his master's plan. It doesn't undo all the bullshit damage Flynn has done to St. John's personality but it's a step in the right direction.

I guess it's weird that I found the antagonist of the story way more interesting than the heroes. One of the things I like the most about this issue is a passing detail, a bit of backstory. Upon seeing Shard's power crystal, St. John recalls that his team – as in the Majesty's Secret Service – retrieved Metal Sonic's melted remains out of the Mt. Mobius' caldera. Apparently there's a slight continuity error here, as Valdez wouldn't have been on the team at this point, but whatever. It feels a small gap in the backstory out and that's the kind of bullshit lore I appreciate.

As for what's the Secret Freedom Fighters are up to in this issue, we don't see much of them in action. There's a cute bit where, after Silver ends his talk with St. John, the team pops out of little hiding places around the area. I like the interaction between Harvey Who and Elias, which shows the young prince growing into more of a strategist. I also like the little bit where Harvey gets pissed at the team for their screw-ups. Apparently he didn't foresee the inexperienced fowling on their first mission.

Issue 43 is mostly set-up for the big finale, as it's most preoccupied with explaining what a threat Naugus truly is. It's a slower paced issue, focusing more on character development, which is a nice change following the action-packed last two issues. Mostly, I like this slightly sloppily-plotted comic for centering Gefforey St. John's personality. I don't recall that plotline really getting a conclusion before the reboot so this is probably the closest we'll come. [7/10]

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 240

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 240
Publication Date: August 2012

Look, there's another Greg Horn cover and it's exactly as boring as his last cover! Granted, at least the image of Amy making a little heart with her hand tells us something about her personality, as opposed to the utterly generic image of Sonic he created last time. And I'm thankful Horn didn't resort to his usual techniques when portraying female characters and make Amy into an impossibly posed, half-naked, pouting porn starlet. I guess Archie just couldn't resist getting a big name like Horn involved in their silly, funny animal book. Could've been worse, I guess. Could've been that other Greg.

But let's talk about the actual comic book. “Heroes Part Two: For the People” has Team Fighter rushing to inform Mobotropolis of the Death Egg's approach. Their communique only partially gets through by the time Robotnik is directly over the city. It's up to Rotor and his team of misfits to save the day. Despite Eggman's sabotage and army of robot weapons, the team manages to fight off the invasion. They do, however, get some help from Harvey Who's now fully formed Secret Freedom Fighters. Also, Naugus continues to loose control of his own body to the voices in his head.

Issue 240 is an issue of “Sonic the Hedgehog” that barely has Sonic in it. And, honestly, it might be all the better for it. Though I have nothing against Sonic and friends running around the world, my heart is in Mobotropolis with the Knothole crew. Team Fighters' adventures have been so transient that I've felt a little adrift with this book recently. Returning home and focusing on the fate of the Acorn crown – even if Sally, Bunnie, and Antoine are out of the picture at the moment – is refreshing. By going back home, it reminds us what's at stake and why we care in the first place.

Part two of “Heroes” is mostly devoted to giving Team Freedom a chance to shine. Though I was initially very underwhelmed by the line-up of Rotor's team, their adventure here is pretty effective. Everyone's personality is given a chance to shine. Rotor accommodates himself to the role of leader fairly well. Cream is eager to help but still childish enough that she gets frightened. Heavy is overly analytically, even in the heat of combat. (And he still sounds like Baymax in my head.) Flynn mostly writes Big the Cat as a big dumb pet, staring dumbly and speaking simply while also smashing robots with his super-strength. It's not an all-star line-up or anything but the characters seem to work together well.

Of course, the only reason Robotnik's army can get into the city in the first place is because of Operation: Deadly Cuddles. Let's talk about that. During the assault on Mobotropolis during issue 231, Eggman dropped a Tails Doll out of the sky. Cream, assuming it was a simple toy, adopted it. Of course, the Tails Doll is actually an Eggman drone that can disrupt nanites and spy on the Freedom Fighters.

For those not in the know, Tails Doll is a very obscure Sega character that is something like Tails' counterpart to Metal Sonic. It was introduced in “Sonic R,” the glitchy racing game that came out on the Saturn in 1997. There's an obvious reason Flynn introduced this forgettable character into the comic fifteen years after his first appearance. Due to his creepy doll face and uncanny ability to float, somebody wrote a lame creepypasta about the character. And, because Sonic fans love stupid bullshit, this led to Tails Doll actually becoming kind of popular. Flynn hints at Tails Doll's internet fandom by making him a figure of suspicion, and eventually weirdly vivid body horror, in the book. As an in-joke unlikely to be caught by those unaware of the online fandom, I guess that was an okay decision.

The fine print at the start of the book says “Heroes” is the prelude to the Secret Freedom Fighter arc, currently playing out in “Sonic Universe.” Never mind that we were two issues into that story by the time this book came out. In their first in-continuity appearance, the Secret Freedom Fighters accomplish more than they have thus far in their own story. They make short work of the new Metal series robots Robotnik deploys. Larry's bad luck generation actually comes in handy, destroying two EggSWATS. Moreover, they actually act in a stealthy manner, helping out Team Freedom without alerting them to their presence. You'd think Flynn would've led with this, instead of having this issue come out after the “Universe” arc started.

After taking a one issue break and letting Jamal Peppers draw things, Steven Butler is back on penciling duties. Once again, I'm partial to Butler's work. His action is great. His character work is expressive and detailed. It's all good stuff. The second half of “Heroes” is much stronger than the first, managing to balance character development and action better. It also includes the Secret Freedom Fighters in a way that's far less distracting. Good on you, Flynn. [7/10]

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 239

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 239
Publication Date: July 2012

Starting with issue 239, Archie invited a big comic artist to provide the cover art for a few issues. Unfortunately, that artist was Greg Horn. Horn somehow became a superstar artist in the late 2000s despite his work frequently being gross and always being really off-putting. He usually draws super unappealing pin-up artwork, his female characters bending in all sorts of anatomically impossible poses. Horn also abuses the use of photographs as source material and digital painting techniques to the point that most of his work occupies the uncanny valley. To look at Horn's artwork is to see a thousand dead-eyed but weirdly detailed faces floating above generic porno-bot bodies.

Knowing all this, I'm not sure why Archie hired the guy. But I guess a big name artist is still a big name artist, regardless of their reputation or how at odds their usual work is with this book's style. So, for the first cover he provided, Horn contributed an excessively generic image of Sonic posing on an empty blue background. It looks like a piece of Sega stock art and is as weirdly shiny as everything else Horn creates. No sir, I do not like it.

Anywho, the plot: Issue 239 begins a two-parter entitled “Heroes” which does not, disappointingly, feature an unkillable cheerleader or Zachary Quinto eating people's brains. So Team Fighter has been pursuing the Death Egg across the globe. They see the air-ship stop above the Feral Forest and quickly deduce that Robotnik is looking to murder Prince Elias. As the heroes arrive, the town is beset by various killer robots, including Mecha-Sally. They attempt to fight them off and save Elias’ life but someone else interferes.

“Heroes” is an action oriented story with branching plotlines. This is a nice way to say that “Heroes” is another Ian Flynn joint that prioritizes combat over character. This is twenty-one pages composed almost completely of action. Sonic fights Silver Sonic.  Col. Sommersby fights Mecha-Sally. Amy Rose fights Mecha-Sally. Tails then leaps in for an assist. We even see T-Pup briefly fight Silver Sonic. All these fisticuffs are happening concurrently, so Flynn is constantly cutting between these various conflicts. It's entertaining but, once you get over the initial fun factor of good ol' violence, you realize this is a pretty thin story.

It's also, I'm afraid to say, another excuse for Flynn to set up the Secret Freedom Fighters. Yeah, I thought he was done too. It's another example of Archie's bad planning and shaky release schedule. This issue was obviously meant to premiere after issue 41 of “Sonic Universe.” During the invasion of the Feral Forest, Leeta and Lyco appear. They escort the former king to safety. Not only is this yet more exhausting set-up for Flynn's other story line, it also removes quite a bit of tension from the story. If Team Fighter had never showed up in the village, it turns out Elias probably still would've been fine.

If “Heroes” has anything going for it, is the small kernels of emotion and character development we get. Elias forbids Tails from telling Sonic the exact details of how he was rescued. When Sonic receives Tails' vague answer, there's a ambiguous panel devoted to the hedgehog and fox glaring at each other. Not only does this bring “House of Cards” to mind again, it also shows that coming so close to rescuing Sally just to fail yet again is beginning to weigh on Sonic. He actively wants to pursue her at one point but realizes he needs to stay and protect the village instead. I like the idea that the stress of the situation is starting to make our hero crack up and wish Flynn explored that more.

The fight between Amy Rose and Mecha-Sally also leads to a few good moments. Allowing Mecha-Sally to retain some of her personality, while still being primarily a murder machine, was a wise decision. During the fight, Mecha-Sally presents the possibility that Amy wants to destroy her, as a way to wipe out her primary romantic rival. She then follows this up by saying she was never Amy's friend. Amy rebukes both comments but the remarks clearly get under her skin. Mecha-Sally isn't just a physical threat. The Freedom Fighters aren't just concerned about her because she was once their friend. Sally has also known these characters for years, giving her plenty of information to manipulate her now enemies with.

Despite these handful of good moments, part one of “Heroes” is clearly just a minor issue on the way to another story. The issue concludes with the Death Egg arriving above Mobotropolis, clearly preparing for another strike at the city. Once again, Mecha-Sally gets away, allowing this story line to continue on even longer. There's very little pay-off or satisfaction here. Issue 239 mostly comes off as a stop-gap on the way to a more important and eventful comic book.

At least the artwork is good. Jamal Peppers' action scenes are incredibly dynamic. Amy and Sally's fight stretches across two pages, in one good example of the action leaping out at you. I even like the page where the damnable T-Pup uses an electric current to freeze Silver Sonic in its place. Scripting wise, this is a mediocre comic book, more of a tease for future events then a satisfying book on its own. [6/10]

Sonic Universe: Issue 41

Sonic Universe: Issue 41
Publication Date: June 2012

After what feels like six months of set-up, Ian Flynn has finally gotten to the Secret Freedom Fighters arc of “Sonic Universe.” It seems, as the original Archie universe neared its end, Flynn became a little preoccupied with organizing the comic's vast cast into various new teams. In the main book, the remaining members of the Knothole gang has split up into Team Fighters and Team Freedom. And here comes the Secret Freedom Fighters, composed of one fairly popular Sega hedgehog and five C-list-and-lower comic characters. Why Flynn was suddenly fascinated with this concept, I don't know. Unlike when Marvel or DC pulls this stunt, there were no new action figures or tie-in books to sell. Let's see if we can figure out why.

Part one of “Unsung Heroes,” which is referred to as “Secret Freedom” on the cover, shows the newly formed team on their first mission. Harvey Who sends Silver, Larry and Shard on a mission to track Geoffrey St. John to the Windy Valley region of Soumerica. It seems St. John is trying to recover some Ixis magic lore or something for Naugus. The three would-be spies argue among themselves, reveal their location, and manage to alert St. John to their presence without capturing him. Back near Mobotropolis, it seems Elias, Leeto, and Lyco are doing an equally on their half of the mission.

At its core, “Unsung Heroes” has an appealing premise. Taking a bunch of ragtag misfits and putting them on a team together can produce fruitful results. This format allows Flynn a chance to further establish the personalities of his cast of old, new, and basically new characters. The issue also has a fairly direct, easy-to-grasp objective. Our heroes are tracking Geoffrey St. John, trying to figure out what he's up to. Should be easy, right?

But there's a problem. These guys kind of suck at their job. Harvey Who is a spymaster after all and the Secret Freedom Fighers are ostensibly spying on St. John. So what do they do? They stumble into two separate traps, nearly getting themselves killed twice. They loudly bicker, repeatedly forgetting to use their code names. If the bickering didn't reveal their location to their target, Shard starts blowing shit up. They don't even manage to capture St. John after blowing their cover. About the only thing the so-called Secret Freedom Fighters pull off is putting a tracker on St. John's hoverboards. Seems to me if they had stopped at that, this mission would've been more successful.

But I suspect authoring a crackling espionage thriller was not really on Flynn's agenda. Tom Clancy, the man is not. Instead, this issue is really about the interplay between the team. On that regard, it's fairly successful. Shard continues to establish himself as the MVP of the group. It seems this iteration of Metal Sonic has only grown to resemble his fleshy counterpart more as he's lived longer. Shard is a snark extraordinaire. He's a real smart-ass around his teammates. However, Flynn keeps the constant backbiting from being annoying. In fact, it's charming as hell. Shard is incredibly entertaining.

Shard may not be the most calculated robot around but at least he contributes some firepower and high-tech gadgets. What does Larry the Lynx bring to this team? Flynn throws in a series of panels explaining who this obscure character is, what his deal is, and why he's on the Secret Freedom Fighters for the single person who reads “Sonic Universe” but not the main “Sonic” book too. After that, Larry nearly falls to his death. He then trips and activates a trap, alerting St. John to the team. I get what Flynn is trying to do. In a round about way, Larry's bad luck is revealing secrets. However, he mostly just draws attention to why someone with serially bad luck shouldn't be sent on sensitive missions like this.

Silver and Shard's bickering reveals a good point. This half of the team is composed of a former villain, someone who has previously attacked Sonic at least once (in addition to repeatedly showing himself to be a poor detective), and someone who constantly has bad things happen around him. The other half of the team is made of a former monarch with little field experience and two randos nobody has heard of before. And they seem to be doing as badly as Silver's team. How is this anyone's idea of a team of spies? If Flynn meant this as some sort of stealth parody/critique of Penders' old “On His Majesty's Secret Service” arc, which had a similarly questionable line-up, I'd get this. But the plotting is pretty serious, even if the character interaction is typically snarky.

I really don't dislike this comic book at all. It's quickly paced. The action sequences are fun. The characters are entertaining together. There's even some potential future conflict set up, as Silver seems to be discovering that his mentor, Mammoth Mogul, wasn't such a nice guy originally. However, there's just enough gaps in the plot's logic that I can't quite get on this one's side. Sorry, that just sticks in my teeth. I'm seem to recall this arc getting better as it went on so here's hopin'. [6.5/10]

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 57

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 57
Publication Date: January 1998

For Archie fans old enough to remember, January of 1998 was an uncertain year for the comic series. Head-writers Ken Penders and Karl Bollers, post-“Endgame,” promised that the series focus would be changing a bit. He wanted to refocus on Sonic and Tails. Fans, such as Dan Drazen, worried this meant Princess Sally and the rest of the SatAM crew would be written out of the book. That didn’t happen, of course. Instead, Sonic and Tails went on an adventure around Mobius, expanding the series’ scope and showing what Sonic the Hedgehog could get up to in a world without Robotnik. This time of upheaval and change began in issue 57. It’s announced right in the cover story’s title, “Back to Basics.”

Over the last few issues, Sonic had been bemoaning his role in Mobotropolis without a mad dictator to fight. He decides to set out on an adventure, following Ixis Naugus’ trail and helping whoever he encounters along the way. Before leaving Knothole, Rotor finds a device among Robotnik’s lab that can reportedly predict the future. When Sonic places it on his head, it instead shows him the past. After a lengthy recap of the comic’s history, Sonic bids farewell to his parents, to Sally, and to the city he now calls home.

If you measure quality by how much a story advances the plot, issue 57 would rate very lowly. If this was a television show, this issue would be referred to as a “clip show.” Usually, when a comic resorts to an antic such as this, it simply reprints those old stories. For whatever reason, Archie didn’t want to just reprint moments from the comic’s first 56 issues. Instead, Art Mawhinney sat down to redraw many of these events. Quickly, “Back to Basics” devolves into Art drawing small version of Patrick Spazinate’s covers while Sonic, in a narration box, provides a capsule summery of the issue’s events. Mawhinney’s work is great, typically. However, Karl Bollers’ decision to have Sonic narrate everything shoves an awful lot of dialogue in the hedgehog’s mouth. It’s very unlike the character to expound at such length about things.

Putting out a glorified clip book had two purposes, I imagine. Considering “Endgame” concluded just seven issues ago and the book was heading in a new direction, Archie was probably expecting new readers to pick up the series. Who knows if it worked that way but, nevertheless, Issue 57 existed to catch everyone up. On the other hand, in this Brave New World, the extensive recap serves to show what still is and isn’t canon. This is likely because, way back in issue 2 of the original “Sonic” mini-series, there was a story about King Acorn’s Crown. Just recently, a totally different version of the Crown appeared. You’d think the writers would use to this oppretunity to declare many of the series’ earliest, goofiest stories as non-canon.

 
Instead, issue 57 maintains almost everything. The UniverSalamander, Verti-Cal and Horizon-Al, Thorny the Needle Bird, Spawnmower, the Nerbs, Sonic’s caveman ancestors, the Termite-Nator, RoboStorm, Car-Heem of Weeet, and plenty of other goofy shit is clarified as still existing. (Even though I only read these stories a few months ago, I’ve already forgotten half of this shit.) For that matter, “Back to Basics” recounts Sonic’s adventures on a nearly issue-by-issue basis. It doesn’t stop when it comes to the present either. It recounts shit that happened just a few issues ago. The book goes right up to Endgame, Monkey Khan, and “Return of the King.” I’m not exactly sure what the point of all that was.

In its last few pages, “Back to Basics” somehow provides a reason for why it exists. After the memory projector explodes, Sonic gets ready to leave. In two pages, he has heart-to-heart conversations with both his parents and Sally. His interaction with his parents is brief but gets to the point. Sonic admits that he’s intentionally been avoiding them, because he still doesn’t know how to react to their existence. However, he clarifies that he still needs them in his life. It’s a little too brief an interaction and undermined by Sonic leaving in just a few pages.

The conversation with Sally is a lot better. Sonic sheepishly admits how he feels about the Princess, in so many words. It’s fun that the book remembers that these are still teenagers, prone to shyness when frankly discussing romance. Mawhinney’s pencils go a long way towards selling that emotion, both of them walking with their hands behind their backs, reserved and uncertain. It’s pretty sweet stuff and continues to show that Bollers’ strength still lie in honest emotion.

Despite being a mostly useless book, as a kid I was still a fan of issue 57. As I previously mentioned, I hadn’t yet read many of those early issues at that time. Getting to see what happened in those stories was a nice treat for me. It reminds me of a time when not everything was available at our fingertips. Those final moments of emotion go a long way towards justifying the issue’s existence. Mawhinney’s artwork helps a lot too. Issue 57 is still mostly useless though. [5/10]

Sonic Live!

 
Sonic Live!
Publication Date: November 1996

Sonic the Hedgehog fans of all stripes and types don’t agree on much. Fans of Archie’s “Sonic” series are no different. However, the comic’s fandom generally has reached a consensus on a few things. The lawsuit sucked. Tommy the Turtle was a mistake. “Sonic Live!” is the worst story ever to be associated with the character. As a kid, I thought the story was kind of weird but never outright dismissed it as terrible. Kids are open to all sorts of things, you know. When time came to revisit “Sonic Live!,” I found myself wondering. Will it be as bad as everyone says?

Well, it’s certainly not good. In “The Last Game Cartridge Hero,” Robotnik has seemingly gotten Sonic right where he wants him. Princess Sally has some personality-voiding device on her head and the other Freedom Fighters are imprisoned. The villain encircles Sonic with SWATBots, the machines zapping him all at once. Sonic the Hedgehog is dead… Or so it would appear. The hedgehog is teleported to a weird alternate universe between zones. Outside, Steve and Jessica play a “Sonic the Hedgehog” video game. Spotting the kids, Sonic yanks them through the screen and into his world. The kids provide enough of a distraction for Robotnik, leading to his defeat. Yet another portal opens, the hero, villain, and kids ending up in another strange world.

There have been some pretty great stories with meta devices, with fictional characters interacting with the “real world.” “The Last Game Cartridge Hero” is not, uh, one of these. The plot lurches from bizarre point to the next. Why does getting zapped by the robots transport Sonic to a place between his world and the human world? How can he just pull the kids through the screen? Why does another portal open, tossing Robotnik and Sonic into another alternate zone? In this zone, the game developers of the Sonic series (notably, none of whom are Japanese) have been kidnapped by an army of robotic Robotniks. Where the hell did these guys come from? What’s their final plan? Sonic then opens the portal back to Mobius by tapping the stage select code on a giant Genesis controller. After sending everyone back to their proper worlds, the plot point of the other Robotniks are forgotten.

 
The incredibly dumb, senseless story is a problem but I don’t think that’s why people hate “Sonic Live!” so much. Instead, the story’s nepotism is what offends readers. See, the real life human kids Sonic interact with aren’t just any kids. Kevin is directly based on Ken Penders’ son while Jessica is directly based on his niece. So how the fuck did Ken convince Archie to publish a comic book where his own son and niece interact with Sonic the Hedgehog? I can’t imagine the pitch but I can imagine the Christmas or birthday wish that birthed this awful idea. “The Last Game Cartridge Hero” would still be senseless if the kids were purely fictional characters. Penders passing a piece of self-insert fan fiction off as a real comic book pushes the story over the edge.

Further proving that “Last Game Cartridge Hero” was purely a misguided vanity project of Ken’s is that he also drew it. The artwork is only occasionally as grotesque as Pender’s worst pencils are. The kids frequently look weird. The robo-Robotniks that show up look awful. The backgrounds lack totally in detail. Naturally, Penders’ worst attribute is his total inability to convey any movement or speed when action scenes crop up. The final insult occurs early, when actual photographs of Kevin and Jessica are used in the book. This is not only weird, it’s off-putting. Seeing an animated Sonic interact with flesh-and-blood children is just… Creepy.

Though it gets the cover, “Last Game Cartridge Hero” is only one of three stories in “Sonic Live!” “The Substitute Freedom Fighters” is written by Rich Koslowski and drawn by Art Mawhinney. Running parallel to the main story, it involves Larry the Linx and Cyril the Eagle grabbing Sally’s recruits and going to rescue the main team. Digging up Larry and Cyril, two characters that had already been forgotten, was an odd decision. They’d be mostly forgotten again after this, for years. However, this is a straight-ahead action story and works all right in that regard. Seeing Dylan pick a lock or Hamlin smash into a squad of SWATBots at least shows the characters can be useful. Mawhinney’s artwork is, naturally, extremely good. There’s not much to this story but, compared to the atrocious title story, it comes off way better then it would’ve otherwise.

In the very back of the book is the second part of the “Knuckles Quest” story arc. The Ancient Walkers’ vague hints sends Knuckles to a strange building in an obscure part of the Great Forest. There, he battles a series of bizarre monsters. Knuckles notices that the creatures are from fairy tales and that they fade into nothingness upon defeat. He realizes a sorcerer is at work here. The hunch is right, as Merlin Prower is responsible for this. He sends Knuckles on the next step of his quest.

Scripting wise, there’s not much to “Knuckles Quest 2.” The echidna shows up, whoops some monsters, makes friends with the man responsible, and gets sent on the next section of his fetch quest. The story’s not even that exciting as an action piece, as Knux makes short work of each monster. One factor saves the story entirely. Patrick Spazinate provides pencil. And, holy shit, is this an awesome looking story. Spaz’ work is, as expected, incredibly detailed, stylish, dynamic, and action packed. He’s pretty much the perfect guy to draw a story about Knuckles punching out a series of monsters. For the record, he fights a critter that looks like a Cacodemon from “Doom,” leopards with fiery whips growing from their backs, an ogre, a Chinese dragon, and the Grim Reaper. I want this story painted on the side of my van.

Neither of the back-up stories are great but they are mildly entertaining. This stands in stark contrast to the title story. “Sonic Live!” is not so much bad as it is deeply miscalculated in every conceivable way. The story was a mistake. It never should’ve been written, much less illustrated and printed. Archie has buried the story, refusing to re-publish it. Who can blame them? [3/10]

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 12

 
Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 12
Publication Date: April 1994

Issue 12 would be a good-looking if mildly unremarkable issue of “Sonic the Hedgehog” if it wasn’t for one thing. It features work from all three of the head writers at the time. The first story is from Mike Gallagher. The second is from the Penders/Kanterovich team. The last is from Angelo DeCesare. This allows us a good opportunity to compare and contrast the different style and approaches of three of the voices who would define the comic’s early years.

Mike Gallagher’s “A Timely Arrival” opens the book. After scraping the shit out of multiple Robotnik robots, the dictator thinks up a way to erase the hedgehog once and for all: Send him back in time! Casually cracking the secrets of time travel, Robotnik dumps Sonic back in prehistoric days. There, Sonic befriends his distant ancestors, a boghog name Sonugh, who has problems with a rotund madman named Robughnik and a group of friends that include Princess Sal-ugh. Eventually, the Freedom Fighters get him back to his own time.

Like all of Gallagher’s work, the tone is incredibly silly and light. The premise basically recalls a sitcom. Sonic going back in time and fighting dinosaurs is one thing. That’s cool actually, even if the dinosaurs talk and crack jokes too. Meeting a group of identical ancestors is a little much though. Many of the jokes are very silly, especially the entire bit about Robughnik. An earlier gag about Sally watching soap operas is also groan-worthy. Another trademark of Gallagher is self-reflective jokes. Sonic breaks the fourth wall when crashing back in his own time. The entire story is built around pre-exisiting familiarity to the “Sonic the Hedgehog” universe. Having said that, this is actually a pretty good Gallagher story. Another trademark of the author is a ecological slant. Sonic is so enraged by Robotnik cutting down trees that he catches the roof on fire on his way out. The joke about Sonic inventing hedges, and thus inventing hedgehogs, is amusing. I like the Freedom Fighters being dependent enough to rescue Sonic all on their own. It’s silly but rarely actively bad, just light-weight and disposable. (It also features the Prehistoric Freedom Fighters asking the readers if they want to be seen again, another Gallagher quirk.)

The second story, “The Bold-Headed Eagle,” is from Penders and Kanterovich. While racing through the mountains, Sonic accidentally runs off a cliff. He lands in the nest of Cyril the Eagle, who believes himself to be the last eagle and spends his days hiding from Robotnik. Sonic attempting to teach the eagle to fly again alerts them to the dictator, who is then undone by his own hubris.

If “The Bold-Headed Eagle” is a Penders work, it’s definitely an early Penders work. The writers’ typically verbose dialogue is on display, which is a problem. The story hews closer in tone to “SatAM,” as Robotropis looks more like the cartoon and Snivley plays a big role. It also introduces a new character, Cyril the Eagle, who is then revealed to have a nearly identical family, another thing Penders would become notorious for. However, it’s interesting to see Ken’s style co-exist alongside the comic’s early, goofy tone. Robotnik appears to stop Sonic inside a ram-shaped vehicle, which looks like something out of “He-Man,” while wearing lederhosen. Cyril, who is literally bald, wears a cardigan, and walks with a cane, is a pretty silly character too. Notably, he wouldn’t appear much as the comic got more serious. Though badly hampered by Penders’ puffy dialogue, it’s not a bad story. After being a quipping jerk for the last eleven issues, it’s nice to see Sonic evolving into a compassionate, helpful person.

The third story is entitled “The Lynx is a Jinx” and was written by Angelo DeCesare. Robotnik’s SWATBots are performing another sweep of the forest, forcing Sonic and company to clear out the innocent animals. While there, Sonic meets Larry, a lynx whose bad luck is contagious, usually leading to catastrophe for those around him. Fearing for his friends’ lives, Sonic follows Larry alone, hoping to find a place for the feline. Naturally, Robotnik soon attacks.

Okay, my thesis is wrong. “The Lynx is a Jinx” is actually much better then Angelo DeCesare’s previous work. There’s not quite a tidal wave of puns. Sally is mean to Larry but she actually has a good reason for it. It’s also not an entirely light-weight story. The threat of Robotnik harming the inhabitants of the forest is very real. Larry’s depression about being an outcast is treated seriously. However, the crux of the story is still pretty silly. Magic doesn’t exist yet in the Archie comic, so Larry’s weird ability to affect the luck of those around him seems really out of place. The way it plays out, with Larry using his jinx abilities to defeat Robotnik’s latest scheme, is sadly predictable. Another definite DeCesare element: the rat-rod Robotnik attempts to run Sonic down with. That is, as the kids would say, random.

(Notably, both of these stories would introduce characters that would rarely be seen again. Under Ian Flynn’s pen, Larry would eventually develop into something of a fan favorite but that’s 226 issues from now.)

Tying all these stories together is Art Mawhinney’s outstanding artwork. This is especially notable in the final story, where the Great Forest seems like a lush, alive place for the first time in the comic’s run. Mawhinney’s action is excellent, Sonic’s running and fighting seeming especially lively. Sonic burning off the page and his scuffle with the dinosaurs are both nice moments. The expressions are brilliant, especially Larry’s perpetual sad sack frown. I love how Mawhinney’s artwork shows a clear connection to SatAM but he also adapts brilliantly to comics. It’s cartoony, lively, and silly during Gallagher’s story. It’s more focused and serious in DeCesare’s story. 

While still on the “good, not great” side of the critical divide, issue 12 may very well be the most balanced “Sonic” comic yet. The writing is pretty good from all four scribes, the artwork is great, and the issue progresses smoothly and satisfyingly. [7/10]