Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 17

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 17
Publication Date: September 1994

And so we come to my very first issue of Archie’s Sonic the Hedgehog. In my introduction to this project, I explained how I discovered the series – My sister’s boyfriend at the time brought them over from his comic shop job – so I won’t bore you with nostalgic details. Let’s just say that this issue, and many of the ones we'll be discussing in the near future, I have thumbed through more times then I can imagine. Stepping away from childhood memories, Issue 17 shows the two identities the comic had at the time. The first story is a goofy, lame joke-filled bit of comedic nonsense. The backup story could have easily come right out of an episode of SatAM.

As you probably guessed from the title, the main story is a spoof of King Kong. Robotnik has been absent for a few weeks, a change that hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Freedom Fighters. Turns out, he’s been searching Skoal Island for his earliest creation: A giant, yellow, mechanical ape named, for some inexplicable reason, King Gong. After apprehending the ape, Robotnik immediately goes about training him to kill the hedgehog. Things don’t go quite according to plan and King Gong instead develops an infatuation with Princess Sally.

It’s a silly story. If you hadn’t guessed by now, this is another one from the pens of Mike Kanterovich and Ken Penders. An aspect that characterized the teams’ work is present and accounted for here. That is pop culture reference likely to fly over the heads of anyone reading this comic back in the day. Aside from all the obvious “King Kong” references, the story also references the Universal Studios’ version of “Frankenstein,” “Gorillas in the Mist,” “Home Improvement,” and Pavlov’s dogs. Reading this story as a kid, I definitely hadn’t seen “King Kong” yet but, like everyone else, had adsorbed the broad strokes version of the story through pop culture osmosis. And that’s exactly what this is, the broadest of silly parodies, following the thinnest outline of the original. Giant ape is found on island, giant ape kidnaps woman, giant ape climbs tall structure, giant ape is shot down by biplane(s) and falls to his death. Never mind that tall structures are not exactly common on Mobius.

As a story, it’s not that funny. Even as a kid, I knew it wasn’t funny. My comedic palette was far from developed in 1994 but I could still tell this shit was corny as hell. Instead, I read the comics impulsively because Sonic and his friends were in it. Issue 17 definitely delivers on that. This is the most the comic has emulated SatAM thus far. Over the last month, Snively has slowly become a regular presence in the stories. Last issue, Sally finally became a redhead. And now the Freedom Fighters have finally moved out of Freedom HQ and into Knothole Village, though we barely see any of it. An element taken from the games, Tails’ bi-plane, also puts in an appearance, after its last appearance in Issue 14. Now if only the comic hadn’t, once again, forgotten about Bunnie being a cast member… These little moments of recognition is what you have to settle for in a story about King Gong.

Speaking of elements from the cartoon making it into the comic! The back-up story is much better and far more serious in tone. It’s a brief four-pager, also written by Penders and Kanterovich. In it, Sally wishes upon a flower, thinking about her childhood in golden Mobotropolis, before seeing a mysterious orb falling from the sky. The object is cold to the touch and very unusual indeed.

That’s all there is to this one yet something about it resonates. Sally’s memories establish for the first time what was lost when Robotnik took over. We see her playing with a young Sonic and spending time with her father only briefly but it reinforces what’s at stake. Sally hasn’t mentioned her missing dad since the original mini-series and it’s nice to see the comic reference that again. As for the mysterious orb, we now know that’s NICOLE, another valuable supporting character taken from SatAM. The comic doesn’t tell us this. Instead, this story is – gasp! – an example of serialization, of introducing elements that will be built upon later, creating an on-going story and a richer universe. Soon, my dear readers, soon.

Dave Manak’s artwork in the first story is broad and cartoony, matching the tone. Art Mawhinney’s artwork in the second story is rich and dark, some of his best work so far, emphasizing the sadness Sally feels when thinking about her father and the isolation of the night scene. That back-up story boosts the rating for the entire comic and gives us a peek of things soon to come. [7/10]