Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 25

 
Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 25
Publication Date: June 1995

As I’ve established in my previous reviews, I’ve been reading Archie’s “Sonic the Hedgehog” series for a hella’-long time. As a kid, I didn’t have a by-mail subscription to the comic or even a box at my local comic shop. I bought the comics with my meager allowance and a yearly subscription seemed out of my price range. The circumstance of this was that I sometimes missed issues. An issue I always desired by never owned was Issue 25, the two year anniversary issue and the first appearances of Metal Sonic and Amy Rose. It is an issue I’ve never read…

Until now.

All of Issue 25 is devoted to “Go Ahead… Mecha My Day!” The Freedom Fighters have become aware of a pocket dimension called the Collision Chaos Zone, a tiny, unstable world that weirdly resembles the stages in a 16-bit platformer video game. Robotnik has plans for the zone. By kidnapping Amy Rose, an obsessive Sonic fan, he intends to lure Sonic into the zone. There, the hedgehog will be ambushed by Robotnik’s most advanced machine yet… Metal Sonic! Mecha Sonic! As a bonus, the robotic dictator has also captured Tails. So Sonic races into danger, with Rotor and Sally as back-up.

 
Issue 25 is written by Mike Gallagher, responsible for some of the silliest early stories. He wrote the entirety of the original four-issue mini-series, to give you an idea. There’s no doubt that “Mecha My Day” is full of goofy gags, from the title on down. Robotnik discovers Amy Rose’s location by stealing a bag of Sonic-Gram fan letters. There are slapdash references to “Wizard of Oz,” the Sci-Fi Channel, and Fabio. A mostly unnecessary and goofy subplot has Snivley being disguised as Robotnik. The dialogue is full of bad puns and bizarre slang like “Radicool!” The story concludes with the reader interacting with the story, as Your Finger (a character that amazingly doesn’t have a Mobius Encyclopedia page) delivers the defeating blow to Robotnik.
 
All of this is true yet “Go Ahead… Mecha My Day!” is probably the best Mike Gallagher story yet. I actually laughed a couple of times, such as Amy’s misunderstanding of the word “engaged” or Tails being captured very quickly when left on his own. More importantly, Issue 25 is a straight-ahead action story. The entire first part is devoted to setting up the story while Sonic is in the Collision Chaos Zone not long afterwards. The entire second half of the book is devoted to Sonic and Mecha Sonic’s race and scuffle. The humor slightly undermines the drama of the situation. The way Sonic defeats Metal Sonic is fairly ridiculous. The climax depends on Sonic just then deciding to bust out a new special ability. The stakes are low but the issue is amusing and speedy enough for that not to be too much of an issue.

Also helping matters is the tremendous art. Patrick Spazinate contributes the pencil and it’s his best work yet. This being an action-centric story, Spaz’ work is highly dynamic and cinematic. Look at the two-page spread where Sonic and Metal are racing through the zone. Or Sally’s dramatic dive from the bi-plane. Even a simple scene like Sally flipping up onto her head has a sense of motion. I also love that Spazinate doesn’t consider the panel/page format gospel and happily has the characters zinging in and around the expected bubbles. Spaz’ talent for detailed, expressive faces is also shown off in this issue. Lots of humor is conveyed when Sally grumbles about Princess Di in frustration or Tails makes a dissatisfied face after being captured. Unlike his last two stabs at this comic, there’s never any off-model moments. Issue 25 is easily the best looking Sonic comic thus far.

What does one make of Amy Rose and Metal Sonic as characters? Aside from Robotnik himself, Metal Sonic – erroneously referred to as Mecha Sonic here which is a totally different character, you guys – is Sonic’s most reoccurring adversary. Amy Rose, meanwhile, has emerged as the series most prominent female character and Sonic’s default love interest in most media. It wasn’t always that way. When reviewing Issue 13, I talked about Knuckles’ appearance in the comic lending the book a certain novelty. Amy’s appearance does the same. The character wouldn’t appear in a cartoon until 2003’s “Sonic X.” She wasn’t even in the Japanese produced OVA, Sonic receiving a sexy cat girl girlfriend instead. In the years between “Sonic CD” and “Sonic Adventure,” Sega had seemingly forgotten about her. So seeing the character occasionally doing stuff and contributing to the plot in the comic was kind of a big deal for Sonic fans.

(That doesn’t mean I’m a big fan of Amy Rose. For years, she was defined solely by her attraction to Sonic, which bordered on creepy at times. Her overall pinkness also pigeon-holed the character as the Required Female Character, not allowed to be defined beyond traditionally girly interests. It wasn’t until some post-“Adventure” character development that she began to show a real personality, and even that took some time. Thanks to the comic and “Sonic Boom,” she is more rough-and-tumble these days. Her all-consuming passion for Sonic has been dialed back, she’s slightly sarcastic, and now very willing to smash shit with her giant hammer.

tl;dr: Sonic/Amy shippers are an abomination in the eyes of the Glorious Sonic/Sally Shipper Master Race.)

 
Like Anti-Sonic, Metal Sonic is an adversary that is a physical match for Sonic. Unlike Anti-Sonic, Metal Sonic is a serious threat. He’s by-far Robotnik’s most psychotic creation. The games and other media would follow this, Metal Sonic even eclipsing Robotnik at one point. He doesn’t have much personality, being a robot and all. But there’s no doubt that the character is an important contribution to the Sonic rogue gallery.

Here’s the short version of Issue 25: Awesome artwork, a funny script that moves at a steady clip, and the introduction of two major characters. Sounds good to me! [7/10]