Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 28

 
Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 28
Publication Date: August 1995

Issue 27 ended on a crazy cliffhanger. After spending a whole issue trying to get to Knothole, Sonic finally arrived, with a psychotic grin on his face, ready to whoop ass. Issue 28’s verbosely entitled cover story, “Saturday Night’s Alright for a Fight!,” doesn’t waste any time. The first five pages are devoted to Sonic beating the crap out of his friends. He lays a series of punches on Rotor, knocking him to the floor in seconds. Showing once again that she’s more then his equal, Sally tosses Sonic across the room. Even with the assistance of Bunnie and Tails, Sonic still successfully defeats all of his friends. Tails’ defeat seems especially cruel, as he knocks the kid out of the sky. Imagine reading this as a seven year old kid obsessed with these characters. The titular hero just beat the crap out of all his buddies. It was shocking.

(Though consider this: Sally easily performs a judo-toss on Sonic, dodges his super-speed punch, and nails him in the face with a kick. Minutes later, Bunnie grips Sonic with a leg-hold, in-between her robotic limbs. Really, if they weren’t fighting a dear friend and potential love interest, I think the Freedom Fighters easily could have subdued Sonic. Robotnik was right: They do hold back because it’s Sonic.)

The second chapter of the story has Antoine and the Substitute Freedom Fighters managing to defeat Sonic. Considering the super-strong cyborg couldn’t do it, how could the team’s coward and a bunch of D-listers do it? Well, this issue perhaps marks Antoine’s transformation from the butt of Sonic’s jokes to the honorable soldier that he would become in the book’s later years. Most importantly, the guys turn the lights off first, leaving Sonic fighting blind. Notably, Dylan the Porcupine tackles Sonic after he tires himself out beating the snot out of everyone else. So there’s your answer over who would win in a fight between a hedgehog and a porcupine.

After such as such as strong opening, “Saturday Night’s Alright for a Fight!” concludes on a pretty typical note. The second whack on the noggin restores Sonic’s memories and personality. He proceeds to mislead Robotnik’s fleet of tanks (referred to as tractors for some reason), eventually leading them off a cliff. This ending is a bit too similar to how Sally and her team defeated some robots in the first issue of her mini-series. And while Issue 28 is a very fast-moving story with lots of action, the segments devoted to Robotnik and Snivley are heavy on the techno-babble and Penders-riffic exposition. The ending, where Robotnik basically chalks this loss up to experience, is a bit disappointing. He should have at least yelled or somethin’.

Once again, Art Mawhinney contributes the artwork. As in the last issue, he continues to experiment with shadows. The section devoted to Sonic and the Substitute Freedom Fighters battling in the dark are primarily painted in black and red, creating a very dark and moody tone. Mawhinney’s fluid, dynamic artwork makes him an ideal pick for such an action-heavy story. The fight scenes are exciting, easy to follow, and carry a real sense of energetic violence.

Interestingly enough, the comic doesn’t let Sonic’s unintentional betrayal go without some consequences. The back-up story, “Growing Pains,” stars Tails. It begins with Sonic’s faithful sidekick fleeing the village, horrified that his mentor would ever beat the crap out of him, for any reason. Jumping in his Sea Fox submarine, he floats out until he reaches an island. There he finds Fiona Fox, a lady fox tied to a tree. Immediately smitten, the two foxes spend the evening doing G-rated romantic things, like frolicking in a lake, carving their initials into a tree, and drinking from a coconut. Of course, it’s all a scheme. Fiona is an Auto-Automaton made by Robotnik and leads the young fox directly into a trap.

“Growing Pains” is written by Mike Gallagher and thus contains a lot of goofy sight gags and some silly dialogue. Take, for example, Robotnik’s odd call-out to Alfred Hitchcock. Despite this, the story is full of emotion. Within the same day, Tails has his heart broken by his best friend and mentor, falls in love, and is then betrayed by that love. The kid is having a tough time and, accordingly, acts more like an angsty teenager then his canonical eight years of age. This is my favorite version of Tails. It’s better then the fawning Sonic fanboy he was in the early years or the precocious kid genius he would develop into in time. Instead, he has a sense of agency, frustrated with being treated like a kid. His feelings for Fiona are fairly shallow. After laying sight on her, he’s in wuv. Of course, he’s just infatuated, since this is probably the first female fox he’s ever seen that is close to his own age. In short, Tails acts more like an angry, horny teenager. Which makes him way more interesting then just being Sonic’s sidekick.

Fiona Fox, both the robot and the real version, would kick around the continuity for years without much personality before Ian Flynn turned her into an evil femme fatale. Here, she’s just a prop for Robotnik’s plan and Tails’ affections. Yet it works. Even Dave Manak’s typically exaggerated artwork works, considering this is a story of high emotions.

Though the cover story kind of peters out in a disappointing way, the momentum from the excellent first half and the very good back-up story makes Issue 28 another classic. [8/10]