Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 31

 
Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 31
Publication Date: December 1995

If this blog hasn’t made it immediately clear, I have a real love/hate relationship with Ken Penders. I’m not even talking about the whole lawsuit thing, that would bring down the series’ entire continuity years later. Even before then, he was a hit-and-miss talent. As a writer, the guy cooked up most of the series’ mythology, writing many of the series’ best stories in its early years. However, he was prone to lame dialogue and an over-reliance on exposition, prolonged “mysteries,” and belabored build-up. And as an artist… Yeah, he’s not a great artist. (Defying common sense, he’s actually gotten worse with age.) Penders draws and writes most of Issue 31 and it doesn’t reflect his best work.

The “Princess Sally” mini-series was one of Ken’s babies and “A Robot Rides the Rails,” 31’s cover story, feels like it was conceived as a follow-up to that mini-series. Sally embarks on a solo mission, tracking down a train containing Robotnik’s latest mechanical weapon. When the Freedom Fighters realize she’s run off on her own, Sonic and company immediately race to catch up with her. Sally’s not alone though, it turns out. Geoffrey St. John, also on a mission to destroy the machine, is on the train as well. Soon enough, Sally and both her suitors run afoul of the Dynamac-3000.

Just on a pure plotting level, there’s nothing wrong with “A Robot Rides the Rails.” It’s a fairly straight forward “robot of the week” (month?) story. It gains some novelty by giving Sally the lead role. Some early, catty dialogue between herself and NICOLE is a high-light, the computer slowly developing a personality. Tossing Geoffrey St. John and Sonic into the same story is a nice touch, as it brings that love triangle into the forefront. Luckily, the script doesn’t let that element overwhelm the plot. Geoffrey and Sonic trade some barbs and nasty looks but don’t let their squabbles get in the way of the mission.

Unfortunately, the story has a lot of other problems. “A Robot Rides the Rails” is real heavy on the awkward exposition. NICOLE, Rotor, and St. John all prattle on about the plot. In one sequence, NICOLE discusses the robot’s weakness, bringing the story’s pacing to a violent halt. Despite its train setting, the story lacks forward momentum. It truly feels like a collection of random encounters at time, the cast stumbling through the story with the thinnest of objectives. By pushng the Freedom Fighters to the sidelines, focusing only on the most powerful members of the team, it drains the plot of any danger. The Dynamac-3000 is not a compelling threat. It’s a lame Transformer rip-off, that awkward changes shape, never seemingly threatens the bad guys, and is easily taken out. Geoffrey’s men, winkingly named Dolph and Jean-Claude, show up right at the end to blow up the robot. Lame.

As for the artwork… Jesus Christ, the artwork. It’s not flat-out terrible. The characters are mostly on-model and it’s always clear what’s going on. It’s just so incredibly flat. There’s no sense of movement, action, energy, or speed. Look at when the robot burst from the top of the train, Sonic gets zapped by a stray laser, or any time he attacks the machine. It’s just so fucking dull to look at. Even the characters look bored half the time. Rotor’s eyes are half-opened as the plane approaches the train! Moreover, Penders makes some rookie mistakes. His perspective work is off. In one panel, Sonic looks like a giant and Rotor looks tiny. His path of direction isn’t always clear. When Geoffrey fires a net gun at the Dynamac-3000, the projectile seemingly changes direction in mid-air! His posing is usually awkward, such as when Sally touches down on the train on the first page, seemingly dislocating her pelvis.

 

Just when you think its over… We get more Penders’ artwork! “Lost… and Found! Part 1” is a totally useless story. Stretching on for all of two pages, it picks up where “The Hunt is On!” from “Knuckles’ Chaotix” started. Knuckles wanders through a desolate desert, thinks about his friends, while someone watches him, ominously talking about his destiny. Jesus, Ken, just get to the point already. How long have you been stretching out this Archemedes business? The art is flat and indistinct. This story is useless and I don’t know why it’s in the book.

Luckily, Art Mawhinney and Mike Gallagher arrive to add some life to this issue. As I’ve previously mentioned, Archie was clearly eager to launch a spin-off from their “Sonic” series. Even though the “Knuckles” book would be getting a test-run soon enough, they still gave the most unexpected of characters a solo back-up story: Rotor! In “Tundra Road,” Rotor receives a message from a radio that’s been inactive for years. He hears the voice of his mother, coming from Mobius’ frozen north. He jumps in his submarine, heads for the Arctic, and finds that Robotnik has hypnotized his entire family and all the other walruses in the area. The tyrant plans to use the walrus slaves to build a huge freeze ray.

After several pages of dull Penders’ artwork, Art Mawhinney’s expressive, animated work is so desperately needed. When Mawhinney started drawing the book, his pencils beautifully replicated the look of the SatAM series. By now, he’s developed his own style, that’s rooted in the series’ established look but more expressive and detailed. Check out the block-headed Icebots or Rotor’s beany-clad little brother. His gift for facial expressions really comes in handy, in-between Robotnik’s angry scowling and Rotor’s shock. The plot, meanwhile, is rooted in honest emotional, as Rotor seeks to protect his family. In other words, it’s personal.

In short, the cover story and first back-up are both pretty lame while the secondary back-up makes up for a lot of those flaws. Still, I don’t feel comfortable giving book #31 more then a [5/10.]