Sonic Triple Trouble

Sonic Triple Trouble
Publication Date: August 1995

For a brief glorious period in the early nineties, Sega’s Genesis (Or Megadrive, to you limey bastards) was a genuine rival to the Super Nintendo. At one point, Sega was even outselling Nintendo. However, there was one area where Sega always trailed behind: The portable market. Yes, kids, before everyone had a phone that could play hundreds of games, we had to rely on batteries and hand-held systems if we wanted to carry our video entertainment with us. Despite being in color instead of gray and green, the Sega Game Gear never came close to matching the Game Boy in terms of sales or popularity. Some blame this on the shorter battery life and bulkier size. I think the lack of a solid game library had just as much to do with it. There were many Sonic games for the Game Gear, including ports of 1, 2, “Sonic Spinball,” and console-exclusive games like “Sonic Chaos” and “Sonic Drift.” However, the only one I can recall seeing much advertising for was “Sonic Triple Trouble.” I can definitely recall seeing a television commercial for it and, not long after that, Archie would publish a comic tying in with the new game.

Like most of Archie’s early game tie-ins, the 48-page special “Sonic Triple Trouble” doesn’t bother adapting the game’s plot very much. The game’s plot has Sonic and Tails on a fetch quest, trying to gather Chaos Emeralds formally owned by Robotnik. Meanwhile, the villain has duped Knuckles, once again, into fighting against the heroes. Nack the Weasel, a third-party mercenary, is also thrown into the mix. The comic does introduce Nack and has Sonic and Knuckles coming to blows but the similarities otherwise end there. The comic briefly tosses the game’s different areas into a mid-comic zip through a Game Zone.
 
Robotnik’s latest attempts to power a machine with a Chaos Emerald goes horribly wrong when the device explodes. The emerald is shattered in two. One shard is magnetically drawn to the Emerald on the Floating Island. If the two gems should met, a massive explosion with result. The mad scientist pays Nack to track down the emeralds. Sonic and Knuckles, meanwhile, both pursue the shards, each hoping to find them before the villains do.

This main story, obnoxiously entitled “Tttriple Tttrouble,” is fairly middling. However, I do like how it continues to expand the Sonic universe’s mythology. It introduces Nack into the Sonic rogue’s gallery. While the character would never become a major player, he continues to show up regularly to this day. In this issue, we even see the bounty hunter get the best of Sonic, knocking him out with a laser blast and shoving him in his truck. He’s a different sort of bad guy and a welcomed addition.

When one of the Chaos Emeralds crashes into the ground, we see the creation of a Game Zone, which is sort of neat. The issue also introduces the Ancient Walkers, a trio of mysterious sorcerers. While some fans dismiss these guys, I’ve always liked them. I mean, they’re dinosaurs in Tiki masks! How am I not supposed to love that? Here, they show up, drop some exposition on Knuckles, perform some magic juju, and then show up at the end to wrap up the story’s loose ends. They’re not great character or anything but they serve a purpose.

My least favorite element of this story is Sonic and Knuckles getting into another fight. At least the book doesn’t emulate the game and have Knuckles get duped by Robotnik for a third time. Instead, the fight the two get into it is simply a misunderstanding, the two hot-headed heroes colliding during a bad moment. Sure, there’s always a certain novelty in watching these two rumble. However, it’s beginning to lose its freshness. By this point, Sonic and Knuckles should recognize each other as good guys. Mike Gallagher’s script is actually fine from a story perspective, rolling along at a decent pace and keeping things focused. However, he continues to pack the dialogue full of cheesy puns. Sonic actually makes a quip about “The agony of de feet!” while kicking Knuckles in the face. Sheesh. Dave Manak’s pencils are okay but Knuckles definitely goes off-model in a couple of panels.

The two back-up stories follow the cover story’s lead by expanding the comic’s universe. “Submersible Rehearsal” stars Tails. Rotor has built Tails a small, personal submarine called the Sea Fox. (The vehicle appeared in the Triple Trouble game and would play a bigger role in the next year’s “Tails Adventure,” also on the Game Gear.) Tails is excited by the vehicle but, on Sally’s orders, Rotor refuses to give Tails’ fuel. Soon, the frustrated fox stumbles onto a Robotnik plot involving an underwater roboticizer base and a new henchman called Octobot.

“Submersible Rehearsal” is basically a test-run for the Tails’ mini-series Archie would be premiering soon. Like that series, the story mostly focuses on Tails’ frustration with his role on the team. Considering the fox’s earliest characterization revolved solely around a fawning admiration for Sonic, it’s nice to see him break out a little. Octobot is not an especially well-liked character. Even Ian Flynn would mock him in-universe years later. However, as an underwater adversary for Tails, he serves his purpose here. Tails’ preteen-age angst over his role as Sonic’s sidekick and the underwater angle adds some spice to what would otherwise be a standard story. Art Mawhinney draws and, as expected, does fine work.

The last story, “First Contact,” is another Penders’ penned tale about Knuckles. After rescuing the Floating Island’s resident jack-ass Vector the Crocodile, Knuckles discovers a strange name carved into a rock: Archimedes. He follows the signs, rumbling with a pair of robots, before stumbling into the Chaos Chamber where a mysterious voice speaks to him. That’s it.

“First Contact” is a direct follow-up to “Fire Drill,” the Knuckles’ back-up that appeared in “Sonic & Knuckles.” There’s not much to the story, as it revolves around Knuckles simply encountering a series of characters, some friendlier then others. (While Archimedes and Vector would become important supporting characters, the brainless cockatoo Catweazle thankfully would not.) Like “Fire Drill,” it’s merely more build-up and foreshadowing to the events and backstory Penders would expound upon in Knuckles’ solo books. It’s the kind of overly mysterious padding and narrative wheel-spinning that Penders’ critics frequently yell about. At least the dialogue isn’t too bad.

Ken also draws the story. The artwork is… Eeeeh, not bad. Knuckles definitely gets a little squishy in a few frames. Penders’ artwork has the bad habit of looking worst the longer you stare at it. His depiction of the Lumberjack robot is especially awful, the robot not being much more then a vague blue shape. His backgrounds continue to be flat. Still, it’s not awful. It serves its purpose. Looking at it doesn’t make me angry, like future work Penders would do does.

“Triple Trouble” is probably something Archie Sonic fans definitely need to read, as it introduces many characters and concepts that would become more important later on. It’s not a bad book but, where it not for the expansion of the cast, would probably be very forgettable. Just like the video game it was meant to promote, it’s not awful but certainly doesn’t feel like a big event. [7/10]