Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 35

 
Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 35
Publication Date: March 1996

I mentioned before how I would sometimes grab “Sonic” comics from my local Martin’s grocery store. Issue 35 is another one I remember buying in that place. It’s eye-catching cover immediately drew my attention. By this point, Patrick Spaziante’s cover artwork had become a regular presence in the series. No matter the quality of the artwork inside, Spaz always guaranteed that the outside of the book looked great. The story inside issue 35 is as about as experimental as a Sonic story ever could get.

While being chased by Robotnik, Sonic gets struck and looses his rings. He races off and grabs another ring, which is apparently his One Billionth Power Ring. This feat teleports him to an alternate dimension lorded over by the Ancient Walkers. The immortal beings pose questions to Sonic, hinting at the mystical origins of the Power Rings and their link to the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic, meanwhile, is hoping to get out of the strange place with his body intact.

Recently, I’ve been focusing on Ken Penders’ attempts to expand the Sonic world’s mythology. Yet, slowly and less flashy, Mike Gallagher has been adding his own elements to Mobius’ back story. “Ring of Truth” shows him continuing to deepen that mythology. We get another appearance from the Ancient Walkers, those mysterious, omniscient knowers of secrets. This time, they actually speak, their words echoing over the pages in bright colors. This story confirms what the “Super Sonic vs. Hyper Knuckles” one-shot proposed: The Power Rings and Chaos Emeralds are connected… Somehow. Despite a promise that this mystery would be explored further soon, it would take years before this quarry was settled. When the origin was revealed – that a human scientist created one from the other – the reveal was disappointing, to say the least.

“Ring of Truth’ seems slightly confused as well. In the video games, Sonic gathers Power Rings as life insurance. As long as he’s still holding onto one, he’ll survive otherwise lethal blows to his body. In the Saturday morning cartoon show that would inspire the comic, Sonic would use the Power Rings – created there by his Uncle Chuck – to give himself a temporary speed boost. The comics, meanwhile, tend to constantly change what the rings can do. Sometimes they give Sonic some extra speed. Other times they’re just an indistinct power source. Occasionally, they operate like they do in the games. “Ring of Truth” definitely seems most focused on the games’ style. The story begins with Sonic being chased by Robotnik, swinging the wrecking ball he used at the end of the Green Hill Zone. Sonic gets struck and looses his rings, a common occurrence in the games but something that’s never happened before in the comic. Gallagher just seems to be tossing different elements from different continuities into this book, leading to some confusion for this reader.

“Ring of Truth” is still fun, just because of how defiantly off-the-walls it is. The zone Sonic finds himself in is pretty wild. He flies through the air, through a tunnel of rings, until he encounters the Pterodactyl Ancient Walker. He is then lifted into the air by a pillar of land, created by the One Billionth Ring. He falls into a sea of Chaos Emeralds, is nearly drawn by a torrent of Power Ring Chains, and finds himself climbing upside down in another weird space. Lastly, he’s racing through the Power Ring as it morphs into an infinitely looping figure eight. Though there are some goofball puns in the script, Gallagher mostly restrains his tendencies. One joke, where the Ancient Walker’s request of one question is bluntly answered, even got a chuckle out of me. Mostly, the story creates lots of opportunities for odd-ball images. Dave Manak’s pencils are fine but imagine what Art Mawhinney or Spaz could have done with these ideas.

The cover story isn’t the only one building on the book’s mythology. The Ken Penders written-and-drawn Knuckles back-up story continues to fill in the history of echidna civilization. Several generations after the Floating Island took to the sky, the residents debate ways to return the land mass to the ground. Knuckles’ great-grandfather x10 Edmund, and Edmund’s hot-headed brother Dimitri, create a device called the Chaos Siphon. It is capable of slowing draining the power from the gems, thus slowly lowering the land mass. This plan, however, is vetoed by the Echidna authorities. Dimitri steals the Siphon, draining the power from six of the seven Emeralds. He absorbs into his person, being reborn as a massively powerful entity.

Penders is laying the groundwork for the upcoming “Knuckles the Echidna” mini-series here. What we’re seeing is the origin of Enerjak, a character who would soon emerge as Knuckles’ archenemy. There’s something mythic and comic-book-y about Dimitri fall from grace. How his transformation into a supervillain had good intention, how he was brought down by his own hubris. That the echidnas were working on a way of lowering the Floating Island is interesting, since they otherwise seem content to float in the sky. Sadly, just as this story is really picking up steam, Penders runs out of pages. This dialogue is typically flowery and stilted. His artwork is just passable, though the Echidna Magistrate looks seriously silly in that white powdered wig. Overlooking the expected flaws of the artist and writer, this isn’t a bad story.

And Issue 35 isn’t a bad issue. It had more potential, in both of the stories, but overall I enjoyed re-reading this one. [6/10]