Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 50

 
Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 50
Publication Date: June 1997

To most long running comic series, fifty issues probably doesn’t seem like that big of a milestone. When you look at the superhero comics that have been running, in one form or another, since the thirties, five years probably isn’t that impressive. If the interviews I’ve read with many of the writers on Archie’s “Sonic the Hedgehog” book are any indication, nobody expected “Sonic” to run for more then a few years, at most. Most licensed books burn out before even hitting thirty. Nobody knew that “Sonic” would still be running nineteen years later, quickly approaching its three-hundredth issue. This is why issue 50 has that number printed in big bold letters on the front cover. It’s why Archie marched out some spiffy, quasi-CGI looking graphics for Spaz’ cover. And it’s why the comic’s writers planned the epic “Endgame” story arc, which could’ve effectively acted as the comic’s final story, to conclude here.

After a brief flashback showing how Julian Kintobor came to stay with the Kingdom of Acorn, the story picks up where it left off. Sonic, Knuckles, and Geoffrey St. John are having a Mexican standoff on the Floating Island. After some more in-fighting, Dulcy proclaims that Sonic is innocent. Everyone else seemingly being aware that dragons can detect truthiness, the heroes march off for Knothole. Quickly freeing them from Robotnik’s occupation, Sonic spots Hershey beating the crap out of Drago. Sonic marches off to Robotropolis, taking the fight to Robotnik. He arrives just in time for the tyrant to activate the Ultimate Annihilator, the weapon that will wipe out Knothole and the Freedom Fighters once and for all.

In its originally published form, “The Big Goodbye” was a somewhat compromised affair. Ken Penders had originally envisioned the story as double-length, running 48 pages long. At the last minute, Archie brass informed him that the tale would be running at the regular length, forcing Ken to quickly abbreviate the script. (The extended, original cut would eventually be published as the sixth Super Sonic Special.) As a result, lots of the story’s background events where cut out and a few genuine plot holes were created. In its published form, we don’t see how Antoine and Bunnie escape Crocbot’s prison in Downunda. We’re left to assume that the Downunda Freedom Fighters successfully escape, Bunnie and Antoine sneaking aboard the ship heading back to Robotropolis. Sonic, Knuckles, and Geoffrey seemingly push back Robotnik’s take-over of Knothole in the span of two pages. In the last act, Sonic says he saw Knothole be destroyed by the Ultimate Annihilator. The reader is left with no idea what he’s talking about, as this event occurs totally off-panel.

If only that was the story’s only problem. Some of the awkward script decisions from the last issue are carried over to this one. After the action-packed conclusion, we are treated to two and a half pages of exposition. First, Rotor explains that Knothole wasn’t destroyed. The effects of the Ultimate Annihilator, damaged during Sonic and Robotnik’s fight, caused the village to shift three hours into the future. This is an awkward, random-ass explanation. Dr. Quack then explains how Robotnik tracked Knothole’s location down, after detecting a signal from Quack’s Dream Machine in Issue 43. In extended detail, he goes on about how the villain abducted the king, replacing him with a robotic double, and blackmailed Quack into assisting him. Somehow, Quack overheard that Snively had sabotaged the weapon so that it would only target Robotnik’s molecular structure. In other words, the Ultimate Annihilator was never a threat to Knothole. Gee whiz, Ken, was that the most elegant way to handle all that?

Inside all this contrived insanity beats the heart of a really good story. Sonic and the reinforcements dropping back into Knothole is a truly triumphant moment. The heroes come back from the edge of oblivion to surge forward and kick some major ass. Following this, Sonic catches Hershey conking Drago on the head, talking about how she was duped. Sonic, his face scrunched up in anger, grumbles out that “We were all duped.” He marches into Robotropolis. He races up to Robotnik’s head-quarters. He tears through the robotic guards, easily avoids the traps, and quickly disposes of Snively.

At this point, the hero and the villain have their final confrontation. Sonic and Robotnik battle in the dictator’s control room. He dodges Robotnik’s laser blasts while the rotund mad scientist uses the cramped room to toss Sonic around. They trade powerful punches. Sonic leaps around the dissolving room, the Ultimate Annihilator taking affect. Sonic doesn’t make any goofy quips. There’s no light-hearted smiles. Sonic has lost everything he cares about while Robotnik is close to his ultimate victory. This is a fight to the death, both combatants letting loose all the pent-up anger they’ve ever felt. Neither cares much about their own safety, as long as the other dies. For long time Sonic fans, this is as epic as can be.

After that extended epilogue full of exposition, “Endgame” pauses to resolve its most important plot point. Least we forget, this story started with Princess Sally taking a big dive off the side of a tall building. Sally’s death would only make Robotnik’s defeat a Pyrrhic victory at best. I’m not a fan of the Comic Book Death, where a character seemingly dies only to return to life later on. Ken’s first plan to revive Sally was originally far more sinister. Sally was going to remain dead while another Auto-Automaton took her place, Sonic only discovering later that his girlfriend had been replaced by a robot. Sega vetoed this plan, hoping to use Sally in future merchandising. (As far as I can tell, this amounted to a puppet musical in a crappy Australian amusement park nobody remembers.) Thus, Sally is revealed to have not died from her fall. Instead, she’s was merely very nearly dead. Dr. Quack hid the truth and stuck her body in a stasis tube, disguised as a memorial. It’s definitely a cheat and a huge one too, especially since this is the first we’ve heard of said stasis tube. The emotional impact of Sally’s apparent death in issue 47 is voided.

 
And yet it almost doesn’t matter. After hearing that Sally isn’t really dead, Sonic races over to her memorial/stasis tube. He opens the door and leans into her still body. He kisses her and whispers that he wishes she’ll come back. Naturally, Sally awakens just then. The two embrace. All is well. The heroes have triumphed, the bad guy is dead, and the lovers are reunited. I’m not made of stone, you motherfuckers. As a life-long Sonic fan, and a nearly as life-long Sonic/Sally shipper, this stuff gets straight to my heart.

Since 50 was the pay-off on five years of storytelling, Archie decided to invite all the series’ major writers and artists to work on the landmark book. Thus, issue 50 shifts artists and writers every few pages. As you’d expect, this does not lead to an especially collected read. Spaz beautifully illustrates Robotnik’s opening flashback, Sonic and the fat man’s final confrontation, and the final page, contributing dynamic and powerful pencils. Manny Galan does a good job illustrating the fight on the Floating Island. Nelson Ortega does better then his last time at bat, Robotnik’s villainous shouting and Knuckles dive into Knothole looking pretty good. Sam Maxwell contributes a fantastic middle-of-the-book spread of the heroes wrecking some SWATBots. His later work, of Sonic running into Robotnik’s lair, is a bit incoherent though.

Art Mawhinney handles the epilogue and Sonic and Sally’s reunion. Considering emotion has always been his strength, it’s a good choice. Even Dave Manak’s work isn’t too bad, as his cartoon exaggeration works well for how pissed off Sonic and Hershey are on those pages. Only Ken Penders’ pencils stick out as bad. His shots of Sonic running look incredibly static. Was switching between artists a good idea? Probably not but at least most everyone is at the top of their game.

(The switch between writers – which includes Penders, Mike Gallagher, Scott Fulop and the debut of future head writer Karl Bollers – is less noticeable. You can mostly guess who's writing what by how cocky Sonic is acting. I bet everyone was mostly sticking to Ken’s outline here.)

“Endgame” remains controversial among Sonic aficionados. Some people hate the whole damn thing for toying with fans’ emotions. Other despise it out of residual Penders hatred. Others love the story arc, considering it the most epic story ever told in the “Sonic” book. Obviously, it leaves me with a lot to talk about, seeing as how I’ve rambled on about issue 50 for 1447 words now. In my opinion, the story starts off extremely strong, handling an emotional topic in an appropriately heavy way. Its plot ends up eating itself midway through, the contrivances quickly piling up. Still, “Endgame” delivers some incredibly satisfying, awesome moments. (And issue 50 is improved in its extended version.) While Penders and pals stumble a bit with the details, he still successfully delivered an epic conclusion to the book’s first five years. [7/10]