Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 52

 
Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 52
Publication Date: August 1997

As I said in my review of issue 51, the post-“Endgame” world of “Sonic the Hedgehog” wouldn’t truly be established until the “Brave New World” one-shot. Essentially, the book was just passing time with stories that had no further effect on the plot or world. While “Reality Bytes” in issue 51 wasn’t satisfying for anyone, issue 52’s “The Discovery Zone” is a fun Elseworlds style story, a light-hearted distraction much needed after the seriousness of the “Endgame” arc.

Sonic is teaching Tails how to keep up with him by using his tails as speed-boosting propellers, as in the video games. While running through the newly freed Mobian countryside, they see something very strange: An uninhabited zoot suit walking through the air. Sonic follows the suit into a cave and is teleported into an alternate universe. In this black-and-white film noir world, Sonic is a private detective living in a city occupied by Robotnik’s forces. He meets up with Sally, a singer in a night club and secretly the leader of le résistance. She hires Sonic to retrieve Nicole but the hedgehog is soon more deeply involved in the rebellion.

“The Discovery Zone” was written by Tom Rolston. Rolston previously contributed the off-tone and out-of-character “The Map” in the “Battle Royal” special. With this story, Rolston is placing the established characters into an entirely new context. So it’s all right if his characterization is a little loose. “The Discovery Zone” is a straight-ahead action story, focused on Sonic retrieving Nicole. It has a smooth plot construction. Sonic meets with Sally and gets his mission objective. He fights off some robots and grabs Nicole. After making it back to the nightclub, Robotnik corners him and the Princess. Using a Power Ring, he smashes Robotnik’s bots and the two escape. As they’re waiting for Sally’s plane to come in, she talks the hedgehog into joining the rebellion. It won’t win any awards but there’s something to be said for such smooth, easy story construction.

The “Sonic” cast members also work surprisingly well when plugged into a film noir storyline. “The Discovery Zone” is obviously inspired by “Casablanca,” though only loosely. The female lead owns the night club, for just the most prominent difference. Also, he gets on the plane with her at the end. This would totally negate the point if “The Discovery Zone” was a straight adaptation of “Casablanca.” Instead, it merely has fun by slotting the “Sonic” cast into the stereotypes of the film noir. Sally is the sexy femme fatale, Sonic is the private dick, Robotnik is the evil dictator (in other words, the role he always plays), and Uncle Chuck is the informant. Really, Chuck is the only part that doesn’t work, as his ability to have all the answers is slightly tiresome. I do like the touch of Chuck appearing on a video watch, which is a nice homage to “Dick Tracy.”

The action is fairly solid. Sonic whacks a quartet of robots, all of whom have heads from famous pop culture robots. That’s right, dear readers. Crow T. Robot, Tom Servo, R2D2, and the “Lost in Space” robot have cameos in a “Sonic” comic. After the Power Rings have been infused with so much mystic doo-da in the comics recently, it’s fun to see an issue where Sonic just uses them for a temporary power boost.

Manny Galan’s artwork is… Well, not bad. By this point, Galan was already the regular artist on the “Knuckles” book and regularly doing fine work. Here, it’s clear he still doesn’t have a total grasp on the Knothole cast. It’s not that any one is ever off-model. It’s just that everything is slightly stiff. While Galan showed a talent for action and facial expressions in the “Knuckles” book, here the movement is slightly awkward and the expression are a little weird. I do like the grey scale coloring in this issue though. That helps really sell the film noir environment.

 
Also included in this issue is a short back-up story called “First Contact.” This story marks the first time the book really tries to established the post-‘Endgame” world. In it, Sally uses Robotnik’s still-existing satellite network to contact other Freedom Fighter groups around the planet. This is a fine basis for the story, since it’s already been established that there are multiple other guerilla groups around Mobius. However, instead of just uniting the other rebels, Sally warns them about what is quickly becoming my least favorite new plot device: “Zones,” portals to alternate realities. The world is still feeling the effect of the Ultimate Annihilator and this is making all sorts of weird shit happen. After telling them this, Sally looses the signal and the story ends.

Having the Ultimate Annihilator shake up Mobius’ dimensional walls was such a lazy way to generate new stories. First off, what the hell was the Ultimate Annihilator suppose to do anyway, other then ultimately annihilate Knothole? How the hell did it result in all this weird shit? This story clarifies that Knothole, for some damn reason, is still stuck three hours into the future. WHY?

 
Aside from that, “First Contact” doesn’t contribute much. It spends two pages summarizing “Endgame,” for one thing. Mostly, it allows for some cameos from other characters. Among Knuckles, Walt Wallabe, and Sealia the Sea are Pollo the Bear from “SatAM” and a character that looks all the world like Mina Mongoose, someone who wouldn’t be officially introduced for a while longer. Canon-wise, we’re just supposed to discard this early appearance of Mina, the same way we ignore all those cameos of Bean and Bark Spaz sneaked into the book. Aside from some gorgeous Art Mawhinney artwork, “First Contact” is disposable.

The cover story is a goofy lark, though a fun one. The back-up story is fairly useless. I suppose issue 52 evens out to a [7/10.]