Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 87

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 87
Publication Date: August 2000

For issue 87, Danny Fingeroth and Sam Maxwell return to finish the story arc they started last time. Sonic quickly recovers from the sucker punch Metal Sonic delivered. As he races towards Mt. Mobius, to rescue the bound Tails, his robotic counterpart continues to attack him. Despite the villain throwing his best at him, Sonic continues to fight. He successfully rescues Tails but this fight isn’t over just yet. The hero has to face down the villain over the boiling caldera of an active volcano, ready to erupt.

“Heart of the Hedgehog” shows what really defines Sonic as a hero. Even with all the heroics the hedgehog gets up to, the book rarely tried to explore what really makes him tick. Fingeroth writes Sonic as willing to risk everything for his friend’s sake. He doesn’t just pay lip service to this idea.

Instead, the writer emphasizes the hero’s skills by contrasting him with the villain’s personality. The two have their snarky wit and super speed in common. Metal Sonic, however, is sadistic and selfish. He outright admits that watching Sonic suffer pleases him. Metal Sonic considers friendship and personal connections to be a weakness, something to exploit. Sonic, by the end, proves to him that this isn’t true. A “Power of Friendship” Aesop sounds corny but Fingeroth pulls it off, strengthening Sonic and Metal Sonic’s personality at the same time.

Issue 87 also functions nicely as an action story. Metal Sonic deploys more traps. Sonic gets trapped in a metal net. The two hedgehogs race each other, zooming around the forest. Sonic laps around the buzz saw blades his robotic nemesis fires. There are laser beams aplenty. The action is fast paced but that’s not the only reason I like it. This iteration of Metal Sonic actually is faster and stronger then the real deal. Compared to how easily Sonic stomped Silver Sonic two issues ago, it’s nice to see the hero actually be challenged by a physically superior enemy. This means the hedgehog can’t just rely on his speed. He has to use his fast wit too.

I guess if “Heart of the Hedgehog” has a major weakness, it’s how Fingeroth sidelines Tails. The flying fox spends nearly all of issue 87 pinned to a mountain side, a sidekick in distress. Yet the writer largely overcomes this problem by refocusing on the two’s friendship at the end. Sonic risks his life to rescue Tails. As the duo is encircled by the lava, and pinned down by Metal Sonic, Tails stays by his friend’s side. He’s willing to fight beside him until the end, showing that the team’s devotion is mutual. Considering “Heart of the Hedgehog” started with Tails doubting his own abilities, it’s great that Fingeroth returned to the fox’s heroic development at the end.

This version of Metal Sonic is a pretty great villain, a nearly unstoppable smart-ass with a psychotic drive to destroy Sonic. After building up the robot as a great baddie, Fingeroth pulls an unexpected twist: He redeems him. Metal Sonic is so moved by Tails’ willingness to die for his friend, that his robotic heart grows three sizes that day. He questions why he wants to kill Sonic so much, realizing he’s a slave to his programming. He learns the value of organic life. So much that, instead of letting Sonic and Tails die, he sacrifices himself to make sure they get to safety. It’s a potentially cheesy twist – sadistic bad guy turned good by the power of friendship – but Fingeroth pulls it off, ending “Heart of the Hedgehog” on both a cool action beat and a nice emotional moment.

Artwork wise, Sam Maxwell contributes some of his most disciplined work yet. He leaves a lot of his abstract style behind, the characters having clear designs that stay within. Instead, he adds more details to the characters and backgrounds. The shots of Sonic leaping around the flowing lava are especially memorable. The action scenes have an awesome speed and energy to them. His facial expressions are pretty great too, especially Metal Sonic’s visible aggravation as he pushes back the walls of lava.

The back-up story, meanwhile, continues to function under the mistaken belief that people give a shit about Monkey Khan. After being locked up by Robotnik, the mechanical tyrant attempts to regain control of Khan. He easily escapes, wrecks Eggman’s forces, and destroys his factory. That’s because Frank Strom refuses to actually challenge his pet character. Khan escapes because of a shitty deus ex machina, his power ring headband protecting him. He mocks and destroys Robotnik’s Shadow-Bots with ease, before tricking them into blowing up the base. In other words, a stupid side character easily defeats the main villain, mostly because of how innately awesome he is. That’s not how you build dramatic tension, Frank.

In addition to the ridiculously thin and shitty script, there’s a pretty huge continuity error at the center of “Against the Haunted Past.” Robotnik keeps going on about how he made Monkey Khan, how angry he is that he escaped… Except this Robotnik - Robo-Robotnik or Eggman or whatever you prefer to call him - didn’t make or imprison Monkey Khan. That’s just another example of Strom’s shoddy writing.

His script is full of corny clichés and ridiculous dialogue. The following lines of dialogue are deployed: “Good Gravy!” “I eat guys like this for breakfast!” “That’s my cue to vamoose!” In-between the unstoppable hero humiliating the main villain and Strom’s utterly inane dialogue, his Monkey Khan stories continue to play like amateur fan fiction.

“Heart of the Hedgehog” is only a brief two-parter near the beginning of a long, not-great period in the comic’s history. Yet fans remember this one well. Metal Sonic v2.5 would prove to be such a fan hit, that the character would return as a hero. Granted, it would be 151 issues and a major writer change before that happened but still. Even when paired with some typically shitty Monkey Khan stories, “Heart of the Hedgehog” is a damn good story arc, combining character, action, and heart to great effect. [8/10]