Sonic Super Special: Issue 15 – Naugus Games

Sonic Super Special: Issue 15 – Naugus Games
Publication Date: November 2000

Times change. This days, the Archie Sonic fandom seems single three Ken Penders’ stories out to piss on the most: “Sonic Live!,” “Endgame,” and the Image crossover. I’m not exempt from this, as I’ve also raked those stories over the coals. Back in the day, though, one particular issue of “Sonic” was the most reviled, one that happened to come from Ken’s pen. And whatever the opposite of hype is isn’t wrong either. The final issue of “Sonic Super Special,” generally referred to as “Naugus Games,” may very well be the worst “Sonic” comic ever published.

Hardcore continuity nerds usually place this story at some point after “Endgame” but before Dr. Eggman seized Mobotropolis again. Sonic runs up to the Southern Tundra solo, to the former spot of Nate Morgan’s fortress. He has returned to this inhospitable location for one reason: To pay final respects to Eddy the Yeti, who sacrificed himself to save Sonic’s life back in issue 66. While approaching the yeti’s final resting place, Sonic falls through the snow. He stumbles upon a cache of Nate’s remaining power rings. Upon picking one up, he accidentally summons Ixis Naugus back from the Negative Zone. The two fight for several minutes before the evil wizard is vanquished once again. That’s it.

The “Sonic Super Special” quarterly has been barely hanging on for a while. Issue 12 had a forgettable cover story. Issue 14 was incredibly lame. Even issue 13, the much hyped “Sonic Adventure” adaptation, was poor. So it’s no surprise that issue 15 would be the final issue in the series. You’d think the company would want to take the series out on a high note. After all, it was called “Sonic Super Special.” The opposite, it turns out, is true. No effort was expended on “Naugus Games.” Nobody gave a shit about this book, pushing out a shoddy product to a faithful fan base, who handed out their money none the wiser.

The bullshit began at the scripting phase. It probably took Ken all of ten minutes to shit out “Naugus Games.” Two whole pages are spent recapping Naugus’ last appearance. Sonic accidentally releases Naugus from his prison. This should’ve been a big deal. After all, the wizard is one of the Freedom Fighters’ most dangerous adversaries. Instead, the two play in the snow for a few minutes, Sonic getting under the wizard’s skin with childish name-calling. At the end, he blasts Naugus back into the other dimension. In other words, there’s no stakes to this story. It ends without exerting any effect on the character’s world. The story might as well have never happened. It comes and goes, without purpose or meaning.

As pure shit as the writing is, “Naugus Games” is most notorious for its artwork. An entity calling itself “Many Hands” – presumably a pseudonym, one hopes – takes credit for drawing this thing. It starts out looking not so bad. That first page of Sonic hanging out on a snowy cliff is mildly striking. The artwork, however, quickly degrades. Sonic goes off-model throughout, becoming taller or skinnier, shorter or fatter, his head and hand changing shape. When Naugus reappears, the artwork totally goes to hell. The wizard looks terrible, a quickly scribbled mass of purple muscles, teeth and claw, cape and horn. Even poor Eddy the Yeti doesn’t escape untouched. He appears in the final panel, a shadow from heaven smiling down approvingly. Except he looks like a hunchback.

Of course, this is discussing the pages when Many Hands actually bothered to draw the characters. On page four, Sonic falls through a hole in the ice, dropping into a pitch black cave. He spends nearly four whole pages stumbling around in the dark. Only his eyes are visible, against solid black panels. After a brief scuffle with Naugus, the wizard casts up a huge snowstorm. Practically every panel on the next six pages are filled up with a generic snow pattern. So half the comic is either pure blackness or looks like Christmas wrapping paper. They charged two dollars and forty nine cents for this. Three dollars of my hard earn allowance went to this. Yeah, I was pissed.

The quality only perks up slightly for the back-up story. “Sonic Spin City” begins with the hedgehog smashing some SWATBots during a rainy day in Robotropolis. From the remains, he grabs a matchbook for Rusty’s, a bar apparently catering to robots. Stepping inside, he finds it full of old enemies. Luckily, they’re distracted when a dancing girl comes out on stage. This girl, however, is Bunnie in disguise. Why Bunnie is undercover, Michael Gallagher’s script never explains. Anyway, Sonic grabs the rabbit, wrecks the machines, and the entire bar blows up. Apparently the entire mission was an ill-planned trap on Robotnik’s behalf.

The plot synopsis above didn’t illustrate the obvious. “Sonic Spin City” is a parody of Frank Miller’s “Sin City.” Miller’s grizzled, explicit, black and white comic series is well known today, thanks to two film adaptations. Back in 2000, the series was unknown outside of comic nerd circles. So it’s unlikely the target audience would’ve been familiar with the R-rated series. I certainly wasn’t. (Though I did get that Gallagher was goofing on film noir stereotypes.) I have no idea why Gallagher targeted the series, though it certainly wasn’t the first time the comic referenced something outside the core demographic’s knowledge.

As a parody, “Sonic Spin City” is fairly shallow. The artwork, provided by Gallagher himself, is pretty damn iffy. The robots in Rusty’s look very sketchy. Gallagher, at least, knows what Sonic looks like. He also does an okay job of replicating Miller’s hard-boiled writing and black and white inking. The story is completely pointless though and Bunnie’s stint as an exotic dancer is not well realized. Nor her proudest moment. It’s dumb, not especially clever as parody, and easily forgotten.

In short, there’s just no reason at all to read issue 15 of “Sonic Super Special.” The cover story is barely a story while the back-up is a relatively useless goof. I am confident in calling it Archie’s worst “Sonic” comic. It’s a shame that the Sonic Super Special had to die such an inglorious death, as the quarterly had promise in the beginning. Following the side series end, Archie wouldn’t publish another one shot special for sixteen years. Then again, a shit sandwich like “Naugus Games” will do that to you. [2/10]