Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 101

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 101
Publication Date: September 2001

Around the time issue 100 of Archie’s “Sonic the Hedgehog” series was published, the fandom was abuzz with speculation. On his website, Ken Penders had promised that a new villain would be debuting in the comic around this time. People wondered who this could be. Would it be the newly debuted Shadow the Hedgehog, whose name we didn’t even know when that announcement was made? Would an entirely new character appear? Or would, as had been rumored for a while now, Knuckles become a villain? The last, and least interesting possibility, turned out to be true. As you’d imagine, Knuckles’ heel turn was short lived. Issue 101 is one of the few times the echidna’s newly acquired villainy was relevant at all.

Following the Freedom Fighters’ escape from Robotropolis last time, Sonic and the others wonder what happened to Nate Morgan. Before they can figure that out, weird shit starts going down. Sonic and the others are suddenly displaced across different dimensions. They stay inside these strange places for a few minutes before being zapped into a new one. This continues for a while and then it stops.

“Altered States” is a potentially interesting idea. Momentarily displacing Sonic and friends into different realities could’ve been fun. And, some times, it sort of is. Sonic and Tails first leap into the world from the Japanese OVA series. Meaning they fight Metal Robotnik, they long to rescue the humanoid Princess Sara, and Knuckles wears a bitchin’ Crocodile Dundee hat. Another zone they zip into is right out of SatAM. Robotnik is sporting his original design while Sonic and Sally are on a routine mission. It’s interesting to visit these other continuities, especially the OVA which the comic had yet to acknowledge up to this point. (Sega, who didn’t want to reference the OVA for licensing reasons, was quite annoyed that Archie did this.)

Some of the other realities Sonic enters are classical “What if?” situations. The first one shows what life would be like if Warlord Julian’s coup had been prevented. Sally would be marrying Knuckles, Elias would’ve returned to Mobotropolis years earlier, but Jules would still be a robot. Another dimension jump shows a world where Sally really did die during “Endgame.” Both of these scenarios have emotional potential. In the first world, Sonic wonders why Sally chose the Guardian over him. Essentially, one childhood friend wonders why another childhood friend graduated to romantic love interest. In the other reality, the Freedom Fighters grapple with the death of their Princess. Sadly, the sequences are so short-lived that there’s no time to properly explore these set-ups.

Worst yet, these leaps through other dimensions have no effect on the prime zone. The Freedom Fighters get tossed into other timelines, without reason, and then get zapped back. The question of “how” isn’t provided in the story itself, the explanation waiting for the back-up story. This leaves readers confused. The question of “why” is even more elusive. The only consequences these sneaks into other dimensions leave behind is Sonic learning that Nate Morgan is dead. In other words, the entire cover story has been a huge waste of time.

In the back pages, Ken’s Knuckles-centric epic continues to roll on ever so slowly. It begins with Julie-Su asking why the hell Knuckles agreed to join the Dark Legion. This is a good question! Knuckles’ answer is that Dimitri may be more forthcoming with explanations then the Brotherhood, which says more about how needlessly evasive Knuckles' dad than how reasonable a supervillain like Dimitri is. When Knuckles asks the Legion leader what the extent of his power is, Dimitri informs him that it’s potentially limitless. The young Guardian immediately attempts to travel back in time and change history. It doesn’t work.

If there’s one lesson we’ve learned from Knuckles’ on-going plot – other than Ken sucks at telling a long story – it’s that Knuckles has no idea what he’s doing. Once Knuckles learns that his Chaos Powers allow him to do almost anything, he doesn’t attempt to escape the Legion and free the Floating Island. Instead, he goes back in time. Way back in time, to before Echidnaopolis floated into the sky. This is apparently why everything went crazy in the cover story, though it’s far from a satisfying explanation. If Knuckles is seemingly so powerful, I don’t know why he doesn’t just force Dimitri to give him the answers he craves. Why is he screwing around?

The writing is still clumsy but the artwork is better. For the first time, Archie recruited a “Sonic” fan artist to work on the main book. Dawn Best would soon be followed by J. Axer and, eventually, the team of Ian Flynn and Tracy Yardley. Best’s artwork isn’t perfect, as Knuckles still looks kind of awkward in a few panels. But it’s certainly a big improvement over Ken Penders and Ron Lim’s pencils. Best’s Lien-Da looks awesome and she creates a few memorable panels. Such as Knuckles tumbling to ground after his first time travel attempt goes wrong. Sadly, Archie would waste Best’s talents, rarely allowing her to show off.

Archie also chose this issue to start debuting the Sega Data Files. These were short profiles about characters and places. I suspect they were added to bring new readers up to speed, since they mostly tell long-time readers stuff we already know. Archie would release several of these Data Files but quickly forget about the concept. As for issue 101, its cover story is interesting but totally useless while its back story continues to frustrate. It’s not going to get better any time soon. [4/10]