Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 97

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 97
Publication Date: May 2001

Issue 97 of “Sonic the Hedgehog” is not an especially memorable or well-regarded entry in the Archie series. However, it is notable for one thing. This issue was featured in a Guinness World Record book. Some time ago, Archie’s “Sonic” series broke the record for a somewhat specific superlative. It became the longest running comic book based on a video game. It was the first of many surprising records the comic has broken over its unprecedented run. With issue 108, it would surpass Marvel’s original “Star Wars” book as longest running licensed comic. Most recently, it became one of the longest running comic books to never be re-numbered. Who would have thought such a humble series would have earned such a prominent place in comic history?

Anyway, the plot. After his attempt to enter Robotropolis to rescue Uncle Chuck was blocked by the royalty, Sonic thinks up an alternative. He dresses himself in black and decides to sneak into the city under cover of darkness. He follows Geoffrey St. John and the Secret Service as they make their own quest into the city, to recover the Sword of Acorn. Both parties are captured soon afterwards, forcing an uneasy alliance. Meanwhile, Robotnik and Snively have ominous plans for the Kintobors.

Too often during the comic’s lamest run, Karl Bollers’ strategy was to throw a bunch of different story ideas into the comic, developing them as he went along. His most recent “Maybe this one’ll stick!” idea is the Sneak, the closest thing Sonic has to a superhero alter ego. It’s not an especially clever design. The version Spaz drew on the cover looks neat but the interior costume makes this look like Ninja Sonic with Karate Chop Action. Moreover, the persona’s role in the story is mostly unnecessary. Sonic sneaks into the city to avoid St. John but encounters him anyway. They then get captured, spend a few hours behind bars, and escape. Nothing is recovered, learned, or gained. Sonic would never don the Sneak outfit again, making this an even more wasted concept.

The Sneak ostensibly serves one purpose: So Geoffrey won’t recognize Sonic when the two get tossed into the pokey together. Mostly, this just makes St. John seem really bad at his job. It’s not like the costume disguises the hedgehog’s distinctive silhouette. There’s also no indication that Sonic alters his voice. Then again, St. John hasn’t been showing a lot of confidence here of late. There was his totally ineffective investigation last issue. Here, he continues to hold a petty grudge against the hedgehog. He belittles Sally for no reason and is rude to his superiors. After entering Robotropolis, Geoffrey immediately gets his team captured. They only escape because the villain lets them. I’m not sure why Elias and the King have any faith in this guy.

After discarding it for an issue, Bollers remembers Snively’s family is still in this book. We finally get a glimpse at what the doctor’s plans are for his relative. Eggman seemingly brainwashes and sedates Cheddermund, the absurdly named scientist that followed the Kintobors around space. What he plans to do next remains to be seen. That Colin and his family have yet to suspect anything seems unlikely, considering how obviously evil Robotnik and Snively are. But, once again, at least this dragging plot line is finally going somewhere.

Other elements of Robotnik’s scheme succeed only due to the incompetence of his enemies. After the Secret Service is captured, each one is taken and interrogated. While Heavy and Bomb are off-screen, Robotnik re-programs the robots, who then bust the others out. Despite those two obviously being machines susceptible to such things, Geoffrey and the gang never question this turn of events. They even know that something funny is up, as the skunk points out that Robotnik never interrogated them, just moved them temporarily to another room. Because, once again, St. John sucks at the spying business.

Two different artists draw this story. Sadly, neither are up to the standards set by Steven Butler and James Fry. Nelson Ribeiro returns to pencil the first half. There’s less hideous facial expressions this time but everyone still looks off-model. Snively looks especially disturbing during his brief appearance. The giant hands and feet are still present and the action is flat. Harvey Mercadoocasio draws the second half. His work is slightly improved over his previous illustrations. His characters never veer horribly off-model and his sense of motion is okay. But everyone is mostly undefined. Heavy, in particular, looks like a tin can while Mercadoocasio forgets to draw Bomb’s legs. Instead, the bigger robot carries the smaller one around in a weird fanny pack.

As exhausting as the recent cover stories have been, Ken Penders’ Knuckles back-up story still wins the dubious distinction of most tiring current plot. As promised last time, Chaos Knuckles and Turbo Tails fight. Six of the story’s seven pages are devoted to the scuffle. The characters reveal some deeply inane new powers. Tails’ tails have become totally prehensile. Knuckles, meanwhile, can shoot fuckin’ laser beams from his eyes. After the echidna cold-cocks the fox, he teleports towards Julie-Su, something he probably should have done sooner. There’s nothing this installment does that couldn’t have been accomplished a while ago. I’m starting to become numb to Ron Lim’s shittiness but his artwork here remains flat.

You might be wondering why Tails is in this story at all. Which is a good question! In the final pages, Ken reveals the nonsensical reason for bringing the Chosen One plot up again. After Turbo Tails gets his ass kicked, Athair and Merlin wonder why. Instead of assuming the fox’s inexperience was his undoing, this plot bomb gets dropped on us. This isn’t Tails, not the real one anyway! At some point, Tails was swapped with an identical impostor. Instead of developing this shocking turn, Athair’s floating head zaps him back to Knothole and thinks nothing of it. What the fuck?

Things look grim. Both the cover story and the back-up continue to spin their wheels in the air, resolving nothing and barely building on their respective plots. Some mediocre artwork and a dumb twist or two is enough to push this one down to a [4/10], a rating that hasn’t been rare here of late.