Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 109

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 109
Publication Date: April 2002

Boy, that’s an eye-catching cover, isn’t it? Disappointingly, Archie’s cover designers have lied to us once again. Sonic experiences no “ice-solation” in issue 109. He does travel to the frozen north but the Freedom Fighters are there to keep him company. He doesn’t float on an iceberg at any point. I swear, I think Spaz sometimes just drew what ever he wanted. Anyway, on with the adventure.

If you thought the pun on the cover was bad, check out the title. “I Herd It Through the Pipeline.” Oy vey! Sonic walks in on Rotor crying over a photo of his family. Apparently because he forgot – he has a busy life – Sonic asks for a reminder about what happened to Rotor’s herd. They are still in the frozen Arctic, under Robotnik’s control. Sally quickly surmises that the Sword of Acorn may be able to reverse the mind control. The Freedom Fighters leap into Rotor’s upgraded bathysphere and track down his walrus family.

If his first two issues are any indication, Benny Lee’s writing has a strong episodic quality. Both the last issue and this one were relatively stand alone stories. I’ve actually got no problem with this, as it keeps the book from feeling like a soap opera. If it wasn’t for the obvious comic book attributes, this would feel like an episode of SatAM. In the first chapter, the Freedom Fighters decide to rescue Rotor’s family. They then proceed to do so, among lots of action. It is simple writing but satisfyingly so. Considering how convoluted the book has gotten over the years, it’s nice to see the heroes gain an objective and succeed at it, in the space of one issue. It’s also way pass time for the series to resolve the plot point of Rotor’s family. They’ve been floating out there – both literary and figuratively – for far too long.

“I Herd It Through the Pipeline” is primarily an action story. The Freedom Fighters work as a team so rarely these days, so watching them smash robots together is satisfying. (Even if Tails and Antoine are absent from this adventure and Rotor and Sally mostly sit on the sidelines.) There’s a decent action beat early on, when a robotic sea serpent crushes Rotor’s submarine, forcing them to escape via bubble-shaped pods. Yet all the action pushes the emotional content a little to the side. Rotor’s reunion with his family is covered in one panel. Sally’s increasingly creepy connection with the Sword of Acorn is only hinted at. Robotnik is reduced to a yelling face on a computer screen. The whole thing is a bit rushed, even if the story ultimately gets the job done.

What follows next is “The Crush.” While chasing after Sonic, Mina the Mongoose runs into Princess Sally. The two have a heart-to-heart. Mina picks Sally’s brain for information on Sonic, trying to figure out the enigmatic hedgehog. Through this conversation, Sally learns that the kiss she witnessed wasn’t Sonic’s idea. As the two part ways, they’re no closer to figuring out Sonic but have a better understanding of each other.

Maybe Karl Bollers is giving Benny the action stories, while he handles the emotional beats. “The Crush” is a brief five pages but sneaks in plenty of heart. The story probes the hearts of the young women. Mina is frustrated that she can’t grab Sonic’s attention. Sally, meanwhile, expounds on Sonic’s personality. How she can see through his cool guy antics to the caring, compassionate heart inside. By the end, the two gain a mutual respect for each other. It also successfully buries the Sonic/Sally/Mina love triangle, with Sally understanding that Mina’s feelings for Sonic are simply an unrequited crush. Hopefully, the book’s main power couple can start talking again. No, it wouldn’t pass the Bechdel test but it’s still a touching little tale.

Jay Axer’s artwork is pretty great too. I think he’s the first person to draw Mina without making her look ridiculous. (Though she still doesn’t look much like a mongoose.) Axer shows a great strength for expressions, which is important to a story like this. A beautiful panel shows Sally’s concern, when the topic of Mina and Sonic’s kiss comes up. Her immediate relief, upon hearing the truth, is also well conveyed. The page devoted to Sally’s perception of Sonic is nice too, as it shows the hedgehog goofing around in amusing ways. The final panel, of Sally sweetly smiling to herself, is the perfect emotional bow on top that this story needed. It’s clear that Axer’s great talent for detail and motion isn’t the only thing that makes him a great artist. He understands these characters.

For the final story of issue 108, Ken Penders wraps up the “Reunification” arc. Knuckles leaps between Dimitri and Remington’s pistol, seemingly sacrificing himself… Until revealing a few pages later that he’s fine, as his Chaos powers more then protect him. This diplomatic gesture allows Dimitri to continue his negotiations with the Echidnopolis leaders. Lara-Su, meanwhile, prevents an assassin from taking out Julie-Su before getting zapped back into the future.

I like Lara-Su but I’m not sure why Ken brought her into this story line. Throughout “Reunification,” Knuckles and Julie-Su’s future daughter has mostly been a passive character. This part is really the first time she’s done anything, as she attempts to stop Remington and save her mom. Upon returning to the future, Ken bluntly lays out Lara-Su’s entire history, thanks to some deeply unwieldy exposition from future Julie-Su. Lara-Su wasn’t sent back to save her dad, because her dad becomes a power mad dictator. (At least in this time line.) She was presumably sent back to save Julie-Su, creating something like a stable time loop. The story ends before Lara-Su has any time to react to this news. It’s certainly not a graceful why to get the info out there and does a disservice to the promising young character.

At least the conclusion shows that echidna politicians can occasionally agree on something. Dimitri appears to be turning over a new leaf and actually reaches a peaceful compromise with the Brotherhood. Let’s allow a little technology on the island – which, as far as I can see, has already happened – but maybe not threaten to blow up the city because of it, m’kay? It might still be a smoke-screen. Lien-Da is seemingly planning a takeover of the Legion and there's some rumblings about Remington's actual allegiance. But I’m not real concerned with that plot point. That characters talking things out can actually resolve something on the Floating Island is what interest me.

The cover story wraps up a little too neatly but is still a decent read. The middle story is charming and well done. The final tale is only okay but does feature some very good pencils from Dawn Best. All of that measures out to make issue 109 a solid book. Let’s conclude with an already completed crossword puzzle, the latest in Archie’s bizarre quest to get kids to devalue their comic books. [7/10]