Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 122

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 122
Publication Date: April 2003

I’ve been criticizing the Sonic/Sally/Mina love triangle for some time now. The reoccurring plot point has made Sally look overly sensitive, Sonic look obvious to his girlfriend’s feelings, and Mina look like a stalker. Even as someone who is barely a fan of Amy Rose, I still think she would’ve made more sense as the third corner of the triangle. My biggest complaint is that Karl has been hitting this note, repetitively, for over a year now. With the “Heart-Held Hostage” story arc, Karl goes upon burying this point once and for all.

“Heart Held Hostage: Part 1” begins with Jules teaching Sonic how to play the guitar, a talent the hedgehog has displayed from time to time. The music naturally attracts Mina, who begins to sing along. Sally’s parents allow her to spend some time with her friends. Upon spotting Sonic and Mina spending time together, the Princess becomes discouraged. She wanders off and Bunnie follows. At that point, the pleasant afternoon is interrupted when Nack the Weasel and his gang storm into town. They kidnap Sally and vanish. After interrogating one of the weasels, the heroes determined the Princess’ location.

Issue 122 brings back Nack the Weasel, who hasn’t appeared since issue 94. His sister is nowhere to be seen but, instead, Nack is accompanied by a band of new weasels. The mercenaries have a thin motivation here. They kidnap Princess Sally strictly to ransom her. Considering Nack knows first-hand what a bad idea it is to piss off Sonic, you’d think he would have a better plan. Then again, Nack has been characterized more by his ruthlessness than his brains. As always, I’m happy to see the book utilize some other villain than Robotnik, especially since the book has been a little Eggman-heavy here of late. (Later, we learn that Nack has recently acquired a castle from a rich weasel relative. That raises some interesting questions of its own.)

Of course, Nack’s unnamed gang members present one of the story’s most amusing sequences. Amusing or horrifying, depending on how sick your sense of humor is. When the weasel won’t say where the Princess has been taken, the Freedom Fighters try to rough him up. Bunnie dangling the weasel from a window is ineffective. Instead, King Max has the teens leave the room and brings in some burly guards. Who, one assumes, brutalize the weasel into talking. Because the Geneva Convention didn’t last into the Knothole age and enhanced interrogation techniques are standard training for Acorn bodyguards.

As for the Sonic/Sally/Mina love triangle… Early panels where Sally and Mina have the same thoughts about Sonic are cheesy, to say the least. Is “So Sonic!” really that common a description? Sally’s reaction to the song and dance number, as insecure as it makes her look, is at least a well-handled emotional moment. I also have a problem with Nack taking the Princess capture without her putting up a fight. Yeah, she was caught off-guard but it still seems too easy. (Then again, Karl has displayed a bad habit of writing Sally as too submissive.) At least Sonic’s reaction to hearing the Princess’ location – immediately racing off – is a nice touch.

The second story continues Ken Penders’ “Afterlife” story line. Knuckles continues his journey into the echidna afterlife. He quickly meets Aurora, the species' patron goddess. Because every single authority figure in this comic book is evasive, Aurora doesn’t answer Knuckles’ questions so much. Instead, she drops a load of exposition on the dead echida, further elaborating on his childhood. The goddess clarifies herself as the force behind Locke’s prophetic dreams, the thing that drove him to perform unethical experiments on his unborn son, forcing Knuckles down his grim and dark destiny as the Greatest Guardian of Them All…

Aurora’s introduction raises more questions then it answers. When Knuckles asks the goddess to show herself, she appears as an echidna. She then explains that she presents herself to each species as that species, for their comfort. Which confirms that more then just echidnas worship Aurora. So does that mean Aurora is the chosen deity for all of Mobius? Do people in the Kingdom of Acorn or Downunda worship Aurora? Is she the force behind the Source of All, the creator of the universe the kings commune with? If so, why does the goddess take a special interest in the Brotherhood of Guardians?

Of course, the real answers to these questions is that this is Penders’ story. Vague, unexplained mysticism is his bag and so is making Knuckles and his family the most important people in the world. It’s even implied that the Guardians are descended directly from the goddess, which also raises a boatload of questions.

Instead of telling Knuckles why she brought him here, Aurora regurgitates the echidna’s origin. We see Locke’s dream in more detail. This provides more foreshadowing for that “Mobius: 20 Years Later” story, where Knuckles defeats Robotnik, that Ken has been hyping for ten thousand years. Proving once again that the writer is on board, even the goddess agrees that Locke did the right thing by nuking his baby and alienating his wife. The divorce is presented as Lara-Le’s fault, that Knuckles’ destiny is “inevitable” and the wife was wrong for trying to stop that. For trying to prevent her husband from abandoning their child in the wilderness and invading his privacy for, well, ever. Jesus, Ken, how fucked up was your childhood?

We get a double dose of Penders this month and, luckily, the second story is slightly better. Julie-Su, still morning, goes to Knuckles’ den and looks through his belongings. This pisses off Vector and the two get into yet another scuffle. After calming down, Vector explains how he first met Knuckles and both teenagers share in their sorrow over loosing a mutual friend.

Vector continues to take Knuckles’ death harder then nearly anybody else, once again proving my theory that he was super-gay for the echidna. Julie-Su being inside Knuckles’ den – someone else daring to care for the guy, especially a woman – enrages Vector into violence. Eventually, the crocodile and the object of all his scorn, the female that proved Knuckles would never love him, make peace. But not after smacking each other around, which leads to the satisfying sight of Julie-Su kicking the asshole in the face. But both are mourning and this gives them some common ground. During the conversation, Vector even admits that he’s dead weight to the Chaotix, being more of a talker then a fighter. It’s a secret the crocodile insists Julie-Su never tell anyone else. Gee, Vector, do you have any other secrets you don’t want getting out, that may compromise your macho exterior?

There’s a reoccurring pattern to these stories. Instead of focusing on the characters’ mourning, a natural reaction to the death of a friend or lover, Ken’s using these stories to expand on the cast’s origins. Vector explains to Julie-Su how he first met Knuckles. Basically, the two literally stumbled over each other. They punched one another in the face, developed a mutual respect, and then a bird pooped on the crocodile’s head. It’s not a very satisfying origin but, then again, I wouldn’t expect anything about Vector to be interesting. At least the story throws in some honest emotion, to make up for any other issues.

Issue 122 is as uneven as any of the book’s recent issues but something makes it special. It’s got to be one of the best looking books among the entire run. We have three awesome artist at the top of their game. Jay Axer draws the cover story, bringing a magnificent level of detail, expression, and dynamism to the tale. The characters all look especially awesome while the action scenes really pop. Art Mawhinney draws “Afterlife.” While the echidnas still look a little weird in his style, the scenes of Locke’s dreams and sudden decision are really well done. Dawn Best draws the final story, doing some of her best work. Vector looks especially cartoonish while Julie-Su looks both powerful and vulnerable. And apparently she recently underwent a growth spurt, as the formally flat-chested echidna is now sporting D-cups. Not that I’m complaining…

So what do you make of this one? A cover story that has some problems but functions okay, a middle story that is full of irritating moments, and one last back-up that works better then it should? Once again, the word “uneven” comes to mind. But the all-around great artwork is making me feel generous so this gets a [7/10.]