Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 140

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 140
Publication Date: September 2004

It seems like Archie considered “Return to Angel Island” the big “Sonic” event of 2004. “Home,” after all, began in 2003. The return of Tommy the Turtle was only deemed big enough to occupy three issues. For some reason, Knuckles' liberation of his home land got four roomy issues to explore its story. That's more than Knuckles' original mini-series got! Well, let's get on with this shit.

Having been reunited with his mom, Knuckles goes about reuniting himself with his dad. Combing the equal forces of Sonic, the Chaotix, and the Dark Legion, they storm the Dingos' stronghold. Making short work of Kage von Stryker's forces, Locke is rescued. Enraged by his general's failure, Robotnik pulls a villain out of cold storage.

“Return to Angel Island” has been skirting the issue for a while now. The story arc has presented plenty of moments for Knuckles to get emotional but has managed to bungle each one almost every time. In part three, the troubled young Guardian almost gets through a touching moment without being interrupted. Kneeling before the Master Emerald, he confesses how impotent he feels, especially when compared to what those who believe in the Avatar think he is. Even this revealing moment has a few derailing elements. Knuckles has to pause and explain the claws and sunglasses he's wearing now, two objects taken from “Sonic Adventure.” The scene ends with a bizarre panel of Archimedes, looking very ominous, saying everything is going according to plan. By the way, this moment is totally unrelated to everything else that happens in this story.

Yet this moment is one respite from the constant action that makes up “Return to Angel Island.” The rest of the issue is made up of action sequences. Sonic leaps around quickly from the Dark Legion's floating platforms, a moment that gets a whole page devoted to it. Jon Gray devotes nearly an entire page to the Chaotix raiding Kage's fort. This is, notably, the only moment the Chaotix appear in this one. The issue seemingly builds up towards a confrontation between Sonic and Stryker. When that fight comes, it ends extremely quickly. Which is either a deliberate comment on how much Kage sucks or just a seriously underwhelming moment.

Locke does get rescued, by the way. Knuckles and his dad share a weary exchange, the teenager getting teary-eyed. Yet Locke is mostly just a prop to drive the heroes. The story is seemingly over at this point. For some reason, it continues pass this logical conclusion. Robotnik, realizing Kage is incompetent, sends another agent to the Angel Island. What fearsome former villain has Eggman pulled out of obscurity to get a second chance...? Hunter. Yep, that lame Kraven rip-off from the final “Knuckles” comic arc. Yeah, you can tell I'm real enthused to see this jack-ass again.

If the cover story is, arguably, moving too quickly, the back-up is arguably moving too slowly. “A Difference of Opinion” has Sonic and Knuckles finally talking to each other in private after dinner. This allows the two heroes to level with each other. Before discussing the forthcoming apocalypse, the two look back on the reason why their friendship is so strained these days.

“A Difference of Opinion” should've been about two guys who were once close friends coming together for the first time in years and figuring out what when wrong. It's not an uncommon scenario, as even the best friends drift away or come to blows. Instead, “A Difference of Opinion” heaps exposition on the reader. Not-so-casually, Sonic and Knuckles detail past events. Apparently, at some point in the past or future, depending on how you read this, Knuckles becomes a living Chaos Emerald again. He then flat-out murders Robotnik, who was trying to steal the Master Emerald again. Power mad, Knuckles went about rewriting the world, prompting Sonic to blast him with some sort of doo-hickey. This restored Knux to normal, at the cost of blowing his eye out. Hence the fancy cyborg deal he sports in “20 Years Later.”

You're probably tired of hearing me doing this. Let's rake Ken over the coals once more for his most common writing flaws. Why is he telling us these past events, instead of showing us? Would a full-blown flashback have been too much to ask, instead of having the characters awkwardly bring up this information? Then again, maybe this summary saved us from having to see Knuckles go all green again, a change that was super tiring when it first happened and we only recently got rid of. Yes, one must point out how odd it is that Knuckles is the one to definitively defeat Robotnik, Sonic's archenemy. Once again, Ken does nothing to dispel his obvious echidna favoritism.

Flaws and all, there are a few decent lines of dialogue in “Difference of Opinion.” I do like the palatable tension the story has, as the conflict between Sonic and Knuckles is something this entire story arc has been building towards. Steven Butler's artwork is as top-of-the-line as usual. His strength for facial expressions gets a good workout here, since the story is primarily devoted to two guys standing around and talking. Though Butler's involvement does kind of make me wish Knux and Sonic weren't authority figures in the future and could beat the shit out of each other, for old times' sake.

As for Jon Gray's art on the cover story... Well, I'm still not a fan but I think I'm getting use to it. Gray does make interesting use of lighting and shadow. He frequently places a character in partial darkness in order to emphasize their expression. As for his action scenes, some of his visuals are striking while others just look like shit. Sometimes on the same page! Ray leaping over enemies, smashing their heads together, looks quite cool. Lien-Da's legs flying into the air like limp noodles, on the other hand, looks awful. This suggests that Gray isn't a bad artist so much as a sloppy one.

Anyway, issue 140 ain't terrible but is still far from good. That's a [6/10], for you.