Sonic X: Issue 3

Sonic X: Issue 3
Publication Date: November 2005

The third issue of Archie's “Sonic X” series raises some interesting questions. Part of the script takes place at an air/space museum. Tails mentions John Glenn, Neil Armstrong and the Lunar Module. This suggests that “Sonic X” takes place on our world or at least some place nearly identical to it. (If the original “Sonic X” cartoon covered this, please excuse my confusion.) On one hand, this makes the book slightly more interesting. The implication is that Sonic and friends are now part of a history that includes George Washington, Albert Einstein, Elvis Presley and Adolf Hitler, just to name a few. This is also disappointing because there's no way the comic is going to explore this at all.

I bring this up in the introduction because it's a tiny tidbit that in no way affects the rest of the issue's story. Instead, the joyfully entitled “Field Trip of DOOM!” concerns another Eggman plot. While Sonic is distracted hero-ing, Eggman sends booby trapped gifts to a number of the hedgehog's allies. A collection of new robots attack Sonic and friends while at the museum. Instead of being powered by animals, they're powered by people. Specifically, Sonic's friends, trapped by Eggman and forced against their will to attack Sonic.

Robotnik's previous plans in the “Sonic X” comic have been... Well, not great. They've mostly amounted to the mad scientist attacking a specific location – a bank, a sunken pirate wreck – with some sort of new animal-themed robot. His plan in “Field Trip of DOOM!” is practically identical. He sticks new life forms in robots and attack Sonic and pals while they're at a new location. But it does show a little more cunning than usual. By distracting Sonic with a standard fetch quest, and targeting the hedgehog's friends, it makes him seem like a more competent villain. It's a step forward.

The biggest problem with Joe Edkin's script is that it makes Sonic's acquaintances look like complete idiots. A robot – some little blue thing called Bokkun that I remember seeing in a lot of 4Kids' advertisements – comes to Sam Speed's door. Sam knows Bokkun is affiliated with Eggman but still accepts his gift of a new fuel injection system. The people who receive the gifts are Chris, Topaz, the President, and Thorndyke's school teacher Mr. Stuart. (Who is also a government agent, an info box informs us.) All of them accept the gifts without asking a single question. You'd think a known Eggman target, an active field agent, an undercover spy, and the fucking President would show a little more caution when accepting gifts.

The museum-set action sequence doesn't present much to write about. Tails and Amy participate in the battle, which presents one or two cute moment. Like when Tails attempts to dissemble the robots with his screwdriver. Amy gets some hammer time in. (Though Edkins still provides her with a thought balloon, expounding on her obsession with Sonic, showing how shallow his characterization of Amy is.) The action scene escalates to a fairly uninvolving chase. After some kids are shoveled into an armored truck, Sonic and Sam Speed take chase. Sam proves totally useless, driving his car off a cliff, while Sonic quickly rescues the kids.

However, I do kind of like the action sequence that opens the issue. As a distraction, Eggman has captured Cream's chao Cheese and placed him at the end of an obstacle course. As with everything else in this book, Sonic's constant quibbing keeps the stakes from getting very high. But this scene does feature some fun throwbacks to classic Sonic elements. He's chased by an orca, as in “Sonic Adventure.” Badniks like Buzzbombers and Relief appear. Sonic mentions the Green Hill Zone by name and sings his own theme song. (Sadly, it's the super lame “Sonic X” theme song, instead of the awesome SatAM theme song.) At the end, he leaps on a giant container and frees a bunch of cute animals. There's not much to it but it's catnip to classic Sonic nerds like myself.

Tim Smith 3 – the third entry in the Tim Smith franchise – continues to draws these. “Field Trip of DOOM!” shows some of Smith's limitations. Some of the action scenes are very flatly drawn, especially Sonic and Sam Speed's foot chase. His total adherence to the “Sonic X” cartoon house style produces some awkward results. Sonic in the opening scene looks a little funny. So does the President and Topaz in the a mid-book sequence. Still, Smith's work is almost stiflingly competent. It's good. Fine. But it doesn't really impress or linger in the memory.

Issue 3 of “Sonic X” ends on a cliff hanger, Sonic facing off against one of the robots containing his friends. Considering the series has been strictly episodic before this point, that's nice. I'm doubtful “Sonic X” will ever grow to a point of sophistication of Archie's main “Sonic” book but the series is showing a little more promise. Hopefully, it'll continue to improve, especially if I'm going to read all forty of these damn things. [6/10]