Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 172

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 172
Publication Date: February 2007

After wrapping up his first year on the book with another major event, Ian Flynn decided to do smaller, slower stories for the first half of 2007. Even as the comic approached another milestone issue, Flynn's focus was on the characters. Last time, he finally gave Shadow the Hedgehog some much needed development. Issue 172, meanwhile, finally gives Fiona the Fox a purpose in the comic's universe. The back-up story, meanwhile, gives some more much-needed insight into Amy Rose's personality. Granted, even a slower issue is still full of speedy action. This is a “Sonic the Hedgehog” comic, after all.

After wandering what she's been up to for a few issues, Sonic finally tracks down Fiona the Fox. Tails and Amy Rose have concerns about the girl, believing her to be a traitor that is fraternizing with Scourge the Hedgehog. After Sonic and Tails confront the vixen with this information, she confirms it as true. Scourge and Fiona are an item and, together, they conspire to ruin Sonic's nice day.

Fiona the Fox has never been a very well developed character in the “Sonic” verse. Originally introduced as Tails' (robotic and evil) love interest, Ken would later reveal that an organic Fiona existed. For poorly defined reasons, Karl Bollers would make Fiona an official Freedom Fighter during the “Home” story arc. Despite this decision, Karl never had much of an idea about what to do with Fiona. She acted as the team's field medic but never showed much personality. Later, Penders would depict Sonic and Fiona as dating, despite a total lack of chemistry between them. Ian has been trying to correct this problem since joining the book. He's given peaks into Fiona's history, portraying her as someone atoning for a checkered past.

With 172's “Truth from the Heart,” Flynn finally finds a purpose for Fiona. He makes her evil. This transition to the dark side is solidified when she smacks Tails across the face, shattering his heart. Yet I've always felt Fiona's transformation into Scourge's moll was disappointing. Instead of running with the idea that the fox feels shame for his prior misdeeds, Flynn just made her a bad girl. This sinks the Sonic/Fiona ship, which I'm fine with. It's not like the book had a lack of female cast members. Fiona was always a rough, probably unnecessary fit for the Freedom Fighters. Making her Scourge's partner-in-crime seems to sink Fiona's character development as well. In the long run, it was a good decision, giving this long wandering character a purpose. But I wonder about what might have been.

Even while “Truth from the Heart” sells out Fiona, it also gives us some insight into the other characters. After getting smacked across the face by his crush, Tails tells Sonic that he feels awful. Which is a nice, vulnerable moment from the sidekick. Archie Comics would successfully shift Amy Rose from an indistinct girly-girl to a warrior woman driven by her passions. So, when she discovers Fiona's treachery, she leaps in with hammer swinging, ready to kick ass. Cause you don't hurt the hedgehog Amy loves, not unless you want to get beaten. Most tantalizingly, we get a peak into Scourge's brain. Sonic attempts to reach the villain, pointing out that Scourge has the potential for good. Even though the former Anti-Sonic is a totally amoral sociopath, this line still gives the villain pause. It's an interesting moment.

Still, “Truth from the Heart” is primarily an action story. We open with a great series of panels of Amy swinging her hammer at Fiona. Tracy Yardley delivers some really cool angles here, of Fiona dodging around the pink hedgehog's swings. When Scourge enters the fray, the fight escalates. A cool moment has the two hedgehogs bouncing around a rock and a tree. Both of which get smashed to pieces. The action is well done enough that it's disappointing when “Truth from the Heart” ends with both parties just deciding to walk away, the fighting done for this day.

The back-up story, “Worth the Effort,” also focuses on Amy Rose while bringing Julie-Su back to the forefront. Amy has asked the former Dark Legionnaire to train her. As she's especially sleepy that day, Amy isn't at full strength. Ultimately, the two females have a heart-to-heart about the men in their lives. Amy opens up, revealing that she wants to get stronger and better at combat... In order to catch Sonic's attention.

As I mentioned earlier, Amy Rose became a way more interesting character when the comic focused on her aptitude for smashing shit with her hammer. Her original characterization – Sonic's fawning fan girl, obsessed with the hero to almost creepy levels – wasn't very interesting to me. Not just because I'm a die hard Sonic/Sally guy but because the book didn't need another inactive young character. Yet Ian Flynn, devoted to melding Sega continuity with Archie's universe, found an interesting way to combine these two aspects. Amy Rose has become a tougher, more capable, independent character expressly because she wants Sonic to notice her. So this let's up keep robot smashin' Amy while acknowledging that the Sonic-obsessed Sega Amy is still in there. It's a good compromise.

“Worth the Effort” also brings Julie-Su back into the fold, who we haven't seen in a while. While Tania del Rio's artwork is still a little off, as she makes the characters a little too lanky, I do love how strong, sexy, and confident her version of Julie-Su is. Seeing the echidna easily bests Amy confirms what we already know: That Julie-Su is the baddest bitch around and you do not want to fuck with her. Yet the story also gives us some insight into Julie-Su's world. That Knuckles is the only man she's comfortable exposing her softer side to. Which is such a sweet reveal that I wish Knuckles had a bigger role in this story, aside from a cameo at the very end.

While I have some issues with what Flynn would do with Fiona, 172 is still a pretty good edition of “Sonic the Hedgehog.” The action is solid, the story continues to move forward, but the writer respects the characters and their personalities. Sonic and Scourge won't be able to beat on each other for much longer without it getting old but we haven't reached that point just yet. The cover story concludes with Antoine melodramatically deciding to make a big decision. It's a pretty obvious misdirect from what he actually plans on doing but I appreciate Flynn's attempt to mold a cliffhanger. [7/10]