Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 181

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 181
Publication Date: October 2007

Well, after a few months of build-up, Ian Flynn has finally begun his next big story arc. Enerjak would be returning to Archie's “Sonic the Hedgehog” series. Despite casting a fairly large shadow over the book's history, Enerjak's actual appearance have been few and far between. He hasn't shown up in an actual comic book since issue ten of “Knuckles” solo book. Which was published in December of 1997, nearly a full decade before this issue. Which, I guess, makes the god-like supervillain a more mythic character or something, doesn't it?

Following Dimitri's warning about Enerjak's inevitable return, Sonic and Tails have flown to Angel Island, hoping to find Knuckles before the villain does. What they discover is Enerjak flying through the island, reworking everything in his path. The dingoes are vanished. The Dark Legionaries have their technological components striped away. The other echidnas' villages are restored to peace. With the Guardian missing, Julie-Su and the Chaotix fear the worst. Before they can act, Enerjak appears in New Mobotropolis. And reveals his identity.

I've pointed it out probably a hundred times. Since coming onto the book, Ian Flynn's obvious goal for the series has been to clean up the countless mistakes left behind by past writers. Since beginning his second year, Flynn has slowed down that objective. However, the first part of the “Enerjak: Reborn” arc has Ian returning to this goal. As Enerjak flies over Angel Island, he does away with many lingering plot points surrounding Knuckles' story. Within a few pages, he returns the Floating Island to peace. The dingoes, the echidnas' life long enemies, are gone. The Dark Legion is no more. Maybe things can get back to normal, once this Enerjak business is resolved.

There's a certain satisfying quality to seeing Enerjak so quickly and cleanly fix the problems on Angel Island. However, the business in Knothole is a little more compelling. Sally and Nicole attempt to contact outside forces, their signals blocked by Enerjak. Julie-Su doesn't take this well. When she suspects that Knuckles has been destroyed by this new enemy, she grabs up her gun and prepares to go to war, choking back tears in her eyes. Now, that's my Julie-Su! Perfectly willing to face down a god-like enemy, just to avenging her greatest love! It doesn't come to this but it's still great to see Julie-Su being such a bad-ass.

And why doesn't it come to this? Once this new Enerjak uncovers his identity, the situation changes. A reader could've easily guessed the truth from the last issue's ending. Considering the copious foreshadowing, I figured it out long before even then. Any doubts are removed once Enerjak takes off his mask and reveals Knuckles' face. As far as cliffhangers go, it's a decent one. It's an ending that certainly raises plenty of questions worth answering. It also explains why this Enerjak is more preoccupied with restoring the status quo than that ruling the world and subjugating the weak business. Just because you see an ending coming doesn't change its quality.

It doesn't bother me but one can't help but notice that Sonic the Hedgehog has a fairly minimal role in this comic book baring his name. The hedgehog and Tails fly around the Island, one step behind Enerjak, watching the entity go about his godly business. That's pretty much all he does. He's there to provide eyes and ears to Enerjak's new appearance. Considering the focus on Julie-Su and Knuckles, this particular story gives you a peek at what Ian Flynn's version of the “Knuckles the Echidna” solo book might have been like.

The back-up story, “Undone,” picks up where the cover story concludes before rolling the clock back. Archimedes observes what went wrong with the Guardian he was ordered to mentor. We see how Knuckles was captured by the Dark Legion upon immediately arriving back on Angel Island. How Dr. Finitevus made a truce with the Legion specifically so he'd have access to Knuckles. After shoving the teenage echidna towards the Master Emerald, he watches him transform into Enerjak, setting his plan in motion.

There's not too much to “Undone.” Archimedes' regret over seemingly failing his pupil could've given the story a melancholic feel. Instead, the fire ant puts aside his personal failures in order to fill the reader in on the back story. It's not an especially necessary story. The reader could easily guess how Knuckles transformed into Enerjak, even guessing Finitevus' involvement. Even if the book didn't presume what happened, Ian probably could've slotted this info into his next issue. Then again, Sonic fans being who they are, I guess somebody would've asked for this backstory eventually. I guess Flynn was saving himself future grief by just outright showing it.

It's flawed but “Undone” but is a nice looking story. Steven Butler returns to pencils this one. It's always nice when Butler, one of the classic “Knuckles” artist, returns to draw the character. Butler draws the story in heavy shadows, lending a certain degree of atmosphere to this story of Knuckles being forced into his destiny. The shots of Remington and Lien-Da grimly watching is a nice visual. His Archimedes is perfectly on-model while looking slightly awkward. Tracy Yardley's artwork on the cover story is pretty good too.

Geez, can you imagine what Ken Penders would've done with this story line? I guess we don't really have to, considering the general set-up isn't too different than the infamous Chaos Knuckles arc. And we all saw how well that went. You can certainly bet we would've seen Knuckles being pushed around by the whims of destiny some more. Instead of resolving plot points, Penders probably would've created a hundred new ones. Anyway, it's a pretty decent issue, even if this story is still developing. [7/10]