Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 182

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 182
Publication Date: November 2007

The precedence began with the widely loathed Chaos Knuckles story. That was when Ken Penders began to dangle the possibility that Knuckles – the character he clearly considered Mobius' greatest hero – might become a villain some day.  Even after that, Ken was dropping hints. In the original Lara-Su's future, Knuckles became a power mad dictator. During the “Mobius: 20 Years Later” arc, it was revealed that Knuckles' lost control of his powers at some point. I don't know if this just fit in with Penders' obsession with Knux's grand and terrible destiny. Or maybe it was just because Ken was bad at telling his heroes and villains apart. Either way, Ian Flynn would be the author to write Knuckles turning to villainy, temporarily, in a way that actually made a molecule of sense.

After revealing himself, Knuckles/Enerjak makes his grand proposition to the citizens of New Mobotropolis. He encourages them to take part in his new world order, to leave technology behind and live under his rule. When Sally and the others reject this, Knuckles gets upset. Sonic – unaware that Enerjak is Knuckles – dives in and attacks. Soon, Shadow joins the fight. Even this isn't enough to stem Enerjak's fury. It takes a sneak attack from Dr. Robotnik to turn the tide. Once that happens, Sonic and friends are uncertain of their next course of action.
The second part of “Enerjak: Reborn,” subtitled “Fallen Angel,” probably could've focused more on how Sonic's friends react to Enerjak's proposal. Imagine if one of the established cast members  became tempted by his vision of a better world. How would Bunnie, a cyborg, react to Knuckles' wanting to create a world without technology? Wouldn't that have been a nice source of conflict? Instead, the Freedom Fighters are united in their rejection of Enerjak's proposal. After that, the issue turns its focus solely towards fights. Which is fine but a little more conversation would've been nice.

I've mentioned before Ian's ability to tap into those fun, comic book-y ideas. That “Who would win in a fight?” debate. Issue 182 presents a pretty good one. Shadow likes to call himself the Ultimate Life Form, can tap into the Chaos Force, and is generally one of the most powerful characters in the Sonic-verse. What would happened if he fought Enerjak, one of the few characters stronger than him? Sadly, the results are a little disappointing. Shadow takes off the magic jewelry that restrains his abilities, potentially giving himself unlimited power. This results in him shooting some big energy blast, which get deflected. It's clear that Enerjak clearly outranks even Shadow's strength. Kind of a bummer that it only takes up a few pages.

What ends up saving this story is Sonic discovering Knuckles is Enerjak. He's startled at first, quickly masking his pain with the quibs and name-calling you expect from Sonic. The real pain comes after Robotnik captures Enerjak. Sonic immediately assumes that a rescue mission is in order. Sally, on the other hand, is not so sure. Maybe the world is better off is Enerjak is locked up, even if it means locking up Knuckles? Now that's good drama. Of course, the story ends not long after that point, just when we want to see more of this stuff.

Ian does pull off a decent reveal concerning Robotnik's master plan. As expected, he goes back on the truce he agreed on with Sonic last issue. He doesn't do it the way you might expect. Instead of blasting New Mobotropolis to the ground when the shields are down, he instead captures Enerjak, planning to use him as an infinite energy supply. He then leaves, having gotten what he wanted. Eggman acts awfully cordial during most of this, which makes his victory sting even more. It makes for a decent story turn, pumping things up for the next issue.

How 'bout that back story? “Albion's Shameful Secret” concerns a hologram of Gala-Na, the female leader of Albion. She explaisn how Dr. Finitevus came to be. She also explains how the mad scientist led Robotnik's forces straight to the secluded echidna paradise. The villain destroy Albion and Gala-Na's recording ends with her being discovered. We then pull back, revealing that Locke is watching the broadcast within the ruins of Albion.

Last issue promised that this back story would reveal Dr. Finitevus' secret origin. In a rather clever bit of arc wielding, Flynn reveals that Finitevus began life as an Albionian scientist. In fact, he was the echidna scientist that attempted to use the Chaos Syphon on Chaos Knuckles, just to get zapped for his troubles. This changed his fur color to white and, oh yeah, also made him completely fucking insane. This doesn't quite explain why Finitevus became an obsessive luddite. However, I appreciate how deep of a cut his origin is, drawing from all the way back in issue 94. This is another good example of how willing Flynn was to dig deep into the rich, varied mythology this series has.

“Albion's Secret Shame” is so focused on revealing Finitevus' origin that it almost brushes aside Albion getting destroyed. That's a pretty big deal, as the hidden city represented echidna society's greatest achievement. Maybe this was another attempt by Flynn to fix the flaws the previous writer left behind? Perhaps the writer was hoping to bring the echidnas down a bit, to make them not such a central part of Mobius' history? Even as someone who wasn't especially attached to Albion, the city getting crushed off-panel strikes me as slightly mean spirited.

Tracy Yardley draws both stories, by the way. Yardley's work is as fine as ever. The image of Enerjak freezing the Freedom Fighters in place is a good one and his pencils for the back-up are generally atmospheric. The second part of “Enerjak: Reborn” isn't a bad comic but feels like a waste of potential. There's so many things that could've happened with this story but, instead, we got a series of underwhelming fight scenes. Hopefully Flynn can pull off the second half. [6/10]