Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 192

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 192
Publication Date: September 2008

During my previous Archie “Sonic” review, I complained a little about Ian Flynn's tendency to rely too much on fight scenes. Issue 191 ended with Robotnik unveiling a Metal Scourge, promising yet more fighting. Indeed, the second part of “Metal and Mettle” delivers on that promise. Scourge and Sonic's fight is temporarily put aside so they can fight their metal counterparts. They're getting their asses beat until Scourge calls in the Suppression Squad for reinforcement. Afterwards, Sonic postpones the fight and returns to Mobotropolis, where Sally has a not-sexy surprise for him.

Some Sonic fans just love-love Metal Sonic for reasons I've never entirely understood. Yeah, he's pretty cool looking but he has almost zero personality, by definition. Metal Scourge is even less of a compelling enemy. Any way you look at it, he's a copy of a copy, a second generation counterfeit. He's not even that cool looking, as throwing the red sunglasses and leather jacket on Metal Sonic is not great for his look. Worst yet, the character only survives a few pages before he's taken apart. That makes Metal Scourge a marginal footnote in Archie “Sonic” history. Which makes you wonder why Ian Flynn made a big deal about his first, and only, appearance.

Don't think that I can't enjoy a cool action scene. Tracy Yardley does contribute some cool panels. The two Metals bounce Sonic and Scourge around for a while, leading to a neat panel of the two embedded in the ground. After Metal Sonic is decapitated, in a nice touch, Sonic is shown bouncing the robot's head off his heels. That the two machines are defeated so easily is slightly disappointing but at least it gave Yardley an excuse to draw cool shit.

One of the most interesting aspects of the last issue was the similarities between them that Scourge pointed out to Sonic. This possibility that the hero and the villain may have more in common than either would like to admit was a nice touch. In part two, this plot point is barely brought up. Scourge mentions his proposal to Sonic in all of one panel, I think. This flushes away any of the script's nuances in favor of yet more fist fighting.

That Robotnik cooked up Metal Scourge in a few hours is actually brought up by the script. While Robotnik watches his robots fight the fleshies, Dimitri creeps up to the dictator and essentially asks him why he's wasting everyone's time. This segues ways into an interesting idea. Recently, Dimitri hinted that he was hoping to undermine Eggman's empire. This time, the Dark Legion leader discovers that Robotnik might've foresaw this. Every body in the Dark Legion has been outfitted with explosive devices, leaving few opportunities for subterfuge. Seeing Dimitri, a character who is noted for his power, this stymied is good writing.

Political shuffling is probably not what you read a “Sonic the Hedgehog” comic book for but Ian Flynn does it surprisingly well. After the above discovery, Dimitri and Lien-Da have an argument about who sold out who. Seeing the villains shuffle events in their minds, trying to lay blame and coming to terms with their current situation, is entertaining. Meanwhile, after Sonic returns to Knothole, he gets a mild shakedown from Elias for breaking the rules. In the past, Archie has stretched out Sonic's various treacheries for melodrama. Flynn is smarter than that, Elias brushing off Sonic annoying habit of undermining authority. You'd think everyone would be used to it, by now.

Scourge appears in the back-up story too. “Father and Son” begins with Scourge sneaking into Sonic's hut. Instead of encountering the blue hedgehog, he finds Jules waiting in a chair. The two have a tense stand-off. Scourge makes it clear that, back on Moebius, he murdered his own father. Jules, meanwhile, stands up for his own son, making it clear he won't back down without a fight. This show of force impresses Scourge enough that he slinks back off into the night.

Flynn's focused development of Scourge the Hedgehog continues with “Father and Son.” This time, we actually get some insight into his past. Continuing the mirror universe theme, instead of having a Great War, Scourge's Moebius had a Great Peace. Which made Scourge's tendency towards anarchy and petty thuggery a rebellion to the peaceful world he grew up in. Which extends up to committing patricide. This all suggests that growing up in war time, without his parents, actually helped contribute to Sonic's heroism. Which is interesting! That daddy killing bit also sheds some more light on what a bastard Scourge is, always a good development for a bad guy.

The backstory for Scourge is interesting but “Father and Son” is just as much about Jules. The script makes a big deal about this, showing how far Jules is willing to go to protect his kid. Which is nice but nothing we haven't seen from Sonic's dad before. Somehow, this speech is enough to shake Scourge to his core. On paper, that's nice, playing up the villain's newly acquired daddy issues. In effect, this backstory is biting off a little more than it can chew. Five pages isn't quite enough room to explore this subject. Jon Grey's artwork, which is typically garish, doesn't help the emotion of the story much.

Issue 192 is not Flynn's best work, though still far from a bad comic book. The guy is actively trying to incorporate some character development into a top-heavy action story. He just can't quite make it work. The problems aren't enough for me to dock this one's rating though. I still like it but it wouldn't have taken much to fix those problems. This one does have a pretty great cliffhanger, so hopefully next time will be better. [7/10]