Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 201

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 201
Publication Date: June 2009

Issue 201 of Archie's “Sonic the Hedgehog” would begin the Iron Dominion saga. This story line, featuring the Iron Queen taking over Robotnik's city and waging war with the Freedom Fighters, would last for a whole year, stretching from June of 2009 to June of 2010. This story line would be he first time “Sonic” fans would really criticize Ian Flynn's writing. And it has less to do with the actual story and more to do with the event dragging on for so long. Sadly, Flynn wouldn't learn his lesson about inflating the length of big story lines. Having said that, having Robotnik be replaced by another major villain seemed, at first, to be a refreshing change of pace. So was the Iron Dominion event good or bad? Let's find out.

Issue 201's cover story, “Change in Management,” begins with the Freedom Fighters celebrating their defeat of the Eggman Empire. Mina and her band, the Forget-Me-Knots, are performing a concert for New Mobotropolis. The celebration is short-lived, as Monkey Khan arrives to interrupt the festivities. After Sally calms the typically fiery ape down, Khan informs the group that his old archenemy, the Iron Queen, has moved into Megaopolis and is intent on continuing Eggman's tyranny.

“Change in Management” begins with Sonic in an unusually introspective mood. He still feels bad over breaking Robotnik's sanity so totally. It's an interesting place for the hero to be. Sonic's been fighting for this moment for over a decade. Now that he's finally won, he feels... Guilty. Flynn could've used this as an opportunity to explore how unsatisfying victory can be or Sonic questioning his own role as a Freedom Fighter. Instead, the hedgehog's good mood immediately perks up when he learns there's a new Big Bad in town. This is also in-character. We know from the post-”Endgame” years that Sonic doesn't do well when there isn't a villain around to fight. Yet I feel like Flynn is glossing over the most interesting part of the story.

“Change in Management” also reintroduces Monkey Khan. Now, I've said some not-so-nice things about Khan in the past. Yes, I'll admit, I hate that stupid monkey. Yet Ian Flynn has shown a real talent for rehabilitating lame concepts in the past. He begins working on Monkey Khan quickly. Within a few pages, Khan has been acknowledged as a blowhard. He also gives the simian an moment of self-doubt, when Khan admits he failed to protect his home region. It's hard to imagine Monkey Khan's creator, Frank Strom, ever giving him these flaws. Strom always wrote Khan as a totally tubular Gary Stu who specialized in being better than all the other characters. So maybe there's hope for the primate after all.

During the latter half of 2008, Flynn started to lean a little hard on fight scenes between various characters. Issue 201 looks to be going in this direction at first. As soon as Monkey Khan shows up, Sonic immediately begins fighting with him. This last for all of one page before Sally breaks up the commotion, a nice moment. There's also something in me that just really loves Sally disciplining both Sonic and Khan like ill-behaved children. This leads to an amusing series of panels where Sonic is super eager to run off and fight the new bad guy, and Sally informs him to reel it in a little. That concludes with Sally face-palming at Sonic and Khan's continued macho posturing. It's funny!

Discounting their cameo at the end of issue 200, this story is also our proper re-introduction to the Iron Queen. She doesn't do too much in this issue besides sit on her new throne, flirting with Snively and consolidating her new power. However, her interaction with Snively provides the character with more personality than Frank Strom gave her in her previous appearance. That she openly flirts with a boyfriend while in front of her husband says a lot about Regina. There's an especially cute moment where Snively leaps in her lap, showing how close these two already are. It's not a lot but it's a start.

Oh, by the way, the Iron Queen also screws over the Dark Legion. Spider-crab Dimitri – who, in a nice touch, crawls his way into the throne room in such a way that it suggests his obedience – assumes the Iron Queen will remove the explosive implants Robotnik hid in every Legionnaire's robotics. The Queen then informs that she simply can't do this and gives him a very insincere work around. At this point, Dimitri has graduated fully to anti-villain. He keeps getting screwed over. You feel bad for him, even though this is the same guy who, more than once, attempted to take over the entire world.

The cover story briefly features Espio running off to join the action before he disappears from the story. Flynn picks up the chameleon in the back-up story, “Devotion.” While talking with Nicole about what's going on, Espio is attacked by Lightning Lynx. Through the course of the story, we learn that Espio's ninja clan has been adsorbed by the same ninja clan that Lightning Lynx is apparently part of. And now, both clans are ruled over by the Iron Queen. So Espio is honor-bound to serve the new bad guy in town, even though that means betraying his friends.

When Sega re-introduced Espio to the video gaming public in “Sonic Heroes,” the company suddenly decided the chameleon was a ninja. On one hand, that makes sense, since chameleons are naturally associated with stealth. On the other hand, it's total hacky, lame-ass bullshit, a cheap gimmick stapled onto a character that never displayed that attributes earlier. Without too much explanation, the comic followed Sega's lead, giving Espio shinobi abilities that he never previously had. And now, out of nowhere, Ian Flynn has decided Lightning Lynx is a ninja too. This is less of a big deal, since Lightning's never had much back story or personality before. But all this sudden business about ninjas and clan loyalty feels like a real ass pull.

I'm also no fan of Espio suddenly betraying his friends. Like I said, Espio's background as a ninja has never really come up before. So these new details of the chameleon being honor bound to some obscure leader comes out of nowhere. Espio has always been deeply loyal to Knuckles and the other Chaotix. To have him turn his back on his friends, due to some previously undisclosed alliance, is very sloppy. Not to mention annoying to fans of the character, who like him specifically because of his loyalty to his friends. Ultimately, the “Espio works for the bad guys now” was one of the those lame, comic book reversal the book just had to roll with for a while before it was finally undone.

Issue 201 is a mixed bag. The cover story has some fun stuff and seems to point towards Monkey Khan actually becoming a useful character in the near future. At the same time, the issue is mostly devoted to setting up the new plot development the book will be grappling with in its next year. The back story, meanwhile, I straight-up do not like. It's a bit of a step down after issue 200 but I'd still give this one a somewhat positive rating. [6/10]