Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 216

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 216
Publication Date: August 2010

August of 2010 wasn't a very good month for me. In fact, that entire summer was a hellscape of depression and misery for me. By this point, I was beginning a downward spiral that I wouldn't even begin to pull myself out off for several years. During this really shitty period of my life, one of the few things that genuinely gave me pleasure was reading Archie's “Sonic the Hedgehog” comic every month. In fact, I'm sometimes certain that my nerdy passions were the only thing that kept me going during that dark time. So that's where my mind was when this comic book was new.

Part two of “Family Matters” picks up where the first one left off. Rotor and Silver briefly tussle among the frozen tundra. This goes on until the walrus convinces the telekinetic hedgehog that his aim is true, the two forming a truce. Meanwhile, Sonic and the Arctic Freedom Fighters lay siege to the tower sending the mind control signal. What makes this especially difficult is the army of brain-washed walruses protecting the tower. Sonic and the Arctic Freedom Fighters have to figure out how to topple the tower without hurting any of the innocents involved.

As I mentioned last time, the first half of “Family Matters” was devoted solely to setting up the heroes' plan. The second half of “Family Matters” primarily concerns this plan playing out. Disappointingly, this isn't much more compelling. Sonic and his pals bumble through their plan, generally getting their asses kicked. That is until Rotor and Silver fly in, like a pair of airborne deus ex machina, and resolve the plot in a few panels. During these action scenes, the most Ian does is toss a little character development towards the Arctic Freedom Fighters. We learn that Erma the Ermine can apparently turn invisible somehow. There's some brief, cute interaction between Sonic and Flip the Penguin. Ahklut the Whale, a pretty cool orca sub-boss, gets a quicky introduction. That's about it.

However, there is one thing about “Family Matters: Part Two” that I sort of like. The back-and-forth between Rotor and Silver is mildly amusing. Once again, I enjoy the way Ian writes Silver. The futuristic hedgehog barges in, flinging Rotor around with his psychic powers, acting like he's a big badass. As soon as Rotor points out how stupid the entire basis of Silver's plan – assuming Rotor must be the traitor because people used to call him Boomer – is, Silver's tough guy exterior cracks. He begins to stutter and second-guess himself. Aww, that's cute. No matter how hard he tries, Silver is still an endearing screw-up. For the rest of the issue, he's very apologetic, his obvious lack of confidence showing.

The extended conclusion to “Family Matters” makes the entire purpose of this two-parter clear. As I mentioned during my review of issue 215, the fate of Rotor's herd has been a dangling plot point for years. Silver performs some psychic mojo upon Robotnik's mind-control tower during the issue's climax. Afterwards, the writer makes sure to point out that Rotor's herd can never be mind-controlled ever again. So this repetitive, often forgotten subplot is finally resolved once and for all, never to be mentioned again. Thank goodness for little miracles.

As far as stories go, the “Family Matters” two-parter isn't too exciting. At least it's looks really nice though. Steven Butler's artwork continues to be totally bitchin'. It says a lot about Butler's skills that he can take a nothing character like Erma the Ermine and make her interesting just based on the visuals. The action scenes, such as Rotor tackling Silver or Gunther flipping a walrus though the air, look pretty neat. Butler also manages to sneak some nice character moments in there, like the look of panic on Sonic's face as the gets attacked by Rotor's mom. The underwater confrontation with Akhlut also looks super intense.

Silver the Hedgehog goes back to the future for the second part of “Future Tense.” After his trip to the past, he discovers the future has changed slightly. The guardian, Edmund, recalls events a little differently than Silver does. The hedgehog explains that he's protected from the changes in the timeline, due to his status as a time traveler. The conversation is interrupted when Silver's master telepathically summons him to a meeting.

“Future Tense: Part Two” doesn't have too many story reasons to exist. Primarily, the back-up feature's purpose is to establish some more factoids about Silver's future world. Yes, we learn a little bit more about time travel. None of this is especially pertinent but it's mildly interesting. The big reveal at the end is that Silver's master is Mammoth Mogul, who has seemingly mellowed out in his old age. How or why this happened has yet to be explained. Not too much to discuss beyond that. Oh yeah, Jamal Peppers' pencils are still pretty sharp.

So the “Family Matters” two-parter was a bit underwhelming. I suppose it's not unexpected that a Rotor-centric story arc would be disappointing. Still, at least his herd is protected once and for all, for the handful of people who cared about that stuff. Ian develops Bunnie's backstory next, a story that I remember being way better. Stay tuned for that, faithful readers. [6/10]