Sonic Universe: Issue 15

Sonic Universe: Issue 15
Publication Date: April 2010

The Iron Dominion has fallen in the main “Sonic” book but “Sonic Universe” is still covering the events leading up to that victory. In my last review of “Sonic Universe,” I complained that the “Journey to the East” story arc has been overly sluggish for my taste. I mentioned that bringing in the Destructix was a desperate attempt by Ian Flynn to pick up the story's pace. This may be true but it actually worked. Issue 15's sole story, with the mixed metaphor subtitle “No Love in a Conquering Storm,” is by far the best entry in this arc.

 
The last issue ended with a cliffhanger, with the Destructix seemingly ambushing Sonic's crew. That fight is short lived though. Fiona, now leading the group, offers a truce. They want to re-recruit Lightning Lynx, who is still faithful to the Raiju Clan. Sonic and Monkey Khan, meanwhile, want the Raiju Clan to cut ties with the Iron Dominion. So their goals lie up. The two team work together to break into the lynx ninja's base, where Sonic and Lightning duel to determine the outcome of this adventure.

Forcing Sonic, Sally, Khan, and Tails to work with the Destructix is a good idea. Heroes and bad guys forced to work together by circumstances is usually a good story move, as it creates some natural tension in the narrative. “No Love in a Conquering Storm” also adds another unexpected but welcomed aspects. The Destructix may be heartless mercenaries but there's a certain amount of honor among thieves. Sgt. Simian, Predator Hawk, and Flying Frog miss Lightning Lynx. He's their pal, their buddy, and they've seen a lot of shit together. Having these usually mercantile characters show some genuine affection for a comrade is a surprising but effective move.

Flynn uses this opportunity to do two other things. First off, he reshuffles the team's line-up a little. Drago has gone back to the Eggman Empire, for some reason. (Presumably so Flynn can humiliate him some more further down the road.) Sleuth Dawg is retiring, leaving the team and walking out of the book forever. Fiona is probably a better leader anyway.

The other thing Flynn does is develop a few members of the Destructix. Despite kicking around the book for over a decade, most of these guys are still thin sketches. Some of his choices here are more interesting than others. We discover that Lightning Lynx isn't just loyal to the Bride of Conquering Storm because of ninja honor bullshit. He's literally in love with her. That's pretty interesting. As is the absolute rage and heartbreak he feels after getting kicked out of the clan by her at the end of this comic. Least interesting to me is what Flynn does to Flying Frog. Previously a totally non-descript character, Flynn writes Flying as an unhinged goofball prone to spouting off random phrases, usually in a cutesy manner. In other words, he write him entirely like Bean the Dynamite. Not sure we needed another Totz Cray-Cray Random Comic Relief character in this book.

Lightning Lynx isn't the only character showing some surprising emotion in this issue. The fight scene at the start of the issue is a totally superficial bit of action, obviously thrown in to placate the action-hungry seven-to-twelve-boys demographic. Yet it does lead to one fantastic moment. While Fiona is trying to convince the Freedom Fighters to pal around with her, she starts to tease Tails about his still unrequited crush on her. In response, Princess Sally walks up to the fox and punches her hard in the gut. Hard enough for Fiona to nearly collapses. It's a satisfying sight. It's also nice to see Sally cut loose and be a hard, bad bitch every once in a while.

Like I said, there's plenty of action in this issue. The opening fight scene is pretty minor but does feature the amusing sight of Sonic giving Flying Frog a noogie. When the gang invade the fortress, that leads to a cool moment of Monkey Khan hitting a curled-up Sonic with his bat, turning the hedgehog into an electrified bowling ball. The finale also presents a refreshing change of pace. Instead of ending this issue with characters just talking shit out, we get a fight. A dual, in fact, where Sonic and Lightning Lynx battle. If the hedgehog looses, the heroes will become the prisoners of the Raiju Clan. If Lynx looses, he'll leave the Clan and the lynxes will reject the Iron Dominion. Talking it out is nice and all but sometimes you need to punch people.

Issue 15 of “Sonic Universe” naturally ends by setting up future storylines. The Destructix have some devious plans for the future, Lightning eager to get revenge on both Sonic and Conquering Storm. Espio shows up on the final page, offering the heroes a chance to talk to his ninja clan, ending both this story arc and that dumb-ass “Espio is a traitor!” subplot. Who knows how that'll turn out but the third part of “Journey to the East” is the first installment of this arc that actually entertained me. So that's good. [7/10]