Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 217

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 217
Publication Date: September 2010

Those who were there will remember. Much of the news cycle in 2010 was dominated by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. From early April to mid September, following an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling station, oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico. It was the biggest marine oil spill in history, reeking havoc on local wildlife and economy. Separated by eight years, the cover of issue 217 of Archie's “Sonic the Hedgehog” series probably seems innocuous. Back in September of 2010, the timing couldn't be worst. Showing a cartoon character adrift in a sea of oil, when the Gulf of Mexico was actually becoming a sea of oil in real life, was unfortunate, to say the least. It was one of those sad coincidences, planned out too far in advance to change.

“Thicker Than Water” begins with Sonic and Bunnie seemingly fighting each other. Unlike the fake-out cover to issue 203, this conflict is real. The story rolls back, revealing what led up to this conflict. The Freedom Fighters have receive a distress signal from Sand Blast City. Though reluctant to help out the Sand Blasters, considering how many times they've tried to kill them, Sonic and Bunnie head out to investigate anyway. Bunnie immediately falls out while flying over the city. She is recovered by the local Dark Egg Legion chapter, which has built an oil drilling installation near-by. Sonic discovers the Sand Blasters have been warring with the Legion and have armed their city with an EMP. When Sonic rushes in to the fight the Legionnaires, he discovers Bunnie has seemingly taken up with them. It's not a trick either. Her long-lost Uncle Beauregard is the leader of this chapter and the locals have taken up membership more to protect themselves than to serve Robotnik.

During the last two-parter, Ian took the time to develop the Arctic Freedom Fighters. By the end, the team was still composed of barely defined archetypes... Which speaks more to how undeveloped they were to begin with and less to Flynn's flaws as a writer. With the “Thicker Than Water”  two-parter, Flynn focuses in on another underexplored corner of Mobius. Granted, Karl Boller had given Sand Blast City and all its inhabitants more personality than the feebly defined Arctic Freedom Fighters. But Ian gives Jack Rabbit's alligator, roadrunner, bear, and wolf sidekicks names and roles on the team. I'm not sure that was strictly necessary – Jack is still the only important one – but I guess it makes the world more well-rounded.

The previous two issues also expanded on Rotor's back story a little. This story arc is also devoted to another vintage Freedom Fighter. In all her years in the comics, we've never learned much about Bunnie's origins or family. Flynn sets about fixing that in this one. We meet Beauregard, Bunnie's uncle. There are quickly dropped references to the Baronies, presumably an aristocratic portion of the Mobian population, and how they pledged allegiance to Robotnik during his first coup. We also learn that we've been saying Bunnie's last name wrong all these years. Turns out, it's pronounce with a French accent, as Rah-boh, instead of the pun-tactular Rab-bot. This seems to explain why a character from a post-apocalyptic Earth ten thousand years into the future has a Southern accent.

Though he only appears in a handful of panels, Beauregard proves to be a surprisingly compelling character. He immediately has a warm back-and-forth with Bunnie. He explains his colony's backstory – they were the Robians that surrounded Sand Blast City, turned back to organic by the Bem along with every other Robian on Mobius – but this is done in a natural way. Even though we've just met the guy, Bunnie and Beauregard's relationship is such that the story's central conflict seem totally reasonable. Beauregard and the others allied with Eggman not because they support his plans for global domination. They did it because the Sand Blaster's kept attacking them, injuring many and constantly endangering others. Sonic's headstrong desire to attack them simply because they're Dark Egg Legion is maybe a little hasty. That's in-character though. Mostly, this is a story devoted to pointing out how war isn't a clean-cut conflict. People compromise to survive and that's something Sonic's going to have to learn.

After that really strong cover story, we are then greeted with a middling back-up story. “Welcome Back, Chao!” is set a few months back, before the Iron Dominion took over Robotropolis. Snively, inside a giant drilling machine, has attacked a Chao garden. Near-by lives Cream and her mother, Vanilla, making this an especially rabbit-heavy issue. Amy Rose rushes into action, defeating Snively and accidentally crushing the rabbit house in the process. Feeling bad about it, she immediately invites Cream, her mom, and their Chao collection to live in New Mobotropolis.

“Welcome Back, Chao!” really has one purpose: To bring Cream the Rabbit into the comic. Honestly, after her regular appearances in the “Sonic X” comic, I had forgotten that Cream hadn't yet been officially introduced in the main book. Sega considered Cream an  “X” exclusive – you might even say X-clusive – character for a long time, which is why she didn't appear sooner. I've never had much attachment to Cream but Ian at least finds a purpose for the character. Seconds after meeting each other, Cream immediately becomes Amy Rose's sidekick. That's as good a role as any for Cream. It beefs up Amy's responsibilities and keeps Cream's role as a precious kid – something Tails usually does – without making her redundant. As for the story itself, it's a totally passable, utterly unremarkable bit of action. I always enjoy watching Amy smash shit with her hammer but there's not much else to this.

Issue 217 does bring a new artist onto the book. Well, new-ish. Ben Bates has drawn the last few Off-Panels and makes his proper debut here. Bates would immediately become a fan favorite and it's not hard to see why. Bates' style successfully combines the book's by-now standard look with the Sega house style and an energetic, anime-influence design scheme. Bates' ability to bring a new energy to these characters, without loosing sight of their classic elements, has rightly been lauded. It's a great looking story. Yardley draws the back-up and the work is up to his professional standards.

After some lackluster stories, in both the main book and “Sonic Universe,” Ian has finally knocked one out of the park. The first part of “Thicker Than Water” is a really fantastic story, successfully expanding on the comic's world and creating a conflict motivated more by emotion and characters than raw plot mechanics. (Or resolving decades old lingering plot lines, though it does a little of that too.) The back-up story isn't much to write home about but I guess introducing a long entrenched Sega character into the book was overdue. All together, it's one of the best issues we've gotten in quite some time. [8/10]