Sonic Universe: Issue 32

Sonic Universe: Issue 32
Publication Date: September 2011

I'm just going to step back and give myself a little perspective. Back when first conceived, Evil Sonic or Anti-Sonic – whatever you want to call the character that would become Scourge – was little more than a gimmick. Dressed like an out-dated perception of what a bad boy thug looked like, he was never taken very seriously as a character and was quickly dealt with every time he appeared. Who would've thought that, seventeen years later, we'd still be reading about that character? Moreover, that he would be compelling enough to carry an entire arc by himself! That's what I mean when I talk about how Ian Flynn completely saved this comic book.

The last part of “Scourge: Lockdown” begins with the Zone Police prison in turmoil. The prison riot that ends every prison movie is in full effect. In the chaos, the Destructix hope to make their escape. Scourge goes about getting revenge on those that wronged him while Fiona and the other Destructix searches for the plot device that will give them their freedom. In the chaos, reveals and betrayals go down.

As I mentioned in my review of “Sonic Universe: Issue 29,” “Inside Job” has been an arc partially about making Scourge sympathetic. By getting dunked on by everyone else in supervillain jail, Scourge gained a humility previously beyond the ego-tastic baddie. From a writing perspective, it makes sense. This also puts Scourge back at zero, giving him an identifiable character arc for this story: Trying to regain his confidence and evil zeal. Which finally comes to pass here. By the end, Scourge is re-proclaiming his superiority over everyone. And just so you know he isn't that sympathetic, that he's still a bad guy, Flynn also has him cruelly screw over Al and Cal.

All of that is well and good, from a narrative level. But it's not the reason I liked this issue so much. At the issue's beginning, Scourge goes on a rampage through the prison, his evil mojo thoroughly reclaimed. He spin-dashes the buff Knuckles that tormented him earlier right in the guy. He tosses the Anti-Lupe that hassled him earlier off a bridge. He kicks a zone cop – possibly based off of Monkey Khan – right in the face. There's an awesome page half-way through entirely devoted to him kicking ass and taking names, both guards and prisoners alike. I enjoy this for the same reason I like to watch “Friday the 13th” movies. Sometimes, it's just fun to watch the bad guy make mince-meat of everyone around him, regardless of whether or not they're decent people.

Flynn probably could've devoted a whole issue to Scourge taking revenge and generally being an amoral bad-ass. However, he does pay off on several lingering plot points set up here. Some nice tension is inserted into the last act, when the Warp Ring Fiona counted on getting the gang out of here is stolen by Jeffrey St. Croix. This allows the not-entirely-interesting subplot about the evil King Maxx trying to escape space-jail a decent conclusion. We also get a justification as to why Horzonti-Al and Verti-Cal had to be in this story. Scourge removes their inhibitor collars, unleashing the robo-death-god versions of the imps last seen in issue 59 of “Sonic.” Which actually makes the annoying duo kind of intimidating, in addition to being a decent pay-off.

After spending the last two issues finally giving the Destructix a back story, Flynn partially devotes this issue to seeing them act as a team. It's surprisingly effective. Lighting's highly effective hearing comes in handy. Fiona's brains helps the whole operation work. Predator Hawk's flight and predatory instinct prove useful. Even Scourge shows himself to be a good leader. At one point, he rushes into danger to insure the escape plan works. Yes, he's doing it so he can reek more havoc and because he really wants to escape. But this also shows that maybe there's a molecule of honor among these thieves as well.

It's a really fun issue that also, unintentionally, ends up being rather bittersweet. Flynn ends the story by setting up future confrontations. The Zone Cops, Zonic especially, are dismayed by the break-out and name-drop all the threats they are juggling right now. Scourge and his boys return to Mobius. Fiona wants to work with Dr. Finnitevus but Scourge is more interested in regaining some serious power. Sadly, none of these events would come to fruition. This is the last time Flynn would write about Scourge before the Pendering forced a hard reboot on Archie's "Sonic" books, wiping out the entire multi-verse and Scourge's existence. At the very least, Scourge's final appearance would be a good one.

By the way, Flynn and Yardley continue to sneak in those fun little in-jokes I enjoy. What appears to be a purple kraken sticks its tentacles out in the bitchin' two-age spread that opens the book. In addition to the possible Zone Cop version of Monkey Khan, we also briefly see possible Zone Cop versions of Duck Bill and Mighty. In the evidence locker, we see Dark Enerjak's brass knuckles, Rosy the Rascal's hammer, and Knuckles' infamous hat from the OVA. Most bizarrely, a mob scene features an appearance from what appears to be a red Angry Bird and the snail from “Spongebob.” Which certainly raises some interesting questions about the multi-verse here.

This story does what a good story is suppose to do: It makes me want to see more. Scourge and his bandits may not be long for this four-colored world but at least their final adventure was a lot of fun. The whole arc was very good, probably one of my favorite “Sonic Universe” plots. [7/10]