Sonic Universe: Issue 33

Sonic Universe: Issue 33
Publication Date: October 2011

“Sonic Universe” just came off one of my favorite story arcs for the comic, which revolved around one of the Archie-verse's most dastardly villains. Perhaps hoping lightning would strike twice, the next arc would also focus on characters that are not exactly heroes. The Babylon Rogues aren't as irredeemable as Scourge, though they are far from good guys. They also are nowhere near as interesting either. This story line would also be Tracy Yardley's proper writing debut for the book. At the time, I felt this factors combined to make a real snore of a story. Let's see if that opinion still holds true.

The first part of “Babylon Rising” – is that the first time a “Sonic Universe” arc had the same name on the front cover and in the actual book? – begins with the Rogues rushing into some sort of ancient temple. The temple contains a key that will lead them to the Babylon Gardens, a legendary location among the bird-like Mobians. The Battle Bird Armada has been trying to locate the Garden for generations and Jet the Hawk is determined to get there first. In-between deflecting the temple's booby traps, the trio flashback to the events that brought them together.

Yardley builds his first gig as a head writer around a rather uninspiring narrative troupe: The MacGuffin chase. One MacGuffin, an ancient book, has led the Rogues to the temple within the Gigan Mountains (Which probably isn't a Godzilla reference) and the key it contains. This MacGuffin will lead them to a map that will bring them to the story's final MacGuffin, the legendary Gardens. This kind of point-A-to-point-B writing is pretty dull on its own. Not helping matters are the vague status of the Gardens themselves. Literally no one knows what they are, what they contain, or why these bird-people have been chasing after them for hundreds of years. Where exactly yet another ancient but advanced civilizations fits into Mobius' convoluted history is another question left unanswered.

“Sonic Universe” has really gone crazy with expounding on characters' back stories recently. At least the Rogues haven't sat in the book for a decade without the audience learning any information about their past, the way the Fearsome Foursome did. It's already been confirmed that their origins are with the Battle Bird Armada. Here, we learn that Jet was once a promising young member of the Armada, specifically tasked with finding the Gardens. However, he wasn't interested in serving the Armada and set off on his own. His insubordination got him throw into the brig, where he met Wave and Storm. It's a pretty stock-parts origin, Jet's reasoning for rebellion and his resentment towards the Armada being left fairly vague.

In fact, Jet is the only member of the Rogues who gets much personality here at all. He's egotistical, motivated primarily by pride, and has a short temper. Which isn't a lot but is still more than Wave and Storm get. Storm is still defined solely as big dumb muscle. Wave spouts off some technobabble and historical exposition to make sure we know she's the smart one. Truthfully, Speedy – not even one of the issue's main characters – gets more development than either of them. When the Rogues deserted the Armada, he secretly begged to go with them. That's interesting! Perhaps the bird actually hates being in his father's shadow? But it's just one small moment in the comic.

When I first read “Babylon Rising,” I remember thinking it read like the kind of fanfiction written by kids who played too many video games and didn't read enough books. This game-leaning construction is still evident. In the Temple, Jet grabs the magical cube even though everyone tells him not to. This summons a sword-wielding genie, which is actually a hard-light hologram. The Rogues quickly deduce that they need to smash the projectors around the temple to defeat the djinn. This plays a lot like a boss battle from a “Sonic” game. Determining a pattern and a weak point may be fun to play through with a controller. In a comic book, it's monotonous.

In fact, Yardley does not show a lot of strength for writing in general here. His plot is stock parts. His character work is shaky. His action scenes are wonderfully drawn but dull conceptually. Even his dialogue is kind of weak. His attempts at comedic dialogue produces clunkers like “Yes, I can read ancient Babylonian” or “Sorry, your Kukkuness.” The genie's dialogue is rendered in some stiff, quasi-ancient sounding Thor speak, which is annoying to read. Chunky terms like “Divine wings,” “lightless black” or “extreme gear” are dropped throughout, thudding each time. Some of Yardley's dialogue straight-up doesn't read well. Jet says “I'm a bird! I don't need flying lessons!” despite always using a hoverboard to fly, instead of his wings. Storm saying “I don't like superior officers! I do like you!” just scans as awkward.

It's a perfect storm of mediocre ingredients. Yardley, someone clearly talented at drawing a comic but perhaps inexperienced at writing one, was given the chance to cook up a backstory with three of the least interesting characters the comic inherited from the video games. This combination does not result in the most compelling reading. I remember this arc being a tedious read so excuse me if I speed through the rest of these things. [5/10]