Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 239

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 239
Publication Date: July 2012

Starting with issue 239, Archie invited a big comic artist to provide the cover art for a few issues. Unfortunately, that artist was Greg Horn. Horn somehow became a superstar artist in the late 2000s despite his work frequently being gross and always being really off-putting. He usually draws super unappealing pin-up artwork, his female characters bending in all sorts of anatomically impossible poses. Horn also abuses the use of photographs as source material and digital painting techniques to the point that most of his work occupies the uncanny valley. To look at Horn's artwork is to see a thousand dead-eyed but weirdly detailed faces floating above generic porno-bot bodies.

Knowing all this, I'm not sure why Archie hired the guy. But I guess a big name artist is still a big name artist, regardless of their reputation or how at odds their usual work is with this book's style. So, for the first cover he provided, Horn contributed an excessively generic image of Sonic posing on an empty blue background. It looks like a piece of Sega stock art and is as weirdly shiny as everything else Horn creates. No sir, I do not like it.

Anywho, the plot: Issue 239 begins a two-parter entitled “Heroes” which does not, disappointingly, feature an unkillable cheerleader or Zachary Quinto eating people's brains. So Team Fighter has been pursuing the Death Egg across the globe. They see the air-ship stop above the Feral Forest and quickly deduce that Robotnik is looking to murder Prince Elias. As the heroes arrive, the town is beset by various killer robots, including Mecha-Sally. They attempt to fight them off and save Elias’ life but someone else interferes.

“Heroes” is an action oriented story with branching plotlines. This is a nice way to say that “Heroes” is another Ian Flynn joint that prioritizes combat over character. This is twenty-one pages composed almost completely of action. Sonic fights Silver Sonic.  Col. Sommersby fights Mecha-Sally. Amy Rose fights Mecha-Sally. Tails then leaps in for an assist. We even see T-Pup briefly fight Silver Sonic. All these fisticuffs are happening concurrently, so Flynn is constantly cutting between these various conflicts. It's entertaining but, once you get over the initial fun factor of good ol' violence, you realize this is a pretty thin story.

It's also, I'm afraid to say, another excuse for Flynn to set up the Secret Freedom Fighters. Yeah, I thought he was done too. It's another example of Archie's bad planning and shaky release schedule. This issue was obviously meant to premiere after issue 41 of “Sonic Universe.” During the invasion of the Feral Forest, Leeta and Lyco appear. They escort the former king to safety. Not only is this yet more exhausting set-up for Flynn's other story line, it also removes quite a bit of tension from the story. If Team Fighter had never showed up in the village, it turns out Elias probably still would've been fine.

If “Heroes” has anything going for it, is the small kernels of emotion and character development we get. Elias forbids Tails from telling Sonic the exact details of how he was rescued. When Sonic receives Tails' vague answer, there's a ambiguous panel devoted to the hedgehog and fox glaring at each other. Not only does this bring “House of Cards” to mind again, it also shows that coming so close to rescuing Sally just to fail yet again is beginning to weigh on Sonic. He actively wants to pursue her at one point but realizes he needs to stay and protect the village instead. I like the idea that the stress of the situation is starting to make our hero crack up and wish Flynn explored that more.

The fight between Amy Rose and Mecha-Sally also leads to a few good moments. Allowing Mecha-Sally to retain some of her personality, while still being primarily a murder machine, was a wise decision. During the fight, Mecha-Sally presents the possibility that Amy wants to destroy her, as a way to wipe out her primary romantic rival. She then follows this up by saying she was never Amy's friend. Amy rebukes both comments but the remarks clearly get under her skin. Mecha-Sally isn't just a physical threat. The Freedom Fighters aren't just concerned about her because she was once their friend. Sally has also known these characters for years, giving her plenty of information to manipulate her now enemies with.

Despite these handful of good moments, part one of “Heroes” is clearly just a minor issue on the way to another story. The issue concludes with the Death Egg arriving above Mobotropolis, clearly preparing for another strike at the city. Once again, Mecha-Sally gets away, allowing this story line to continue on even longer. There's very little pay-off or satisfaction here. Issue 239 mostly comes off as a stop-gap on the way to a more important and eventful comic book.

At least the artwork is good. Jamal Peppers' action scenes are incredibly dynamic. Amy and Sally's fight stretches across two pages, in one good example of the action leaping out at you. I even like the page where the damnable T-Pup uses an electric current to freeze Silver Sonic in its place. Scripting wise, this is a mediocre comic book, more of a tease for future events then a satisfying book on its own. [6/10]