Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 240

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 240
Publication Date: August 2012

Look, there's another Greg Horn cover and it's exactly as boring as his last cover! Granted, at least the image of Amy making a little heart with her hand tells us something about her personality, as opposed to the utterly generic image of Sonic he created last time. And I'm thankful Horn didn't resort to his usual techniques when portraying female characters and make Amy into an impossibly posed, half-naked, pouting porn starlet. I guess Archie just couldn't resist getting a big name like Horn involved in their silly, funny animal book. Could've been worse, I guess. Could've been that other Greg.

But let's talk about the actual comic book. “Heroes Part Two: For the People” has Team Fighter rushing to inform Mobotropolis of the Death Egg's approach. Their communique only partially gets through by the time Robotnik is directly over the city. It's up to Rotor and his team of misfits to save the day. Despite Eggman's sabotage and army of robot weapons, the team manages to fight off the invasion. They do, however, get some help from Harvey Who's now fully formed Secret Freedom Fighters. Also, Naugus continues to loose control of his own body to the voices in his head.

Issue 240 is an issue of “Sonic the Hedgehog” that barely has Sonic in it. And, honestly, it might be all the better for it. Though I have nothing against Sonic and friends running around the world, my heart is in Mobotropolis with the Knothole crew. Team Fighters' adventures have been so transient that I've felt a little adrift with this book recently. Returning home and focusing on the fate of the Acorn crown – even if Sally, Bunnie, and Antoine are out of the picture at the moment – is refreshing. By going back home, it reminds us what's at stake and why we care in the first place.

Part two of “Heroes” is mostly devoted to giving Team Freedom a chance to shine. Though I was initially very underwhelmed by the line-up of Rotor's team, their adventure here is pretty effective. Everyone's personality is given a chance to shine. Rotor accommodates himself to the role of leader fairly well. Cream is eager to help but still childish enough that she gets frightened. Heavy is overly analytically, even in the heat of combat. (And he still sounds like Baymax in my head.) Flynn mostly writes Big the Cat as a big dumb pet, staring dumbly and speaking simply while also smashing robots with his super-strength. It's not an all-star line-up or anything but the characters seem to work together well.

Of course, the only reason Robotnik's army can get into the city in the first place is because of Operation: Deadly Cuddles. Let's talk about that. During the assault on Mobotropolis during issue 231, Eggman dropped a Tails Doll out of the sky. Cream, assuming it was a simple toy, adopted it. Of course, the Tails Doll is actually an Eggman drone that can disrupt nanites and spy on the Freedom Fighters.

For those not in the know, Tails Doll is a very obscure Sega character that is something like Tails' counterpart to Metal Sonic. It was introduced in “Sonic R,” the glitchy racing game that came out on the Saturn in 1997. There's an obvious reason Flynn introduced this forgettable character into the comic fifteen years after his first appearance. Due to his creepy doll face and uncanny ability to float, somebody wrote a lame creepypasta about the character. And, because Sonic fans love stupid bullshit, this led to Tails Doll actually becoming kind of popular. Flynn hints at Tails Doll's internet fandom by making him a figure of suspicion, and eventually weirdly vivid body horror, in the book. As an in-joke unlikely to be caught by those unaware of the online fandom, I guess that was an okay decision.

The fine print at the start of the book says “Heroes” is the prelude to the Secret Freedom Fighter arc, currently playing out in “Sonic Universe.” Never mind that we were two issues into that story by the time this book came out. In their first in-continuity appearance, the Secret Freedom Fighters accomplish more than they have thus far in their own story. They make short work of the new Metal series robots Robotnik deploys. Larry's bad luck generation actually comes in handy, destroying two EggSWATS. Moreover, they actually act in a stealthy manner, helping out Team Freedom without alerting them to their presence. You'd think Flynn would've led with this, instead of having this issue come out after the “Universe” arc started.

After taking a one issue break and letting Jamal Peppers draw things, Steven Butler is back on penciling duties. Once again, I'm partial to Butler's work. His action is great. His character work is expressive and detailed. It's all good stuff. The second half of “Heroes” is much stronger than the first, managing to balance character development and action better. It also includes the Secret Freedom Fighters in a way that's far less distracting. Good on you, Flynn. [7/10]