Archie & Friends: A Halloween Tale

Archie & Friends: A Halloween Tale
Publication Date: September 1998

Happy Halloween, Hedgehogs Can't Swim readers! If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that I love this day. Halloween isn't just my favorite holiday, it's my favorite time of year. This spooky, scary festival means a lot to me. Sadly, the “Sonic the Hedgehog” franchise doesn't indulge in the macabre or morbid very often. I've bemoan the lack of existence of a “Sonic” Halloween special before.

Except... I was wrong. There is a “Sonic” Halloween special. It's even a part of my beloved Archie-verse! But you'll be forgiven for not knowing this existed. “Archie & Friends: A Halloween Tale” is a short, ten page comic book that was published strictly as a promotional gimmick in September of 1998. I had never heard of the book before reading about it on the Mobius Encyclopaedia. Though super obscure, it's not especially rare and can be bought fairly cheaply online. I'm happy to present my thoughts on this weird bit of “Sonic” lore to you on this happy Halloween.

The book is also another one of those ill-conceived crossovers Archie was attempting around this time. “A Halloween Tale's” sole story is entitled “A Festival of Fantasy.” It depicts Sabrina the Teenage Witch meeting Sonic before their crossover in Sonic Super Special #10.

“A Festival of Fantasy” has Sabrina's talking cat Salem, weirdly depicted primarily as live-action photos from the then-relevant TV sitcom, tasking Sabrina with picking up his comics. The smarmy clerk, who can't believe a woman would be interested in comics, quickly strikes up a conversation with her. Confused, Sabrina accidentally recites a spell over the long boxes. This zaps her and Stevie into the world of Archie's “Sonic” book, where Sonic and Knuckles are currently fighting with Dr. Ivo Robotnik. Desperate to escape, Sabrina zaps herself, Stevie, and Sonic and Knuckles back out of the comic and into her world. Strapped for time, Sabrina is forced to drag Sonic and Knuckles to Cheryl Blossom's Halloween party. There, the Mobian heroes get into a scrape with Archie and Jughead before Sabrina successfully zaps them away.

Aside from the mere existence of a “Sonic” Halloween special being cool, “A Halloween Tale” is  interesting to me for another reason. I had always assumed that Archie begrudgingly tolerated the “Sonic” series' success. I imagined Archie was far more proud of the stupid teen comedy series that gave the company's its name. That they dismissed “Sonic” as a lame licensed book, of little interest. They might still be true but “A Halloween Tale” has Sonic happily standing alongside Archie's titular characters and his supporting cast. At one point, Ken Penders' script even refers to “Sonic” and “Knuckles” as best-selling books! So that's nice.

Then again, Ken Penders' might have been serving his ego some with that line. “A Halloween Tale” also has someone excitedly grabbing the first issue of “The Lost Ones.” (Which wouldn't actually come out until the year 2000.) The issue also ends with Salem, atop a pile of comics, calling the story great and imploring the reader to pick up more comics by Penders and friends. Real subtle, Ken.

“A Festival of Fantasy” is primarily a piece of cross-corporate promotional synergy. Archie packs the thing full of cameos. Aside from Sabrina and Salem, Archie himself, Jughead, Cheryl Blossom in a Playboy bunny outfit, Betty, Veronica, and Reggie all appear. There's a spread showing a crowd at the Halloween party. That includes Josie and the Pussycats and Sabrina's archenemy Enchantra. Some of those vintage superheroes Archie likes to bring back occasionally appear too: The Shield, the Web, the Comet, Black Hood, Blackjack, Steel Sterling, and the Jaguar. (And Stevie's Halloween costume is of Pureheart, Archie's superhero alter-ego.) Even further in the backgrounds are non-Archie characters like Shadowhawk, Astal, Charlie from “Street Fighter,” and Penders' Particle.

You'll notice I'm talking more about “A Halloween Tale's”  status as a novelty than as an actual story. The plotting is pretty fucking thin and lousy. The jokes, as seems to be in keeping with the “Archie” titles at the time, are pretty lame. The characters are broad and annoying. Reggie is an unreasonable asshole who tries to pick a fight with Sonic and Knuckles. For no particular reason, Jughead's Halloween costume is Robotnik, leading to an especially contrived confrontation. Robotnik's presence is a continuity error, as the classic version of the character was dead by this point. If you think Archie Sonic fans overlook this, you severely underestimate their nerdiness.

The script is exactly as lame as you'd expect a ten page long crossover to be. Ken probably wrote this fucking thing in half an hour. Artwork wise, “A Halloween Tale” is a little more interesting As in “Some Enchantra Evening,” the Archie characters and Sonic characters are drawn by different artists. Dan DeCarlo draws the Archie crew and does slightly better than the later work of his I saw. He obviously enjoys drawing sexy girls like Cheryl or Betty. None other than Patrick Spaziante handles the “Sonic” cast. They look pretty damn great, expressive and stylized. The contrast between the two styles are extreme but it's always fun to see Spaz draw the Sonic crew.

As a Halloween special, “Festival of Fantasy” is pretty underwhelming. There's nothing spooky, scary, creepy, eerie, or even spoopy about this particular book. Still, it's mere existence is delightful to me. It's a mediocre comic book but the sheer novelty factor goes a long friggin' way. If you're a fan of stupid bullshit, like me, I'd recommend you try and find a copy. [5/10]

Sonic Universe: Issue 48

Sonic Universe: Issue 48
Publication Date: January 2013

The final “Sonic Universe” pre-boot arc is one of the most bittersweet for me. After a very rough start, it would solidify in its second half into a strong story. Moreover, it would focus on one character finally being reunited with a long lost relative... In a way that opened the window for future stories. Sadly, one of the mandates that Sega would begin enforcing post-reboot was that no Sega-created characters could have family members. So, even though Sega rarely even acknowledges that Mighty the Armadillo exists, his little sister was cast into the void. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

“All for One: Part Three” begins where we left off, with the Chaotix outside Sandblast City. Among the Sandblaster is “Flex,” who they immediately recognize as Mighty. At first, he acts like he doesn't want to associate with the other three but this is a cover, of course. The Chaotix pretend to be captives while Mighty heads over to the local Dark Egg Legion hang-out, ran by Bunnie's uncle Beauregard, and seeks out Mathilda, his little sister. Things, however, don't go as planned. Especially once the Sandblasters get involved.

Comparing the first half of “All for One” with the second is like night and day. This is the difference between writing a story where your central trio is surrounded by a bunch of lame new characters you don't care about and a story where they reunite with old friends and enemies. Part three is special for the way it deftly combines action and emotions. There are several solid action scenes. The story begins with a fairly well executed rumble between the Chaotix and the Sandblasters. Even better is a beat towards the end where Mighty casually walks into the Dark Egg Legion camp and begins to tear their tanks apart with his bare hands. The panels, which show him ripping treads off or opening up a tank like a tin can, are fantastically drawn.

These fun action scenes stand alongside major emotional moments, which are the main attraction of the issue. The best of these is Mighty's reunion with Matilda. After she reappears, Flynn gives us a brief explanation of her back story but this is almost unnecessary. Mighty hugs his sister, so happy to finally see her. Matilda's emotional growth, it seems, has been crippled by her tragic upbringing. She has no attachment or feelings towards Mighty. It breaks Mighty's heart, drawing attention to what makes this character so great: He's a big tough guy with a big soft heart. Reuniting with his sister has been his primary drive for a while now. Achieving that goal, but at the same time failing, is good drama.

This is not the only character development we get this time around. There's a small moment that shows some growth on Vector's behalf. When it's discovered that Mighty is merely pretending to be a Sandblaster, the other Chaotix rase him over the ways he's rejected Espio and Julie-Su (who isn't mentioned by name, due to the Fearful Pendersing), due to their uncertain loyalties in the past. At first, it seems Vector is going to be his usual obstinate self but, weirdly, he admits that he sometimes has a problem with forgiving people. That's... Surprising to hear. Self-reflection is not something we're used to seeing from Vector the Crocodile.

Ray the Squrriel has the exact opposite problem than many of the characters introduced around the same time. We know all about his backstory, how he spent a decade blipping back and forth through dimensions while clinging to a Time Stone. It's his personality that has been largely unexplored. We get a good probe into that here as well. While Mighty is away retrieving his sister, Ray expresses his fears that Mighty will abandon him, his surrogate family, now that he has a real family. The other Chaotix assure him this won't happen. But it's a good moment, letting us know that Ray also fears rejection and loosing those he cares about.

Another element improving part three over the first two parts is its antagonists. Lord Hood was a pretty lame baddie, with more-or-less nothing interesting about him. The Sandblasters, meanwhile, are compelling villains we've met before. The completely self-interested, treacherous, and isolationist Sand Blast Freedom Fighters are different from the usual power-mad tyrants or raving psychopaths the comic's heroes fight. The Sandblasters do not revel in their villainy. They believe their actions are totally justified. In fact, many of their goals aren't even evil themselves. It's their asshole methods that make them bad guys. This is evident in this issue. Jack Rabbit is still a petty bully and a ruthless thug. It's these elements that push the story towards conflict at the issue's end, leading to a fantastic cliffhanger.

Here's just the hard facts: Flynn is frequently at his best when playing in someone else's sandbox. His best work usually comes from improving upon or remixing someone else's work. Give him a group of interesting characters and he can grow them into something much stronger, as depicted here. Force him to come up with new characters on the spot, and we get the lackluster first two issues of this arc. This bodes well for the conclusion of “All for One” but not for the upcoming reboot. [8/10]

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 245

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 245
Publication Date: January 2013

Let’s jump right into the plot synopsis. Part three of “Endangered Species,” which has the very odd subtitle of “Restoration Efforts,” begins with Knuckles and Team Fighter locked in mortal combat with Thrash the Tasmanian Devil. As the battle rages on, Knuckles learns more about his new enemy’s motivations. Meanwhile, Metal Knuckles is brought back into the fight when the Krudzu Hybrid Hydra takes over its mechanical body. Sonic, Tails, and Amy stay behind to fight the robot - with some unexpected help - while Knuckles pursues Thrash.

Once again, the last minute revisions to the “Endangered Species” arc are all too obvious. You can easily find Yardley’s first cover to this issue online and see that the Krudzu tentacles ensnaring Sonic were originally intended to be Lien-Da’s whips. The solicitation that was sent out to comic shops even said Lien-Da and the Dark Legion were going to be featured in this issue. The ramifications of Penders’ lawsuit are evident inside as well. Last issue ended with a stray piece of the Krudzu Hybrid Hydra infecting Metal Knuckles’ empty shell. This issue begins with a Krudzu-controlled Crabmeat scuttling into land, coming across Metal Knuckles’ vacant shell, and then taking it over. This itself is a sloppy retcon of the robo-weed’s last appearance, which showed it falling to its doom inside the body of a Titan Metal Sonic. Considering how tight Flynn’s continuity usually is, it is very clear that nobody expected the lawsuit to play out the way it did.

This issue, better than the one that proceeded it, is primarily driven by Knuckles’ rage. And that’s a powerful factor. Considering he’s been in a real funk since the Enerjak episode five years ago, it’s nice to see Knuckles really cut loose. He’s confused, grieved, but mostly extremely pissed off at Thrash. The reader is feeling the same thing, though for much more metatextual reasons, so we really relate with Knuckles here. That emotion makes this issue far more compelling than it probably would’ve been otherwise. (Though the issue does, confusingly, treat Julie-Su and the Albion echidnas as if they’re dead one minute and then like they’ve merely been kidnapped the next. This is presumably a side-effect of Flynn genuinely not knowing if he’d ever be able to use them again.)

No matter how powerful the emotions in the issue are, this is primarily another action driven issue. Knuckles is fighting with Thrash. Sonic and Team Fighter fight with Thrash’s devil dog siblings. When the Krudzu shows up, he has to fight everyone too. I guess some action is warranted, since the last issue was primarily devoted to set-up. Yet focusing on combat to the exclusion of everything else has the effect of making this feel like the first act, when the arc is almost over by this point.

Flynn does sneak in some cute moments though. During the fight with devil dogs, Sonic asks Tails and Amy to do the “spin-y thing.” It takes him a few panels to explain that he means some sort of tornado attack. When Amy doubts she can pull off such a maneuver, Sonic blatantly banks on her affection for him to convince her otherwise. This leads up to a pretty cool action beat of Sonic corralling the devil dogs in a kennel made from torn-up fence post. Comic relief like that should probably seem out of place in such a grim story but, I don't know, somehow Flynn makes it work.

Oh yeah, we also learn exactly what Thrash's deal is. If you read the Complete Sonic Comic Encyclopedia, you already knew that he's pissed at all echidnas everywhere for genetically modifying his race into unintelligent beasts thousand of years ago. Like his fellow purple comic book villain Thanos, he commits genocide in the name of balance. Now, there's only one Tasmanian Devil and only one echidna. As far as villainous motivations go, it's pretty vanilla. If I had to guess, I'd say this entire plot-line came about because Flynn was annoyed that there were no Tasmanian Devil Mobians, only the mobini devil dogs. (I don't know what his feelings about humans and chimpanzee existing together are.) Post-reboot, Flynn would completely resolve this Goofy/Pluto paradox by making every cartoon animal on Mobius an anthromorphized humanoid, even the fish and dogs.

Of course, a big problem with this issue is that there’s really no reason for the Krudzu to be involved. The machine is blindly following Robotnik’s orders, determined to destroy Sonic because that’s what it’s programmed to do. (Though personal revenge seems to be motivating it as well. Because, yes, this comic book exist in a world where a plant can plot revenge.) The robot/vine hybrid is just another thing for the heroes to fight. It doesn’t feed into the story’s plot or themes in any way. The surprise guest appearance at the end - Shard showing up, seemingly because of popular demand and because Flynn had no better ideas - is a similarly sweaty attempt to pad out a compromised story. Flynn has admitted that neither of these characters played any role in his original scripts. The guy was doing what he could but, boy, is it obvious that all of this was a last minute choice.

The “Endangered Species” arc continues to be deeply troubled by factors totally out of the writers/artists' hands. However, issue 245 manages to work okay despite these huge problems. Allowing the reader to get involved in Knuckles' rage and some deftly deployed comic relief keeps things afloat, even if no satisfying conclusion to this story is ever going to come. [7/10]

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 244

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 244
Publication Date: January 2013

Archie’s “Sonic” books began 2013 in a very troubled place. We didn’t know it at the time - I’m not sure even the people working on the book knew it - but this would be the final year the original Archie “Sonic”-verse existed. Instead of using the last few months of the original continuity wrapping up unresolved plot points and bidding this beloved universe farewell, Ian Flynn was stuck in story traps he created himself and forced to write around characters the book couldn’t legally acknowledge anymore. This conflict couldn’t be more obvious in the second part of the “Endangered Species” story arc.

Rather grimly subtitled “Extinction Event,” part two begins with Knuckles exploring the blasted out, and oddly empty, remains of Albion. Eventually, he comes upon T-Pup, who leads him to an unconscious Sonic, Tails, and Amy. They explain how they were all knocked out while fighting with Metal Knuckles and the Dark Legion. Soon, they encounter a wrap ring wielding Thrash the Tasmanian Devil. The Devil explains how he’s responsible for the disappearance of all the echidnas. Knuckles, needless to say, is pretty upset with him

It’s clear that, in-between the end of 2012 and the start of 2013, an edict came down from Ian’s corporate pay-masters. They had lost the lawsuit. All Ken Penders created characters and concepts could no longer appear in the book. This presented a rather big problem for the “Endangered Species” storyline, considering it was knee deep in the echidna-centric mythology Ken conceived. There was no smooth way for Ian to deal with this. So Lien-Da, Remington, and the Dark Legion vanished before this issue’s events. The flashbacks to the last issue’s fight are awkwardly cut so that all the legal non-entities are just off-panel. Julie-Su is never referred to by name, Knuckles calling her “hon,” and only appears as a faceless voice on a computer screen. It is undeniably noticeable.

Flynn tries to incorporate this loss into the story. The issue is primarily devoted to resolving the mystery of what happened to everyone. When Knuckles discovers that Thrash is responsible, he’s enraged. One panel even has the Guardian holding the Devil down and demanding he immediately returns his friends and loved ones, a moment that can’t help but feel personally directed at Penders. Yet this is too great an emotional loss to spring so suddenly on the cast and the readers. Almost the entirety of Knuckles’ supporting cast, including his girlfriend and all of his family, have been instantly wiped out. It’s unsatisfying, it’s cruel, and it pisses me off. And there’s pretty much no other way Flynn could have handled it.

Forced to write around suddenly imposed copyright restrictions, Flynn has to cook up an odd solution. Issue 244’s narrative flow is often interrupted by flashbacks. We’ll get a few panels of Knuckles searching around the island and then a seemingly unrelated panel showing past events. All on the same page too. It’s slightly difficult to follow. Everyone just falling asleep and vanishing also completely neuters the last issue’s conflict. It feels like last issue’s big fight scene just abruptly came to a stop. Because it more-or-less did. I know, given the circumstances, it’s probably the best Flynn could do. But, fuck, it’s awkward.

The issue also has the duty of re-introducing Thrash the Devil. Briefly seen as a new member of the Downunda Freedom Fighters over three years before, there was very little indication then that this guy was going to be important at all. Now, it turns out, he has such a grudge against the echidnas, that he’s been developing a way to commit genocide against them his whole life. If you read the Complete Sonic Comic Encyclopadia, you’ll at least understand why. If you didn’t, I guess you’re just shit outta luck. There was certainly no previous clues that Thrash was capable of that. Or that he was even particularly devious. (And there's no explanation for how he pulled this off, at least not yet.) Previously, Thrash just seemed like another big, cocky, tough guy. He went from a random nobody to a major villain over the course of a few pages. Yeah, it comes out nowhere. No, Flynn doesn’t managed to make him more compelling or interesting while doing this.

If nothing else, the book features some suitably atmospheric artwork. Since the story is now mostly about a few people on a practically empty island, Steven Butler really sells the isolation of the location. As Knuckles comes closer to learning what has happened to his family, it starts to rain. That further adds to the book’s dreary, downbeat feeling. Of course,  Butler is really good at detail and expressions. Knuckles is grieved and then furious, Thrash is evil, and Team Fighter is baffled. His artwork does more for Thrash, at least when it comes to selling him as a creditable villain, than Flynn’s script does. He also makes Metal Knuckles look really cool in the few appearances he has here.

Issue 244 is a frustrating read and it’s only partially the fault of the people who created it. Given the circumstances, there was no way this comic wasn’t going to come off awkward as hell. However, that doesn’t mean I’m going to forgive the people responsible. The second part of “Endangered Species” is an extremely frustrating comic book and that even extends to its structure. Good-bye Lien-Da, Julie-Su, and every other remotely interesting character from Knuckles’ solo book. I really wish it didn’t have to end this way. [5/10]

THE 2012 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG COMIC BEST/WORST LIST!

We poor, naive Archie Sonic fans didn't know it at the time but 2012 would be the last full year devoted to the comic's pre-reboot universe. Not long after this point, many of the characters, places, and concepts we've come to love over the last twenty years will be wiped out of existence. Sadly, this was not a creative decision but strictly a legal one. The reboot would compromise or cut short several stories and ideas before sharply dividing fans.

But we're not quite there yet. Without this knowledge, 2012 comes off as an exceedingly dramatic time for the book. Teams were broken up and then put back together in new formations. Characters were written out of the book, some of them fatally. Flynn continued to run with that dumbass King Naugus premise. It was a year of transition in many ways. At the time, I wasn't much of a fan. Upon re-read, it holds up a little better. Let's get to it.

The comics covered in this retrospective are:

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issues 233-243
Sonic Universe: Issues 36-47
The Complete Sonic Comic Encyclopedia

BEST COVER STORY:
Ian Flynn, "Unthinkable" (Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 234)

234's “Unthinkable” was one of the most emotionally loaded stories of the year. It essentially killed Antoine, one of the most long-lived and beloved of the Archie “Sonic” cast. (Fear of outraging fans is the only thing that kept Flynn from putting Antoine down permanently.) It's a shocking moment that is delivered with a lot of emotional heft, the full weight of the events hitting the other characters hard. Beyond that, it's also a really well organized and executed story. There's the nice device of Antoine narrating the action, which makes his near-death at the end more poignant. The action ramps up fantastically, keeping readers hook. It's a really good one, over all.

WORST COVER STORY:
Ian Flynn, "Racing for the Stars" (Sonic Universe: Issue 45)

Honestly, targeting either “Sonic Universe: Issue 45's” “Racing for the Stars” or “Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 242's” “Olympic Trials” for Worst Cover Story of the year is really cheating. Neither are real stories, both occurring outside of continuity. They are both advertisement for Sega's then-latest enterprises, thrown out cheaply and easily as a promotional tool.

Knowing that, “Racing for the Stars” is still an egregiously bad story. It's childish, even by the standards of a children's comic, as everyone is reduced to their most basic and puerile forms. As a crossover, it fails, as you never come to care about the other characters. As a story, there's no suspense, as everything is treated like a big joke. It's been a while since I've genuinely despised a story in this comic book but, by forcing Ian's hand, Sega accomplished that with this stinker.

BEST BACK STORY:
Ian Flynn, "From the Shadows" (Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 233)

There weren't very many back-up stories published in 2012. Among the ones we did get, very few impressed me in any way. However, issue 233's “From the Shadows” deserves some kudos. It successfully reintroduces Harvey Who. It also makes us like him by having the owl call out King Max's for all his failures and mistakes. This was the first of several largely disposable back-ups devoted entirely to setting up the Secret Freedom Fighters but it's also one of the better ones.

WORST BACK STORY:
Ian Flynn, "Unfriendly Skies" (Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 242)

I very nearly gave this dishonor to issue 237's “Heart to Heart” for really bungling the reconciliation between Mina and Nicole. However, that story was barely saved by a few panels detailing Nicole's guilt over Sally's robotization.

Instead, I decided to single out issue 242's “Unfriendly Skies” for being pretty much useless. It's a prologue to “Endangered Species” that repeats information we got in previous issues while directly copying events seen in future issues. It features a few uninspired action beats and that's it. The story arc this one is building up to would not be changed in anyway without this one. It's entirely unnecessary.

BEST STORY ARC:
Ian Flynn, "Scrambled" (Sonic Universe: Issues 37-40)

Let's face it. “Scrambled” just fucking rocks. It's one of the best “Sonic Universe” story arcs overall. It has some of the best structure among anything Flynn has ever written. Watching Snively flub his way through several attempts to reconnect with his loved ones are beautifully pulled off. We get some touching character development for Hope and Omega. The Iron Queen gets a few moments. The action is strong throughout. It all builds up to one of the most chilling endings in Archie Sonic history, where Robotnik leaves Snively completely crushed and broken, physically and emotionally.

WORST STORY ARC:
Ian Flynn, the first half of "All for One" (Sonic Universe: Issue 46-47)

2012 was a year with very few overall weak story arcs. “Heroes” and the Secret Freedom Fighters arc from “Sonic Universe” both had slow starts. Both, however, picked up by the end.

Choosing “All for One” is a cheat, since only half of the story arc was published in 2012. However, the story is broken pretty evenly into two halves so the choice is not totally out-of-left-field. The first half of “All for One” had some pretty big issues. Forced to write around Rob o' the Hedge's legally mandated exit from the book, Flynn introduced some lame replacements. He had them face off with a lame villain. The first issue of the arc featured little plot momentum. The second half had our heroes escaping too easily. Hopefully, this one gets better in its second half.

BEST COVER ART:
Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 236 - Tracy Yardley!

As an interior artist, Tracy Yardley is pretty reliable, if occasionally a little lazy. As a cover artist, his work is a lot less consistent, frequently being overly crowded. However, his cover for issue 236 had him chopping away all distractions. It's a strong, eye-catching image of Sonic defiantly lifting his arm into the air and shouting. It has the look and feel of an old propaganda poster, illustrated in bold, contrasting colors. It's definitely one of my favorite Yardley covers.

WORST COVER ART:
Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 239 - Greg Horn

This was another easy choice. Big-name-for-some-reason comic artist Greg Horn contributed three covers to the “Sonic” comics this year. Each one was exceedingly generic and pre-posed, showing Sonic, Amy, and Tails doing nothing much at all in a colorful void. His cover for issue 239 was, by far, the one most lacking in personality. It's just an image of Sonic, smirking and doing something with his arms. It looks like Sega stock art. It makes me feel nothing. Get this shit out of my face.

BEST STORY ART:
"Heroes: Part Two" - Jamal Peppers (Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 239)

Shitty cover aside, issue 239 featured some pretty bitching artwork inside its pages. Jamal Peppers' action scenes are exciting and dynamic. Moreover, his character expressions make you feel what everyone is going through. It's both cool and meaningful. That's really all I ask for but Peppers' general excellent style elevates things even further.

WORST STORY ART:
"Unsung Heroes, Part Two" - Tracy Yardley! (Sonic Universe: Issue 42)

Listen, the second part of “Unsung Heroes” is not a bad looking issue. Even on his weakest days, Tracy Yardley still shows a base level competence. But stuff like this is what I'm talking about when I refer to Yardley's art as same-y or uninspired. Characters go slightly off-model a few times, Lyco and Leeta especially. Everyone looks a little too much like each other, except for Naugus, I guess. There's nothing wrong with the artwork here but it's a little boring, don't you think? Yardley was phoning this one in a little, I think.

BEST NEW CHARACTER:
Shard

Boy, I am cheating all over the place this year, aren't I? Yes, I technically awarded this exact same character this honor once already. Version 2.5 of Metal Sonic, a previous winner in this category, would be rebuilt into Shard. But, listen, they look pretty different. While Metal Sonic m2.5 was a villain slowly waking up to a heroic side, Shard is totally reformed. His snarky side is also fully developed now too. Hey, I'm far from alone on this one. Fans loved this guy. He's awesome.

WORST NEW CHARACTERS:
Alan Quail

I was really looking forward handing this “honor” to Cubot and Orbot. I hated those guys when they were introduced, finding them to be largely unnecessary and fairly lame replacements for Robotnik's various other lackeys. However, I guess I've softened a little on them in age.

Besides, Cubot and Orbot are way less annoying than Alan Quail. All of the new Mercian Freedom Fighters were pretty fucking lame but this guy. He never fucking stops singing, all the limericks set to the same melody. Imagine how fucking irritating it must be to be this guy's friend.  Besides that absolutely maddening gimmick, Alan brings pretty much nothing else to the table.


BEST IDEA:
Redeemed Villains and Fallen Heroes

In 2012, villains rose and heroes fell. After spending over a year as Naugus' obedient apprentice, a plot twist I disliked immensely from the beginning, Geoffrey St. John finally woke up to his boss' obviously evil antics. Besides that, Snively made repeated attempts to rise above his situation in life. Every time, he failed fantastically but Snively's pathetic tendency to overvalue himself is one of the reasons we love the little guy.

Several heroes, meanwhile, took the bow. Antoine was blasted into a coma. Bunnie, bereaved, left Knothole behind. The Secret Freedom Fighters chose a life of secrecy and isolation. While some of these turns were better handled than others, each one was generally really well done. At least when it came to this stuff, Flynn's heart was in the right place.


WORST IDEA:
Putting Together a Team

I'm much less of a fan of his sudden obsession of re-slotting characters into new teams. The Secret Freedom Fighters are an idea I like in concept. However, the comic devoting half of the year to setting up this story arc quickly got exhausting. By the time “Unsung Heroes” actually started in “Sonic Universe,” I was just about sick of the idea already. A strong ensemble managed to save that one though.

I wish I could say the same about Team Freedom and Team Fighters. That seemed like an excuse to put the most popular Sega characters into one team, taking them away from New Mobotropolis when they were most needed the most. Team Freedom, meanwhile, was mostly a collection of B-listers. Neither team endeared themselves to me very quickly. I found the decision to split the remaining Freedom Fighters up into two separate teams a mostly failed endeavor.

Sonic Universe: Issue 47

Sonic Universe: Issue 47
Publication Date: December 2012

Archie wrapped up 2012 with omens of what was to come, looming in the air. You can easily find the original cover art Tracy Yardley conceived for issue 47 of “Sonic Universe.” Rob o' the Hedge is featured front and center. That's just one bit of evidence for the obvious rewrites this first story arc went through, the grim forebears of the impending reboot. Somewhat ironically, Rob is one of Ken Penders' few characters that he hasn't announced plans for yet. That might have something to do with Rob, once you take away the Robin Hood cosplay, being almost totally indistinguishable from Sonic.

Part two of “All for One” is concerned with the Chaotix sneaking into Lord Hood's fortress. They work with the Merican Freedom Fighters to distract the villainous forces and free the prisoners. Espio also looks through Hood's computers in order to dig up information on Mighty's current position. Of course, the reader already knows where Mighty is, thanks to the prologue that opens the book. He's taken up with the Sand Blast Freedom Fighters in the Oil Ocean Zone.

Last time, “All for One” tried to summon a fun sense of action and adventure, as the Chaotix started to raid the castle. Issue 47 continued with that. There's a lot of combat here, the heroes all using their unique abilities to fight off Hood's stooges. Espio cloaks himself, Charmy flies through the air, bopping baddies on the head. Vector is loud and bite-y. Alan Quill continues to weaponize his lute. There's a pretty neat action beat where Sparrow uses an exploding arrow on Hood. The problem is a serious lack of heart. We already know Mighty isn't in the castle, robbing the story of its suspense or emotional purpose.

Moreover, the Mercian Freedom Fighters still kind of suck. Quill still has the most obnoxious gimmick I've seen in the book since the days of Guru Emu. Flynn seems to compensate with this by playing up the bird's abilities as a brawler, which does not fix the problem. Everyone else, meanwhile, continues to lack much in the way of personality. Friar Buck and Thorn the Lop are just... There. It's revealed that Bow Sparrow's Ye Olde English accent is a put on, intended to honor Rob's absence. At least Munch Rat has some attitude. Otherwise, there's just nothing compelling around this group.

Another problem facing this issue is one Flynn himself creates. The Chaotix have a warp ring with them. Throughout the issue, they repeatedly use the device to get out of jams. In other words, our heroes have a way to straight-up teleport themselves out of danger. That's... Pretty fucking lazy. Yes, I know it wouldn't make sense if they didn't use the magical portal ring when they could. But it definitely seems like cheating, from a narrative perspective. Flynn tries to make this part of the plot, during a scene where the bad guys try to get their hands on the Warp Ring. However, the story probably would've been better without it all together.

Another thing that bothers me about this issue really is nit-picking. But it's my blog so I get to bitch about whatever I want. Issue 47 of “Sonic Universe” is a little heavy on the pop culture references. When a camouflaged Espio enters into a room, one of Hood's goons responds with “G-g-ghosts!,” a manner very familiar to anyone who watched a “Casper the Friendly Ghost” cartoon as a kid. Among the castle's prisoners are Yakko Warner from “Animaniacs.” Vector also makes repeated references to finding to the computer room. That's another cutesy shout-out to one of those internet memes Flynn likes so much. I don't mind this... Except Flynn repeats it over and over again. Okay, yeah, we get it. You've played “Shadow the Hedgehog.” Enough already.

As I said, Flynn spoils a lot of his own fun by revealing that Mighty is hanging out with the Sand Blasters on the comic's first page. All that does is drain the tension from the story's events. A character in this story we care about – maybe the only character we care the most about in this story – is already safe and sound. So we're just waiting around for this shitty Mercia business to resolve itself, so we can get to the stuff we actually care about. That's never a good feeling.

So the final preboot “Sonic Universe” arc is still puttering along. Hopefully, now that we'll be getting to Mighty next time, things will pick up. I have no idea if this story would've been better if Flynn had gotten his way, using Rob o' the Hedge. At the very least, it wouldn't have necessitated the introduction of several lame new characters. Yet I imagine the pacing and narrative problems still would've been present. [5/10]

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 243

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 243
Publication Date: December 2012

“Endangered Species” would be the final story arc of the original Archie Sonic comic universe before the entire world would be rebooted. And you can’t really talk about it without talking about Ken Penders. If you’re reading this blog, you probably already know all the gory details. I’ll reiterate them anyway.

In 2009, the prolific former “Sonic” writer realized that Archie had seemingly never made him sign a work-for-hire agreement. Which meant Penders owned all the characters and concepts he created for the book. In other words, Ken owned the majority of the comic’s cast and lore, which Archie had continued to utilize since he left the company. Penders sued Archie for copyright infringement. The suit would go to trial in 2010 and drag into 2012. At first everyone assumed Ken was talking out his ass, as he’s been known to do. As the lawsuit went on, and especially after Archie fired its entire legal team in autumn of 2012, it became increasingly apparent that the publisher really didn’t sign Ken to a work-for-hire deal. Archie had fucked up. Probably, I’ve widely suspected, because they never assumed, back in 1992, that this series would ever be worth anything. (For a while, they were insisting that the original contract was lost in a fire, which strikes me as a fishy story.)

Through it all, the comics were published normally. Maybe Archie assumed that Ken would never be able to copyright a bunch of characters and concepts derivative of things Sega owned whole-sale. A lot of fans made the same assumption. The courts, however, backed Ken up. However you feel about Penders -his writing was inconsistent, to say the least, and he acts like a total tool on Twitter- never forget that this whole mess was Archie’s fault. If they had paid proper attention and hadn’t made sketchy deals, none of this would’ve happened. This was the start of a series of legal and financial problems that probably led to, or at least contributed to, Sega’s decision to end their licensing agreement with Archie. In other words, the end of Archie’s “Sonic” comic series begins here.

By the time issue 243 was being prepped for publication, it must have been apparent that Archie wasn’t going to win the suit. (You can tell it was, because a few word balloons were sloppily rewritten so as to not use certain phrases Sega and Ken were contesting.) The “Endangered Species” arc, one assumes, was originally meant to wrap up the long simmering plot points about Knuckles’ post-Enerjak guilt and the fate of his people. Instead, it would hastily write out all of the echidna characters Ken created. I imagine Ian Flynn hoped this would be a temporary fix, until the lawsuit was resolved and things could return to normal. But things never returned to normal. Instead, the arc prefaced the book’s entire continuity being rebooted and totally purged of all of Penders’ creations and ideas.

The issue begins in an Albion classroom, taught by an unnamed Komi-ko, three days in the past. (This helpfully reminds newer readers of the echidna race’s convoluted history.) This was before the Death Egg arrived. Team Fighters only shows up afterwards. The Tornado is immediately grounded by Metal Knuckles. Sonic and friends find a ruined, largely unoccupied city. The remaining echidnas, led by Remington, are fighting against the occupying Dark Egg Legion, led by Lien-Da. The heroes join the fight.

Knuckles is, weirdly, nearly entirely absent from this issue. He doesn’t show up until the very last scene, in a moment largely copied from last issue’s back story. Luckily, we’re invested enough in the echidnas without him. And things are looking grim for our monotreme friends. Albion has been reduced to blasted out buildings. Remington and his friends fight in ruined streets against an oppressive Dark Egg Legion army, outgunned and out-numbered. It can be assumed that large portions of the city’s population, including Remington's girlfriend, Komi-ko, are dead.  Remington is pretty broken up about it, visibly crying in one panel. Seeing how much this loss has effected Remington make its impact feel more real. This is a surprisingly grim place to begin your funny animal adventure comic.

Luckily, I do not dislike this kind of grimness. In fact, I might embrace it too much. There's definitely a thrill in seeing Sonic and friends thrust into such a dark situation. Watching the scrappy rebels fight against a better armed and prepared, tyrannical army takes me back to "SatAM" and the comic's earlier day. Since Team Fighter has had Robotnik on the run for a few issues, it's nice to return to a time when our heroes were underdogs, fighting against a more-powerful enemy. Yes, Sonic and the others are still hyper-confident. After showing up, he immediately takes out a tank while Amy is smashing Legionaries left and right. They turn the tide of the fight in a few minutes. But it's still nice to root for the downtrodden, especially when the balance of power has been more equal recently.

In fact, the action is this issue is very strong over all. The entire last third is devoted to Team Fighter and the echidnas raiding the Dark Egg Legion base. Sonic thrashes yet another tank. Remington dives and shoots. There's plenty of explosions. This leads to a pretty tense confrontation between Sonic and Lien-Da. The Kommisar has been outfitted with new superpowers, electric energy whips that discharge from her hands. (This is suspiciously similar to the weapons of Whiplash, the villain from "Iron Man 2," but that's surely a coincidence as Ian has never ripped off the MCU before.) This makes the already extremely fierce Lien-Da even more intimidating. In fact, Sonic even seems a little overwhelmed. The fight is exhausting enough that a sucker-punch from Metal Knuckles immediately afterward is enough to put Sonic down for the count.

Lien-Da, as always, is a high-light. In addition to her fabulous new superpowers, which she clearly enjoys having, Lien-Da is in full-on Bad Bitch mode here. Razing Albion to the ground, taking control of the echidna homeland, is clearly an opportunity she relishes. She vamps, building herself up, as she goes to confront Lara-Le, who isn't exactly having it. Lien-Da's response is to cup Lara's face like she's a disobedient child. As if the dominatrix subtext wasn't obvious enough already. When she gets to deploy her new superpowers near the end, she's clearly having fun with that too. Of course, Lien-Da's ruthlessness comes with some hidden insecurities. We see this when Robotnik calls her up, threatening her life and ordering her to pick up the pace. She remains one of the book's most multifaceted, but still entertainingly evil, villains. I'm really gonna miss her.

I really would've liked it if Archie could've gotten Manny Galan back to draw this. I'm sure they didn't know this would be the last story to feature these characters but it would've been nice to bring things full circle by having the regular "Knuckles" artist back. However, they at least did get an artist who has worked with these characters before. Steven Butler does not meet the heights here he previously touched during his "Mobius: 25 Years Later" strips. But it's still pretty damn good. Butler's action scenes have the same gritty immediacy that they've always has. His character work and expressions are top-notch, helping to sell the emotion of this tale. And, always, nobody draws Lien-Da looking more dangerous and powerful than Butler. His Metal Knuckles looks a little weird and wobbly-kneed but otherwise I have no complaints about the books art.

"Endangered Species" may signal a very dark time in the book's history but the first part is pretty damn good. Action, fun character beats, events that actually make me feel things. That's all I ask of my comic books about blue hedgehogs that run fast. [8/10]

Sonic Universe: Issue 46

Sonic Universe: Issue 46
Publication Date: November 2012

The Chaotix have been a part of Sonic’s world since 1995. The original team, with its five or seven members depending on if you count Heavy and Bomb, seemed more-or-less forgotten by Sega for a very long time. Archie, however, had been utilizing the Chaotix as Knuckles’ primary supporting cast for years. I personally think the comics played a much bigger part in making these characters fan favorites than the video games ever did. So, when Sega brought the Chaotix back for 2003’s “Sonic Heroes,” it should’ve been a cause for celebration.

And maybe it was for some people. For me, I was aghast to see that Mighty and Knuckles had been cut from the team. Sega made a number of other baffling decisions with the characters. They made them professional detectives, even working out of an old-timely P.I.’s office, despite this being an occupation that had seemingly never existed in Sonic’s world before. They also made Espio a ninja for no particular reason. Vector was robbed of his hip-hop attitude, a gold chain around his neck being the only reminder of his original gimmick. He was also given a completely new, disturbingly top-heavy design and gifted with probably the worst English dub voice this side of “Sonic Schoolhouse.”

When playing “Sonic Heroes,” I became more and more angry because of how badly the Chaotix had been mangled. (Well, also because it wasn’t a very good game.) It was like a child, completely ignorant of the characters’ history, re-conceived them with nonsensical new attributes, the way they would when smashing their action figures together. These were not the Chaotix I knew. They had been redesigned and mismanaged by a corporation that doesn’t actually care about the quality of their product, only that their IPs be represented in as non-offensive a manner as possible. Even, apparently, the ones they had long since forgotten about. Even the ones that belonged more to the fans now, then to the mindless stooges at Sega.

But, because of their appearance in the “Sonic X” cartoon and the Sonic fandom’s goldfish-like attention span, this version of the Chaotix became the new standard. Archie tried to hold the original, superior version of the team together, while still acknowledging their new unfortunate Sega approved gimmicks. Eventually, however, they had to relent. The Chaotix were now a trio. You can see Ian Flynn fighting these demands. Mighty and Ray had been written off the team but the Chaotix-centered “Sonic Universe” arc beginning in this issue, that I swear I’m going to start talking about here in a minute, would be about the Sega-approved trio finding them. It was the last time the team would be depicted in this manner, as the comic’s original era was about to come to an end.

The story begins with “All for One Part One: Picking Up the Trail.” Vector, Espio, and Charmy have tracked their friends to the vaguely medieval Mercia, the land of Rob O’ the Hedge. (Otherwise known as Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Issue, for reasons we’ll get to in a minute.) While smashing robots, they quickly get an assist from the previously unseen Mercian Freedom Fighters. After the battle, the new guys inform the trio of how Mighty passed through their neighborhood, looking for information about his long-lost sister. They fear he may have been captured by Lord Hood, the local Egg Boss. So the gang sets off to raid the castle and hopefully rescue Mighty. Oh yeah, and Ray too.

Despite ostensibly starring the newly minted detectives, the first part of “All for One” does not feature as much of the Chaotix as you’d expect. They smash some robots, including those Sentinel-looking guys that Ken Penders introduced way back in issue 11 of Knuckles’ solo book. They also get to do some sneaking and thrashing at the end of the issue. For the most part though, they sit around and have other characters explain events to them. There’s some cute bantering, Espio acting as the straight man to the increasingly childish Vector and Charmy. But that’s about it.

Instead, most of the issue is focused on introducing the Mercian Freedom Fighters. These guys are more or less expies of Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Of course, the comic already had expies of Robin Hood and Maid Marian, in the form of Rob 'o the Hedge and his wife, the echidna Mari-An. The Mercian Freedom Fighters explain that Rob and Mari took their child and fled for safety recently. In truth, the two were another casualty of Ken Penders' lawsuit against Archie to regain the rights to the characters he created. In fact, it's pretty obvious that the new Mercian Freedom Fighters were hastily created as last minute replacement for Rob and his family, as they have many of the same attributes. (Rob is also never mentioned by name, another poor omen.) Only one character is technically a reappearing one. Friar Buck – Friar Tuck if he was a deer – previously showed up in that Sonic/Knuckles crossover as a Robian.

How do the Merican Freedom Fighters fair as replacements for Rob? Pretty poorly. Bow Sparrow really is a one-to-one rip-off of Rob, except he's a bird instead of another blue hedgehog. Thorn the Lop, our stand-in for Mari-An (herself a stand-in for Maid Marian), has no distinguishable personality. Munch the Rat, inspired by Much the Miller's Son, is just another big, tough, somewhat dumb guy. That's a character type the book certainly doesn't lack. Alan Quail, inspired as much by the rooster from Disney's “Robin Hood” as the Alan-a-Dale of legend, sings almost every line of his dialogue while hitting enemies with his impossibly sturdy lute. Yes, that behavior is incredibly annoying. There's pretty much no reason to like or be invested in any of these guys.

Lord Hood sucks too. First off, he’s just a bad design. We’ve seen very few Mobian snakes before. The only previous one I can think of is the pink snake from the Original Freedom Fighters. Flynn can’t even maintain continuity with that obscure bit of lore. That snake had no legs, slithering on his tail the way a snake should. Lord Hood does have legs and, boy, does it look awkward as hell. Beyond that, he really has no defining characteristics. He can apparently hypnotize people with his cobra gaze. Which is a pretty lame and desperate attempt to make this guy interesting.

The only aspect of “All for One Part One” that really interested me at all is the peeks we get at Mighty's origin. Bow explains, partially in song, that Mighty has his roots in Mercia. His parents were apparently imprisoned by Rob's asshole dad, the former king. When Mighty's super strength became apparent, he was exiled. However, because Mighty is such a cool guy, he didn't care about that. It's mildly interesting stuff, learning about the history of a beloved and key member of the book. Kind of makes me wish he was actually in this comic book, you know?

So the Chaotix' “Sonic Universe” arc is off to a somewhat strangled start. The issue itself is hampered by having to introduce a bunch of new characters we do not care about. It doesn't help that they are obvious stand-ins for characters we mildly care about and that one of them never fucking stops singing. About the only thing going for it is some okay action, the tidbits we get about Mighty, and the rare banter between the Chaotix. That's it. I hope it gets better. [5/10]