Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 241

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 241
Publication Date: October 2012

Don't you just love a misleading cover? Issue 241's cover makes it look like the big conclusion to the comic's recent events, when it only sort of wraps some things up. It also features several characters on the cover who do not appear in the book. The Secret Freedom Fighters, while Robotnik's role is pretty minimal. However, there's something bittersweet but this usual comic book shenanigans. This comic marks the final appearance of several of those characters before the reboot. Many more minor Archie exclusive cast members take their final, unknowing curtain bow in this issue.

“Unraveling” follows two story lines. Somewhere across the continent, Team Fighter follows the Death Egg. Eggman is on the run until he cooks up a last minute scheme that distracts Sonic and friends for a while. Meanwhile, in Mobotropolis, more stuff is going down. Naugus continues to loose control of his body. Mina puts on a benefit concert to un-exile Nicole. Mina's mom takes over Rotor's seat on the Council of Acorn. This news upsets Naugus and further exacerbates his condition.

Yes, the villain's scheme might be “Unraveling” but Flynn is undoing many of the dumb-ass plot points he's introduced over the last year. This issue sees Geoffrey St. John finally betray Naugus, rejecting the evil wizard and the stupid decision to turn him into a traitor in the first place. Mina uses her music to encourage the community to welcome Nicole back, doing away with the stupid decision to write her out of the book for a few issues. (Mobotropolis' populace still remains far too easy to manipulate, via the power of song.) This all prefaces the city as a whole turning on King Naugus. Say what you will about Mecha-Sally but that was a plot mix-up that created new story opportunities. Making St. John Naugus' apprentice, Naugus becoming king, and having the city turn on Nicole were unnatural story decisions that existed more to push through ideas than to naturally move the story forward. I'm glad we're done with them.

Flynn doesn't seem to admit that he's unfucking his own mistakes here. Instead, these story turns fit into the issue's theme of forgiveness. Mina admits to her mistakes and apologizes to them. This allows the city's citizens to do the same. Nicole, in turn, forgives the Council for exiling her. One of the aspects that marks Naugus as a villain is his inability to change and move on from past transgressions... Which makes his constantly transforming physical state a rather ironic twist. I don't know if Flynn did that on purpose.

Naugus cracking up does give Steven Butler an excuse to draw some fucked-up monsters. And it's clearly something he enjoys. The wizard spends most of the issue in a state of high stress, his body mutating. His metal claw repeatedly morphs into a lobster claw. Smaller crustacean claws sprout from his torso. A big, red, bumpy tail falls out of his ass. Naugus is constantly drooling and sweaty. In a book whose cast is primarily made up of cute animals, you can tell Butler is really relishing the chance to draw a hideous mutant. As you'd expect, Butler's artwork is extremely strong in general.

There's a fair bit of humor to Naugus' breakdown. The wizard touches upon the idea of possessing someone else's body, in order to get his consciousness out of a physical form that is going beserk. First, he attempts to talk King Acorn into entering into a magic pact with him. Despite Max being almost entirely senile by this point, he still has the strength of will to reject the King's plan. Next, Naugus attempts to trick Jules into giving up his body. Sonic's parents bring up everything bad Naugus has ever done to them and their son before telling him to get the fuck out. The way Butler draws Jules and Bernie's annoyed faces, even including Muttski growling at the wizard, makes this scene even funnier. Naugus' skills are degenerating to such a degree that he can't even get old men to fall for his bullshit.

Continuing the trend that started with issue 240, Sonic barely appears in issue 241. Sonic, Amy, and Tails are many miles away from Mobotropolis. The action beat feels perfunctory.  Eggman discovers a sprig of the Krudzu Hybrid Hydra on the Death Egg. Running low on options, he combines the plant-machine with the busted-out shell of a Titan Metal Sonic. Yet it only takes Team Fighter a few pages to take down this kaiju-sized threat. It's pretty evident that Flynn is more invested in what's happening in Mobotropolis and only includes these scenes to give the hedgehog hero and his Sega-approved co-stars an obligatory appearance. It's a decent fight scene but has little reason to be in this comic book.

Geoffrey St. John is among the characters to make his last appearance in this issue. That's a shame, since the comic wraps up on an tantalizing plot point with him: Naugus possessing the body of his apprentice. The ending also teases the start of the “Endangered Species” storyline, which would write out most of Ken Penders' echidna characters even before the reboot would come along and blank-slate nearly the entire universe. So I guess it's a good thing that this is a pretty strong issue, since this era of Archie “Sonic” is coming to an abrupt close very soon. [7/10]