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.