Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 247

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 247
Publication Date: April 2013

In April of 2013, when I picked up issue 247 of Archie’s “Sonic the Hedgehog” series from my local comic shop, I had no idea how significant it was. Yeah, it was seemingly wrapping up some long lingering plot lines. It was the last issue before the much hyped Mega Man crossover began. I – and most of the comic’s loyal readers – had no way of knowing that this was destined to be the final issue taking place in the original continuity. That this simple comic was were 21 years of stories, characters, and lore was going to end.

“At All Cost, Part One: Fate Interrupted” begins with Team Fighters cornering the Death Egg at its Arctic refueling platform. With the help of the Arctic Freedom Fighters, our heroes successfully enter the base. They are soon joined by Silver, who has finally deduced that Sally is the historical traitor he’s been pursuing. That saving her, and de-roboticizing her, will prevent his catastrophic future from coming to be. Robotnik, meanwhile, panics. After Sonic comes extremely close to his goal of saving his beloved princess, Eggman frantically activates another Genesis Wave. Thus begins a crossover. And that’s where the comic book, as it existed for twenty one years, fucking ends.

From the moment Flynn introduced him into the book, he’s had Silver the Hedgehog chasing this mythical traitor. And it’s always been dumb, an excuse to keep Silver coming back to the comic’s present. Fittingly, this dumb idea wraps up on an incredibly underwhelming note. Silver deduces that Sally must be the traitor, more-or-less by process of elimination. He realizes that there never really was a traitor. That the subtleties of events – Sally being turned into an evil robot against her will – got lost to the slow march of time. This could’ve been an interesting commentary on how history is shaped, often being distorted over the ages. But, because Flynn has always played this as a genuine mystery, instead of some Quixotic quest on Silver’s behalf, it comes of as a total shrug of a conclusion. The answer to the question has been in front of us the whole time.

Not only does this seriously give the impression that Flynn didn’t think up an ending to Silver’s quest until the last minute, it also disrupts the story’s pacing. This issue isn’t really about who Silver’s proposed traitor is. It’s about rescuing Sally. However, because Flynn has to shoehorn this half-hearted resolution in, the mission is interrupted. Team Fighters stops cold so they can argue with Silver about his deduction, seemingly forgetting they’re on a time-sensitive mission here. (Sonic is literally shown pacing the room at one point.) It’s a serious “get to the fireworks factory” moment. Stop the debates, you hedgehogs. We’ve got a princess to rescue. Maybe the people actually invested in Silver’s quest feel differently. But this is my blog, so I declare those people to be objectively wrong.

Putting this serious flaw aside, issue 247 is a solid action comic book. It’s fun seeing Team Fighters battle side by side with the often underutilized Arctic Freedom Fighters, even if they ultimately end up having very little to do in this issue. Ahklut the orca reappears, determined to get revenge on Sonic and Silver for freeing Rotor’s herd a while back, and smashes the underwater tunnel the team is traveling through. A super angry orca, flashing a mouthful of serrated teeth, turns out to be a very motivating threat. The fight with Mecha Sally doesn’t go on very long but is entertaining while it lasts.

Team Fighters’ mission in the Arctic is running parallel to some business back at home. Nicole’s unveiling of the newly rebuilt Castle Acorn is interrupted by the nanites going nuts. Cream then realizes that her Tails Doll has been missing every time something like this has happened. Its cover blown, the Doll then transforms into a giant, hideous monster.

This is a far more satisfying payoff than the reveal about Silver’s nonexistent traitor. First off, it plays off Tails Doll’s fanon reputation as a source of horror. Secondly, it shows Cream making herself useful by noticing something nobody else has. Lastly, I like the way Rotor immediately believes the little bunny, dismissing the cliche of the grown-up never believing the kid with the crazy story. If I had to look for a flaw in this subplot, it would be Tails Doll revealing his status as an infiltrator so quickly. But a little doll suddenly growing into a huge, grotesque horror actually is a decent cliffhanger, as opposed to the book’s primary ending.

On the artwork front, this issue sees the return of Evan Stanley. Stanley has gotten better with every appearance and her artwork really comes into her own here. Her art has a slightly more American style superhero comic book feel. Rotor and Gustav gain a more sinewy, heroic build. But everyone is definitely still on model. Stanley's action is excellent, especially the fight with Akhult. Her work on facial expressions are very good. Unlike a lot of artists on the book, who seem content just to emulate Yardley, Stanley brings her own style to the table. Which I like a lot.

It’s entirely impossible for me to separate my feelings for this individual comic book from my feelings about the decision to reboot the series. This comic book makes me mad. Five years later, I still feel an immense sense of frustration. I’ve spent way too much of my life invested in these characters and their world. Seeing it end would be one thing. Seeing it stop midway through a two-parter, to leave the characters at one point and then pick up in an entirely different universe, is another. Before, I’ve referred to the original continuity as ending on a cliffhanger but that’s not entirely accurate. This is more like the pages of a novel suddenly going blank three chapters from the end.

There is no sense of finality, of conclusion, of satisfaction. It is extremely obvious that Ian Flynn had every intention of wrapping this story up naturally after the crossover was done. But because Archie is bad at paperwork, because the company never valued the book and treated the former writers like shit, because Ian Flynn sucks at sticking the landing, a panel of everything fading to white in the middle of the action is the closest thing the comic as we knew it got to an ending. Yes, it pisses me off. Yes, I consider the decision to reboot midway through a fucking two parter a betrayal of the fans who supported this series for two decades, no matter how shitty it got. Yes, I believe Archie handled the fallout of the Penders lawsuit in as awkward a fashion as possible. Flynn is at fault too, for allowing the Mecha Sally storyline to drag on for an entire year. It really all should’ve been settled before the continuity nullifying crossover began anyway.

But this is not the time or place for that rant, I suppose. (Believe me, that rant is sure as fuck coming soon.) It is not fair to judge issue 247 as the very unexpected, clearly unplanned ending to twenty one years of comic book history it is. As a story, it’s fine. Some pacing issues but mostly okay. I’d give it a [6/10.] The massive amount of baggage that comes with Archie frantically slamming the restart button is not this individual comic book’s fault.