Sonic Universe: Issue 53

Sonic Universe: Issue 53
Publication Date: June 2013

Let’s talk about misleading covers again. You know I love to do that. The cover to issue 53 of Sonic Universe depicts Sonic and Mega Man about to fight the Chaos Devil. That’s a combination of Chaos, the watery god of destruction from “Sonic Adventure” that I’m sure you all know, and the Yellow Devil, a weird yellow cyclops monster Mega Man fights in the first game. (I wish the crossover indulged in more Amalgam Universe shenanigans like this, as they’re always fun.) However, our two blue heroes never fight that monster in this issue. You wouldn’t think Archie would need to lie to people to get them excited during a big crossover event.

Anyway, part eight is subtitled “Liberation.” Sonic and Mega Man encounter Knuckles Man and Rose Woman in the desert, defeating them and returning them to normal before they can self-destruct. This gets Eggman and Wiky nervous, as their evil plan seems to be falling apart, so they get to work on their final boss contraption. Meanwhile, Rouge attempts to sabotage the Skull Egg while Protoman and the Chaotix attempt to enter from the outside.

The formula from the last few issues continues here. Sonic, Mega Man, Tails and Rush fight two more Roboticized Masters, who are more powerful than the previous ones. Mega Man uses the powers he pilfered from the other Masters they’ve fought to disable the robots, changing them back and stealing their strengths. Perhaps aware that the readers are fucking sick of this by now, Flynn does attempt to shake things up slightly. During the fight, Knuckles Man and Rose Woman announce their intention to self-destruct in a few minutes. That raises the stakes a little, as now Sonic’s friends’ lives are on the line. The battle otherwise hits all the expected beats but at least Ian was trying to make things more suspenseful.

As for the action scenes... Eeh, they’re okay. Sonic later references Knuckles being tougher than leather. Accordingly, Knuckles Man can easily deflect Mega Man’s various blasts. Rose Woman is super good at smashing shit. While the heroes definitely get wailed on for a bit, it’s just a matter of time before Mega Man deduces which specific power they are weak to. This sort of pattern is fine in a video game but, in a comic book, things quickly get tedious. Even the aftermath of the fight, were Sonic teases a thoroughly humiliated Knuckles, is easy to predict and provides little pleasure.

The stuff aboard the Skull Egg is more compelling. This crossover has really exacerbated Eggman and Dr. Wily’s villainous weaknesses. They’ve basically employed the same flawed strategy over and over again, being shocked when it failed in the exact same way each time. However, seeing the evil BFFs crack up as a result might be worth it. After realizing the heroes are closing in, Wily and Eggman both begin to plot their betrayals. What’s amusing is they feel a little bad about it. Awwww. Villains gotta villain but these two really do like each other.

The encounter between Rouge and the Chaos Devil is entertaining just because it’s something different than the action we’ve been seeing in this crossover up to this point. Rouge turning the doctors’ own creation against them, as the Chaos Devil blindly attacks everyone, is a nice mix-up. It also puts Rouge in a tight place, as now she has to escape the giant rampaging monster as well. We also see Metal Sonic and Bass re-deploy, who the Mads have been keeping benched for some reason. It’s a solidly entertaining sequence, full of some tension, humor, and surprise. Why couldn’t the whole comic be like this?

But we know the answer to that question, don’t we? “Liberation” concludes act two of “Worlds Collide.” Instead of using the second act as the meat of the story, as you’re suppose to, Flynn has just used this extended series of action scenes to move everyone into place for the big showdown. Sonic and Mega Man’s friends are all free, giving the heroes a small army. The good guys are marching on the Death Egg. Wily is ready to deploy every previous Robot Master he’s built on his enemies. (He could have done this before but is choosing to do it now seemingly because he’s kind of an idiot.) Even that weird Duo guy is back from outer space, presumably ready to fuck shit up. All the pieces are in place and, presumably, the real fun can finally begin now.

This is making me want to take back everything nice I’ve said about Flynn’s grasp on structure. You know, Ian, old buddy, old pal, if the climatic final battle was all you were interested in, why not just go straight to that? Why waste our time with a repetitive, laborious middle act? It’s increasingly looking like our writer knew he had twelve issues to fill but only had enough story for half that number. I’ve suspected this all along but “Worlds Collide’s” middling, time-wasting middle section really makes it apparent.

Well, anyway, hopefully the real fun can start now. I like the scenes with Rouge and watching Eggman and Wily scheming against each other is fun. Otherwise, this issue is more of the same, despite some noble attempts to mix it up. [5/10]