Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 259

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 259
Publication Date: April 2014

“After the Credits” month continued with issue 258 of “Sonic the Hedgehog.” After explaining last time how dumb the gimmick is, let’s talk about how it actually contributed to the story. Presumably in a ruse to get people to buy more comics, different people got different endings. In my copy, “Shadow Fall” concluded with Knuckles spying Eclipse’s escape pod falling near-by. Which was okay, as far as teasers go. It let us know that the next arc would star Knuckles and that Eclipse would be reappearing. Both of these tidbits could be assumed but it wasn’t bad. The version of issue 258’s “After the Credits” scene I got is a lot less impactful, showing that Robotnik already has one of the plot-important MacGuffins in his possession in as shrug-worthy a fashion as possible. In short, it continues to be a dumb gimmick. (Though Archie at least moved the traditional comic credits to the back of the book, making “After the Credits” at least an accurate statement.)

But I’m getting ahead of myself. “The Chase: Part Two” continues, with Sonic fighting E-106 Eta. The Freedom Fighters continue to search the bullet train for Sir Charles and Professor Pickle. They manage to locate the docs and Sonic, with Amy’s help, disables Eta. However, the danger is far from over. Prof. Pickle then explains his research, about what is happening to the planet, the dangers that entail, and possibly how to stop it.

Part two of “The Chase” is split into two parts itself. The first half resolves last month’s action sequence. As far as these things go, it’s fairly well done. Eta is an intimidating enemy and his hydraulic stabbing hands are a visually interesting weapon. After another sharp turn from the speeding train, Uncle Chuck is knocked unconscious. This distracts Sonic long enough that the bot pins him, a decent moment. When Amy arrives, the two team up to take the robot down. It’s moderately entertaining.

There’s something else I’ve noticed though. Since the reboot, it seems the book has been teasing a romantic connection between Sonic and Amy more. They have a cute little moment here, where she leaps into his arms. Previously, after she returned from Blaze’s dimension, she gave him a big hug. I guess this is a side-effect of the comic hewing closer to the video games now, where Sonic and Amy are the closest thing the series has to an official couple. But, to this old Sonic/Sally fan, it does sting a little. Sigh.

After the action is over, the second half of this comic book is devoted to dropping a heaping load of exposition on us. Professor Pickle explains his research, the reason Eggman captured him. He proceeds to tell us all about his findings, about the ancient belief that the world is held together by a Gaia life force. That this is a cycle occurring every millennium or something. Also, there’s something called the Dark Gaia which is evil or whatever. The importance of this is emphasized by the pseudo-Aztec hieroglyphics we see as the hairy old man rambles.

All of this could have been interesting. Pickle – Christ, I can’t believe he’s actually named that –  references that this occurs as part of a cycle of rebirth. The book resists the natural inclination to connect this information to the recent reboot, because I guess the comic is just pretending it’s always been like this now. Anyway, all of Pickle’s exposition is meant to set up the next quest. That Sonic and friends must locate seven Gaia Temples around the world and place the seven Chaos Emeralds inside them if they hope to undo the Shattered World. It’s more video game style bullshit, another repetitive fetch quest based around quasi-mystical nonsense. And, by the way, the reminder of the book’s run will be about this garbage.

Amazingly, during the set-up of this boring bullshit, there’s actually a moment of meaningful emotion. And, even more amazingly, it involves that stupid fucking werehog. See, Uncle Chuck explains that all sorts of weird Dark Energy is seeping out of the Earth now. And Chuck is concerned about Sonic, since he got a face full of the stuff a few issues back. Sonic, who has come close to getting all fangy and furry a few times recently, is concerned too. But he doesn’t show that fear, either because he’s afraid to admit there’s something wrong with him or he doesn’t want to upset his friends when they’re already dealing with so much. It’s a moment that shows these characters actually do care about each other, that there’s something going on here beyond an ill-conceived adaptation of one of Sega’s mediocre video games.

It comes a little too late though. The action scenes are decent, Evan Stanley’s artwork is very good, and there’s even a scene with a foosball table that made me laugh. However, all the belabored set-up for the “Sonic Unleashed” adaptation just makes me sigh. The reboot, and all the foolish decisions made during its conception, continues to roll on. [5/10]