Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 262

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 262
Publication Date: July 2014

I’ve had pretty much nothing but criticism for the half-assed way Ian Flynn rebooted the “Sonic” comics’ continuity. However, I’ll give the guy this much. In the past, I’ve bitched that Flynn sometimes prioritized action scenes over anything else. Though the reboot certainly has not been short on robot smashing and punching, Flynn has done an okay job of balancing that with decent world building. Such as in the “Waves of Change” arc. We’re three issues in and just now getting to the fighting. Do you think Flynn really had to restrain himself to pull that off?

Part three of “Waves of Change” totally whiffs on the cliffhanger promised by the last issue though. Sonic, Razor, and Amy fight their way through the group of monsters invading the temple within one page. The issue is actually about two things. Amy and Razor stay in the temple, protecting Pearly and the Chao and helping Coral summing the magic dome to protect the city. Sonic and Rotor, meanwhile, head out to protect Meropis’ residents from the attacker. In their haste, they grab faulty air charms, which becomes a problem pretty quickly.

As I said above, “Waves of Change” has reached the point where it’s finally become an action story. There’s several pages devoted to Sonic and his associates fighting the Dark Gaia monsters. The monsters are not difficult to kill, as they dissipate into smoke after a few hard hits. However, their seemingly endless numbers makes them more dangerous. Mildly entertaining spin-dashes and walrus punches compete with more character-oriented moments, such as Razor’s continued loyalty to Coral, Coral’s self-doubt, and Amy’s surprisingly sweet role as a motherly confidence booster. I guess Flynn does a decent job of servicing both of these elements.

I’m obviously a little more enamored of the character development side of things. If I wanted to see Sonic smash some neon colored monsters, I’d just pop in my disc of “Sonic Unleashed.” (I’m absolutely not going to do that.) What’s more compelling is the little nuggets we get of some of the new characters’ personalities. Pearly’s phobia of Chao plays out in a pretty funny and cute scene. Her willingness to get over her fears and help others marks her as a likable young hero. Captain Striker is revealed to be not really an asshole. He’s just really invested in protecting his city. He’s willing to let bygones be bygones with Sonic. Because this is what the comic is now, Striker also has a superpower. He uses his totally real mantis shrimp super-pinchers to create a shockwave, decimating a giant Dark Gaia creature in seconds. Which is pretty cool, I guess.

The cover story works fine enough, I suppose, but I’ve got one problem with it. Air charms apparently work like cellphones. If they aren’t charged, they will stop working at the most inconvenient times. This, in of itself, is pretty silly. How it’s set up – with Pearly announcing to Amy that Sonic and Rotor grabbed weak charms after they’ve left – is such an obviously hollow attempt to build suspense. That just doesn’t work, because the focus is more on Sonic and Rotor smashing monsters than their impending lack of oxygen. (It also ignores that, as a walrus, Rotor is probably pretty good at holding his breath.) This misunderstanding sets up a cliffhanger at the end and I think that was honestly the only reason it was introduced in the first place. It’s an example of Flynn valuing comic book mechanics over actual narrative flow.

The back pages are devoted to the conclusion of Aleah Baker’s “A Light in the Dark.” Having made the decision to defend the crystal cave from Robotnik’s forces, Sally, Tails, and Antoine fight off a horde of robots on their way out. Along the way, Nicole rises to the occasion to defend her friends. They escape safely, Chaos Emerald in hand. Afterwards, aboard the Sky Patrol, Sally and Nicole have a heart-to-heart.

While Flynn did a theoretically good job of balancing action and characters in the cover story, Aleah Baker proves more adapt at this than her husband. There’s a few fun action beats here, like when Sally skewers an E-1000 with her laser swords. Baker, however, manages to include many small personable touches. Such as Antoine bragging about his swordsmanship before worrying that the robots will mess up his hair. The epilogue on the Sky Patrol is where this really shines. Bunnie and Antoine have a cute exchange about the Chaos Emerald, comparing it to her wedding ring. More importantly, Sally and Nicole’s talk is touching. The A.I. admits she was wrong, that she’s still learning about the natural world. By focusing on the cast and their relationship, Baker turned what could’ve been a standard fetch quest story into something a lot more meaningful.

So it’s fair to say the back-up does most of the heavy lifting here. Flynn’s cover story is fine, a 6/10 on its own, but he’s a little too preoccupied with plot, rules, and fight scenes. Baker remembers that adding a little heart to your cast makes all of the above far more compelling. “A Light in the Dark” bumps this issue’s score up a grade. [7/10]