Sonic Boom: Issue 10

Sonic Boom: Issue 10
Publication Date: July 2015

As “Worlds Unite” rolls into its tenth part, “Sonic Boom” reaches its penultimate issue. I’ve bemoaned before how disappointing it was that the generally delightful “Sonic Boom” book spent a third of its abbreviated run on a silly crossover. By this point, Archie was definitely aware of the series’ impending cancellation. The preview for number 11 at the end of this book refers to it as the final issue. I feel like we were cheated out of three proper issues of this highly irreverent and very entertaining series.

(The TV show would be screwed too. Its time slot changed several times before Cartoon Network dumped it on their sibling network, presumably in favor of showing “Teen Titans Go!” fifty more times a day. After season two ended, there was no official announcement concerning whether “Sonic Boom” would continue or not. Eventually, the cast, crew, and fans just shrugged their shoulders and assumed it must’ve been canceled. But I’m getting ahead of myself again.)

While the last few issues of “Sonic Boom” wrapped up in this crossover made some attempt to maintain the series’ sense of humor, that’s not so much the case in issue 11. Sticks is still sort of the star, appearing more often than any other character here. There’s some self-referential humor, such as when Sticks talks about falling through a plot hole. The similarly meta “Viewtiful Joe” world is visited near the end, leading to some more fourth wall breaking. Some references are even dropped over the story’s serious parts. The Sky Patrol’s escape pod is revealed to be the spitting image of the ship from Sega’s “Fantasy Zone” series. Other than that, and what appears to be some diaper fetish artwork published in the fan art section, this story could’ve been published in any of the “Worlds Unite” titles.

Plot wise, “Justice Across Worlds” is another issue devoted primarily to gathering more characters for this crossover. The same formula is maintained: Our established cast reach a new world, witness the local hero smash some robots, and ask them to tag along. Sticks and X travel to the world of “Monster Hunter 4” and recruit a giant fucking dragon, as well as some house cats cosplaying as Sonic and Mega Man. Amy Rose and Mega Man pick up Billy Hatcher and his friends. Rotor and Bubble Man grab the flying hero and his dragon steed from “Panzer Dragoon.” Big and Hard Man journey to “Breath of Fire 3’s” world and come back with some people. Shadow Man and Antoine meet the cast of “Golden Axe” and encouraged them to join the team. Lastly, Axl and Sticks run into Viewtiful Joe and his girlfriend.

Have you got all of that? Because there’s actually more. On the Unified World, Sigma grabs the Sky Patrol and starts to break it in half. The few heroes left aboard - Cream, Cheese, Crash Man, Comedy Chimp and Fastidious Beaver - move it to the escape pod. Metal Sonic helps them escape. After that, the issue, having completed the allotted number of pages, ends. Once again, Flynn was so busy introducing more of the massive cast, that he forgot to write a proper ending to this issue. It just stops.

Another thing about this issue is that it allows Ian Flynn to indulge his previously unknown dragon fetish. Of the six worlds visited here, three of them feature dragons. The guy from “Panzer Dragoon” rides a dragon. The main dude from “Breath of Fire 3” turns into a dragon. The recruited hero from “Monster Hunter 4” is a big ass dragon. (Though he looks just as much like something Gamera would fight.) The world of “Golden Axe” definitely has dragons in it too, though the “Sonic/Mega Man” crew doesn’t run into any of them. All the while, we just assumed Ian Flynn was a furry when he’s actually been a scalie the whole time. Considering his obvious love of this shit, I’m shocked he never incorporated more fantasy tropes into “Sonic.”

In all seriousness, I’m not that familiar with most of the crossover characters introduced this time. I played the shit out of the original “Golden Axe,” as well as the third arcade exclusive game. I have a little experience with “Viewtiful Joe,” having played the first one a bit at a friend’s house. Other than that, I’m not too well read on the rest of these. I know Sonic Team also worked on “Billy Hatcher” and that’s about it. Honestly, when “Panzer Dragoon Orta” came out in 2002, I didn’t even know it was a sequel. If it’s not apparent already, the “Breath of Fire” and “Monster Hunter” series really aren’t my thing.

My lack of familiarity with these titles may contribute to part ten of “ Worlds Unite” being a little harder to follow. With most of these crossovers, we are dropped right into some deep nerd shit with little explanation. Why are there two house cats dressed as Sonic and Mega Man? The odd magic of “Billy Hatcher” is dumped on us with no explanation. It gets worst once we reach the “Breath of Fire 3” world. Suddenly, there’s all these creatures running around, shooting magic spells and performing special attacks. Then a giant, mutant onion shows up. I don’t know if you guys can keep up with this shit but it made my head spin.

I’m sad to say, the artwork takes some blame for the book’s general incoherence. Tyson Heese, though very talented, seems to loose his way after zipping between so many different styles. His character work is generally fine, especially the “Golden Axe” cast, but the “Viewtiful Joe” crew, with their bizarre proportions, look a little weird. It’s the action scenes that are hard to follow.

There doesn't seem to be any natural flow to what the “Billy Hatcher” cast does, which amounts to making hand gestures at people until they turn into eggs. The “Panzer Dragoon” scene is a little scattered and seems to be missing a key explosions, when the Unity Engine is just merrily blasted. By the time we get to the “Breath of Fire III” setting, things descend into a largely incoherent swirl of bright colors and weird faces. I can’t really blame Hesse for this, as we know the miserable bastard is talented. A hugely ambitious project like this would cause any enormously talented artist to loose their grip some.

Having said all that, there are a couple of scenes here I do like. On the first page, Sticks tells X he should try wearing a scarf. This is apparently a reference to some “Mega Man X” shit but reads like an amusing non-sequitur. My favorite scene occurs while Mega Man and Amy are hanging out in the “Billy Hatcher” world, when the native chicken god announces from the heavens, in a booming voice, that the local heroes should join this quest. The baffled reaction Mega Man has to this made me laugh. I also like some of the action scenes Rotor has, leaping around in the water.

Flynn pulled more or less the same plot on us last time and it worked pretty well. I guess lightning can’t strike twice. This is a pretty tricky issue to read. I guess "Worlds Unite," somewhat inevitably, has collapsed a little under the strain of being a massive crossover. But it’s still not that bad, as there are some entertaining moments here or there. Hopefully, things will even out some more next time. [5/10]