Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 275

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 275
Publication Date: August 2015

With the penultimate installment of “Worlds Unite,” the main Archie “Sonic” book has reached a surprising milestone. This is the comic’s 275th issue, its eleventh milestone issue. That’s an amazing run for any comic series and certainly unprecedented for a silly licensed book like this. However, this would also be the last milestone issue of the original “Sonic” comic, making this a bittersweet victory at best.

But there’s no time to talk about that, we are knee deep in a crazy crossover! A bunch of heroes from all over the multiverse are assembled and collected onto the floating “Skies of Arcadia” boat. The 76 member army faces off against Sigma, in his massive planetoid form. He produces an endless stream of minions but the heroes eventually conquer them, Sigma’s body falling to pieces. He’s not dead though, merely changed into an even more powerful form. The good guys have to deploy their final measures...

“Killing the Giant,” that’s the pithy subtitle Flynn cooked up for this one, is devoted almost entirely to action. This issue is the equivalent of the last act in a superhero movie, those climatic half-hour smorgasbords of CGI destruction. There’s actually very little dialogue, most of the pages focusing on our huge cast of good guys smashing the bad guys. (That makes this issue a quick read too.) I don’t hate it. Massive action scenes have their place, in comic books and comic-book-based movies. There’s nothing in the way of emotional pathos. There’s not much else to it besides the satisfaction of watching the heroes tear through an army of robots. But, hey, that is satisfying.

Since nearly the entire issue is focused on action, this becomes more of a showcase for the artist than the writer. Last time, I noted that Tyson Heese’s abilities were slipping a little, under the pressure of adapting to so many different styles. Well, either Ritz was aware of this or he was merely resting his drawing hand to prepare for the big finale. “Killing the Giant” looks pretty fucking amazing. Everyone looks just the way they are supposed to, first off. Secondly, Hesse brings an incredible sense of movement and speed to his action. The over six-dozen characters swing, punch, slice, jump, shoot, grit their teeth and Hadouken in a way that is fun and exciting to look at. This issue's success largely belongs to Hesse.

Flynn and Hesse do make a few moments stand out among the chaotic combat. Amaterasu’s bizarre celestial brush powers come in handle, drawing a shield when the “Billy Hatcher” gang needs it. Nights seems completely delighted by this battle, smiling the entire time. (Much to Reala’s chagrin.) Sally and the Freedom Fighters aren’t even left out. She’s seen slicing bots up alongside Protoman. Rotor is shown lifting up huge part of Sigma’s armor. There’s even some final bits, like Sticks randomly running off with Sir Arthur’s helmet and lance. Or Fastidious Beaver writing up his will as things become more grim,

Through it all, the theme of unity continues to emerge. The heroic Street Fighters and Shadaloo members put aside their differences, allowing Flynn to sneak two more characters – Balrog and Vega – into this. Mostly, the book delights in pointing out similarities among the crossover cast. Knuckles and Ken Shouryoken together. Sticks and Aika throw boomerangs. Bunnie and Protoman shoot energy blasts from their hands. Metal Sonic and Reala swoop through the air. Gillis Thunderhead and Spark Man both shoot lightning bolts. Axel makes bedroom eyes at the foppish shooter from “Skies from Arcadia” while Quake Woman drills a robot alongside another one of the pirates from the same game. My favorite panel has all the swordsman – Antoine, Zero, Ax Battler, the tiger dude from “Breath of Fire,” and that pirate guy – teaming up to slice some baddies. Flynn was clearly having fun with this.

Of course, it all leads up to Sigma pulling a Frieza, revealing a new form that’s smaller but more physically powerful than any of his previous ones. This plot turn feels rather tedious. The villain sweeps through the battlefield, disabling every hero he sees. Sigma can now even do seemingly impossible task, like blocking Amaterasu’s celestial brush. I know stories like this function by constantly upping the threat level but the main baddie just generating himself a Superman-level form doesn’t feel very inspired or interesting. Especially since we immediately figure out that this was done strictly to set up a showdown with Sonic and Mega Man’s Super forms. I guess there’s a rule somewhere that every major Archie “Sonic” event has to end with Super Sonic appearing to fight the final boss.

Because this is a milestone issue, Archie decided 275 had to have an extra long page count.  But they didn’t want to pay anyone to write and draw an actual story, possibly showing what some of the ancillary cast members got up to in all of this. So they just shove a reprint in there. They chose that totally bogus “Sonic Comics Origin” from 2015’s FCBD issue. It seems odd to include what amounts to a prologue to the story arc your reading into its next-to-last part. But I guess the idea was to give readers who don’t visit comic shops a chance to read a thoroughly mediocre story.

It’s not high art or anything. This book didn’t especially make me feel anything deep. It did make me feel a tiny little rush of fanboy excitement, seeing all these heroes together and kicking ass. And I’m old, so that definitely counts for something. “Worlds Unite” continues to roll along, as a big event that is inevitably reaching its even more action-packed finale. I guess I’m still pretty into it. [7/10]