Sonic Universe: Issue 81

Sonic Universe: Issue 81
Publication Date: October 2015

Issue 81 of “Sonic Universe” came out three days before Halloween in 2015. As usual, Archie’s “Sonic” titles does not acknowledge the most important holiday of the year. However, this issue is sort of seasonally appropriate. There’s a giant monster in this issue, who’s rather skeletal and creepy looking. He’s also a destroyer of worlds, which is probably pretty scary. Yes, both of these elements are typical parts of action/adventure comics. But, hey, I’m a Halloween freak looking for anything that might fit the occasion.

Anyway, part three of “The Silver Age” begins with our heroes in the grips of the villainous Council. The bad guys have hijacked Gold and Silver’s psychic powers to open a Genesis Portal. Silver and Von Schlemmer are sucked inside but they escape with the help of the Bits. All the Council really succeeds in doing is unleashing the Second Devourer, some sort of world destroyer giant monster that Gold has a history with. Now the planet is endangered. Oops. But Silver is going to put it to right.

“The Silver Age: Part Three” is an action-packed story. This actually makes it an improvement over the first two parts. We go from Silver and Von Schlemmer tossed into the void, to the monster’s escape, to everyone plummeting from the building. With a break-neck pace, that is constantly moving, there’s less room for Stanley’s flaws as a writer. She even manages to find a use for the previously useless Bits, as they help the heroes escape. There’s some stiff dialogue still but fewer contrivances, as the story barrels towards the confrontation between the good guys and the threat.

Not that we get out of here totally without some problems. The main emotional crux of this story occurs in the second half. When the Second Devourer tosses everyone out of the building, Professor Von Schlemmer is injured, getting knocked unconscious. Oh no, that incredibly annoying and creepy character we were only properly introduced to two issues ago is in trouble! Yeah, it’s hard to care about that particular incident too much. Not that I can blame Evan Stanley for wanting to take that asshat out of the story for a while.

I’m not sure if I actually care about Gold yet but I am somewhat interested in learning about her backstory. We find out she’s a refugee from another dimension, previously destroyed by the Second Devourer. This doesn’t explained her powers and she escaped her world’s devastation by apparently slipping through a randomly appearing Genesis Portal. Still, watching the clearly traumatized girl recount her history is decently effecting. Stanley clearly put more thought into Gold’s backstory than she did most of the script.

Something that I am disappointed about concerning this one is the fate of the Council. These masked tyrants had previously established themselves as pretty decent villains. They even get a good moment here, where they assure the heroes that their deaths will be for the good of science. Sadly, Stanley then throws them away a few pages later. Like so many mad scientists before them, the Council is destroyed by their own hubris. The Second Devourer turns them into stone, which is less satisfying than just watching them get squished. Still, it’s slightly disappointing that Stanley tosses out a decent set of villains so soon.

And what of that Second Devourer? It’s clearly based on the Time Eater from “Sonic Generations” and it’s odd that the comic doesn’t just straight-up call it that. As a monster, it’s a giant sized skeleton-fire-ghost monster that feeds off dimensions, I guess. It looks pretty cool. I’m not sure how I feel about this story collapsing into kaiju movie style destruction, honestly. Which is weird, because I usually love giant monsters. It does seem like a somewhat desperate attempt to make this story “bigger.”

I guess we’ll see if Stanley sticks the landing next time or not. Oh, and by the way, the writer makes sure to squeeze in two or three separate references to Silver’s memetastic catch phrase “It’s no use!” Because it’s not like that was an in-joke that was beaten to death by 2015. Anyway, it’s another issue I neither hate nor especially like. “The Silver Age” continues to roll along in a mediocre groove. [6/10]