Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 289

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 289
Publication Date: November 2016

Here we are at the penultimate issue of Archie’s “Sonic the Hedgehog” comic series. The book is racing forward with no idea that its two-and-a-half-decade long legacy is about to crash into a brick wall. Once again, I have so many thoughts and this isn’t really the time to share them. In November of 2016, neither me nor any of the writers and artists working on the series knew that The End was so very Nigh. This makes a goofy and light-hearted classic game adaptation unwillingly tragic in hindsight. Issue 289 of “Sonic” is the equivalent of a puppy happily playing in the road, blissfully unaware of the eighteen-wheeler barreling towards it.

But let’s put the grim metaphors aside for a minute. “Genesis of a Hero” continues to adapt specific moments from the original Sega Genesis “Sonic” games. “Part Two: Coming Back for More” focuses on the end of “Sonic 2.” As in the Sky Chase Level, Sonic perches atop the wings of the Tornado as they chase after Robotnik’s Flying Fortress. After the Tornado is shot down, Sonic leaps aboard the war ship. Fighting his way through the massive air ship, Sonic eventually sneaks aboard Snively’s transport ship, finding his way onto the Death Egg, already in orbit around the planet. Eggman has prepared for this and deploys Silver Sonic, a giant robot modeled after the hedgehog.

Like issue 288, this is another comic book that closely adapts part of a video game. If you’ve ever played your way through “Sonic 2,” you will recognize how closely “Coming Back for More” copies the action beats of the game’s concluding segments. We see all the Badniks from Sky Chase. Tails is shot down in similar fashion as in the game. Individual hazards from the Flying Fortress Zone are replicated, like Sonic clinging to ports outside the airship as he’s blown through the air. The rather improbable way Sonic gets on the Death Egg — clinging to the outside of a transport shuttle as it flies through the upper atmosphere and into outer space? — is maintained. Even though it raises many questions and it would’ve been easy to just depict Sonic sneaking inside a safe part of the same ship.

However, “Coming Back for More” is an improvement over the last issue. As close as Flynn’s script is, at least he’s actually adapting some elements of the game and not merely replicating them. He does not subject us to the repetition of the boss battles and actually shows more logical resolutions to these fights. The sub-boss battle on the Flying Fortress, where Sonic is trapped by two force fields and has to contend with a giant laser cannon and floating spiked platforms, ends when Sonic shoves on of the platforms into the cannon. Instead of Silver Sonic racing back and forth while Sonic wacks him, Sonic quickly assesses his enemy and uses his advantage — his speed — against the machine. And Flynn smartly cuts it off there, as Sonic’s battle with the Death Egg Robot final boss was already covered in “Genesis.”

The issue also earns some points for investing some emotion, no matter how brief and minor, into the proceedings. Infamously in “Sonic 2,” Sonic just leaps off the Tornado and runs away after Tails is shot down, seemingly not showing any concern for his friend’s well being. Flynn at least pauses a moment so Sonic can shout to his foxy friend as he plummets out of the sky. Believing his closest buddy may be dead, Sonic is extra determined to wreck Robotnik’s shit. We don’t really get a sense that he’s motivated by anger or loss, as he’s still cracking jokes and smirking throughout. And Tails, of course, isn’t dead, as he reappears before the issue’s end. But at least some attempt was made to make this adventure more personal.

Part two of “Genesis of a Hero” still shares a major flaw with Part One. Victory still comes much too easily to Sonic. He treats Eggman’s airborne Badniks as a joke that he easily dismisses. He blows through the Flying Fortress’ defenses with ease. He navigates the sub-boss without much trouble, mocking Snively as he goes and undoes the device in minutes. Even the boss battle with Silver Sonic only inconveniences him briefly, as Sonic quickly deduces what he needs to do and then dismantles the machine. It’s thrilling to run through this stuff if you’re playing it as a video game. Watching the hero so effortlessly defeat theses challenges in a comic is much less exciting.

However, this issue is less reliant on intrusive comic relief than the last one, another way it’s an improvement. Aside from Sonic’s snarking his way through his various encounters with hazards and bad guys, most of the humor comes from Snively being a lovably pathetic loser. Robotnik’s former nephew seems utterly terrified and exasperated by the hedgehog’s determination. We see this when he sweats as Sonic breaks into the cockpit and as he panics — shrieking “Flee! Flee!” As he escapes — after Sonic overcomes his trap. He similarly freaks out, and we get an inevitable “Twilight Zone” reference, when he discovers Sonic is clinging to his shuttle. Laughing at Snively’s incompetence is always a wholesome pastime so I’m glad Flynn including this, instead of relying on more aggressively wacky comic relief.

So 289 is another middling issue to beholden to the game its adapting, with Sonic succeeding far too easily against his enemies. (That ease becomes even more frustrating when you realize this is, in-continuity, only the second time Sonic has fought Eggman. He’s not even an experienced robot smasher yet!) Tracy Yardley’s artwork is also a little too loose and cartoony for my taste. However, at least Flynn expended a little more effort in adapting these game stages than he did last time. We’ve only got one more regular issue of the main book left to go, guys, so get ready to be let down. [6/10]

Sonic Universe: Issue 92

Sonic Universe: Issue 92
Publication Date: November 2016

“The Case of the Pirate Princess” seems to be mixing its references some. As with the last issue, this one opens with Vector imagining himself as a cool, film noir detective embroiled in an exciting, sexy adventure. Which is actually a pretty funny idea, as it draws attention to how different Vector’s idea of himself and what he’s actually like are. Instead of running with that and making the entire arc a film noir parody, the rest of this comic book is about pirates, a totally separate genre of pulp adventure literature. It’s not a big problem or anything but I’m just sayin’, it’s a weird mixture.

Picking up where we left off, the Chaotix, Echo, and Razor are abducted into the ship of a fiendish pirate named Captain Shellbreaker. In order to avoid being stabbed to death, Vector talks Espio and Charmy into joining this band of merry pirates. Princess Undina is among their ranks but totally willingly. She was bored with royal life and her polyglot abilities were useful to the pirates. Echo ends up being taken captive though. As the Chaotix plot out how they are going to get out of this pickle and complete their assignment, Razor has more personal matters on his mind.

This issue is officially the work of both Flynn and Aleah Baker but it’s pretty clear who was captaining this particular ship, as it were. The inelegantly subtitled “The Princess Was Shanghaied!” is an issue with almost no action beats in it at all. Save for a brief scuffle between the Chaotix and the pirates when they are first brought aboard, there’s no fighting in this particular comic book. Instead, this is an issue devoted entirely to character interaction. And, holy cow, it actually works really well! Flynn isn’t incapable of doing this stuff well but, without Baker’s guiding hand, I’m betting there’d be more fighting and less hanging out.

Baker knows that letting the cast bounce off each other is compelling enough. Seeing Vector try to think his way out of this pickle, instead of just punching his way out, is pretty interesting. I know brains isn’t Vector’s strong suit but he cares enough about his friends to want a peaceful situation to this conflict. Espio’s reaction to being forced to be a pirate, which he has some sort of grudge against, is funny. Princess Undina is quickly established as a flighty teenager most concerned with having fun. (Peppering her dialogue with “likes” is a nice touch.) This seriously confuses Echo, who believes more in duty and honor. She doesn’t quite know how to process the person she’s been trying to rescue not wanting to be rescued.

The juiciest interpersonal conflict in this issue is between Razor and Blade, his — bum-bum-BAH-bum!!! — sister. See, Razor and his sister grew up among these pirates. When Razor got tired of stealing for a living — a particular incident where medicine was withheld from the sick until they paid up is mentioned, so Razor supports free healthcare — he abandoned his pirating family. It’s a betrayal Blade still hasn’t forgiven him for. Considering Meropolis hasn’t exactly greeted him with open hands (fins?), Razor clearly wonders if he made the right decision. The two sharks don’t settle this disagreement with their fists because they ultimately still love each other. Their issue is more complex than hitting can resolve. Again, this is clearly the work of Baker and her broken siblings fixation.

Most surprising about this issue is how immediately endearing Shellbreaker’s crew are. Throughout the Shattered World Crisis, a ton of new characters were introduced and, let’s face it, not all of them were that interesting. If “Eggman’s Dozen” was any indication, team settings bring out the best in Flynn’s character development skills. (Again, assuming we can’t give his wife all the credit...) Opal, the sexy and slightly gothy jellyfish lady, immediately strikes up a friendship with the child-like Charmy, which is a nice change-of-pace from what you expect from gothy characters. Mr. Bristles may be a large, intimidating yeti crab but he clearly has a softer side, as he’s a parental figure to Razor and Blade.

The captain himself and Dive the Lemming are clearly the least interesting of this lot. Shellbreaker cracks some otter jokes and acts with the finesse you’d expect of a pirate captain. Dive, meanwhile, is a space cadet with a weird fixation on the ocean. Still, I’m immediately interested in all these guys and want to know more about them, which is really the best reaction to new characters you can hope for.

Flynn is still laying the bricks for future stories he’ll never get to tell. We quickly learn that Abyss, Eggman’s treasure-hoarding giant squid sub-boss, was also a former member of Shellbreaker’s crew. In fact, apparently a lot of the pirates jumped ship to the Eggman Empire, suggesting some enmity exists between the two factions that would’ve been grist for a future story. A flashback also introduces a mysterious former member of the crew — judging from their silhouette, possibly a female lionfish — that we presumably would’ve learned more about at some point. Alas.

While the previous part of this story was good, it’s humor was its main attribute, by emphasizing the various strengths of the cast, part two of “The Case of the Pirate Princess” is a considerable improvement over the first. Ya know, it’s a bummer this comic is about to be canceled. It’s already apparent that being free of the Shattered World Crisis is a huge boost to its creative staff. [8/10]

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 288

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 288
Publication Date: November 2016

With the Shattered World Crisis put to rest at last, Archie’s “Sonic” comic could move on to other topics. With the new world and extended cast thoroughly established, Ian Flynn could finally go about telling new and exciting stories in the rebooted world. I believe, however, that Sega had other plans. By fall of 2016, the hype train for “Sonic Mania” was rolling along at full speed. Sonic’s 25th anniversary year was about to wrap up but the franchise would remain focused on the retro side of things for a few more months. I suspect Sega and/or Archie editorial was eager to capitalize on this interest. Thus, a four-part arc paying homage to Sonic’s original 16-bit adventures would round out 2016. (Even though the “Mega Drive” one-shots were suppose to be the nostalgia-grab anniversary titles.)

That’s what I think happened anyway. Regardless, Ian Flynn and everyone else actually working on the comics had no idea that “Genesis of a Hero” would operate as the comic’s abrupt series finale. In fact, the arc wouldn’t even get to end, as the “Sonic” books got canned with one more installment left to go. And so it came to past that Archie’s “Sonic” comic would end its twenty-four year run with the wimpiest of whimpers, instead of the bangiest of bangs.

But, as I tend to do, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s talk about “Genesis of a Hero, Part One: Where It All Began.” The comic begins near the end of the original Genesis “Sonic the Hedgehog,” with Sonic cornering Eggman (accompanied here by Snively) deep within the Scrap Brain Zone. After being dumped into the labyrinth-like ruins underneath, Sonic fights his way back to the villains. He survives their attempts to crush him but Eggman and Snively still get away. Sonic then returns to Knothole, meeting with the Freedom Fighters and the newly returned King Acorn.

As an old “Sonic” fan, I have a lot of fondness for the trilogy of original “Sonic” games. Flynn, who is similarly old, clearly shares this fondness. The first part of “Genesis of a Hero” gets a lot of mileage just out of reenacting the very first “Sonic” game. Of course, so did the similarly named “Genesis” arc, which had an almost identical premise. In order to keep from repeating himself, “Genesis of a Hero” zeroes in on specific moments from those earliest games. Which is why this issue focuses almost entirely on the last level and final boss battle of that last game. Anybody who has ran through the booby-trap laden Scrap Brain Zone, just to finally catch Eggman and then get dumped into another fucking water stage, can share in Sonic’s frustration here.

Flynn and his team rather faithfully recreates that experience. In fact, they might recreate it a little too faithfully. Sonic diving through the pink mega-muck waters of the last stage or being frustrated by the hedgehog-seeking sparks of the boss battle receives a nod of recognition, a satisfying feeling of understanding-that-reference. Yet this only goes so far and eventually you notice the repetitive game play of that boss battle doesn’t make for a very compelling comic book. Why does Eggman stay in one place why Sonic navigates the water-logged ruins? If he has the hedgehog trapped in a room with crushing pistons in the floor and ceilings... Why doesn’t he activate them all at once and guaranteed Sonic being smooshed? Why use a weapon that leaves just enough room for Sonic to avoid being crushed? For that matter, why does he try to kill Sonic with a device so vulnerable to hedgehog blows? You just accept these contrivances in a video game, cause video games work that way, but in a comic book, they really don’t make much sense. ("Genesis" largely avoided this kind of fidelity and was better for it.)

That is not the only way in which this is a very fluffy, plot-light comic book. With so little actual story to work with, Flynn leans on sophomoric comic relief. I guess Flynn has Snively tag along with Eggman, in order to give the doctor someone to talk with. Mostly, it results in Snively saying dumb stuff, getting Robotnik annoyed with him in an exaggerated manner. Sonic remains quibbier than usual in this environment, cracking jokes both before and after swimming through the mega-muck. The worst humor comes when Snively almost pukes while piloting the pistons. While Flynn writes him as at least being slightly intimidated by the boss fight, everything still seems to come a little too easily for Sonic here. I’ve been reading Flynn’s work long enough to know when he’s phoning it in. Repetitive plotting and lame jokes are the most sure-fire signs.

In fact, it’s pretty obvious that the “Sonic 1” re-enactment is not the main point of this comic book. About half the issue is composed of a lengthy epilogue, where Sonic returns to Knothole and touches base with the Freedom Fighters. What Flynn is doing here is establishing the reboot’s timeline, showing what SatAM and old continuity-inspired events were happening around the time of “Sonic 1.” So we learn Sonic rescued King Acorn from the Special Zone during that time... Or at least someone he thought was the King, as Nigel is either possessed by Naugus or Naugus in disguise. (Sonic clarifies that the rebooted Special Zone is just as psychedelic as we remember it, bringing an image to mind of Max floating aimlessly through spirals of jewels and fish.)

It is nice to get a peek at the slightly younger Freedom Fighters, still carrying the more childish personalities we glimpsed in their Sonic Comic Origins stories. Yet Flynn bogs down even these moments in mechanical plotting. Sonic’s conversation with the King focuses in on the exact number of Chaos Emeralds he was able to retrieve. This heads into the Freedom Fighters volunteering themselves for a mission to look for the remaining stones on Westend Islands. This obviously sets up the team joining Sonic on the next issue’s “Sonic 2l” adaptation. It also boils down to everyone pointing out what their special strengths are, something we are already very aware of. I wish Flynn had focused on the more emotional issues of Sally being reunited with her dad or Sonic making his first great blow against Robotnik.

Tracy Yardley provides pencils and it’s not his best work. He’s operating in a more cartoonish mode, which fits the tone of this comic book. Yet it’s also a little too loose and sloppy. Especially in the scenes of Sonic fighting the boss battle, where the hedgehogs face bends in a few overly cute directions. It looks rushed, which furthers my theory that this comic was a last minute change of plans.

Though not without its moments, “Where It All Began” has a stilted script, too much distracting humor, and slightly shaky artwork. Aside from the novelty of seeing the first game re-enacted, the book doesn’t have much to offer. The end of the series is off to a great start! [5/10]

Sonic: Mega Drive - The Next Level

Sonic: Mega Drive - The Next Level
Publication Date: November 2016

I want to say that the “Sonic: Mega Drive” one-shot was such a success that Archie immediately went about greenlighting a follow-up. Of course, this is not the case. “Mega Drive” was planned as a trilogy right from the beginning. I don’t know if Archie was really eager to take advantage of Sonic’s 25th anniversary or if Flynn’s pitch was just that good. Either way, the verbosely entitled “Sonic: Mega Drive - The Next Level” followed in November of 2016. Another 16-bit inspired adventure with art by Tyson Hesse, it was well received by all Archie “Sonic” fans except for me.

As with the previous one-shot, “The Next Level” follows a simple plot. Eggman continues to seek out the Ancient Gears across Eastwatch Island. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy fight their way through the various zones in pursuit, fighting Badniks, mini-Bosses, and Robotnik himself. Flynn does mix the plot up a little, sprinkling in some “Sonic CD,” when Metal Sonic shows up, kidnaps Amy, and five of the seven gears. The remaining heroes head to Eggman’s latest air ship to rescue her but it doesn’t quite go according to plan.

Ian Flynn clearly had a vision with the “Mega Drive” trilogy. He committed hard to these comics being an adaptation of a Sega-era “Sonic” game that doesn’t actually exist. Once again, reading “The Next Level” doesn’t feel dissimilar to reading a Wikipedia description of one of the hedgehog’s classic adventures. The first half of the comic follows a clear pattern. Sonic and friends entered a new zone, fight a mini-boss, battle Eggman in a new contraption, and make off with another Ancient Gear. Rinse and repeat three times. Metal Sonic’s appearance and the plot taking to the air only shakes things up slightly.

Once again, I must clarify that the non-existent video game Flynn is playing us through here looks pretty cool. We start in the Glitter Peak Zone, which puts a novel spin on the token ice zone by setting it in a frozen, wintery park. (Act Two of “Sonic Mania’s” Press Garden Zone would do something similar.) If Glitter Park is a Christmas-y stage, the subsequent Haunted Depths Zone is clearly a Halloween stage. A supposedly haunted cavern, the stage is decorated with skulls, candles, spooky trees, and Jack O’Lantern faces formed in stalactites. Its enemies include black cats, bats, and a fire breathing dragon. Disappointingly, Eggman appears in a drill vehicle instead of a spookier get-up. Obviously, I love this. Eruption Ruin Zone is a lava-chokes ancient temple, bringing some nice “Temple of Doom” vibes with it. And Eggman’s boss get-up, which includes a chef’s hat and spatulas, is super cute.

As with “Mega Drive,” it all looks like fun. If this was a video game, I would admire the creative art and level designs. Yet I feel the need to stress again that this is a comic book, not a video game. As neat as the stages are, they clearly do not stress our heroes much. Each time, they zip through the Badniks and stage hazards. If the boss battles present any challenge at all, the good guys figure out its weakness within a few panels. Robotnik is humiliated each time he appears in this book. You’d think Metal Sonic would really turn the tides but only briefly. Even when charged up with all seven Ancient Gears, Sonic and friends pummel him into submission easily and quickly. Reading “The Next Level” isn’t just like watching someone play a video game. It’s like watching someone play a video game with the cheats turn on. And not funny cheats, like Big Head Mode or moon gravity. 

But maybe I’m taking this blue hedgehog comic book too seriously. I’ve been accused of that before. After all, “The Next Level” is clearly a comedy. We know this because Flynn starts whacking us over the head with puns and obvious pop culture references almost from the very first page. Literally, on page two, Sonic makes a joke about “slow”flakes while fighting a robot wielding giant metal snowflakes. Eggman is cracking references to “Frozen” and “Let It Snow,” which really raises some questions about what level of reality this story is set on. While piloting his latest drilling machine, Eggman quips that Sonic isn't “bored” by this creation. It goes on like that throughout the book. It's pretty dire shit. Jesus Christ, Flynn, I know you can be funnier than this!

In fact, there is evident inside this very comic book that Flynn can be funnier than that. The jokes that play off the characters' interaction are actually pretty amusing. Such as when Knuckles playfully socks a flinching Sonic in the shoulder, not realizing his own strength. Or Sonic's overly enthusiastic reaction to getting to explore the labyrinthine cavern. The funniest moment in the comic is when Amy sheepishly admits to Sonic how much she enjoys being held by him, to which he reacts in a priceless manner. See, it doesn't have to be all puns and cheap-and-easy references! I mean, shit, even one of the puns is kind of funny. Eggman's aircraft carrier is shaped like a carton of eggs. That's a decent visual gag! But it's clear Flynn either didn't have the time or wasn't willing to put that much effort into this summation of a video game that only exists in his head.

Maybe Flynn was aware of his own flaws here, as he does seem to try, however briefly, to insert some actual character development into “The Next Level.” After some joshing from Tails and Knuckles in the Glitter Park Zone, Sonic starts to feel a little fed up with his friends. This is why he races off on his own into the Haunted Depths Zone, getting separated from them on the way out. When the team is reunited in the Eruption Ruin Zone, Sonic is secretly thankful that his buddies are by his side once again. This story is set early in the rebooted “Sonic” timeline, so it makes sense that a younger, brasher Sonic would have to learn this lesson. While it's something, the tiniest bit of substance, it still only occupies a few panels of an otherwise shallow book.

Of course, maybe Flynn did such a half-assed job with “The Next Level” and “Mega Drive's” scripts because these issues aren't really about story. No, they are showcases for Tyson Hesse's artwork. Now, I love Tyson Hesse's artwork, the son of the bitch. “The Next Level” is full of wonderful illustration. The design work on the zones and Badniks are great. The action scenes are fluid and fast-paced, the reader really feeling the devastating speed Metal Sonic can operate at. Hesse's greatest strength are his hyper-exaggerated and highly comedic facial expressions. Knuckles' status as an overconfident goofball, Sonic's brashness, Amy's girly side, all shine through excellently in Hesse's pencils. His ability to tell a story just with a character's face is even evident in the emotionless and unmoving Metal Sonic. Just from the way the robot narrows his eyes or tilts his head, an image emerges of Metal Sonic as a put-upon employee who is both annoyed and exhausted by his boss' constant demands. I have no doubt that the critical acclaim and fandom popularity that greeted these two one-shots is solely owed to Hesse's work.

Of course, maybe I'm not giving Flynn enough credit. Maybe the third part of the “Mega Drive” trilogy, “Overdrive,” would've pulled it all together. If there was some meta twist at the end, similar to Knuckles story-within-a-story memories in the first part, that would be pretty clever and justify how broad and simplistic this arc has been. (But, lol, Flynn definitely wasn't going to do that.) We'll never know, as “Sonic: Mega Drive – Overdrive” would be another causality of Archie canning the entire “Sonic” line. It's pretty easy to figure out where the story would've gone, considering the repetitive nature of the first two “Mega Drive” books. Metal Sonic and Robotnik escape with the Ancient Gears. They would've gotten up to something gnarly, probably building an enormous doomsday device, just for Sonic to go Super Saiyan and save the day.

Unless Flynn put out some really bitchin' character stuff in “Overdrive,” my thoughts would've probably been the same as my thoughts on “Mega Drive” and “The Next Level.” The book is gorgeous to look at. However, a story totally devoted to a game-like structure, dialogue way too heavy on annoyingly lame humor, and the characters acting as silly as possible means I can only gleam so much joy from this particular funny book. There's much to mourn about Archie “Sonic's” abrupt cancellation but I'm not too torn up about “Mega Drive” getting cut short. [5/10]]

Sonic Universe: Issue 91

Sonic Universe: Issue 91
Publication Date: October 2016

In the past, I’ve bitched about how much I disliked the changes Sega made to the Chaotix in “Sonic Heroes” without really expounding on why they bug me. Since we are coming up in the end of the comic, and the last “Sonic Universe” arc starred the Chaotix, now seems like a good time to discuss this. Like the majority of people, I didn’t own a Sega 32X and didn’t play “Knuckles’ Chaotix” until years later. In my brain, the Chaotix always included Mighty and were always Knuckles’ supporting cast. So cutting the team down to a trio, and casting Mighty into the void, felt intrinsically wrong to me.

It didn’t help that the re-characterization of the remaining Chaotix were so half-asses. Archie’s Chaotix were never that well defined. However, Sega reduced each one to childish, ridiculously simplistic archetypes. Espio was now a broad ninja stereotype. Charmy was now an annoying little child. (His comic counterpart was married by this point.) Vector was now the team’s buffoonish leader and they were acting as detectives... Goofy, cartoon version of detectives anyway. Not a lot of thought was put into these changes and that was obvious to me, even as a teenager playing “Sonic Heroes.”

The change reduced characters I was fond of to highly marketable concepts that they had next-to-no relation to previously. Worst yet, the team was frequently treated as no more than comic relief. Making the team detectives also became a lazy way for the writers to involve them in the plots of various games and cartoons. Since this iteration of the Chaotix was how most fans got introduced to them, the comic eventually had to adapt to this change. The comic still largely favored the Chaotix’s status as Knuckles’ oldest friends, usually, but started to play up the detective element more and more. (And incorporated all the personality changes over time.)  After the reboot, this became the standard mode for the Chaotix. And, yes, it still bugs me.

And now that my opening rant is done, we can get down to the business of reviewing issue 91 of “Sonic Universe.” The-Chaotix-as-Private-Detectives concept is very much a part of “The Case of the Pirate Princess: Part One — Dial C for Chaotix.” (Why pick that subtitle? Is Vector going to blackmail somebody into murdering his adulterous wife?) Lt. Echo, the previously introduced dolphin member of Meropolis’ army, steps into Vector’s office. Apparently, Meropolis’ princess, Undina, was kidnapped by pirates some time ago. Yet no one appeared to claim the ransom money. Though Echo has followed a trail of clues, she now needs help. Eager for the paycheck, Vector immediately jumps at the offer. The Chaotix are soon underwater, meeting up with Razor the Shark along the way, but Princess Undina and her pirate “captors” find them first instead.

“Dial C for Chaotix” is characterized by a largely comedic tone. While the Chaotix’ are operating in the comic relief mode I usually dislike, Ian Flynn and Aleah Baker present a series of fairly funny gags. The issue opens with Vector attempting, and failing, to do some film noir style narration. Vector is aghast at the flyer that brought Echo to their office, as Charmy drew it in crayon. Upon finding the dock worker that seemingly knows something about the pirates, Vector intimidates him... With evidence that implements the shipper in insurance fraud. He immediately cracks and spills his guts at length, a solid chuckler of a sequence. My favorite joke in the comic is its most surreal. Echo has been traveling the world in a car on-loan from Meropolis’ tourism department. Yes, I said the “world,” as the vehicle is amphibious. The car maintains its humble, Volkswagen-like appearance even while underwater, a likably absurd sight. I even like the shout-out to the ancient “pirates vs. ninjas” meme. Flynn did decent comedic work on “Sonic Boom” but I’m giving Baker credit for these jokes, as the last time Flynn wrote the Chaotix, it was pretty miserable.

The humor goes a long way towards selling an issue that’s otherwise devoted to brass-tack plot construction and exposition. When Echo enters the Chaotix’ office, she has to explain her journey thus far. This triggers a lengthy series of flashbacks, Vector increasingly annoyed by how much research the dolphin has already done. After the group rather literally bumps into Razor, the shark also delivers a long flashback. (Which further hints at Razor’s crush on Coral, which remains adorable.) While delivering all this story in such a direct manner is distracting, covering it up with some funny jokes makes it all go down a lot easier.

“The Case of the Pirate Princess” is also the first (and second-to-last) post-Shattered World Crisis story in the reboot. This allows the comic to actually build on the groundwork Flynn has been laying for the last three years. Sharp-eyed readers will recognize Princess Undina, as she’s had several background cameos in the past. Echo herself is a minor player now being upgraded to starring status. Over the course of her flashback, Honey and Rouge put in appearances. When Razor shows up in the book’s back half, it’s only natural. After taking so long to painstakingly set up all his toys, it’s good to know Flynn actually intended to use them.

And what of Echo? We didn’t get much of a peek at her personality during her previous, brief appearance. Here, she emerges as a young woman that is determined to do a good job, to be perceived as a serious professional, but struggles with her self-confidence and lack of real world experience. At the same time, she’s more resourceful than she realizes, which is apparent in how she has already done lots of investigating by the time she comes to Vector. She’s cute. I like her. Another quality Aleah Baker created female cast member.

The end may be neigh but “Sonic Universe” at least seems determined to get out of the Shattered World Crisis’ shadow as quickly as possible. (I don’t think the world recently being restored is mentioned at all in this issue.) The issue ends on an intriguing high note, the Chaotix and friends being scooped up by the pirates they are searching for. The kind of ending that makes you eager to pick up next month’s installment. This is an amusing comic book and I enjoyed reading it. [7/10]

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 287

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 287
Publication Date: October 2016

We are finally fucking here. Issue 287 of Archie’s “Sonic the Hedgehog” comic is the conclusion of the Shattered Earth Crisis. The story arc officially started in issue 256 but was heavily foreshadowed from the beginning of the reboot, in issue 252. That is thirty-four comics, released over the course of three years and one month. (And that’s only including the main book. “Sonic Universe” also touched on the crisis from time to time.) Even with a crossover event happening in the middle, there’s no reason it should’ve taken that damn long. You still could’ve done all that world building, Flynn! Like, the Freedom Fighters could’ve been checking on the status of the world after it’s restored! That way we wouldn’t have gotten three years of Werehog, of endless MacGuffin chases, of lots of people just kind of hanging out while the planet is literally torn apart.

But there I go ranting again. There’s no point in complaining about what could’ve been. Let’s at least be happy that Flynn concluded this saga before the comic was unceremoniously cancelled three months later.

And so: “Panic in the Sky: Part Four — Finale: As Was Foretold” has the newly transformed Super Sonic and Chip, piloting the Gaia Colossus, facing off against the fully charged-up Dark Gaia. Eggman and the Freedom Fighters can only sit back and watch as these god-like entities clash over the fate of the world. After trading blows for a while, Dark Gaia goes down into the lava. Chip performs the final ritual necessary to pull the globe back together. This causes the flying chihuahua thingy to lock himself inside the Earth for another thousand years, forcing him to say goodbye to all his new friends.

Let’s talk about this issue, first and foremost, as an action story. While the comic has certainly struggled since the reboot with the necessary demands of adapting a video game — namely, forcing a bunch of pacing-destroying bullshit lore into the book — it has always done a pretty decent job of adapting video game action scenes. The mechanics of the final boss fight, in which Super Sonic knocks down serpentine force field generators so he can punch Dark Gaia, are maintained. However, Flynn certainly has fun orchestrated what amounts to a kaiju battle. He even has Chip’s Gaia Colossus deliver a shoryuken to Dark Gaia.

Yet, there is a problem here. It only takes a few pages for Chip and Sonic to put down this world-jeopardizing eldritch abomination. Chip punches him a few times, Sonic spin-dashes into its face. And, before you know it, the oldest force of evil on Sonic’s world, the literal embodiment of negativity, goes splat into some lava. Sonic says Dark Gaia’s blast hurt him, even in his super form, but he never seems to struggle in this fight. It’s a problem Flynn has had before, displaying his troubles with long-term story planning. He wants this story arc — this fucking three year long story arc — to have an emotional resolution. In order to make room for that, he has to cut the final boss battle short. So after all that build-up, we get a totally rushed climax.

This is not the only way “As Was Foretold” feels like a clumsy conclusion to this overlong story. After Dark Gaia’s defeat, Chip pulls the entire world back together over the course of a(n admittedly pretty spiffy) two-page spread. And that’s it! I’m just sayin’, I’d expect more fireworks from the final incident of this supposedly epic story arc. Instead of showing the global reaction to the world being restored as one corner of a pretty picture, maybe ya should’ve devoted some actual pages to that shit? I know it seems weird for me, someone who has been bitching nonstop about the excessive length of this arc since the beginning, to ask that it go on a little longer. The point I’m making is Flynn had plenty of issues to tell a satisfying version of this story. But he was too busy dicking around in other departments. And now he seems as eager to get it over with as the reader is.

The actual meat of this issue ends up being Chip’s good-bye. As he descends back into the earth and concludes his prophecized duty as Light Gaia, he tells the Freedom Fighters how much they have taught them and how much he’ll miss them. It might’ve been a really touching moment if the reader had ever really gotten attached to Chip. I didn’t end up disliking the fairy-rat as much as I figured I would when he was introduced. There were even times when Flynn made Chip’s newfound enthusiasm for the cultures of the world kind of endearing. Yet Chip never emerged as a truly memorable or lovable character. Probably because Flynn was developing so much other stuff, including many other cast members that were much more interesting, Chip too often blended into the background. (And it certainly didn’t help that he ended up being yet another plot device needed to save the world.)

So Chip’s heartfelt goodbye doesn’t affect the reader much. In fact, it comes off as somewhat mawkish and corny. However, it does affect Sonic. When our hedgehog hero learns that Chip will have to lock himself into the earth to complete the ritual, he’s pretty upset. He feels like he’s left a friend behind and that makes him feel like he’s ultimately failed. It’s a good moment of character development, Sonic grappling with the fact that he can’t save everybody, not even his friends. Naturally, he gets over it pretty quickly, joining the Freedom Fighters in celebration after Chip repeatedly assures him that it’s okay. If lingered on for a minute longer, this moment could’ve added some nice bittersweetness to this victory.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, my favorite part of this particular issue are the background events. The fight between Sonic and Dark Gaia pauses long enough to show what the Freedom Fighters are doing. Rotor is chilling on the deck of the down but floating a Sky Patrol, watching the fight and drinking a soda. (Flynn is clearly invoking the image of a suburban dad drinking a beer on his front porch after mowing the lawn on a hot summer day.) This is probably an inappropriate response — if Sonic looses, the world ends — but it’s still sort of funny. The Freedom Fighters want to help but Rotor convinces them to sit back and watch. Sally gets a moment of wondering if they are doing the right thing, which is nice. I also like the few panels devoted to Eggman, also observing the fight, already starting to plot his next scheme. You can’t keep that guy down.

The end of the Shattered World Crisis is also, basically, the end of the comic. There’s only three issues left and they are devoted to a flashback arc. While I certainly have lots of thoughts about the book’s abrupt ending, I’ll save those for later. (A nice touch that unintentionally brings things full circle is Tracy Yardley, who was there at the beginning of Flynn’s run, drawing this one. Yardley does fine, though I really wish Hesse or Bryce Thomas could’ve handled this epic showdown.) “As Was Foretold” is a somewhat disappointing conclusion to what was a pretty good arc wrapping up a story that felt like it would never end. [5/10]

Sonic Universe: Issue 90

Sonic Universe: Issue 90
Publication Date: September 2016

Once again, the sheer incompetence of Archie’s scheduling department must truly be commended. Issue 90 of “Sonic Universe” came out in late September. At the end of this issue, Sonic’s world is finally restored after nearly three years of being broken up. Yet the comic depicting the actual battle that determines this victory, issue 287 of the main “Sonic” book, wouldn’t be published until October 12th. In other words, the outcome of what has been the ongoing story arc of the entire reboot is spoiled a month early by the companion book. Not that there was any doubt that the Freedom Fighters would eventually put the world back together but... I was going to write “Jesus, Archie, get your shit together” but it’s very evident now that Archie Comics’ shit has never been truly together.

I might be getting ahead of myself but that reflects the style of this issue. “Shattered Finale: Restoration” — See! It’s even in the fucking title! — begins with Knuckles and friends imprisoned in crystal by Naugus. The fully empowered wizard teleports further into the cavern with the Master Emerald and Amy, plotting to turn Sonic’s friends into his mindless slaves. After remembering a pep talk Amy gave him earlier, Knuckles breaks free. Omega blasts a path right to Naugus and everyone has fun beating the piss out of him. And that’s when the world starts to be restored, forcing Knuckles and Amy to use a handy near-by teleporter to get the Master Emerald back in its spot, preventing Angel Island from plummeting out of the sky just in the nick of time.

As all of the above indicates, Flynn is really rushing into the finale here. After the rest of the arc being relatively relaxed in its pacing, things speed the fuck up right at the end. Within a few pages, Naugus captures his foes, makes sinister plans for the future, Knuckles escape, and the good guys find the bad guy and take his ass to the cleaners. Before that resolution has time to breath, we rush into Amy and Knuckles moving as fast as they can to get the Master Emerald back onto the Island. Never mind that a teleporter being connected to the Sky Sanctuary Zone right there in the cavern is bordering dangerously close to a deus ex machina. And never mind Knuckles and Amy moving improbably fast while lugging around the highly cumbersome Master Emerald. We’ve got an ending to write here and, because Flynn is as bad at scheduling as Archie is, we’ve got to do it now now NOW!

In fact, never mind Naugus — the antagonist of this four parter — being defeated either. Naugus is such a threat that, even before the Master Emerald took him back to full strength, he was too powerful a foe for Knuckles to take on alone. And yet his defeat here is shockingly easy. Instead of killing the heroes when he has them immobilized, or generating crystals inside their internal organs any time after they escape, Naugus uses his recharged magic to shapeshift into Sonic. (For that matter, why doesn’t he just teleport himself and the Emerald miles away after freezing the heroes?) This doesn’t work, as Knux and Shadow relishes a chance to wail on a close facsimile of Sonic. Naugus’ defeat is deemed so unimportant that it happens as one tiny part of a montage devoted to Knuckles and Amy placing the Master Emerald back in its shrine. I know Naugus has a history of going down like a bitch but this is maybe the sloppiest part of a very sloppy conclusion.

It’s a bit of a mess but Flynn tries, really tries, to salvage at least one element of the story. While Knuckles is imprisoned in one of Naugus’ crystal, we flashback to an event that happened right before the story began. While floating around in Amy’s ridiculous pink flying car — an utterly absurd vehicle that I was previously unaware of and had no prior role in his story but I guess is from one of those shitty racing games — the girly hedgehog assures Knuckles that he’s not as big of a fuck-up as he feels he is. (And, let’s face it, as history shows him to be.) Remembering these words gives him the strength to fight his way out of the crystal, track down Naugus, and save the Master Emerald and Angel Island. The story ends with Knux hiding the real Master Emerald somewhere secret on the Island and putting one of those look-a-like jewels in the shrine. The Guardian is reassured in his own abilities and the emotional character arc that has been driving Knuckles more-or-less the entire reboot is resolved.

That’s a noble goal but it doesn’t quite work the way Flynn hoped it would. First off, the flashback really comes out of nowhere. If that scene was so important, Flynn definitely should’ve included it in the story before this point. (And the sudden appearance of the stunningly dumb flying car doesn’t make that flashback seem any less out-of-place.) Having that memory pop into Knuckles’ head at this pivotal point is half-assed. And of all the people that could’ve touched Knuckles’ heart like that, why Amy? The two characters have little history together. Even though they’ve been paling around for about a year, most of that has been in-between issues. If this is the only way Flynn could’ve thought of to resolve this story, the rousing speech should’ve come from Relic or Rouge, characters Knuckles actually has a meaningful connection to.

And, of course, there’s the fact that reboot Knuckles really does suck at his job. In this new history, the Emerald has been stolen or shattered on his watch so many times, that Knuckles’ renewed confidence seems misplaced. Hiding the Emerald in a less obvious location is something you probably should’ve thought of the first time it was snatched, buddy. So the story ends with Knux patting himself on the back in a way that feels unearned. Not to mention this last minute plot point ends up forcing out what should’ve been the emotional conclusion to this arc: Knuckles and Relic saying goodnight to each other after both of them and the entire Island nearly fell into the ocean.

But I do have a few positive things to say about this issue. First off, the artwork is nice. Secondly, Amy does push along the issue’s best moments. During that same flashback, Knuckles tells Amy not to tell Sonic about this vulnerable moment, because he’ll get teased. (Somehow, Knuckles horribly fragile masculine ego ends up being kind of cute.) Amy clarifies that Sonic teases his friends because he cares, which is different from how he mocks his enemies. This comes back during the extended epilogue, when Sonic and Amy are having tea with the royalty, in a cute way. There's a little moment when Amy hugs Knuckles, much to his surprise, that is very cute and would almost play like a ship-tease if there wasn't something inherently repelling about the idea of Knuckles and Amy getting romantic. But Flynn missed a major opportunity when he doesn’t have Amy smash the disguised Naugus, with her bad-ass crystallized hammer. Instead, she takes the completely unsatisfying moral high ground and let’s the boys beat him.

The “Shattered” story arc had a cute first part but its second squandered so much potential, its third was a boring fight-fest, and the fourth is among Flynn’s sloppiest conclusions. And, guess what? This is the last time we’ll see most of these characters before the comic got canned! Shit, man, so many people dropped so many balls. While this issue truly isn’t as bad as a [4/10], the dumb-ass way Naugus and Knuckles are written here forces me to give it that low of a score.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 286

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 286
Publication Date: September 2016

It's sort of amazing the difference a few issues can make. Up until very recently, I was so bored with the Shattered World Crisis. I just wanted this shit to be over. You read this blog, you know that already. Now that the plot is actually fucking moving, now that we are actually feeling what’s at stake here, suddenly I’m into it. I’m sure, if pressed on the issue, Flynn would claim all that build-up was necessary to make the big climax work. But let’s be real here. “Panic in the Sky” would’ve been just as good if it had come a year or two earlier.

But, hey, let’s not bitch about what might’ve been, let’s bitch about what is. In “Panic in the Sky, Part Three: Colossal Crash,” the battle for the fate of the world continues. Sonic races up the Gaia Colossus, seeking out Chip, while Eggman and his Egg Dragoon rains hot hellfire down on him. The Freedom Fighters battle their way through the E-series robots towards Eggman Land. The Sky Patrol does what it can to distract the Death Egg. All the while, the awakening of Dark Gaia grows ever closer.

This story arc continues to give us good examples of what comic book heroes should be. Victory still remains uncertain for the Freedom Fighters. They continue to be hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned. And yet they fight on. Rotor throws everything the Sky Patrol has at the Death Egg. Eventually, the ship is overwhelmed and crashes to the ground. Sonic, though he remains as snarky as ever throughout, can only stand up to the Egg Dragoon for so long. Eventually, Robotnik freezes him in his tracks and moves in for the kill. Nobody dies, of course. Rotor and Nicole survive the Sky Patrol going down. Sonic changes into the Werehog just as Eggman has him pinned down. From a meta perspective, we readers obviously know the heroes will live and win the day. But that sense of struggle, of standing up against a threat even when the odds are bleak, is exactly the reason I love this shit.

Making it so the heroes are actually struggling has another benefit too. It makes those victorious moments much more meaningful. This issue has at least two of what I call “Fuck yeah!” moments. When the heroes suddenly come back and whoop some major ass, when we get that little rush of adrenaline. (For a better known pop culture example, it’s something the Marvel movies are really good at.) Sally, Bunnie, and Antoine team up to take out E-106 ETA, Bunnie eventually delivering a laser-assisted punch right into the robot’s face. Fuck yeah! When Sonic suddenly transforms into the Werehog and uses those stretchy limbs to wail on the Egg Dragoon? Fuck yeah! Flynn attempts these all the time and usually the heroes’ victory seems too easy. But here he grabs exactly what he aims for.

Moreover, the status of the world really feels precarious here. A few times throughout the Shattered World Crisis, we’ve felt the seismic effect the planet literally cracking apart has on the populace. Too often, the comic has just treated it like a status quo, life just continuing as normal even though the continents are torn apart. In “Colossal Crash,” Flynn captures an apocalyptic feeling. The skies are dark and red. Massive lightning bolts are ripping out of the sky. Cities are crumbling apart, Eggman Land collapsing under Sally’s feet. When a giant monster pulls itself out of the earth, things officially start to feel Biblical. Why didn’t the Shattered World Crisis feel this epic along? I guess it would’ve been hard to maintain this mood for three years but, again, the story should’ve have gone on that long.

Let’s talk about that giant monster some more. Some kaiju-like abomination appearing to battle Sonic at the end of the game has become a reoccurring feature in the “Sonic” series, since at least “Sonic Adventure.” (I guess the Death Egg Zone Boss from “Sonic & Knuckles” would be a precursor to this.) It’s so expected now that it’s no longer exciting or interesting. It’s exactly the role Dark Gaia played in “Sonic Unleashed” and, right on time, Super Sonic appears at the end of this issue, ready for the final boss battle. Yet, at least on this iteration, Dark Gaia proves more interesting than the Bio-Lizard, Metal Overlord, Solaris, Devil Doom, or Nega Mother Wisp. He has a truly creepy and weird design, a huge mouth extending out both sides of his mouth. It gets even weirder when giant, insanely staring eyeballs grow out of that mouth. Yes, it would be more interesting if, just once, Sonic had to stop a threat like this without going Super Saiyan. But Dark Gaia remains a suitably intimidating threat.

Diana Skelly and Adam Bryce Thomas do double-duty on the art here. While I really love Skelly’s cartoony style, and found her art’s looseness really helped contributed to the sense of panic in the last few issues, she sometimes makes things look a little too goofy here. Sonic’s reaction to hearing that Eggman intends to kill him looks a little too much like a Garfield reaction. Thomas’ work is also excellent but I think the action scenes, especially when the Werehog unleashes its furry fury on the Egg Dragoon, are a little hard to follow. I guess what I’m saying is both artists are extremely skilled but maybe should have reigned their style in a little when telling this story.

I guess this is what I was talking about when I’ve mentioned in the past that the reboot didn’t start to work for me until near the end. I really like this comic book! It’s exciting, stirring big emotions in the reader! It’s well paced, all these plot points hitting just when they are suppose to with the correct amount of impact. The reveals are cool and there’s even plenty of emotion, when Sonic convinces a hopeless Chip that not all is lost or in the Freedom Fighters’ insistence on keeping on even when everything looks bleak. It took Flynn three years but he finally wrote a Post-Super Genesis Wave story as good as his best earlier work. [9/10]

Sonic Universe: Issue 89

Sonic Universe: Issue 89
Publication Date: August 2016

I guess it’s a matter of how invested you are in these things. At this point, in the main Archie series, the Freedom Fighters are in a desperate race against the clock to stop Eggman from taking over the world, the fate of the Shattered World hanging in the balance. And I’m pretty into in. At the same time in “Sonic Universe,” Knuckles is close to reassembling the Master Emerald.

While both quests have been going on for the same amount of time, Knuckles’ side of things feels a lot less urgent. It’s probably because we haven’t spent much time in the post-rebooted Angel Island. It seems largely empty, which is very different from the bustling continent that existed before the reboot. While we’ve seen firsthand the effect the Shattered World Crisis has had on the people below, Angel Island has been largely safe throughout the ordeal, thanks to the magical juju at play in this situation. So it’s hard to get too excited about Knux completed his goal, when we’ve never really gotten an idea of what was at stake.

Anyway! “Shattered: Part Three — Lost & Found” begins with Knuckles eager to get into Naugus’ final chamber, where the troll wizard is reassembling the Master Emerald, planning to use it to re-power himself. The heroes get distracted when Omega, under the sway of Naugus’ crystal magic, attacks them. After hammering the robot for a while, the crystals finally break and Omega is returned to his trigger happy old self again. But it might be too late. Naugus has successfully put the Emerald back together, his evil magic renewed.

Most of “Shattered” is devoted to a long fight scene with the reprogrammed Omega. And it’s okay, I guess. Yes, there are some clever moments, like when the robot totally catches Shadow off-guard. Mostly though, it’s a very repetitive fight. The gang just keep hitting Omega until the crystal breaks and he’s free. And there’s not much tension anyway, since we know any brainwashed good guys will return to normal soon enough. (And that all Sega-created characters are safe anyway.) Once again, it feels like Flynn pandering to the young boy readers that demand constant action or just padding out a simple story with gratuitous punching.

And it didn’t have to be that way either. I am fine with extra fight scenes as long as we get some peeks at our heroes’ personalities while we are at it. Sadly, there’s not much of that here either. Rouge always finds time for banter, flirting with Knuckles about chivalry in a way that largely goes over his head. When Amy gets a phone call from Sally, a tie-in with what’s going on in the main book, her confused and panicked reaction is kind of funny. However, most of the dialogue here is concerned with the status of the Master Emerald or the fight against Omega. As too often happens, the action and plot squeezes out the heart.

What makes this frustrating is that Flynn is good at sneaking personality into an action-heavy book when he actually tries. He does it well in this very issue! After Omega is finally freed, the homicidal robot immediately begins to liven things up. In his typically deadpan way, the robot explains how he wants revenge on Naugus. When Knuckles and Amy asks the robot if he would’ve done the same for them, he responds bluntly in the negative. Later, he bemoans Knuckles’ fleshy, mammalian weakness. See, isn’t the giant robot that sees everything in terms of combat much more interesting when he’s being forced to interact with other people, as opposed to when he’s just being used as a physical obstacle for the heroes?

Naugus, or at least the information he holds, continues to be the most interesting part of this story. While restoring the Emerald, the wizard thinks back upon his past. We see how he was initially cast out, repeatedly fought Sonic, lost his powers after the events of “Genesis” (which is apparently still canon), and ended up begrudgingly working for Eggman. In a better story, an extensive flashback like this would’ve killed the pacing. If the Digests were still being published at this point, I have no doubt this would’ve been a Sonic Comic Origins story. Yet I still really appreciate learning about rebooted Naugus’ history.

Flynn goes right up to the start of the reboot, showing what exactly the wizard’s plot was that got rudely interrupted by Sonic and Tails’ re-arrival. Apparently, after learning about technology from Eggman and Wendy to boost his weak magic, Naugus shape-shifted into King Acorn and locked the real deal up. Gee, I wish we could’ve seen this story actually play out! It sounds pretty interesting, a variation on the old “Return of the King” one-shot but with less bullshit. What exactly was going on in Castle Acorn, back st the start of the reboot, is something Flynn probably should’ve expounded on way sooner. I get the impression this was the first time he even really thought about it.

Once again, I wish Flynn had actually taken the time to establish this new world’s history before racing ahead with the “Sonic Unleashed” adaptation. But you are probably sick of hearing me bang that note. As for this issue, it’s loaded down with pretty dull action, the few interesting moments existing totally apart from the fighting. Adam Bryce Thomas’ artwork is good but I’m looking forward to this arc being wrapped up. [5/10]