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]]