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.