When I started putting together these best/worst list back in February of 2016 – ironically the very year I'll be discussing today – I was continuing a legacy Dan Drazen began in 1996, twenty whole years prior, on his personal website. And now, four years after I picked the mantle back up, I finish what Dan started. This is the final Best/Worst List I'll be doing about Archie's “Sonic” comics.
Of course, we all know now that 2016 was the final year Archie published “Sonic.” That a mysterious disagreement with Sega at the end of the year would lead to unexplained delays and the eventual cancellation of the “Sonic” books. We weren't even given a proper full year of comics, as 2016 began with mysterious delays of its own. Through it all, as the actual publishers would increasingly screw shit up and eventually get the book canned, Ian Flynn and his crew were still attempting to put out a decent comic book.
In some ways, 2016 was a good year for Archie “Sonic” stuff. Even if Flynn had no way of knowing this would be the book's last year, he managed to end things on a sort of conclusive note. 2016 would finally see the end of the Shattered World Crisis, giving the rebooted comic universe something like a sense of finality.
So, one last time, let's juice. The issues covered in this retrospective are:
Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 279-290
Sonic Universe: Issue 82-94
Sonic Super Digest: Issue 15
BEST COVER STORY:
Ian Flynn, "Panic in the Sky: Part 3 - Colossal Crash" (Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 286)
The entire “Panic in the Sky” story arc, the climax of everything Flynn had been building towards for the three years of the reboot, was pretty satisfying. But the third part, “Colossal Crash,” earns special points by really portraying heroes doing the things we want to see heroes do. The Freedom Fighters are working together, standing up against an adversary they have no guarantee of beating. They are risking their lives to save the world. They are visibly struggling to gain this victory, really making the reader feel pride and excitement in the wins they do grab in this issue. It's good shit, the kind of heroic writing Flynn did when he was really operating in top form, which wasn't nearly often enough.
WORST COVER STORY:
Ian Flynn, "Shattered: Finale - Restoration" (Sonic Universe: Issue 90)
On the other hand, for an example of how sloppy and half-assed Flynn's writing could be, take a look at issue 90 of “Sonic Universe.” This story has so many problems. It shows the Shattered World Crisis being resolved several weeks before the main “Sonic” book got around to portraying that. Naugus makes some truly baffling decisions as a villain, passing by several clear chances to defeat his enemies. The good guys don't win because they out-smart their opponent or have stronger ethics or skills. They win because he's acting like a damn fool. And then Flynn pushes Naugus' defeat over to the margins in order to focus on an extremely rushed conclusion to the Shattered World Crisis, with at least deus ex machina appearing. In the middle there, we also get an faux-emotional, character-motivated flashback for Knuckles that the book in no way earns.
BEST BACK STORY:
Aleah Baker, "Hidden Costs: Part Three" (Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 279)
After the second part of “Hidden Costs” won Best Back Story in 2015, here comes the even better third part to win the same honor in 2016. As with the first two parts, Baker builds this installment around the idea of communicating with, understanding, and finding a common ground with people who are technically your enemies. But what makes part three of “Hidden Costs” truly note-worthy is its final series of panels, a heartbreaking sequence where we learn how far Clove is going to protect her sister and how little Cassea grasps the sadness of her own situation. Good stuff.
WORST BACK STORY:
Ian Flynn, "Zero Hour" (Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 283)
283 had a pretty poor cover story that was essentially just the characters detailing all the magical plot devices they needed to gather over the last few years and what they hoped to do next. It only missed the Worst Cover Story “honor” because the last part of “Shattered” was really that bad. To compliment 283's cover story, we had a back-story which did pretty much the exact same thing from Robotnik's side of things. “Zero Hour” involves Eggman watching Sally and Sonic's broadcast, the story literally re-playing events from earlier in the book, before he tells his employees what he's going to do. It is not an exciting comic is my point.
BEST STORY ARC:
Ian Flynn, "Eggman's Dozen" (Sonic Universe: Issue 83-86)
Upon reviewing it, I said “Eggman's Dozen” is probably my favorite story from the entire Archie “Sonic” reboot era. Yeah, I still think that's true. While not perfect, “Eggman's Dozen” is a fantastically entertaining variation on the “men on a mission” story type. Somehow, the arc does an excellent job of juggling a huge cast, many of which are new characters. Their interactions are excellent and amusing, everyone's personality staying on point. The story is kept moving at a constant rate, with plenty of action, but never loosing sight of the cast's eccentricities. Eggman emerges as an amusingly flummoxed protagonist here without sacrificing his uncompromising villainy.
WORST STORY ARC:
Ian Flynn, "Mega Drive" (Sonic: Mega Drive - Sonic: Mega Drive - The Next Level)
“Shattered” probably should've grabbed this (dis)honor but I actually thought the first part of that arc was pretty good, before it got progressively messier throughout the other three issues. However, “Mega Drive” spread over the two eponymous one-shots and ultimately left unfinished, proved so very disappointing. “Mega Drive” and its sequel basically played like a plot synopsis of an non-existent fan game Ian Flynn thought of. Combined with an overly broad sense of humor and disappointingly thin characterization of the characters, we got two very underwhelming stories that in no way lived up to the hype surrounding it.
BEST COVER ART:
Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 283 - Diana Skelly
While I wasn't a fan of the story it contained, issue 283 of Archie's main “Sonic” book had a pretty spiffy cover. Diana Skelly contributes a stylized image, showing Sonic's link with the other Freedom Fighters groups via a flashy collage of images. The coloring here is very strong, showing everyone in a nifty muted tones. There's also a fun spray-paint effect to several of the background images, which is cool. It's a dramatic and eye-drawing image that really gets you excited to pick up the book.
WORST COVER ART:
Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 288 - Best Friends Variant - Genevieve FT
Once again, we have an example of an artist with clearly no aptitude for drawing “Sonic” characters being invited to draw “Sonic” characters. Genevieve FT, an artist who has done some work for Boom! Studios, contributes a variant cover that is uninspired in its posing. It's a simple image of Sonic and Tails standing in a giant ring against a detail free seafoam green background. Sonic and Tails look very off-model, their limbs and heads out-of-proportion with their bodies. It's not a terrible piece of art by any means but is deeply unnecessary and half assed, as far as variant covers go.
BEST STORY ART:
Tyson Hesse, "Mega Drive" (Sonic: Mega Drive)
The best thing about “Mega Drive,” and perhaps the only reason it exists at all, is Tyson Hesse's artwork. Long established by this point as the closest thing the comic had to a super-star artist, Hesse utilizes every trick in his bag to make this comic look awesome. We have Knuckles' hilarious crayon-like flashbacks, plenty of comedic facial expressions, an awesome and fluid sense of motion, dynamic action scenes, and impressive splash pages. It's everything you'd want a “Sonic” comic inspired by the original Genesis games to be. Good job, you bastard.
WORST STORY ART:
Tracy Yardley, "Genesis of a Hero, Part One: Where It All Began" (Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 288)
Though I have absolutely no way to prove it, I'm going to continue to run with my personal fan theory that the “Genesis of a Hero” arc was a story idea forced on the comic's creative team at the last minute. Aside from Flynn's script, which draw heavily from pre-existing game plots, my main evidence for this is Tracy Yardley's artwork. It's not only not up to Yardley's usual standards but it visibly rushed and sloppy in many ways. Characters move in overly cartoonish ways. Facial expressions are looser and more exaggerated. Long shots are less detailed than usual. It all smacks of something that was thrown together quickly.
BEST NEW CHARACTERS:
Shellbreaker's Crew
I really wanted to give this honor to Jian the Tiger, of Dulcy's Freedom Fighter team, as she had one of my favorite character designs of the reboot. Yet Jian wasn't developed much in her few appearance. (Maw the Thylacine is another clear candidate, a mysterious character I actually wanted to know more about.) Besides, Captain Shellbreaker's crew of merry and highly eccentric pirates, introduce in the very last “Sonic Universe” arc, are clearly among the reboot's most lovable band of rogues.
Clearly, Razor's highly conflicted sister, Blade, is the most complex of this lot. She and her brother have certain irreconcilable differences and the book builds upon them fantastically. I also like Mr. Bristles, who is oddly paternal and jolly for a pirate. My favorite is probably Opal, among the sexier jellyfish I've ever seen, who is a totally adorable perky goth with an amusingly quirky side. Shellbreaker himself is a complex villain that is charming one minute before letting his uncompromising brutal side, characterized by a ruthless thirst for power, out the next. Even the least interesting of the team, Dive the nutty and perpetually stoned lemming, is kind of fun. They are a neat group of characters and I would've liked to have seen more of them.
WORST NEW CHARACTER:
Fuck Wulf
I had initially plan to award “Nixus,” Naugus' echidna disguise, this award for being among the year's most disappointing plot twists. Yet Nixus is still one of the better parts of the “Shattered” story arc and calling him a “new” character is definitely a stretch.
Instead, I'm giving this one to good ol' Fuck Wulf. Wendy Naugus' band of Witchcarters are among Flynn's least original creations. Each one fits easily understood archetypes that the comic has plenty of already. Yet Fuck Wulf really emerges as the least essential of an already forgettable lot. He is yet another lol randumz villain, a giggly goof-ball who expresses his frantic madness by shouting wacky things and acting silly. This is a stock character type that Flynn has returned to over and over again throughout his run. It was cute when he did it with Bean the Duck, repetitive and disappointing when he did it with Flying Frog, and officially tiresome when he did it with Fuck Wulf.
BEST IDEA:
Ending the Shattered World Crisis
Full stop, there was no better idea in the comic's final year than finally bringing the Shattered World Crisis to an end. Why the story stretching out for such an extended amount of time is something I have bitched about extensively already so I won't repeat myself. I'll just say that I'm glad Flynn managed to conclude this before the comic got unceremoniously shit-canned. The only thing that would've pissed me off more about this arc stretching on for so long is if it didn't even fucking end before the book's cancellation. But concluding it when he did allowed Flynn, however unintentionally, to give his magnum opus something like a sense of finality. That the climax managed to be as decent as it was shows the Flynn could have pulled this off at any time but that's another complaint all together.
WORST IDEA:
Retro-Mania
Over the twenty-four years Archie was publishing “Sonic,” you could definitely feel the comic's editors and Sega executives meddling with the stories the book so clearly wanted to tell. The series' final year was in no way free of these mandates from on-high. 2016 was the 25th anniversary of the entire “Sonic” franchise. So Archie had the not-unreasonable idea to publish a special one-shot celebrating that anniversary. Fine. Cool even. But then Archie kept hammering that note, turning “Mega Drive” from a one-shot into a trilogy of one-shots. And then what ended up being the last story arc of the entire series was devoted to yet another nostalgic run down memory lane. By then, even someone like me who adores the classic era of “Sonic” was sick of this stuff. Especially since the comics devoted to this subject proved rather mediocre, shackled to an overbearing need to be as faithful to the classic game structure as possible.
I want to only be referred to as Fuck Wolf from now on.
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