Sonic Boom, 2.02: Spacemageddonocalypse

Sonic Boom, 2.02: Spacemageddonocalypse

Original Air Date: November 19th, 2016

The scientists paid to keep track of such things tells us that a world-ending asteroid tends to hit Earth about every 500,000 years. That doesn’t seem very frequent and odds of such an event occurring in our lifetimes seem low. An asteroid hasn’t even killed anyone since ancient China! Yet we hear about what NASA calls potentially hazardous objects all the time. It seems at least once a year there’s some alarmist news article about a cataclysmic piece of space debris that has some percentage of a chance of hitting the planet at some point in the future. Despite that, there’s only seventeen known objects on the Sentry Risk Table as of this writing. Which I guess is still more than would be ideal but I think climate change or some jackass starting a nuclear war are much more likely end-of-the-world scenarios. 

Nevertheless, human culture is fascinated by the idea of an Earth-killing meteor smashing into us. It murdered the dinosaurs, so I suppose it seems suitably dramatic for the same thing to kill us. A movie about such an event comes out roughly once a year, usually in the form of direct-to-Syfy-Channel schlock, sometimes as dueling big-budget summer tentpoles, even rarer as overly smug social satires. Since Sonic tangos with world-annihilating threats all the time, it’s not surprising “Sonic Boom” would riff on the idea of a big ol’ space rock fucking everything up. 

Which brings me to “Spacemageddonocalypse,” an episode with a very good title. While in orbit above the world, Eggman discovers a massive rock is on a collision course with the planet. He immediately looks to exploit the situation, selling spaces within his doomsday bunker to anyone in town willing to pay. Sonic and Tails decide to take a more altruistic approach. The fox builds a mirror machine to shoot a heat ray at the rock, in hopes of throwing it off-course. Yet there's too much shit in between here and there, forcing the gang to steal Eggman's rocket and get closer to the asteroid. The fate of the world ends up in the hands of... Knuckles? 

I said in the last review that the budget for season two of "Sonic Boom" didn't seem appreciatively bigger yet. Well, that changes here. "Spacemageddonocalyps" begins in a totally new environment for this show: Outer fuckin' space. In fact, between the Eggman-in-orbit opening and Knuckles' heroic crash into the asteroid, it's clear that the showrunners had a little more money to throw around for this episode. There's also some new musical stings in this episode, like the totally expected "Also Sprach Zarathustra" parody and a pretty neat guitar-driven piece that plays when Knuckles is making his big escape. And is it just me or does everyone look a little shinier in general? I guess there was a budgetary boost despite the move to Boomerang. 

The very familiar musical moment is not the only shout-out to "2001: A Space Odyssey" – a movie kids definitely see parodied more often than they actually watch – here. Joelle Sellner definitely had some fun paying homage to well-known sci-if movies. The first scene has Cubot and Orbot bouncing around space, it what feels like may be a half-formed reference to "Gravity." There's a cute moment of Tails' solar ray bouncing around space, each deflection resulting in a "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" style musical note. The finale, of Knuckles crashing the rocket and solving problems the Smashy-Smashy way, features a random Wilhelm Scream. I'm not sure if everyone's favorite echidna surfing on a satellite is a specific reference but it reminds me of shit like the "Spaced Invaders" poster. And, of course, the title points towards the entire episode being an "Armageddon" riff of sorts. 

This isn't just a collection of nods towards on well known sci-if tropes. In fact, there's even a bit of kind of sharp social satire. With his legion of laser-shooting robots, Eggman definitely has the means to destroy the asteroid or at least throw it off-course. He doesn't think of that at all. After securing his own survival, via his underground bunker, he immediately decides to use this opportunity to make some money. Of course, the local people-in-power – mainly the mayor and his team – are the first to sign up for this. It's a demoralizingly accurate bit of writing to deduce that, when faced with the end of the world, the rich and powerful would try to exploit the situation for financial and personal gain. I mean, that's exactly what has happened with climate change. I just didn't expect to see that message reflected in a children's cartoon. 

More important than any of that, "Spacemageddonocalypse" is a pretty funny episode. There's lots of good-natured absurdity packed into these eleven minutes. The best of which is probably Sonic pettily using minor laws to successfully repossess Eggman's rocket, a joke that is then likably drawn out. A brief line of dialogue defining the difference between asteroids and meteors made me chuckle. As did a circular conversation where Tails attempts to shorten the name of his asteroid-destroying device. Honestly, Sticks got me to laugh the most in this installment. Her conspiratorial ranting, about mirrors and aliens and the legitimacy of space landings, all amused me. Little bits of dialogue, concerning a poster of himself Eggman put up or Tails' telescope, represent the writers successfully trying to squeeze as many jokes into this episode as possible. 

In fact, "Spacemageddonocalypse" feels surprisingly packed full of incident and full formed despite its short runtime. Sonic even gets a character arc of sorts, annoyed that Knuckles gets to be the big hero and having his own chance to prove himself. That makes this among the strongest episodes of "Boom" I've yet seen. Am I the only one who wants Neil DeGrasse Tyson to watch this and go into a full-on fit pulling all of its scientific inaccuracies apart? [7/10]

 

Sonic the Hedgehog: Amy's 30th Anniversary Special

Sonic the Hedgehog: Amy's 30th Anniversary Special

Publication Date: September 27th, 2023

The “Sonic the Hedgehog” titles must be a big hit for IDW, as they are continuing to make a habit out of releasing one-shots on a regular basis. They just announced another one last week! Among their most persistent series of one-shots have been the anniversary editions. Sonic's 30th anniversary in 2021 was a big deal for the whole franchise, IDW honoring it with one of their best comics in the entire series. They continued the trend last year, giving Tails an anniversary special too. Showing that this is clearly going to be a tradition until they are out of 30th anniversaries, 2023 has brought with it a 30th anniversary special for Amy Rose too. (The fact that Sega has a new retro-platformer coming out soon was, no doubt, another reason to greenlight this special.) I bet Flynn is already drafting the script for Knuckles' birthday one-shot for next year. 

Of course, when you compare Amy to Tails or Knuckles, you notice she's a very different character. Amy Rose is probably the most popular female character in the “Sonic” franchise now, essentially being the female face of the entire series. Yet she didn't even debut in one of the numbered sequels. Amy Rose first appeared in “Sonic CD,” a game a lot of fans probably didn't play when it was new because not many people had a Sega CD. Tails was appearing in the American “Sonic” comics and cartoons and Knuckles would soon acquire a massive following in the comics. Amy, meanwhile, wouldn't appear in an animated series until “Sonic X” and was only a minor supporting character in the Archie books for years. 

Despite being the closest thing Sonic had to a love interest in the video games at the time, Amy Rose didn't really become a detailed character until the Dreamcast era. “Modern” Amy was still a fashionable, very pink girl hedgehog but she also wielded a big-ass hammer, while having personality traits outside of endlessly pursuing Sonic and being a damsel-in-distress. The Piko Piko Hammer has become such an ingrained part of Amy's personality that Classic Amy – the subject of this one-shot – has retroactively been given it as well. While Modern Amy has flourished and become a beloved member of the series, Classic Amy has just sort of hung around.  The reinvention of the character has overshadowed the rather vague original version. 

How did Ian Flynn go about resolving this issue? Let's see. “Amy's 30th Anniversary Special” begins with the pink hedgehog throwing a little party for her animal friends, also giving them a reading from her divination cards. The cards warn of danger and, soon enough, Metal Sonic barges into the area. Joined by a little blue Flicky, and guided by her magic cards, Amy sets out to get the bottom of things. She discovered a series of Egg Capsules, freeing Nack Fang, Ray, and Bark along the way. They soon follow a shipment of fruit to an island fortress, where Eggman has captured all of Amy's friends in similar Egg Capsule. Metal Sonic is right on their trail though, leading to a big showdown. 

You know what my first thought was upon finishing reading this comic book? “Ian Flynn should write a “Strawberry Shortcake” or “Rainbow Brite” comic or something like that.” This issue really captures the feel of “girly” Saturday morning cartoon shows from the eighties and I mean that in the best way. This one-shot is unapologetically girly. Pink is the primary color on many of the pages. Amy is constantly surrounded by cute, little animals – who look like stuffed toys, really – and pretty flowers. After quickly assessing that Bark, usually an antagonist, isn't such a bad guy, she gives him a big hug. The issue ends with the heroes having a tea party! The visual design for this comic shoots is designed to appeal to the audience of “cutest little girl you can imagine in the early 90s.”

Again, I don't mean any of this as a criticism. I'm not the target audience for “She-Ra” or “Jem” or “Care Bears” or whatever. Yet it's impressive that this comic marries to this specific aesthetic so unerringly without letting it effect the story any. Despite Amy, and Classic Amy especially, being defined largely by her devotion to Sonic, that's only a little part of this comic. Instead, there are some decent stakes here. Amy's friends have been captured and, gosh darn it, she's going to free them. She's a young girl, with young girl problems, but that doesn't hinder her from overcoming the specific challenges this narrative presents. Flynn's script argues that Amy's girliness is not a defect but an asset. 

Honestly, I think the character arc Amy gets here is really cute. All throughout the story, she expects to find Sonic or Tails or someone really famous like that in the Egg Capsules. Instead, she gets Nack, Ray, and Bark. All throughout, she attributes the extraordinary characteristics her magic cards points towards to other people. In the end, it's pointed out that Amy is the one who accomplished all these things. Honestly, I think this is a good message to send to young people. Young girls, especially, undervalue their own abilities because our society is so fucking sexist. Amy learning her own strength, that even she denies, is a sweet little arc that fits the character and also makes for a compelling narrative. 

Aside from her infatuation with Sonic, Classic Amy has one other characteristic. At least, she does in theory anyway. The manual to “Sonic CD” mentioned that Amy was into Tarot and this is a factoid that was widely ignored for years. These days, all out of a desire to make the modern/classic divide more distinct, Classic Amy's Tarot fixation is focused on more. This issue, in particular, hammers the fortune telling thing really hard. It proves a decent way to keep the story moving and also allows Aaron Hammerstrom to design some really cute cards. It's still weird to me that Sega pretends Amy has always been into divination though.

Though Ian Flynn has told fans not to worry about the Classic/Modern divide anymore, it seems this mandate is still in place for the comics. Mighty, Ray, and the Hooligans have yet to appear in the modern-set stories. Another way you can tell these characters are still off-limits for the rest of the comics is that, any time IDW publishes a “Classic” title, they tend to show up. Yes, this issue gives a plum supporting role to Ray the Squirrel. Mighty, Bean, and the Weasel Formerly Known as Nack all put in some appearances. Ray gets some cute little moments to himself, playing up his youthful nativity. (It's still weird to me that Comic Ray doesn't have a stutter anymore.) 

Yet Bark the Bear proves to be the secret MVP here. Because, really, who is Bark the Bear? In the Archie comics – where the extremely obscure character of Bark has been more defined, versus his sole appearance in a largely forgotten video game from 27 years ago – he's also been this silent bruiser.  While Flynn has always written Bark as an antagonist, he's mostly just been muscle for hire. Not really a dedicated villain in his own right. It's been suggested before that Bark actually isn't a bad guy and this comic runs with that. Maybe it's just because Flynn has a limited number of characters to work with in this setting, so Bark got selected. Yet to see the big quiet bear prove he's more teddy than grizzly is a nice touch. 

You know what another element of cutesy eighties cartoon is? Bad-ass villains that are always humbled by the soft, adorable heroes. Even “boy” cartoons have this element, where extremely cool looking bad guys like Skeletor, Shredder, and Cobra Commander were repeatedly humiliated. This contrast was even more obvious in shows targeted at younger kids and girls. Seriously, look at this guy. Could be a mascot for a metal band, right? And he got his ass kicked every week by Teddy Ruxpin. Meanwhile, this demonic looking motherfucker regularly lost fights to the Little Ponies. 

What is the point I'm making her? It's practically a tradition that, the softer the cartoon looks, the more disproportionately bad-ass the antagonist looks... Who is then, despite that intimidating exterior, totally defeated over and over again. This also accurately describes Metal Sonic in this issue. He blasts in, tears shit up, frightens Amy into hiding, but never actually does anything productive. In the end, he's left defeated in a comical fashion. As an old man who has been watching cartoons my whole life, it warms my heart to see this nostalgic troupe upheld in a comic clearly paying tribute to that era. 

That the Classic Sonic aesthetic is so readily apparent always makes these anniversary specials a treat for the eyes. Aaron Hammerstrom provides the pencils here, as he did for the Tails Anniversary special. He does excellent work too. The characters are expressive and adorable, fitting within the Classic house style while also coming alive within these panels. This is especially important for characters who don't speak, like Bark and Metal Sonic. They seem as lively and well-characterized as the rest of the gang. Reggie Graham's colors are bright and soft, furthering the feeling of a vintage cartoon. 

I don't think the “Amy 30th Anniversary” special is as good as the “Tails” or “Sonic” anniversary one-shots. Those stories were more action-packed, with more adventurous pacing. Yet I think this comic book is pretty good too. As it's probably clear by now, Classic Amy is not a “Sonic” cast member I'm especially attached to. Yet this issue managed to make her endearing to me. While I don't think this will replaced the later versions of Amy as my preferred take on the pink hedgehog, the one-shot does argue for Classic Amy's place in the franchise's history. [7/10]

Sonic Boom, Episode 2.01: Tommy Thunder: Method Actor

Sonic Boom, Episode 2.01: Tommy Thunder: Method Actor

Original Air Date: October 29th, 2016 

Welcome to Hedgehogs Can’t Swim’s coverage of season two of “Sonic Boom!” Despite Cartoon Network’s inconsistent scheduling, the show managed to win over quite a few fans during its first season. The fact that a second season was produced, alongside continuing new merchandise, suggested that the program was doing well. Yet it’s hard to tell from the way Cartoon Network continued to treat it like a red-headed stepchild. The first episode of “Boom: Season 2” would be the last to debut on the network. From then on, episodes would first air on Boomerang – Cartoon Network’s sister channel ostensibly devoted to airing older cartoons – before airing in reruns at a later date on the main channel. 

It’s hard to know if this was done in reaction to “Boom’s” ratings. Perhaps Cartoon Network had committed to airing two full seasons of the show, regardless of how they performed, and this was how they fulfilled that contractual obligation in the face of poor viewership. Or perhaps it was simply because CN had to make room for fifty more showings of “Teen Titans Go!” It’s been over six years and no tell-all book about the behind-the-scenes shenanigans of this production has emerged. I guess we’ll probably never know why “Boom” got shuttled around so much by its network. Though it’s easy enough to speculate on the reason. (Namely, since Cartoon Network’s corporate parents had no ownership in “Sonic Boom,” they had little money to make from its success.)

Through all the upheaval, the team behind “Sonic Boom” kept on keeping on. “Tommy Thunder: Method Actor” begins with the titular big shot movie star coming to Sonic’s village, to help promote a Happy Meal toy tie-in with Meh Burger. During an autograph signing, Sonic and friends deflect an attack by Eggman. Impressed, Thunder decides to ride along with Sonic and observe his superheroic nature. The hedgehog is reluctant to agree but gets talked into it, after Thunder smoozes with Amy. The actor’s egotistical nature quickly frustrates the hedgehog. 

In the past, “Sonic Boom” has taken a bleak view of the rich and famous. Comedy Chimp has repeatedly been shown to be a pathetic sell-out willing to do absolutely anything to hang on to whatever shred of fame he has left, largely in-service of a fragile ego. Soar the Eagle has similarly been depicted as a blow-hard phony who is only interested in making money and puffing up his own ridiculous self-image. Even one-off examples, like Justin Beaver, have been depicted as appendages of corporate greed. (The rich, meanwhile, have largely been characterized as out-of-touch opportunists.) It highlights how sardonic a program “Boom” is that it has such a low opinion of show business, despite obviously being written by people who work in the industry. 

So it goes without saying that an episode called “Tommy Thunder: Method Actor” would trade in similar downbeat, unimpressed observation about movie stars. Yes, Tommy Thunder is another self-obsessed egomaniac who is utterly manufactured in every way. He constantly refers to himself in the third person. He repeatedly takes credit for accomplishments completed by Sonic and others. All his talks of “method acting” are clearly a pretentious cover for his tendency to star in brain-dead action movies. He’s someone more than willing to use his privilege and fame to manipulate people and get what he wants. In the penultimate scene, it’s revealed that “Tommy Thunder” is a flashy stage name meant to cover up an embarrassing birth name. We even find out he wears shoe lifts, which – when combined with his first name and declaration of doing his own stunts – suggests Mr. Thunder is a vague parody of Tom Cruise. 

None of these are especially sharp or knowing jabs at Hollywood. In this day and age, we know the film industry is full of jerk-off movie stars who are totally fake. Tommy Thunder being such an exaggerated caricature of celebrity feels a little bit like lowly cartoon writers lobbing softballs at people who are way more famous than them. Sour grapes, ya know? In our post-#MeToo world, we all know that big name box office draws, and the studio system that support them, can be criticized for misdeeds a lot more severe than being totally fabricated showboaters. Tom Cruise, being the face of a life-destroying cult, can especially be lambasted for more than this. 

This is probably why “Tommy Thunder: Method Actor” is best when indulging in some freewheeling, “Boom”-style absurdity than making any specific points about movie stars. The methods Tommy Thunder uses to convince Sonic are amusing, such as taking his friends out to eat at the “V.I.P.” section of Meh Burger. Or delivering Sonic a sculpture of his own head, made of fruit. Both of these gags are followed-up on in snickering ways. Sonic’s reactions to Thunder’s annoying behavior – such as his shallow attempts to imitate the hedgehog – often proves a lot funnier than obvious set-ups like the actor taking credit for catching some robbers or the defeat of Eggman. 

This being an Alan Denton/Greg Hahn joint, the dialogue is especially sharp. A reoccurring bit about Sonic’s hut not having a door, Sticks’ answer to being told Tommy wants to follow them, or Knuckles’ reaction to an off-hand comment about someone with two tails made me chuckle. As did the show’s characterization of Eggman as low-key pathetic. He’s introduced here attacking a baker for only putting twelve croissants in his baker’s dozen. Later, he’s shown making muffins in his pajamas. While “Boom” definitely indulges in easy or lazy set-ups, the amusingly silly scenarios and one-liners is what keeps me coming back. 

Especially since “Tommy Thunder: Method Actor” kind of backtracks on its central thesis of “movie stars are hella fake” in its final moments. After being humiliated during Eggman’s attack, Thunder seemingly learns nothing from his ordeal. He still takes credit for a victory he contributed to in no way and obviously maintains a ridiculously self-important image of himself. Yet Sonic lets the guy have his moments. He displays what Amy calls “maturity” by allowing the façade of Tommy Thunder’s action hero persona to endure. So what’s the point here? “Big time movie stars are fake assholes but also they entertain people, so it’s okay?” Kind of a weird message to send.

Then again, perhaps expecting an eleven minute cartoon to form a coherent satirical angle is too tall an order to ask. Especially when “Boom” has to squeeze in enough jokes and half-hearted action scenes to appease the five-to-ten crowd. At the very least, “Sonic Boom” teaches kids that cops are fucking useless. The one police officer we see here alerts everyone to Eggman’s presence and then cowardly flees. I doubt this was intentional on the writers’ behalf but the show continuing to depict the local police force as totally ineffectual, leaving all the crime fighting up to free-agent superheroes like Sonic and friends, sends a clear message. Remember, kids: Sonic says ACAB and all the Tom Wachowskis in the world can’t change that. 

I guess if this rambling review hasn’t made it obvious, there really aren’t many noticeable differences between season one and season two of “Sonic Boom.” The animation looks more-or-less the same and the writing is consistently amusing if short-sighted. The only season two upgrade I’m noticing so far is a slightly more diverse soundtrack. While Tommy is leading Amy and the others to dinner, some music that sounds a lot like the opening bars of “Then He Kissed Me” by the Crystals plays. While Sonic is defeating Eggman’s Obliterator Bot, something that sounds an awful lot like the “Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog” intro plays. It’s nice to see “Boom” paying homage to the franchise’s past like that. 

While the showbiz is satire is about as shallow and facile as can be, “Tommy Thunder: Method Actor” still made me laugh a decent amount during its eleven minute runtime. I guess that makes it a fair trade-off. Here’s to fifty-one more episodes of “Sonic Boom!” [6/10]

Sonic Boom, Episode 1.52: It Takes A Village to Defeat a Hedgehog

Sonic Boom, Episode 1.52: It Takes A Village to Defeat a Hedgehog

Original Air Date: November 14th, 2015

After what seems like far too much time – the number of random hiatuses I took along the way surely didn’t help – I have finally reached the end of “Sonic Boom: Season 1.” Being a comedic series that was light on continuity and reoccurring plot points, it’s not like the show had a grand finale to build up to. We were never going to see this version of Sonic struggle against some grand unified scheme by this version of Eggman. This might be the case but the “Boom” writers managed to cook up something kind of cool for the season finale. The episode pays homage to earlier events in the season while bringing in a real fan favorite. 

Presumably fed up from a whole season worth of defeats, Eggman has the idea of gathering together as many of Sonic’s enemies and forming an alliance. He invites the Thunderbolt Society, T.W. Baker, his two bear clown sidekicks, and Charlie into a room. He also invites Shadow the Hedgehog, who is quickly unimpressed by Eggman’s leadership skills. Meanwhile, Sonic and his friends struggle with putting together a book shelf from “that foreign build-your-own-furniture store.” When the villains finally strike, the team-up is enough to challenge Sonic and the gang. Shadow especially proves to be a worthy adversary. 

“It Takes a Village to Defeat a Hedgehog” sees Alan Denton and Greg Hahn putting their typically irreverent riff on another well-trod superhero/action-adventure trope. The villainous team-up is almost as old as the concept of villains itself. The idea probably dates back to ancient mother-of-monsters deities like Tiamat and Ekidna linking together hordes of mythical beasts. However, Captain Marvel’s Monster Society of Evil is likely the popular progenitor of the concept. (If not quite the first.) From there, it became a commonly occurring premise in superhero comics and kids cartoons. The Legion of Doom, the Sinister Six, the Superman Revenge Squad, the Masters of Evil and many, many more have followed. It’s a logical enough idea: If one supervillain is enough to give the hero grief, a whole alliance of them (united against their common foe) is a reasonable way to raise the stakes even higher. 

Of course, “Sonic Boom” being the show it is, the goal here is to totally take the piss out of this well-worn concept. Almost all the villains Eggman gathers together are pretty bad at their jobs, with the Thunderbolt Society being especially pathetic. United supervillains scheming amongst themselves and backstabbing each other is regular features of these stories. Instead, Eggman’s Legion of Doom spends nearly the entire time pettily arguing semantics and eating fine cheeses. When Eggman has an emotional breakdown, the others fall into line and join him in some goofy trust-building exercises. This includes falling into each other’s arms and playing improve groups. 

It makes for some good jokes. We expect grand, evil machinations and instead get petulant whining and office-style routines. This is what “Sonic Boom” excels at, contrasting the superheroic trappings of its cast with the most commonplace problems and disagreements the writers can think of. It goes both ways too. Instead of having some far-flung adventure or saving the day, Sonic and the others spend most of this episode wrestling with an unruly piece of furniture. Definitely not the most heroic behavior, especially when it results in Sonic nearly loosing his temper with his friends or everyone failing to assemble the shelf correctly. 

Yet a decent subversion of expected action cartoon plot points is probably not why this is one of the more fondly recalled episodes of "Sonic Boom." No, that's easy enough to figure out. This episode marks the first “Sonic Boom” appearance of the so-called Ultimate Lifeform, Shadow the Hedgehog himself. Considering few game characters had appeared in “Boom” outside the main four before, this was a major deal. Since this show is all about reducing these characters down to their most basic attributes, this version of Shadow is a gruff asshole with ridiculous superpowers and a serious need to make Sonic humble. (He also looks more-or-less the same as his main universe counterpart, though with chunkier gloves and boots.) That makes him an ideal straight man to Eggman's tomfoolery, giving the mad scientist more than a few terse glares throughout the episode. Kirk Thornton does a passable Vegeta while voicing him. 

Of course, there's something kind of weird about Shadow showing up like this. This character has never been on the show before! Eggman, Sonic, and all the other heroes clearly know who he is. Since they want to beat the stuffing out of each other, there's obviously some sort of history between these hedgehogs. What that is is never elaborated on. One of the members of the Lightning Bolt Society even asks the question of who this dude is, an amusing joke meant to tell the audience not to worry about the inconsistencies much. If you're watching this cartoon, you definitely know who Shadow the Hedgehog is. How exactly his standard backstory fits into the show's continuity, I can only speculate upon. (Shadow showed up in “Rise of Lyric,” which I guess is canon to the show, though its events have never come up before.)

The above comment about Shadow's identity is one of many meta moments in this episode. Eggamn answers by saying he's the “second most popular character in canon,” which is an astute observation. This proceeds a lengthy moment at the end, where Cubot and Orbot discuss whether the very show they appear on has a future. Those meta moments stand alongside some sharp, amusing one-liners. Various members of the villainous alliance arguing about parliamentary procedure and Eggman’s crisis in confidence are probably the funniest moments. I also like Knuckles' reaction to the wordless IKEA instructions, the subplot leading to some pretty amusing moments in general.

You'd expect Shadow's appearance to proceed some seriously bitchin' action sequence. And it does, for about five seconds. There's a really great moment where Shadow uppercuts Sonic into the air before teleporting right above him and kicking him back towards the ground. That's a novel use of his superpowers and a neat bit of asskickery. It's also the sole bit of smooth creative action in the episode. The rest of the action sequences are up to the “Boom” standard. By which I mean they are incredibly stiff and unconvincing. For most of their fight, Sonic and Shadow just spin-dash at each other, two blurry balls flying through the air and colliding. Amy and Sticks' fight with the clown bears is seriously underwhelming. It's all sort of like that. I'm used to it by now.

Now that the first season of “Sonic Boom” is finished, I can say this about the show: Its quality depends greatly on who is writing a given episode. Even then, some writers are wildly inconsistent. Reid Harrison wrote some of the season's funniest episodes and some of its most inert. If nothing else, “Sonic Boom” is versatile within the boundaries of its sitcom-like set-up. “It Takes a Village to Defeat a Hedgehog” is a pretty fun episode, with a decent amount of laughs and a speedy pacing. I'll take it! [7/10]

Sonic the Hedgehog's 900th Adventure

Sonic the Hedgehog's 900th Adventure

Publication Date: September 13th, 2023

How many adventures has Sonic the Hedgehog had? It's the question perhaps worth asking. In the 32 years Sega's super-fast mascot has existed, he's lint his spiny likeness to almost every piece of media imaginable. He's appeared in dozens of video games. Sonic has had long runs at three different comic book publishers and even a short-lived comic strip. Six television programs, two live action movies, one Japanese OVA, and several bits of short animation have bore his name. Hell, there's even been actual books published about the blue hedgehog! And that's only limiting our query to media published in English-speaking countries. In addition to all that, there's a handful of “Sonic” manga, a short-lived French comic book, a Russian game show featuring the hedgehog, and a Portuguese text book for some reason.

That's a lot of adventures! I'm not going to hazard a guess of how many exactly that is but IDW apparently did. The second one-shot they've published this year is called “Sonic's 900th Adventure.” They claim, in the introduction, that this comic book is in fact the 900th release centering around the hedgehog. Honestly, I'm skeptical. Just the bullshit I mentioned above makes me wager it's a lot higher than that. And how exactly is IDW defining “adventure” here? Did they count every video game he's shown up in or just starring roles, disqualifying guest appearances and cameos?  Did “Sonic's Schoolhouse” grace the IDW editor's eyes? How about the SegaLand Sydney puppet musical? Is a commercials for Korean sneakers or Australian ice cream worthy enough to be included in this total? What about a parade balloon? An amusement park ride? Is a can of Spaghetti-Os an adventure? 

Putting my needless nerdy pedantry aside, Sonic has had a metric shit-ton of adventures. However many it's actually been, IDW is seeking to celebrate them all with this one-shot. The “900th Adventure” begins with Sonic and Tails chilling around his workshop, feeling nostalgic. That's when the Warp Topaz, the teleporting bric-a-brac that Dr. Starline utilized, manifests itself on Tails' couch. Fearful of its supercharged readings, Sonic endeavors to put that thing back where it came from before it causes anymore problems. The Topaz zaps Sonic all over the world and to different locations. This brings him into contact with his various friends, enemies, and rivals, often passing the plot device off to them like a hot potato. Will the super-fast blue dude with 'tude safely return the Warp Topaz to its point of origin and survive to see his 901th adventure? What do you think?

Essentially, “Sonic's 900th Adventure” is a quick tour through Sonic's main supporting cast. Perhaps in hopes of appealing to as wide an audience as possible, this is limited strictly to Sega-created characters. Tangle and Whisper are nowhere to be seen, even though this story explicitly takes place in IDW canon. Instead, the focus remains on the most popular members of the wide “Sonic” cast. Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Rouge, Blaze, Cream, Eggman, Metal Sonic, the Babylon Rogues, Cubot and Orbot, and the grouchy orca from “Sonic Adventure” all put in appearances. Sorry to all the fans of Tiara Boobowski and Hip and Hop, they didn't make the cut. I didn't expect any deep cuts though it is a little disappointing that a supposed celebration of Sonic's history limits itself to just the basic bitch cast members. The 30th Anniversary Special did a much better job of acknowledging Sonic's lineage, even within the boundaries of IDW's licensing contract. 

In other words, this comic isn't a whole lot more than “Sonic” characters marching on-screen, doing something vaguely plot relevant, and then the hedgehog is off to see the next guest star. There's only so much wiggle room within these constrains but the script still manages to squeak out some character beats or development. Blaze considers going on without her friends, because she's the self-sacrificing type. Cream has a big rant about how she wants to appear on this adventure, because she's a little kid always trying to prove herself. Amy gets to fawn over Sonic and even gives him a big hug, in a moment sure to be adored by shippers. Probably the best moment has Sonic tricking both Tails and Metal Sonic by pretending the Warp Topaz is draining more of his energy than it actually is. That's the wily hedgehog we know and love.

However, some of the other characters are reduced down to just a couple of quick gags. Eggman gets mocked, while trading some barbs with Sonic and his robot henchmen. Shadow and Rouge appear to belittle the Babylon Rogues, their personalities reduced down to their most simplified versions of themselves. Shadow brags about being the Ultimate Lifeform, Jet is haughty, Rouge likes shiny shit. Wave and Storm are... There, I guess. You can definitely tell which characters the writers felt they could actually do something with and which one they shoved into the issue because they had to. 

Since there's not going t be any actual character development or forward-movement of the overall arc in this one-shot, its story has to be rated on its own goals. The stakes are really high here. Tails is concerned that the Warp Topaz's out-of-control energy levels might even destroy the entire world. Despite that, the issue here is pretty light-hearted. Sonic never seems that worried, cracking jokes like always. The other characters are largely farcical too, Knuckles and Amy getting little funny panels to themselves. Moreover, the script never makes it entirely clear what exactly the Warp Topaz is doing. It's opening portals all over the place but, otherwise, there's a lot of talk about how dangerous the situation is without the reader being given total understand of what that means.

It seems to me that “Sonic's 900th Adventure” was clearly conceived as a way to spotlight as many of Sonic's friends as possible and an actual narrative second. When taken on their own, some of these sequences are fun. The bit where Sonic and Amy fight the whale is entertaining enough. So is Eggman dueling Sonic from within a Mazinger Z homage. Yet I was left wondering what exactly the point of all this is. We discover that the Warp Topaz comes from some weird cave in an obscure corner of the world, which is a contribution of sorts to the overall lore. The final scene takes the Warp Topaz out of the story while also leaving open the possibility that it could return some day. But, over all, this strikes me as an inessential story that doesn't add too much to the comic's world or stand too strongly on its own.

Another way “Sonic's 900th Adventure” was meant to be a celebration of Sonic's history is by featuring multiple different writers. I hope no one was disappointed ot see that this mostly meant established IDW “Sonic” crew members. That means Ian Flynn, Evan Stanley, Daniel Barnes, Aaron Hammerstein, and Caleb Goellner contributed to the script. It's not like any of the Archie writers were going to show up, having either moved on or simply have too much baggage to be hire-able. The one really neat addition here is Nigel Kitching, one of the main writers for Fleetway's “Sonic the Comic.” This is Kitching's first contribution to a “Sonic” project in over twenty years, making his appearance a big deal for fans of that particular branch of the franchise. 

However, six people writing one forty page story is the kind of situation that rarely produces great art. A set-up like that is either going to result in a mess of conflicting tones or everyone's styles being flatten out into a homogeneous, bland whole. The opening credits box lets us known which authors are responsible for which pages. Can you tell who wrote what pages? Flynn's pages are fairly distinctive, with Sonic cracking some one-liners that seem recognizable as his style. Evan Stanley tries to do some similarly snarky humor on her pages but it comes off as more awkward than anything else, while the relationship stuff between Sonic and Amy is more her speed. Daniel Barnes gets to write some jokey dialogue for Cubot and Orbot, including a shout-out to the infamous “Big oof” panel, but otherwise I don't think I noticed that the same guy who wrote “Scrapnik Island” wrote that sequence. 

I'm not super familiar with Kitching's style but his pages are among the least distinctive here, save for an unusually verbose word balloon from Knuckles. I suppose much the same can be applied to Aaron Hammerstrom, who has Cream practically yell a monologue. Though Hammerstrom's pages also have the clearest defined character arc in the issues, so I guess he wins. Caleb Goellner, true to form, contributes the lamest scenes here. As always, his characters speak in either extremely bland exposition or attempts at humor that are so uneven that they feel like someone who only speaks English as a second language wrote them. 

In hopes of making this division among the writers a little less awkward, the book is essentially broken up into six page segments with a different cast on each one. Yet the result is still equal parts clashing in the different approaches to the dialogue without really giving any one author a chance to shine. I think breaking this issue up into different stories would've resolved both of those problems, allowing each writer to make their stories more their own without creating an overall bland narrative that feels like it was probably designed by committee. 

The artwork is similarly split, with eight different people handling pencils and ink duties here. Gigi Butreix's painterly colors realy make Evan Stanley's pages pop in a fascinating way. Mauro Fonseca and Rik Mak's pages are nicely moody, with a very classic Sega-style looking Sonic. Min Ho Kim definitely has fun drawing that Go Nagai style Eggman robot, while also contributing some really eye-catching shading. Abby Bulmer does Goellner's pages and, unfortunately, they look kind of bad. She makes everyone look like chubby comic strip characters, with the proportions definitely seeming off to me in a few panels. Adam Bryce Thomas (who draws the very beginning and ending) and Hammerstrom do strong work in their pages as well. Both throw in lots of dynamic action and expressive faces, which is exactly what they both excel at. 

Ultimately, “Sonic's 900th Adventure” is a neat idea for a comic book that falls short of that potential. If this was going to be a true celebration of Sonic's history, it should've included more throwbacks and a more specific sense of place. By just limiting the cast to Sonic's most profitable friends, it makes the universe actually seem rather small. Splitting this story across six writers and six different supporting players also results in a rather fractured feeling special that can never quite build up tension or proper pacing. But the artwork is (mostly) pretty neat and it is fun to see Sonic interacting with different friends. I know I only ever give out [6/10]s lately but “Sonic's 900th Adventure” definitely feels like it belongs exactly at that level.

Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): Issue 64

Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): Issue 64

Publication Date: September 13th, 2023

IDW's “Sonic the Hedgehog” series does, for the time being anyway, seem committed to the structure of a cover story and a back-up story in each issue. That worked out nicely for the book last month, so let's see how issue 64 did... The cover story, “Misadventures, Part 2,” begins with Silver and Whisper spying on “Duo,” looking to see if their suspicion that the new recruit is actually Mimic will be fulfilled. Lanolin quickly sees the two sneaking around and blows their cover. Silver and Whisper decide to go on the offensive then, chasing after Duo. All they manage to do is sprain the cat's ankle, turn everyone against their mission, and get Silver kicked out of the Diamond Cutters. Afterwards, in “Two of a Kind,” Blaze and Sonic are returning to Restoration HQ when they notice Silver sulking out by the victory garden. The pyrokinetic cat and the telekinetic hedgehog have a heart-to-heart, realizing they have a lot in common. 

In my review of issue 63, I commented that Mimic/Duo didn't strike me as a very talented or patient assassin. Maybe this was fitting, as issue 64 reveals that Whisper and Silver are not very talented or patient spies. Instead of carefully watching Duo for days on end and gathering evidence, they immediately get their cover blown. Alright, Silver sucks at sneaking. Sure. Yet instead of staying committed to a stealthy approach, the two go from zero to sixty in the opposite direction. Silver chases Duo down and threatens him, in hopes that this will force Mimic to reveal himself. That does not seem like the most sensible decision. 

I suppose you could say that Silver isn't in a sensible mood, after almost getting killed last time... But why doesn't Whisper – the epitome of a calm, watchful combatant – ever tell him to cool it? Instead, she ends up fighting Lanolin while Silver takes chase. Alright, I guess Mimic is a sore subject for Whisper as well, prompting her to act rashly. To me, however, it really seems like both characters are blundering into this mission, totally convinced of what they must do, instead of acting reasonably and making absolutely sure Duo is Mimic before striking. Whisper even says they have to be certain before going right along with Silver's crazy plan. 

If you have to resort to the explanation of “The characters are acting like jack-asses because they are upset,” you should definitely emphasize that this is what's happening more keenly. Otherwise, it just makes our heroes seem like impulsive dimwits. However, it's not like Silver and Whisper are the only ones acting like damn fools here. Once again, I must ask the question: Why does Lanolin trust Duo so much? She doesn't know this guy! Does the Restoration even do background checks on their new recruits? The fact that Lanolin is willing to go fisticuffs to defend this guy, against a friend and team members of her's that she's fought alongside, makes this entire sequence of events rub me the wrong way. Everyone is acting like a moron in this issue. 

This story reflects on everyone poorly, honestly. We, the reader, know for a fact that “Duo” is Mimic. Lanolin going to bat for this guy makes her seem like an idiot. The final sequence has Jewel apologizing to Duo as he recovers from, I don't know, a sprained ankle or whatever. I guess she's fooled too, even offering him a job in her office. This doesn't make Mimic look like a cunning strategist or master manipulator. It makes him look lucky, to stumble his way into a better position like that. To be surrounded by people who so totally uncritically buy his deception. The longer this particular arc goes on, the more I think it would've been a lot better if it hadn't been revealed that Mimic is Duo before things got rolling. 

But, you know, characters acting ridiculously head-strong and not thinking things through, falling into contrived events just to facilitate an action sequence... That is a proud tradition in comic books. “Misadventures, Part 2” seemingly even sets up such a big fight. Whisper and Lanolin are going to duke it out, right? Well, they do... For about four panels. Whisper grabs Lanolin's wrist, she gets tossed tot he ground, there's some kicking and punching. That's it. Come on, Evan, if you're going to stretch this dumb-ass plot out for multiple issues, at least have the good sense to give us a pulpy fight scene between two established characters! 

Of course, the back-up story makes it clear why this rather weird, off-center cover story plays out the way it does. By the end of “Two of a Kind,” Silver and Blaze have run off together. Silver leaves behind the Restoration and decides to go on a seemingly unrelated adventure with Blaze. That's kind of annoying, if only because the previous few issues have been trying to make a point about how Silver belongs in the Restoration. Seems to kind of defeat the purpose, doesn't it? Why do all that development about Silver trying to fit in with the Diamond Cutters just to break them up? 

Then again, Silver and Blaze being paired up is not without precedent. Not within this comic book, where they haven't interacted much outside of the “Victory Garden” story a few annuals back. (Which this issue references extensively.) In the fandom, however, Silver and Blaze are an incredibly popular ship. With the exception of insanely common ships like Sonic and Amy or Rouge with anyone, I think “Silaze” is probably the match-up I see the most frequently in artwork and fanfics. I think this is probably just because “Sonic '06” paired them up or they are both from alternate timelines or whatever. Yet they do have a cute chemistry here. Silver is shy and awkward. Blaze is also awkward, though for totally different reasons. Both characters are looking for their purpose in the world, or the present anyway. 

Even Sonic agrees that they are a cute couple, more-or-less telling them that's exactly what they are. Which is about as explicit a ship-tease as I think we're likely to see in this comic book. Ultimately, “Two of a Kind” isn't much of a story. Almost the entire thing is devoted to Blaze and Silver's little conversation. I support small scale, character-driven stories like this. I think I like the back-up story last month, if only because Sonic and Blaze have a better rapport. Yet I must, philosophically, support this story exist. Even if the seams of the plot here – pairing these two up for an adventure for some reason – is showing very obviously. 

Last time, I worried that the plot involving Duo/Mimic would get dumb really quickly. Those fears are already starting to show themselves. Admittedly, I do continue to like dividing the issue between a cover story and a back-up. Especially if the back-up stories continue to be more character driven than the more action oriented cover stories. By the way, this is another issue that barely has Sonic in it, which is turning into an interesting trend. [6/10]

Sonic Boom, Episode 1.51: Counter Productive

Sonic Boom, Episode 1.51: Counter Productive

Original Air Date: November 7th, 2015

Ya know, I gotta hand it to the "Sonic Boom" writers. Even when dealing with episodes that are only eleven minutes long, it had to have been tricky to think up fifty-two distinct premises. It used to be common for TV seasons to run for a long amount of episodes but daily children's television remains pretty much the last domain where that is normal. And, as someone who has sat through over one hundred episodes of middling nineties cartoons, you tend to run out of genuinely novel ideas fairly quickly. While "Sonic Boom" has leaned on parody and well-trot troupes to extend its episode count plenty of times, I do admire how the show runners have kept "Boom" fairly true to its original premise all throughout season one. 

Perhaps this is only because "Sonic Boom's" original premise – what if Sonic and his friends basically starred in a workplace sitcom, where the "work" is being a hero/villain? – is extremely mutable. This especially comes to light in "Counter Productive," another episode that attempts to expand the Boom Team's rogue gallery outside of Eggman and his associates. There's only so much you can do with an egg-fixated mad scientist, after all, so it's pretty common for "Sonic" media to eventually add further bad guys to the setting. Alongside the Thunderbolt Society and Nominatus, this episode introduces the fearsome threat of... Charlie.

"Counter Productive" is also another episode that begins in one place before wildly digressing to an entirely different one. During a contest to see who can stay up longer, Knuckles stumbles upon a TV interview with Soar the Eagle. Soar's new book seeks to teach people how to be productive and includes, as part of its philosophy, apologizing for past misdeeds and making up for them. This prompts Knuckles to find Charlie, a former apple salesman that he got fired a few years back with his antics. Charlie is now an archeologist, digging up mysterious technology built by the Ancients. Knuckles quickly integrates himself into Charlie's life, his attempts to make up for past mistakes actually ruining Charlie's life. This pushes the mild-mannered nerd into becoming a super villain. 

Attempting to analyze, as I do, episodes of "Sonic Boom" is tricky sometimes. This is just a goofy kids' show, after all, and frequently leaves little for me to dig into. About halfway through "Counter Productive," I couldn't help but wonder if this episode is inspired by how, usually, we create our own villains. Everybody has had moments in life where they've been careless, selfish, or rude. It's human nature. We're all going to fuck up sometimes. And, inevitably, some folks only ever see us in these bad moments. I suppose I'm an optimist, since I think the majority of people are not actively acting maliciously most of the time. Typically, we're all trying to do our best. Yet we still manage to piss some folks off and give them cause to hate us. And, let's face it, most of the time it's our own fault. We all make mistakes. We're all assholes occasionally. The unavoidable consequence of that is, sometimes, people will be mad at you. 

To put it another way: We all must face the consequences of our own actions. We all most reap what we sow. This is a common narrative tactic in fiction to give the antagonist a little more dramatic heft. If the hero genuinely screwed up and inadvertently led to the creation of his own enemy, it makes their rivalry more compelling. (This is especially common in superhero comics and their cinematic adaptations.) "Counter Productive" seems headed in this direction. Knuckles' buffoonish actions results in Charlie devoting his life to ruining Knuckles'. His attempt to make everything better and heal a past wound just makes it all worst. Maybe the moral could be interpreted here as "We can't repent for everything. The best thing we can do sometimes is just move on with our lives." As Charlie initially does before Knuckles just keeps pushing it. 

It's hard to tell if that was the intended message of "Counter Productive" though. Because this is a goofy comedy show and tends to favor wacky gags over all else. In execution, this means "Counter Productive" is an episode devoted to Knuckles deciding to randomly ruin a regular Joe's life. Knuckles is such a big dum-dum that he doesn't realize his attempts to help someone, to earn their forgiveness, is just making them hate him more. Yet the joke operates more like "Let's laugh at what a colossal idiot Knuckles is." In effect, that makes "Counter Productive" about watching Knuckles be a belligerent dumbass until it drives a perfectly sane person to madness. 

"Sonic Boom," in one of its more subversive moods, could've made a sharp eleven minutes out of this idea. Of watching a so-called hero act like anything but. Instead, the joke is just reduced to Knuckles doing the least helpful thing in every scenario. That means throwing out Charlie's lunch, destroying the artifact he uncovered, getting him fired, and alienating him from his wife. Watching Knuckles just be a doofus over and over again has its values but this one isn't the most inspired use of that idea. It gets tiresome quickly. 

The result of Knuckles' incompetence, of Charlie using the Ancients' technology to make himself into a super villain, leads to probably the funniest bits though. Namely, that would be Charlie's less-than-impressive attempts at being a bad guy. He has some sort of freeze ray in his armor and briefly uses it to be intimidating, before screwing everything up. From there, he just prettily torments Knuckles like a schoolyard bully. He steals his lunch money and dunks him in a garbage can. Contrasting someone calling themselves a super villain with actions that amount to petty dickery is a decent joke this show has gotten good mileage out of before. 

Instead of running with that idea, "Counter Productive" bends in an even weirder direction. Charlie's wife kicks him out because she says he "never stands up for himself." Later, Knuckles decides to stand up to his own bully, namely Charlie. It bends towards an unfocused moral about school bullying and how you shouldn't let people walk all over you. Yet it's hard to root for Knuckles when his own foolishness is what brought Charlie to this point. Charlie similarly looses all sympathy when his wife takes him back and further encourages his evolution towards super-crime. In effect, everyone is a dick here and any meaningful message is lost. 

Not that I demand cromulent morals from my children's cartoons. Least of all "Sonic Boom," a cartoon that excels at being flippant. Yet "Counter Productive" just feels unfocused, swirling around various ideas in a desperate attempt to make us laugh. Which it never quite does, as the episode's slapstick feels more sadistic than amusing. While it's one-liners are all pretty uninspired. This one probably should've stuck to its initial idea, of Sonic and Knuckles both trying to stay up for days on end in increasingly wacky ways. Or of mocking the self-help book industry Soar is obviously a parody of. Instead of going in this tangent of Knuckles creating his own archenemy by being an utter doofus. [5/10]