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.