Happy Batman Day

Happy Batman Day

Original Release Date: September 21st, 2024

Up until very recently, the shared history of Sega's "Sonic the Hedgehog" franchise and DC Comics' Batman has been extremely limited. Batman is a strong contender for the title of Most Iconic Superhero of All Time. He has been a constant presence in pop culture since the forties. He's been appearing continuously in comic books in all that time. Batman has shown up in movies, television, animation, video games, action figure aisles, music videos, live theater, amusement park rides, serials, cereals, collectable glassware, unofficial Filipino parodies, and literally every other type of media imaginable. In comparison to the Dark Knight's eighty-six year membership in the Characters Everyone Knows Club, Sonic the Hedgehog can only seem like a Johnny-Come-Lately. He's only been around for thirty-some years. While the blue hedgehog has certainly made his mark in the world of comics, animation, and merchandise, he's probably still best known as a video game character. As someone who has been here for basically the whole ride, I honestly feel like Sonic hadn't reached maximum pop culture saturation until the recent success of the theatrically released films. You can't truly put them on the same level of popularity, though I guess Sonic has indeed earned his placement in the same Characters Everyone Knows Club. 

Nevertheless, there have been some attempts to compare Sonic and Batman. Namely, through the age old tradition of writers referencing something a lot more famous and successful than whatever the current thing they are working on is. The Archie Comics "Sonic" series featured parodies of Batman at least three times: In issue eight, Robotnik drew inspiration from Sonic's own comic book collection for a series of superhero-inspired robots, which included a "'Botman." In issue 19, as part of a whole batch of multiverse shenanigans, a version of Sonic seemingly mashed up with Batman appears briefly among many other weird hedgehog variants. In issue 38, Sonic cooks up his own comic book to entertain a sick Tails, combining himself and his sidekick with Batman and Robin for a one page gag cover. You'll notice all of these so-called "parodies" fall within the super lazy school of comedy that merely combines one thing with another thing and calls that a joke. They also all imply that "Batman" comics exist within the Archie "Sonic" universe, a detail that definitely should not be thought about too hard.

Hell, Batman himself appeared in an Archie "Sonic" comic, as an easily missed shadowy cameo via more multiversal chaos in the infamous Image Comics crossover. Three of these examples were written by Ken Penders, exactly the kind of overly referential fan boy shit he was known for before going mad with power. There are definitely more, prior examples of Sonic the Hedgehog and Batman cross-pollinating in some form. Whether the cartoons ever did a blatant Batman spoof or any sort of homage, I can't recall. It definitely feels like the kind of thing "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog" would have done, especially since Batmania was still kind of ongoing when that show was in production. The point is this: "Sonic" writers were definitely aware of Batman. Whether "Batman" writers have ever referenced "Sonic" in any way, I can't say. My knowledge of that franchise is not as encyclopedic as this one. I do know that a tribute character to Sonic does exist in the DC Universe, so it certainly seems possible. All of these examples reside in the legal grey area of spoofs and thinly veiled references, none of the previous crossovers being official in any way and existing merely as cute in-jokes. 

All of that changes now. I have already reviewed the first issue of the official "DC X Sonic" crossover event mini-series. That such a thing exists at all remains astonishing to me. How this confluence of pop culture universes came about is probably more the result of our current corporate culture's hunger for recognizable "intellectual properties" than anything else. As a veteran fan of both these things, I guess I still think of "Sonic" as more mocked for its weird fans and games of debatable quality than as something worthy of any respect. Certainly not from the leaders of the comic book industry, who rarely acknowledged the character's record-breaking success in the medium. Superhero comics, meanwhile, are always high on their own supply, often touting their self-proclaimed status as modern day mythology. DC Comics, perhaps, does this even more than their distinguished competition. Now, however, we have a comic book approved by all legal right holders in which Sonic and Batman are standing side-by-side and being treated as figures worthy of the same level of respect. Regardless of how I feel about the current state of crossover I.P. slop – much less whatever the quality of the finished comic book mini-series ends up bring – I still can't help but think this entire endeavor simply existing is pretty cool. 

Better yet, this is not a quickly rushed out bit of cross-promotional synergy or something DC is acting ashamed of. "DC X Sonic" is getting a reasonably big commitment from the company. Five whole issues may not seem like a lot but DC and IDW have already promised actual merchandise inspired by this comic will debut before the end of the year. There's supposed to be apparel, toys, and other collectibles. We've seen spiffy designs combining Sonic and friends with members of the Justice League. You can already buy a T-shirt with Shadow as Batman on it. All of that is a whole lot more promotion than most comic book series get. It suggests that DC and Sega realized they can both make a lot of money by catering to "Sonic" and superhero fans at the same time and are pursuing this idea as far as they can. 

In order to show us all how serious this whole collaboration is, Sega released a twenty second teaser to their YouTube channel on September 21st of last year. (Close to the day that has officially been declared Batman Day, a time to buy more Batman branded junk than you already have.) That teaser is what I'm technically here today to discuss, as part of my on-going quest to review every bit of miscellaneous "Sonic" animation I can find. Not that a little commercial that runs shorter than a minute provides much to talk about. The brief narrative shows some shifty, untrustworthy looking guy with a sack of presumably stolen money lurking around the streets of Gotham, under the glow of the Bat Signal. He ducks into an alleyway to hide only to be startled by a sound from behind him. Emerging out of the shadows is a familiar pair of glowing eyes and an accompanying silhouette... Except it's not who you think it is. It's Shadow the Hedgehog cosplaying as Batman and seemingly taking up the Dark Knight's duties for a night, I guess. 

"Happy Batman Day" is one of those things that is both so brief as to barely award commentary but also too cool to ignore. Yes, it's only twenty seconds long and doesn't have a plot, so much as the threadbare setup for a premise. At the same time, that Sega, Warner Brothers, and all involved parties went to the extra effort to make sure this looked as good as it does is impressive. When you read that Tyson Hesse was behind the teaser, all that starts to make sense. Why the random thug looks so perfectly thuggish. Why the shot of the stray bills blowing from his bag of ill-gotten loot is so neat. While the reveal of Shadow as Batman is so nicely done and the backgrounds are so lovingly rendered. They could've just thrown together a quick teaser with some stock art and a little bit of editing. Instead, Hesse and his team once again went unnecessarily hard in creating a cool little extra, rather than just another piece of cynical advertising. 

It is, in other words, neat. That everyone involved managed to keep a lid on this before it came out, rendering it a complete surprise, is even better. When the short first came out, it took people a minute to realize this was a commercial for a full-blown partnership and not merely a bit of fun. That Shadow is now the "Sonic" cast member assigned the role of Batman shows we've come a long way from those earlier parodies. The average person in the street today now knows enough about superheroes and Sonic to realize that the Blue Blur as the Flash and Shadow as the Caped Crusader makes a lot more sense thematically than simply sticking Sonic in the cowl. In other words, "Happy Batman Day" ain't much but it's also a whole lot cooler than it has to be, suggesting those involved actually want to make this whole crossover a proper event. As someone who grew up playing with those Happy Meal toys of the Looney Tunes dressed up as the Justice League, I want to say that I truly appreciate the extra effort. [7/10]