Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 113

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 113
Publication Date: August 2002

When Archie published the final Sonic Super Special, “Naugus Games,” it sent a ripple of revulsion through the fandom. Fans were disgusted that Archie would dare present such a shoddy product and ask us to fork over our valuable money for it. The artwork, the story, all of it smacked of laziness. “Naugus Games,” sadly, is not the sole credit of “Many Hands,” the amateurish artist of that book. Issue 113 of “Sonic the Hedgehog” is Hands’ second, and thankfully last, contribution to the series. Continuing the theme of laziness, Archie’s staff couldn’t even be bothered to write an original script to accompany the shitty art. Instead, this comic is an adaptation of an old SatAM episode.

Which episode? Season two’s “Cry of the Wild,” otherwise known as the first appearance of Lupe and the Wolf Pack. As in that episode, Sonic, Sally and Antoine enter a cave system while on a recon mission. After the entrance is sealed, they encounter the canines. Soon, the two Freedom Fighter groups form an alliance. Afterwards, Snively arrives in a hovercraft, forcing the two groups to work together in order to defeat the enemy.

My primary question after reading “Cry of the Wild” is “why?” Why would Archie publish an adaptation of an eight year old cartoon episode? Moreover, why would they publish such a crappy adaptation? Once again, I have to assume that a deadline had to be met and quickly. This is presumably why they dusted off an old script, which needed little rewriting. This is presumably why they summoned Many Hands from whatever circle of hell it resides in, in order to quickly scribble the pictures. If Archie really needed a comic book on the shelves in August 2002, Jesus Christ, a set of reprints would’ve been preferable to this.

The artwork, of course, is absolutely fucking hideous. The comic lures you in with that spiffy cover and Jay Axer’s nice frontispiece. It then hits you in the face with the horror of Many Hands. The colors are hideously flat and sloppy, often blurring outside the damn lines. Characters frequently bend off-model. In the world of Many Hands, there’s no such thing as “on model.” The characters are shapeless blobs, that can stretch and squish in any direction. Faces morph, arms and legs change in length, and backgrounds are hastily sketched. Sonic and Snively probably get it the worst, twisting in grotesque ways. But at least Many actually draws the entire book. There are no panels composed totally of snowflakes or darkness. That elevates issue 113 slightly above “Naugus Game.” The artwork shits on you but it's not shitting directly in your mouth, is what I'm saying.

Archie doing a direct adaptation of a SatAM episode also strikes me as strange. While the comic has always drawn from the cartoon show, for its world and its characters, the book has never been directly connected to it. The comic is its own thing, sharing attributes but ultimately disconnected. The book would go on to do things the cartoon show never could. It’s tone ultimately became darker, its world bigger, then the Saturday morning cartoon that inspired it. So just sticking an old TV script into the comic universe is a really weird decision.

“Cry of the Wild” ostentatiously serves a purpose though. Lupe and the Wolf Pack never got a proper introduction in the comics. When they first wandered on-panel in issue 46, it was with the presumption that Sonic and the gang had met them before. So issue 114 shows us that first encounter. However, “Cry of the Wild” doesn’t really succeed in that goal. Sonic and the gang fall into the wolves’ powwow room but, instead of getting a proper meeting, they run right off to discuss the plot. There’s no character development for Lupe, as she spends the entire issue detailing Robotnik’s influence on their area. The rest of the Wolf Pack remains as thinly sketched as ever. Honestly, we were just as well off with their prior introduction, wandering out of the woods into a secret meeting.

I haven’t seen the original “Cry of the Wild” episode in a long time. I don’t remember very much about it. However, I’m sure it handles the action elements of the story much better than this. Part of this can be blamed on the shitty artwork. The scenes of Sonic running from Snively’s hovercraft are so badly sketched that you can barely tell what’s going on. Hard to get excited by that. The entire last act is a repeated series of encounters between Sonic and Snively, each one more roughly illustrated then the last.

There is one thing interesting about issue 113, other then the question of why it exists in the first place. It marks the sole official appearances of Ari the Ram and Dirk the Rhino, two minor but important SatAM characters, in the comic book. Many Hands draws Ari like he’s a bird. Anyway, this is obviously a terrible comic book and I’m ashamed to own it. Archie would retire Many Hands after this, preventing the book from reaching a level this low ever again. [2/10]

Sonic Super Special: Issue 15 – Naugus Games

Sonic Super Special: Issue 15 – Naugus Games
Publication Date: November 2000

Times change. This days, the Archie Sonic fandom seems single three Ken Penders’ stories out to piss on the most: “Sonic Live!,” “Endgame,” and the Image crossover. I’m not exempt from this, as I’ve also raked those stories over the coals. Back in the day, though, one particular issue of “Sonic” was the most reviled, one that happened to come from Ken’s pen. And whatever the opposite of hype is isn’t wrong either. The final issue of “Sonic Super Special,” generally referred to as “Naugus Games,” may very well be the worst “Sonic” comic ever published.

Hardcore continuity nerds usually place this story at some point after “Endgame” but before Dr. Eggman seized Mobotropolis again. Sonic runs up to the Southern Tundra solo, to the former spot of Nate Morgan’s fortress. He has returned to this inhospitable location for one reason: To pay final respects to Eddy the Yeti, who sacrificed himself to save Sonic’s life back in issue 66. While approaching the yeti’s final resting place, Sonic falls through the snow. He stumbles upon a cache of Nate’s remaining power rings. Upon picking one up, he accidentally summons Ixis Naugus back from the Negative Zone. The two fight for several minutes before the evil wizard is vanquished once again. That’s it.

The “Sonic Super Special” quarterly has been barely hanging on for a while. Issue 12 had a forgettable cover story. Issue 14 was incredibly lame. Even issue 13, the much hyped “Sonic Adventure” adaptation, was poor. So it’s no surprise that issue 15 would be the final issue in the series. You’d think the company would want to take the series out on a high note. After all, it was called “Sonic Super Special.” The opposite, it turns out, is true. No effort was expended on “Naugus Games.” Nobody gave a shit about this book, pushing out a shoddy product to a faithful fan base, who handed out their money none the wiser.

The bullshit began at the scripting phase. It probably took Ken all of ten minutes to shit out “Naugus Games.” Two whole pages are spent recapping Naugus’ last appearance. Sonic accidentally releases Naugus from his prison. This should’ve been a big deal. After all, the wizard is one of the Freedom Fighters’ most dangerous adversaries. Instead, the two play in the snow for a few minutes, Sonic getting under the wizard’s skin with childish name-calling. At the end, he blasts Naugus back into the other dimension. In other words, there’s no stakes to this story. It ends without exerting any effect on the character’s world. The story might as well have never happened. It comes and goes, without purpose or meaning.

As pure shit as the writing is, “Naugus Games” is most notorious for its artwork. An entity calling itself “Many Hands” – presumably a pseudonym, one hopes – takes credit for drawing this thing. It starts out looking not so bad. That first page of Sonic hanging out on a snowy cliff is mildly striking. The artwork, however, quickly degrades. Sonic goes off-model throughout, becoming taller or skinnier, shorter or fatter, his head and hand changing shape. When Naugus reappears, the artwork totally goes to hell. The wizard looks terrible, a quickly scribbled mass of purple muscles, teeth and claw, cape and horn. Even poor Eddy the Yeti doesn’t escape untouched. He appears in the final panel, a shadow from heaven smiling down approvingly. Except he looks like a hunchback.

Of course, this is discussing the pages when Many Hands actually bothered to draw the characters. On page four, Sonic falls through a hole in the ice, dropping into a pitch black cave. He spends nearly four whole pages stumbling around in the dark. Only his eyes are visible, against solid black panels. After a brief scuffle with Naugus, the wizard casts up a huge snowstorm. Practically every panel on the next six pages are filled up with a generic snow pattern. So half the comic is either pure blackness or looks like Christmas wrapping paper. They charged two dollars and forty nine cents for this. Three dollars of my hard earn allowance went to this. Yeah, I was pissed.

The quality only perks up slightly for the back-up story. “Sonic Spin City” begins with the hedgehog smashing some SWATBots during a rainy day in Robotropolis. From the remains, he grabs a matchbook for Rusty’s, a bar apparently catering to robots. Stepping inside, he finds it full of old enemies. Luckily, they’re distracted when a dancing girl comes out on stage. This girl, however, is Bunnie in disguise. Why Bunnie is undercover, Michael Gallagher’s script never explains. Anyway, Sonic grabs the rabbit, wrecks the machines, and the entire bar blows up. Apparently the entire mission was an ill-planned trap on Robotnik’s behalf.

The plot synopsis above didn’t illustrate the obvious. “Sonic Spin City” is a parody of Frank Miller’s “Sin City.” Miller’s grizzled, explicit, black and white comic series is well known today, thanks to two film adaptations. Back in 2000, the series was unknown outside of comic nerd circles. So it’s unlikely the target audience would’ve been familiar with the R-rated series. I certainly wasn’t. (Though I did get that Gallagher was goofing on film noir stereotypes.) I have no idea why Gallagher targeted the series, though it certainly wasn’t the first time the comic referenced something outside the core demographic’s knowledge.

As a parody, “Sonic Spin City” is fairly shallow. The artwork, provided by Gallagher himself, is pretty damn iffy. The robots in Rusty’s look very sketchy. Gallagher, at least, knows what Sonic looks like. He also does an okay job of replicating Miller’s hard-boiled writing and black and white inking. The story is completely pointless though and Bunnie’s stint as an exotic dancer is not well realized. Nor her proudest moment. It’s dumb, not especially clever as parody, and easily forgotten.

In short, there’s just no reason at all to read issue 15 of “Sonic Super Special.” The cover story is barely a story while the back-up is a relatively useless goof. I am confident in calling it Archie’s worst “Sonic” comic. It’s a shame that the Sonic Super Special had to die such an inglorious death, as the quarterly had promise in the beginning. Following the side series end, Archie wouldn’t publish another one shot special for sixteen years. Then again, a shit sandwich like “Naugus Games” will do that to you. [2/10]