Sonic Super Digest: Issue 8

Sonic Super Digest: Issue 8
Publication Date: August 2014

With issue 8 of the “Sonic Super Digest,” Archie would begin the habit of periodically inserting new Sonic Comics Origins into the book. This move, I suspect, was probably done to drive some faithful readers to the largely reprint filled digest series. If that was the plan, I’m gonna say it was successful. The Digest series ran for another two years, an additional eight issues, which is a pretty good run for a quickie cash-in series made mostly of old content. It probably would’ve continued to, if all Archie “Sonic” content hadn’t mysteriously ceased publication at the end of 2016.

This move might’ve been good for the “Sonic Super Digest” series but, for me personally, it was fucking annoying. When it was first published, I never read the Digests, assuming they would just always be made up of reprints. So I totally missed the Origins stories when they were new. As someone invested in these characters, learning about their revamped history was fairly important to me. To have that shuffled over to some side book, when it should’ve been in the main line, was baffling to me. You’re telling me Flynn couldn’t cut “The Great Chaos Caper” or “Champions” or some bullshit like that short so we could learn where our heroes actually come from? It’s just another way how it’s obvious to me that the reboot’s priorities were all fucked up.

So, ahem, anyway... “Little Lost Soldier” details Antoine’s origins. While the Freedom Fighters continue their way through Nicole’s digital training simulation, battling the weird first two bosses from “Sonic Spinball,” Antoine reflects on his past. We see how he came to the Kingdom of Acorn as a child. How he began life as a coward and became infatuated with Sally. And how, eventually, he would meet Bunnie, develop feelings for her, and see his life completely change.

Of the comic’s original cast, I’ve always said that Antoine underwent the most character development. This guy started out as comic relief, someone who acted like he was big shit but was actually a giant jack-ass. He was essentially there to be Sonic’s friendly foil, which amounted to him getting teased and picked-on by the blue hedgehog. Over time, he would become a brave soldier, a vital member of the team, and even be allowed to marry his love interest. (Not to mention gaining a robot dad, being replaced by an evil doppelgänger for a while, and almost dying tragically.) That would be a lot to cover in only five pages.

Surprisingly, “Little Lost Soldier” actually does a pretty good job with this. Flynn manages to reduce Antoine’s history down to its most essential elements. His ridiculous accent is explained as being sent to the Kingdom of Acorn by an unseen father from another country, to be trained as a royal guard. Antoine’s original status as a coward is explained by him only being a child, and only into the beginning of his training, when Eggman’s coup occurred. This immaturity is nicely tied in with his crush on Sally, another symptom of him being a kid who didn’t know any better. Flynn thankfully skips Sonic bullying Antoine too, as the Freedom Fighters and the blue hedgehog have largely separate childhoods, in order to maintain Sega’s bizarre mandate of never revealing Sonic’s origins.

The only element of Antoine’s new origin to slightly rub me the wrong way is the importance Bunnie plays in it. Now, don’t get me wrong, Bunnie was a huge part of Antoine’s progression from coward to hero. But in the original continuity, their relationship and Antoine’s strength grew gradually and naturally over time. Now, it looks like the coyote saw the cyborg rabbit once, was immediately crushed on her, and decided then-and-there to stop being such a jerk-ass. Their growth is tied directly into each other in a way that doesn’t feel natural. But I guess this is a side effect of showing someone’s history in five pages, versus showing it over more than one hundred comic books.

Lamar Wells continues to draw the Sonic Comics Origins five-pagers. I suspect he probably drew these back-to-back over a short period of time, as the artwork is very consistent. I like how cute he makes the Freedom Fighters as kids. Little Antoine looks adorable with his small red cap. Wells also excelled at character expressions. The shot of a distraught Antoine, walking in the rain after he gets friend-zoned by Sally, is fittingly pathetic. I also like a little gag at the end. After detailing his evolution into a brave man, Sally startles Antoine, causing him to react in a very comical way. It’s a good moment, showing that Antoine hasn't totally changed, and Wells’ art is a big reason why it works.

A digest being what it is, the rest of “Sonic Super Digest: Issue 8” is filled with reprints. Compared to the magazine, which is full of all sorts of bonuses and extras, the Digest just throws in a few “pin-ups” and “coloring” pages, all of which are made up of old cover art. At least the editors saw fit to theme most of the reprints around Antoine and Bunnie. There’s some classic stories reprinted here, like issue 10’s “Twan in the Wind” (the first half-decent Antoine story), issue 23’s “Vol-Ant-Tier,” and issue 37’s “Bunnie’s Worst Nightmare.” Newer and fitting stuff like 232’s “Fragile” and the first two parts of “Tails’ Adventure” are also included. The book even throws in some really old, random shit, like the one-pager gag “Antoine’s Vain Refrain” and “Bugged Bunnie,” from issue 4 and the “Sonic Blast” one-shot respectively.

But let’s not give whoever put this thing together too much credit, as both parts of the “Sonic Riders” adaptation and issue 167’s “Hedgehog Day” are included for no particular reason. Then again, I can’t blame them too much as there hasn’t been that many Antoine themed stories over the years (especially once you exclude anything Ken Penders had a hand in) and 119 pages is a lot to fill. Anyway, this digest remains a mandatory read for hardcore fans due to its first story, which is solid enough. [6/10]

Sonic Super Digest: Issue 5

Sonic Super Digest: Issue 5
Publication Date: November 2013

In 2011, the Archie brass realized they had published a shit ton of “Sonic” comic stories. The comic had been running for practically twenty years, by that point. Including all the various spin-offs, that’s a lot of hedgehog tales. So Archie cashed in. In October of that year, they started publishing “Sonic Super Special Magazine,” a quarterly full-sized magazine comprised primarily of reprints of old stories. The next month, the company launched “Sonic Super Digest.” This series was also primarily devoted to reprints but the book’s were pocket-sized and were published bi-monthly.

Digest-sized reprints have a long history at Archie. I can recall, as a kid, seeing digest collections of old Archie – as in the company’s perpetually teenaged mascot – stories on magazine racks at grocery stores. I imagine the “Sonic” reprint collections served a similar purpose, to reach out to audiences outside of comic shops. The ideal situation was probably a bored kid picking up a digest or magazine at a book store, shopping center, or pharmacy. The stories would hooked them, leading to new subscriptions and digital back issue purchases. I guess this strategy worked, as Archie continued to publish the digest and magazines until they realized you can’t re-publish old stories without paying residues to their writers.

With them mostly being made up of reprints, I don’t normally feel the need to talk about the magazines or digests. However, starting in 2013, Archie would begin to slip new stories into these books. The first of which was “Sonic Jump,” from Digest #5. The story begins with Sonic wandering Green Hill Zone, when he spots Eggman up to his old tricks again: Gathering up defenseless animals for presumably nefarious reasons. Sonic smashes the Doc’s Egg-Mobile but the doctor escapes by flying upwardly. Sonic leaps off the zone’s floating platforms, attacking Eggman again and again, until he finally relents and lets his people go.

If it isn’t immediately obvious, “Sonic Jump” is another video game adaptation/advertisement. This time, Ian Flynn was called upon to adapt the mobile game of the same name. Remember that time, when stuff on your cellphones were going to revolutionize video gaming? I guess you can blame the massive popularity of shit like “Angry Birds” or “Candy Crush” for that. While extremely popular for a time, and undoubtedly still profitable, most mobile games being lazily designed garbage or “freemium” scams led serious hobbiests to abandon mobile gaming quickly. (As of this writing, free-to-play games with pricey add-ons like “Fortnite” are what’s currently popular. Some other fad might have eclipsed that by the time this is actually published.)

The video game “Sonic Jump” was an endless vertical platform jumping fest, in the vein of “Doodle Jump.” (Though the original version of “Sonic Jump,” released for T-Mobile phones, apparently predates it.) As you’d imagine, that set-up leaves little room for story. So the comic book “Sonic Jump” revolves around a hugely simplistic series of events. The height of this one’s tension involves Eggman using a force field to rotate rock debris around his ship. Naturally, Sonic just smashes the shit out of this as well. The plot is all-but nonexistent and the characters are reduced to their simplest versions. Flynn does throw in one moment of decent banter, when Sonic and Eggman criticize each other for their mutually predictable nature. That made me chuckle a tiny bit.

This five page advertisement does have one other thing going for it. The artwork is pretty nice! This story was drawn by Jennifer Hernandez, who previously penciled several “Off-Panel” stripes. Hernandez would quickly graduate to regular comic stories and is currently working on IDW’s “Sonic” book. She shows a lot of talent. Her character work is bright and cartoony. Her sense of action is decent. Hernandez’s stuff looks similar to Tracy Yardley but is rounder and cuter, perhaps more anime influenced than Yardley’s American cartooning style.

As for the rest of volume five of “Sonic Super Digest?” Like I said, it’s mostly reprints. The book contains a mixture of old stories and newer ones: “Olympic Trials” from “Sonic 242,” “Way Way Past Cool” from “Sonic 26,” “The Day Robotropolis Fell” from “Sonic 37,”  “Heart to Heart” from issue 237, “Foundation Work” from issue 238, “Fairytale” from 153, the last part of “Endangered Species” from 246, and “Hide and Seek and Destroy” from the 2010 FCBD special. All of them are identical to their original forms except for the “Endangered Species” installment, which edits its dialogue slightly to remove further references to Ken Penders’ ideas.

Aside from that, the digest contains a few uninspired extras, such as colorable versions of old covers or “pin-up” art, which is just title-free versions of other old covers. Unless you really want to read the new story, there’s no reason for long time Sonic devotees to look at this. “Sonic Jump” is barely worth a look either, ranking around a [4/10], maybe a [5/10] if I focus solely on Hernandez’ artwork, on the old Hedgehogs Can’t Swim scale.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue ¼

Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue ¼
Publication Date: November 1992

Merry Christmas and happy holidays, faithful Hedgehogs Can’t Swim readers! Thank you for taking time out of your busy celebration to cast your eyeballs on my dumb-ass blog! What with it being Christmas Eve and all that, I decided to do something really special today. Since I’ve already reviewed the Sonic Christmas special and talked about the December I got a Dreamcast, I’ve decided to devote this update to the true reason for the season: Spending your hard earned cash on stupid bullshit!

As you’ve probably figured, I have a nearly complete Archie Sonic comic collection. A lot of these issues I’ve owned since childhood, and they have the tattered pages and missing covers to prove it. As I’ve entered into what is ostensibly adulthood, I’ve managed to fill most of the gaps in my collection, via eBay and comic shop back issue bins. These days I have all the issues of the main series, as well as all the spinoffs, mini-series, and one-shots. But I’m not here to brag about how I have a crap ton of ratty old comic books instead of a 401k. Because I discovered not too long ago that my Sonic comic collection wasn’t complete. I was missing “Sonic 1/4.”

You may be wondering, what the fuck is “Sonic 1/4?” I’m glad you asked! “Sonic 1/4” was a free promotional comic given away with the November 1992 issue of “Sega Visions,” Sega’s attempt to compete with “Nintendo Power.” (In defiance of all logic and reason, Sega’s self-promotion rag managed to run for twenty-five issues. Maybe I’ll review them when I have absolutely nothing else left to talk about.) The freebie contains the first six pages of issue 0 of Archie’s original “Sonic” mini-series. “1/4” was released a few days before the full-length comic book and not quite a year before “SatAM” premiered on television, making it the technical first ever appearance of Sally and the rest of the Freedom Fighters.

It’s probably one of the rarer Archie Sonic issues. Luckily, most people don’t know about it, so it’s far from the priciest. (A quick perusal of eBay shows that people like to slap the biggest price tag on mint issues of the mini-series.) I managed to find a decent copy selling for twenty bucks. Because it’s the holidays, and because my girlfriend is totally indifferent to my blue rat fetish, I decided to buy “Sonic 1/4” as an early Christmas present to myself. That’s the contrived reason I’m posting this review on the 24th and, look, it only took me four paragraphs to explain it.

So let’s talk about the actual contents of “Sonic 1/4.” It’s yet another reprint (preprint?) of “Don’t Cry for Me, Mobius.” The first six pages anyway. This is a story I’ve already reviewed twice. There’s no point in going over it again. It’s so simplistic and silly it borders on shitty. But I still found myself smiling while reading this. At this point in my retrospective, I’m just beginning to re-read the rebooted issues. That massive change left me cold for a long time. So going back to the very beginning of the series, the very root of all the convoluted lore I would come to love, does tickle my nostalgia bone right about now. It’s honestly making me want to go back and re-re-read the first eight years or so of the book. I wish I was joking.

“Don’t Cry for Me, Mobius” is well-trotted ground around here but, holding this old comic book in my hands, I do notice some weird little details. Like the goofy superlatives the creative staff give themselves on the credits banner. Mike Gallagher, for an example, is credited as “Super Sonic Scripter” while Scott Shaw is the “Pedal to the Metal Penciler.” You get the idea. The comic banked really hard on those speed related puns early on. The moment where Sonic casually breaks the fourth wall to address the reader also sticks out way more now than it did in 1992. Years before Deadpool made that stuff popular, Sonic did it almost every issues.

As for the collector’s item itself, it’s pretty shoddy. My copy is less beat-up than the digital scans I used for the images here but only slightly. It’s a twenty-six year old comic book that was shoved between the pages of a forgotten magazine, so I’m not surprised. There’s some obvious printing errors in the book. Sonic’s chin and belly are frequently colored a darker brown, making it look like he has some serious five o’clock shadow in a few panels. In one panel, his eyeballs just straight-up vanish. Fuck-ups like this were pretty common in the book’s early days and I doubt Archie put much quality control into a free giveaway like this.

Going back to the comic’s earliest issue at this time strikes me as pivotal for another reason. It’s almost 2019. January begins the fourth year of this retrospective’s existence. If everything stays on schedule, this will also be the year I wrap up my Archie reviews. So merry Christmas, Hedgehogs Can’t Swim readers. When I started this project, I figured nobody would be reading it. I’m eternally grateful to have the regular commenters and viewers I do. Thank you so much for sticking with me. So enjoy the holiday, whether it’s spent with friends and family or just relaxing at home. Here’s to another year of being way past cool.

Sonic Universe: Issue 50

Sonic Universe: Issue 50
Publication Date: March 2013

“Sonic Universe” reaching its fiftieth issue should be a cause for celebration. None of the various Archie Sonic spinoffs have ever reached that goal before. However, we are now in a new era of corporate meddling. The general impression I’ve always gotten is that, for years, Sega barely paid any attention to the comic books. This allowed the writers to get away with almost anything. As long as the book published the promotional tie-ins they demanded or didn’t turn Sonic into a blubbering weakling, Sega more or less left the creative staff alone.

However, following the Frightful Pendering, Sega realized they should probably pay more attention to what this comic book was doing. Most of these truly inane corporate mandates would rear their head following the reboot but a few went in to affect right before. Originally, issue 50 of “Sonic Universe” was going to feature the conclusion to the long-canceled cartoon “Sonic Underground.” (Which does, after all, exist as a separate dimension in the Archie multiverse.) You can even find Spaz’s original cover art online. Sega, seeing no point in promoting a cartoon that had been out of production for fourteen years, put the kibosh on that idea. Around the same time, the company declared that there was only one Metal Sonic and that all imitators had to go. This second mandate would clearly inspire Flynn to write today’s cover story.

“Forged in Fire” begins by flashing back to issue 240’s invasion of Mobotropolis, where Shard easily bested another model of Metal Sonic. Aboard the Death Egg, Robotnik is incensed at this defeat. He builds a new model of Metal Sonic, with a power gem core. He also downloads the memories and experiences of all prior versions of the robot into this new one. Eggman quickly deploys the machine into Mobotropolis. Shard, who has found it difficult to fit in, quickly rushes into action against his double.

One of the many differences between the Archie comics and the Sega games is the treatment of Metal Sonic. In the games, there’s only one Metal Sonic and he’s Eggman’s most dangerous robot. (He, naturally, spends most of his time training for the Olympics.)  In the comics, Metal Sonic is just another mechanical goon, having been destroyed and rebuilt countless times. Sega, determined to streamline their corporate vision, demanded the comic be brought into line. So Eggman builds a new Metal Sonic, closer to Sega’s ideas. Flynn even tried to give this new Metal a little more personality but his corporate overlords were adamant. The comic version must match the game version. Thus, Metal barely talks and has no motivation beyond wanting to destroy Sonic. Bummer.

Issue 50 is another issue primarily devoted to action. The fight between the two robotic hedgehogs takes up most of the issue. And it is, admittedly, pretty cool. There's a bitchin' two page spread devoted to the two smashing, clawing, and shooting lasers at each other. This Metal Sonic is more clever than previous models, using a rock to jam Shard's cannon and generating a shield around himself. Of course, Shard's versatility and intelligence makes this more than an even fight. If you're looking for hot Metal on Metal action, well, issue 50 of “Sonic Universe” more than satisfies.

But that's not the most interesting thing about the issue. Before Metal storms into Mobotropolis like an asshole, we're greet to a scene of Shard and Nicole playing digital chess. It seems that the two A.I.s have been spending a lot of time together. Shard still doesn't feel like he belongs among the Mobians, due to his past as a killer robot. Nicole, considering her recent exile, more than understands. Moreover, there's a cute chemistry between the two that definitely has a flirtatious edge. The issue ends by confirming that Shard at least has a crush on the computer program. I really would've liked to have seen that play out.

In fact, Shard is really what keeps this specific comic book interesting. Despite only existing for ten months by this point, Shard already feels like a fully developed, lovable character. During his chess game with Nicole, he acts like a big kid. He continues that jovial mood during much of the fight with Metal Sonic, cracking jokes and one-liners. Yet the robot has a vulnerable side too. He knows Sonic doesn't trust him yet – confirmed by the blue hedgehog's sole appearance in this issue, where he wonders if Shard has truly reformed – and just doesn't feel like he belongs. At the same time, he rushes right into battle to protect the city. That's the definition of a hero, right there: Someone who protects innocents even when he's not sure they like him. He even takes the fight out to the barren remains of Knothole, so as not to endanger anyone.

Shard is a great character. So, of course, they kill him off. I mean, basically. The fight concludes with Metal Sonic detonating his power gem core. The blast completely destroys Metal and tosses Shard far away, seriously damaging him. His body mangled, he goes offline shortly afterwards. (Though continues to quip and flirt with Nicole as he does.) Now, whether or not Flynn truly intended to kill Shard is unknown. That would certainly be inline with Sega's new mandate. However, the last panel here lingers on Shard's power gem core, showing it cracked but not destroyed. I wonder if his plan was for Shard to take on a new shape, possibly as another A.I., so he could keep the fan favorite around in some form without violating Sega's rules. Of course, we'll never know because the reboot happened.

By the way, the cover makes a big deal about this being a 48-page special issue, the first book of that length that Archie has published since the end of the “Sonic Super Special” quarterly series. However, the main story only runs twenty-four page. In order to pump the issue up to its trumpeted length, this comic also includes part of Metal Sonic's first appearance from “Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 25.”

Notice I said part. Only the second half of the story is reprinted. Even then, the ending is clipped short so Archie can shill for “Worlds Collide” some more. It's a really odd decision. I can't imagine new fans would be interested in checking out an old story after reading less-than-half of it. (And the differences in tone between what the series was back then and what it was at this point are very evident.) I don't know, maybe an extra-long issue had already been committed to when Sega canceled the “Sonic Underground” story, forcing Archie to throw a half-assed reprint into the back instead.

But, hey, at least we get to appreciate some vintage Spaz artwork. Yardley illustrates the cover story and does a really good job. It seems drawing transforming metal hedgehogs is really his forte. He clearly enjoys penciling the various weapons and abilities the two can activate. That two-page spread includes Shard swinging a mjolnier-style hammer, for one example. He also manages to get some emoting out of Metal Sonic just through his battle language, such as when Eggman has to rein in his overwhelming desire to murder Sonic. So it's a good looking issue.

Oh yeah, did I mention that cover? It's got a glossy, foil sheen to it! I didn't even know comic companies were still pulling that foil cover bullshit by 2013! It's also hugely misleading, as Sonic and Metal Sonic never actually meet in this issue. Either way, this issue represents one of the better examples of Flynn dealing with the Sega mandates. Instead of kowtowing to them like a coward, he writes around them in a clever way. It also gets us one more issue of Shard being a bad ass. As the final pre-boot issue of “Sonic Universe,” it's a pretty good one. Honestly, I probably enjoy it more than I would've a “Sonic Underground” conclusion anyway. [7/10]

Sonic Free Comic Book Day 2012

Sonic Free Comic Book Day 2012
Publication Date: May 2012

It's Free Comic Book Day time again, readers. At least, it's time for us to, once again, flash back to that specific day in 2012. For the past two years, Archie gave away genuinely new comic books to celebrate this day. That was pretty cool as, the two years before that, they were content to simply throw some reprints at us. Well, the company was in a lazy mood again in 2012. 2012's FCBD edition of “Sonic” simply reprints issue #230. I'm not sure why Archie felt the need to reprint a story that was still so recent, other than 230 more-or-less setting up most of the current conflict in the book's then-on-going story line.

Turns out, though, I won't have to review a comic book I reviewed not that long ago with this one. Because Archie does include some extras here. In the back of the comic, after “Two Steps Back...” concludes, are a series of brief text stories detailing a different Freedom Fighters' reaction to the artificial Genesis world breaking down and everyone being zapped back to the Prime Zone. It isn't much, as each story is only a single page long, but at least it gives us something to talk about. Tales about Tails, Knuckles, Amy Rose, Bunnie, and Rotor are included within. This collection is given the rather awkward title of “Sonic: Genesis Awakenings”

Tails' story details him aboard the Tornado, watching Sonic sneak onto the Death Egg, before being attacked by the Flying Fortress. The Genesis Wave is then reversed, zapping him back to reality. Of all the stories in this collection, it seems the most superfluous. Tails' was actually involved in “Genesis,” so there's not too much new information here. The opening paragraphs gives us a peak inside the fox's mind during the infamous moment in “Sonic 2,” at the beginning of the Wing Fortress Zone, when the Tornado is shot down and Sonic bails out, leaving his friend behind. The conclusion mostly exist to describe the brief moment of confusion everyone on Mobius felt as reality is restored back to normal.

The rest of the “Awakenings” stories are focused on characters that weren't directly involved in “Genesis,” given us a peek at other corners of Robotnik's Sega-ified artificial world. Knuckles' story has him patrolling Angel Island, reflecting on his mission and his loneliness, before he's reunited in the Prime Zone with Julie-Su and Charmy. There's some nice juxtaposition between Sega Knux's solitary life and Archie Knux's companionship. But otherwise there's not much purpose to this one. Though Charmy mentions being detectives with Vector and Espio in the Genesis World, so I guess that's the official Sega bylaw concerning that trio now, as dumb as that idea is. (There's also something a little poignant about this, as it's also Julie-Su's last appearance in the book before the Frightful Pendersing removed her from the universe. Her lines about feeling like she was back inside the Twilight Cage may be foreshadowing of the “Endangered Species” arc.)

Amy's story drums up often forgotten bits of her personal history. In the Genesis world, Sega Amy plays with Tarot cards, decides her and Sonic are destined to be together, and briefly mentions Metal Sonic and Little Planet. This image of classic Amy as a flightly, love-struck little girl is then immediately contrasted with Archie Amy, a hammer-swinging hard-ass designated with keeping an eye on Geoffrey St. John. It's another example of how far the character has come... And a good example of why I prefer Archie's modern take on Amy versus the very boring version Sega first created for “Sonic CD.”

The last two stories are potentially more interesting as they concern characters that don't really have counterparts in Sega's classic games. Apparently, Bunnie spent Genesis inside a Prison Egg, trying to encourage the more animal-like mobinis around her that everything would be okay. What makes this little one-page tale interesting is Bunnie's reaction upon returning to the Prime Zone. She is startled for a second by her now-robotic limbs. While foreshadowing what happened to her in issue 232, it also gives us a peek at the mental compromises Bunnie faces everyday as a cyborg. (Flynn also points out that, in the Genesis world, Bunnie and Cream are cousins. Because all rabbits have to be related, I guess? That seems a little racist, bro.)

Rotor's story is the one that acts the most like a proper epilogue to “Genesis.” It begins with 'Boomer' back in the Oil Ocean Zone, watching the sky fill with white light, and having a conversation with Sally that he finds odd. Awakening back in Mobotropolis, Rotor debates putting on his nanite battle suit before deciding his friends have the situation handled. There's a definite ironic edge to Rotor trusting in Sonic's ability to get things done, considering all the bad luck that will befall the Freedom Fighters. However, Rotor's story here is probably the one with the least meat on its bones. It seems to mostly exist as a primer on what happened right at the end of “Genesis” and right at the beginning of “Two Steps Back...”

The “Genesis Awakenings” stories are an interesting experiment. Flynn actually shows himself to be a decent writer of prose. The wording can occasionally be a bit childish but it draws you in. His focus on character work remains strong. I could see him transitioning into a career as a decent YA writer if the comic book thing ever dries up. I honestly wish Archie had done this sort of thing more often. As a Free Comic Book Day special, this is still mostly a bit of a cheat. But at least it's better than just a full-on reprint. I'll give it a [7/10] mostly for the novelty factor.

Sonic Free Comic Book Day 2008

Sonic Free Comic Book Day 2008
Publication Date: May 2008

In 2007, Archie's “Sonic the Hedgehog” series participated in Free Comic Book Day for the first time. For that special occasion, Archie had Ian Flynn write up an original story. Sonic fans were essentially getting a totally new adventure, free of charge. It was a pretty cool deal. So what did the company do for the 2008 Free Comic Book Day edition? Reprints! Ah, that's more like the tightwad, cheap-ass Archie I know and tolerate.

Specifically, 2008's Free Comic Book Day special contains a reprint of the very first issue of “Sonic the Hedgehog” Archie ever published. No, I'm not talking about issue 0 of the original mini-series, which was previously reprinted in “Sonic Firsts.” I'm referring to the literal first issue from the on-going series. It's almost an exact reprint too. We get “Meet Me at the Corner of Hedgehog and Vine,” where Robotnik attempts to choke the Freedom Fighters out of the Great Forest with the robotic Krudzu weed. We get all of “You Bet My Life!,” where Sonic is lured to the Casino Night Zone just to get shoved into a giant pinball machine. This reprint even includes the goofy one-page gag comics and the free bookmarks.

Last time I reviewed a reprint, I used it as an opportunity to comment on how much the book had changed in that time. Amazingly, this particular comic was published a whole eleven years after that last batch of reprints. So the question has to be asked again: How much has the comic change? Tonally, not quite as much as you'd expect. During the grim Penders/Bollers years, the slapstick of the earlier issues seemed totally out of place. Though Ian Flynn's run didn't lack serious action, he returned a light touch and comedic energy to the book that had been missing for a long time. You wouldn't find Robotnik being harmlessly exploded in the book in 2008 but you probably could spot a one-liner or a moment of goofy physical comedy.

The years have also shown a change in target audience. I think Archie was always hoping the seven-to-twelve year old crowd would be picking up “Sonic.” I'm sure that has always made up a portion of their buyers. Yet the book in 1992 and the book in 2008 seemed to be aiming for very different readers. The 1992 stories were full of broad physical slapstick, simplistic plots, and characters acting like dumbasses to advance the story. The 2008 stories were more serialized, focused more on the character's relationships, and devoted to building up Sonic's world. Ian's stories seem to skewer slightly older, in the moments when he outright wasn't aiming for the series' long time fans.

The characters represent by far the biggest difference between the book when it started and the book as it existed in 2008. In 1992, Sonic speaks exclusively in self-aggravating “cool” comments. He rarely misses a chance to annoy his enemies and rivals. He makes quite a few fourth wall breaking comments. Over all, he's more of a jerk. Sally was the girly straight man to Sonic's shenanigans. Antoine is a total coward, totally ineffectual and ridiculous. Rotor – excuse me, Boomer – has a snarky wit that would largely disappear. Tails is a complete moron, nearly helping the Krudzu attack Freedom H.Q. in the first story. Robotnik, meanwhile, was an egotistical buffoon who comically tormented his robot servants and cooked up goofy plans to defeat his enemies.

Archie choosing to republish this particular issue at this time is interesting. It's obvious that Ian Flynn went back to these early stories for inspiration and minor details. Some of the obscure bits of lore he dug up for his then-current run first appeared here. Flynn would bring back Freedom H.Q., which would be forgotten as the series started to hew more towards SatAM. Just the other day, I was reviewing a story set in the Casino Nights Zone, which first appeared here. It would be a while longer but Flynn would also soon bring the Krudzu, by far one of Sonic's most obscure enemies, back. Ian clearly knew his “Sonic” history.

Looking back at these old stories, it's hard to miss the book “Sonic” once was. The first “Sonic” stories Archie published were nothing more than fluff designed to promote a video game and separate a kid from his two bucks. I have no illusion that “Sonic” in 2008 was high art but at least it was trying to tell emotionally resonant stories, with fully formed characters the reader was invested in. Having said that, occasionally the free-wheeling early days did provide some fun stuff. Book marks and chili dog recipes certainly weren't anything you'd see in “Sonic” in 2008.

I certainly do not miss Dave Manak's artwork. Archie had seen a lot of subpar artwork in their “Sonic” book over its long run. After Flynn had established his vision for the series, the artwork suddenly became pretty consistent. Tracy Yardley and Matt Herms weren't perfect but they usually delivered a decent looking product. I don't even hate Dave Manak's pencils but they are undeniably sloppy. Characters are jagged but loose, not sticking to on-model most of the time. Manak made great use of cartoon motion lines to hide detail. This just draws attention to the sad facts: The “Sonic” book was originally a quickie product, made with minimum care and effort. It would take a few years for it to evolve into something more interesting.

You'd think Archie would've at least stuck some extras or goodies into this reprint. To give older fans some reason to pick this up, right? Not really! The only really cool addition we get is the cover. Patrick Spaziante redraws Manak's original issue 1 cover, using the then incarnations of the characters. And it's a pretty neat cover, full of Spaz's trademark details and sense of motion. Aside from that, we get an introduction from Flynn that boils down to telling readers to buy the books Archie actually charges money for. This promotional mood continues in the back, as the last page also encourages readers to pick up the various paperback collections Archie was publishing at the time.

In fact, the book going out of its way to promote the archive collection that Archie was rolling out back in 2008 makes me suspect this entire Free Comic Book Day special was an extended ad for those books. “Like this old shit? Here's some more! But you actually have to pay for these!” 2008's FCBD special would set something of a precedent. The free books would frequently alternate between containing new stories and reprints. I guess we really couldn't expect Archie to give away a brand new comic book every year, now could we? Anyway, there's zero reason to pick this up if you own the original issue one, unless you absolutely have to have that cool new Spaz cover.  I really don't know why I reviewed it either. [6/10]

Sonic Super Special: Issue 3 - Sonic Firsts

 
Sonic Super Special: Issue 3 – Sonic Firsts
Publication Date: November 1997

These days, it’s very common for popular comic series to collect their issues in trade paperbacks. For a while there, the comic industry was counting on the popularity and sales of trade collections to save the industry. This is a habit that really picked up in the nineties, right around the peak of Sonic’s popularity. Despite this, Archie was very slow to catch onto this trend. They released the original “Sonic the Hedgehog” mini-series in trade in 2003. It wasn’t until 2006 that Archie started publishing the series in collected, chronological releases, with the “Sonic Archive” series. These days, there’s at least three on-going series of paperback collections, printing stories in color, black and white, from the distant past and the recent present. All of this is excluding digital reprints, which is the real future of comic book publishing.

Today, those older stories are very easy to find. When I first started reading the series, the only way to read those older “Sonic” stories was to dig up the original comics. That’s why the publication of “Sonic Firsts” was a big deal to me, back in 1997. Originally released as a proper trade paperback, loaded up with extras and goodies, the release was slimmed down for the third Sonic Super Special. It included the first appearances of Sonic the Hedgehog and the Freedom Fighters, Bunnie Rabbot, Super Sonic, and Knuckles the Echidna. In other words, stories from issue 0 of the original “Sonic” mini-series and issues 3, 4, and 13 of the on-going series. “Sonic Firsts” is how I first read these stories.

 
“Sonic Firsts” is not a perfect re-print. A few minor changes are made. Sally’s hair, blonde or brunette in the original printing, have been re-colored to the canonical red. Rotor, referred to as “Boomer” at the time, is called by his correct name. Other then that, things are the same. Instead of retracing familiar ground, writing new reviews of stories I covered just a few months back, let me take a different approach. Let me instead chronicle how these characters and their world changed between when these stories first appeared and when they re-appeared in 1997.

In “Don’t Cry for Me, Mobius!,” Sonic’s world is so much brighter and simpler then it was in 1997. Just the other day, when reviewing issue 54, I was noting how moody and complex Sonic had gotten. In this first appearance, he’s still a total joker, cracking puns at every oppretunity. Sally comes off as a comical straight woman, honestly a bit on the bitchy side. This is in contrast to the concentrated but conflicted leader she was, post-“Endgame.” Antoine, developing into an honorable solider, was the butt of Sonic’s pranks and jokes, remaining a wet blanket. Robotnik, a comic relief villain who posed little in the way of serious threats, was dead by '97. Rotor and Tails haven’t been changed too much, though everyone’s less sarcastic then they were back then. The story is awfully goofy. Though dated, Scott Shaw’s artwork is still appealing.

In “Rabbot Deployment,” Bunnie was mostly characterized by bad jokes about wanting to be a hairdresser. Thankfully, the book would drop that aspect of her personality quickly. Disappointingly, Bunnie still remains underutilized in the main book. She’s developed a romance with Antoine and has gotten a few stories to herself. Yet the defining Bunnie story still hadn't come along. Though a rightly beloved member of the Sonic’s universe, it would take a while longer for Archie to truly do anything with Bunnie. As for “Rabbot Deployment,” it’s still a very silly but mildly fun story. That scene of Bunnie dropping the BurroBot on its head remains amusing.

I’m not sure why Archie felt the need to high-light Super Sonic’s first appearance. Since “Lizard of Odd” first ran in issue 4, Super Sonic had only appeared one more time, in the “Super Sonic vs. Hyper Knuckles” one-shot. (Though his third appearance was just around the corner in issue 56.) In later years, Super Sonic’s appearance would signal that shit had gotten really bad. He was the nuclear option, a form so powerful that he was only called on when essential. UniverSalamander is such a silly threat that it’s hard to get too worried. Nevertheless, I still kind of like “Lizard of Odd,” just because its silliness is rather endearing. Super Sonic does boost Sonic’s already smug behavior to almost unmanageable levels.

Maybe the character that had grown the most since his first appearance is Knuckles the Echidna. In the time since “This Island Hedgehog,” Knuckles has gone from the sole echidna on the planet to having a girlfriend, a mom and dad, a bunch of grandfathers, an army of arch-enemies, and an entire city populated with his own species. Knuckles had also lost much of the gullibility that defined him at the time. Now, he’s far more cunning and confused about his world, though still pretty hot-headed. It’s not a high compliment but “This Island Hedgehog” is probably the best story in “Sonic Firsts.”

These days, “Sonic Firsts” is a truly antiquated artifact. If people want to read the first appearances of Sonic, Bunnie, or Knuckles, they can find the digital downloads on an app and have them on their computers, game systems, or phones in seconds. Back then, we relied on reprints like these to find the older stories. Are the older stories truly worth seeking out, for anyone but Sonic completest like me? Well, probably not. Yet just for nostalgia points, I have to give “Sonic Firsts” a [7/10.]