2016 is Sonic the Hedgehog’s 25th Anniversary and I’ve been around since (almost) the start, in celebration of Sonic lasting so long I’m going to be posting a Long Look At Sonic the Comic issues 1 to 100, my favourite time period on one of my favourite comics and one of my favourite things about one of my favourite things – that’d be the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise- and this is that Long Look At.
< Part 13
The publishing order of
these few issues (#73-75) is all to cock. ‘The Big Decision’ is clearly supposed to take
place straight after The Return of Chaotix, and that has to take place straight
before the Knuckles Knock-Out Special which has to take place before Ghost Ship,
yet it’s published during Ghost Ship, four issues after Return finished, also
Tails is in it so it can’t take place during Fox on the Run, as such I’m doing
this in reading order rather than publication order.
First up is The New Master Emerald (Knuckles
strip, issue 73), it’s really just a scene bridging Graveyard to The Ghost Ship
(or I suppose, Graveyard to the Knuckles Knock-Out Special) and is another
entry in Kitching and Dobbyn’s near flawless Knuckles run. It’s a good scene –
Knuckles is draining the Guardian Robot’s head of its energy, it wakes up and
starts firing its lazer, Knuckles dodges it until its energy reserves run too
dry to use the weapon, but when it appears the energy drain will kill it,
Knuckles stop the transfer. The drain has also removed Zachary’s programming
and the Robot (which can talk now that’s all gone) is quite personable, the two
make friends.
The Big Decision (Sonic strip, issue 76) / Traitor of the
Lost Pyramid (Knuckles Knock-Out Special)
A one-shot story that
continues straight into the lead strip from the Knuckles Knock-out Special,
which was, predictably, a special just for Knuckles, who was becoming more and
more popular just as he was in America (fun fact: the Knuckles Knock-Out
Special was published in Summer 1996, the exact same time as Sonic’s Friendly
Nemesis Knuckles, his first solo series from Archie). Quick Summary: Porker Lewis is
quitting the Freedom Fighters; his time on the Miracle Planet with the
Brotherhood of Metallix has done for him, Sonic is furious, insults him and
then storms out when Amy defends the pig. The Chaotix then leave him too,
having got word of Nack the Weasel breaking out of jail, seems he’d heading of
the Floating Island so they are too. Sonic is blind-sided by Troopers, and the
battle is affecting his vision, Porker saves him using SCIENCE and then Tails
flies him to the Floating Island too, but not before Sonic has apologised (The
Big Decision). The CHaotix arrive in the
Sandopolis Zone while Knuckles is just randomly posing on a hilltop, they rush
to the Sandopolis Zone to find the pyramid raised again, after encountering he
ghosts and escaping them via light they meet Nack, who’s body is apparently
being inhabited by that bloke from the Tom & Jerry Movie, the snooty superior
Nack brags about how he got in through the Floating Island’s forcefield and
where all the sand and treasure went, he shrunk it, this’ll be his thing from
now on. He then releases another Stone Guardian and runs for it, leaving his
shrinking ray behind, Knuckles uses that shrinking ray to shrink the guardian
and then shrink his ship, blowing it up (Traitor of the Lost Pyramid).
The Big Decision is a very
powerful little story, you can understand both sides of the argument, Porker
can’t do it anymore (and might be a liability) and Sonic feels that fighting
for Mobius’ freedom isn’t something you can or should just quit, Sonic acts
like a dick but you can still understand his point, and that makes it well
written, take heed writers of strawmen. Traitor of the Lost Pyramids is a piece
of shit; it’s a rotten story in a special full of them, made worse by the
artist – something White, I can’t even remember his name, he’s just…shit,
characters change size per panel, he clearly swipes at least two images (both
from Elson), his perspective is crap, his layouts are confusing and he can’t
draw anything dramatically or excitingly and he’s drawing the whole special!
And Nack, Nack is so out of character, acting like this aloof Captain Planet
villain rather than his sneaky self, I’m guessing Kitching was still exploring
the character but it was an exploration that just should have been left in the
planning stages instead Nack gets Creature from The Black Lagooned – my
metaphor may have gotten away with me there, or I’m just really tired and hot
(it’s really late and really hot here)
The Knuckles Knock-Out
Special has two more strips – both by Kitching and drawn by that Mike White
bloke. Jake’s Story is
actually ok, and the art is slightly better than Traitor of the Lost Pyramid;
it seems like an Eggrobo, who’s barely ‘alive’, kidnaps a little boy (Jake) for
his Organic Battery and is then destroyed in the Larva Reef Zone with the kid
still in it, luckily he just hid in his wardrobe and it was an empty Eggrobo
that burned, it’s the best story in the special. Reflections is boring and average, there’s an evil Knuckles from a
magic mirror (it’s really an evil spirit in Knuckles’ form after he looked in
it), Knuckles tricks it back into the mirror then smashes it, which would
probably release the evil spirit again but doesn’t because it’s Nigel
Kitching’s story and he makes the rules dammit – nothing special and pretty
much the same as the Extra Life’s story which was better drawn. Most of the
rest of the special is crappy too, there’s a nice little feature on the badniks
from Knuckles Chaotix as well as a guide to the Zones but the rest is garbage,
especially the jokes page (yes, a joke’s page, because Knuckles is such a wacky
joker like that…).
Ugh, Spinball Wizard is next
– Spinball Wizard (Sonic strip,
issue 73) is, I think, Mark Millar’s last work on a Sonic’s world strip – thank
fuck – and he goes out with a bang, by writing a dire piece of crap as only he
can. Everything he did that sucked in the early StC issues is included: Sonic
and Tails are back to their pre-Nigel Kitchen personalities -Tails is dumb and
motivated by petty, childish silliness (in this he gets captured because he
wants some fan mail like Sonic), Sonic (and everyone else) is a horrible,
insulting bastard; even though Tails
does technically save the day, life itself seems to hate him even more than it
hates Charlie Brown; stuff just happens for no reason better than ‘cos it does’
(Tails’ ropes just become loose, Sonic & Tails survive an explosion just
because…) and weird elements and even weirder dialogue (Sonic: go, go, go! –
while….just running). He’s even been paired with an amateurish artist who seems
to colour via a pound shop paint set, actually the artist – a Keith Page –
isn’t terrible, he’s a bit like Mike Hadley, but he IS amateurish, especially
next to other artists like Nigel Dobyn (or even Carl fucking Flint). Anyway
Tails is in this strip so I’m saying it takes place before Fox on the Run
(which debuted the same issue) except it seems pretty obvious it’s an inventory
story…except it clearly has elements from after the Sonic CD and Sonic 3
adaptations (like Bob Beaky’s Travelling Circus), *shrugs* maybe the artist
drew it later – or Millar really didn’t improve this whole time (both are equally
likely).
Anyway before we get to Fox
on the Run, I wanna do the summer special for 1996, because I loves it and
because I feel its main story fits nicest here, chronologically speaking.
Break-Out! (Sonic Holiday Special 1996)
Quick Summary: Sonic & Tails are breaking out the
last of the Emerald Hill Folk from the Metropolis Zone, just as they’re ready
to leave for the Floating Island Robotnik turns up in an Egg Spider being
awesome. Sonic gets overconfident while battling the new machine, slowing down
enough for him to be grabbed by it, as he’s about to die Sonic gets Eggman to
tell him how he found him after weeks of successfully evading the overlord, but
we cut away to a worried Tails and Emerald Hill folk. ‘Buttnik then throws
Sonic into a wall, clearly attempting to kill him (even saying ‘Die’) because
StC Eggman is fucking hardcore – but he’s out of luck, because Super Sonic is
here. The Chaos Demon demolishes the Egg Spider and then, with Eggman having
skidded out of sight, flies straight into one of the Emerald Hill Folk, leaving
nothing but a smoking crater. Tails is distraught but Sonic (no longer Super)
isn’t worried at all once he finds out it was the pig he killed – that doesn’t
improve Tails mood – but it turns out the pig was a badnik, a spy set to find
out where the Emerald Hill Folk are all fucking off to, Eggman told Sonic
before he threw him into a building and Super Sonic retained the memory (as he
often does).
I remember reading this –
it was in our touring caravan at Devon Cliff’s holiday park (where I bought and
read, and read, and read all of these Sonic Summer Specials) and I was utterly
shocked and utterly enthralled the whole way through, even now I know the plot
twists and the pig fake out it’s still a hectic and powerful little two-parter.
Kitching was really getting good and really getting ballsy at using Super Sonic
and lord knows why but the editors let him, this is a summer special! Kids read
this on the beach! And what does Kitching do? He turns in this dark tale with two
fake-outs, one about Sonic’s death and one about Sonic killing, with Nigel
Dobyn complimenting it with a dramatic, foreboding urban setting that just
makes everything seem bleaker and somehow more shocking. The pair turns in the
most badass – and frightening – Super Sonic rampage yet, check this panel out:
How cool – and yet slightly
unnerving – is that panel? StC Super Sonic is best Sonic.
I do have one complaint
though – Steve White’s on colours, and he colours Sonic’s arms blue the whole
time, it’s a silly mistake that someone should have caught but when the only
downside to your story’s a colouring error you’re not doing too bad are ya? I
put this here because following Spinbal Wizard, Tails will be off in Fox on the
Run (and noticeably missing from adventures for a few issues) and no more
strips will feature the Freedom Fighters breaking out Emerald Hill Folk, thus I
figure they must have already finished the task – which Kitching also gets some
praise for, not dragging that out indefinitely for easy motivation for an
adventure, it makes the Freedom Fighters look very competent while makes him
look like a bolder writer.
The rest of the special is
fantastic by the way; Richard Elson turns in a how-to-draw feature that’s
completely useless in telling people how to draw Sonic but is told as a silent
strip starring Robotnik and Carl fucking Flint draws info pages on the Freedom
Fighters and a guide to Shortfuse’s armour so good I’m gonna post it here:
Fox on the Run (Tails strip, issues 73-76)
Up until now all of Tails
strips have been based around two concepts – ‘The Nameless Zone vs the Land
Beyond’ and ‘The Chemical Plant under Nutzan Bolt’, giving Tails his own little
worlds and some major threats, this ends with Fox on the Run, while this story
is fine, it’s not a change for the better – Tails’ new concept is ‘Dicking
about in some Zone fighting someone trivial’ and it’s Lew Stringer’s doing,
though as I understand it not totally his fault – apparently there was an
editorial mandate to get more humour in the comic (as British comics are often
focussed on humour strips, especially so in the 1990s) and Stringer got this
task, and I guess he decided to use the Tails strips for it. Giving Stringer –
a former humour strip writer – the job makes sense, choosing Tails… not so
much, especially as all his stories so far had been pretty much the same tone
as the Sonic strip. As such from now on I have a pretty low opinion of Tails
strips, this is his last ‘epic’ and now mostly it’ll be one-to-two part stories
that are largely unimportant to everything and seem to exist solely to fill
space in the book and add some apparently needed humour, it wasn’t needed, and
Tails didn’t need to be turned into throwaway crap.
Anyway Fox on the Run. Quick Summary: While just in the Spring
Flower Zone (expect to see that set-up a lot) Tails saves a mouse called
Tantrum, who lives up to his name by going off on one at the drop of a hat. Just
after offering to take him home to the Metropolis Zone they are confronted by
Fleabyte, a bounty hunter, and chased into the underground world below the zone.
The two progress through the caverns while Fleabyte tracks them from above,
Tails having to save Tantrum from a Crawlton and two Grabbers (who want to eat
them, the fuck?), pressing to him to attack rather than run or rely on luck (at
last). The two escape only to be caught by Fleabyte, who ties them up and drags
them towards the Metropolis Zone. of course Fleabyte, who’s a bit stupid,
doesn’t know Tails can fly so tails takes him for a spin, he shoots the rope,
lands on his feet (he’s a cat) and takes Tantrum hostage. Tails convinces
Tantrum to have a noisy tantrum and knock some loose rocks onto the cat, and is
returned home safety.
I actually quite like Fox
on the Run, seeing Tails being pro-active throughout is a lovely change and
also feels like a natural place for him to be in after the Kitching and Eyles stories
(though I don’t know if Stringer knowingly took that into account) and even if
it wasn’t, having Tantrum depend on him is a good reason to push him into
always being proactive, this story develops Tails into ‘pretty competent
freedom fighter’ (presumably because it’s easier to write but it has the added
benefit of being less repetitive and frustrating) and he’ll stay that way for
the rest of the series. Tantrum isn’t nearly as annoying as he could be, and
actually feels quite like a real (obnoxious) child – he changes his mind every
minute, gives up, has a tantrum, insults Tails then expects him to save him and
actually has a little character arc as Tails teaches him, mostly by example, to
behave a bit better – needing him to be prompted to have a tantrum at the
climax. I really like Fleabyte’s design too, a scruffy, cyborg, bargain
basement Clint Eastwood, he is a bit needlessly dumb at times (he actually says
‘duh’ more than once) but feels threatening, even if he’s nothing more than a
pretty low-rent bounty hunter. Ian Flynn’s Nack the Weasel is a far better
stupid but fearsome bounty hunter, but Fleabyte’s good also – it’s also nice to
see a Mobian who believes in Dr Robotnik’s propaganda again, there’s not enough
of that in the series.
 |
| WEIRD. |
Stringer’s script is pretty
decent too, his dialogue’s good (the odd panel aside) and his plot’s fine –
except the robots who want to eat someone – Badniks don’t eat (they run on
organic batteries) and that’s just weird. Even Carl FUCKING Flint isn’t so bad,
he’s not doing the photocopy backgrounds yet and the underground scenes
actually force him to draw some backgrounds and add some depth and he’s even
kept the random hand gestures under control! I still hate his style of art but
it’s not atrocious and the colourist (John M Burns) does a good job of making
everywhere look barren ( and rock or sandy) and giving some more of that much needed depth to Flint’s work
This part’s getting really
long and I don’t feel like I’ve talked about hardly anything! Probably because
I was bloody moaning so much, I always write more when I’m bitching.
Soooo….I’ll wrap this up with the other two Sonic strips before ‘The Big
Decision’ and we can start fresh with Ghost Ship next time after all this fannying
about out of order. Mission to the Metropolis Zone (Sonic strip,
issue 74) is really only noteworthy because it teams up Roberta Corona and
Steve White
for (I think) the first time, White’s shiny colouring and Corona’s dumpier art work really well together and make the comic look very much like a Mega Drive game I always think – Johnny and Sonic pretend to get captured so Amy can use them as a distraction and do some sabotage, I will admit that it tricked me so well played Mr Stringer, and there’s some good jokes too, the panel where Sonic turns to the camera and explains his plan though? That’s crap, that insults my intelligence, that insults the intelligence of the target audience, it’s obvious and it’s totally out of place. Smokey and the Badnik (Sonic strip, issue 75) however is wonderful. It’s about a little boy called Smokey (I have no idea what animal he’s supposed to be, a Bear?) who has befriended an old Roller badnik who hides in an abandoned leisure centre in Metropolis City (what we’re now calling the city in the Metropolis Zone, something I fully approve of, as the city is clearly visible in the Metropolis Zone you play, but is clearly not the area you’re in, making the Metropolis Zone more than just a city). Smokey is visiting his friend and runs into Sonic, and Sonic is forced to decide between trusting the child that the Badnik is a Nicenik, or smashing it, the last page leaving you unsure what choice he’s made until the very end. Other than some off screen teleportation from a Trooper platoon (seriously, how did they make no noise in an empty swimming pool? - they’re metal, wear huge stompy boots and are walking on wood and tiles) it’s superb, and it’s a Kitching/Elson team-up too so the art and dialogue are both great (there’s actually more action than you might think) – highly recommended.
Yeah I’ll cut it off here, oh
before I do though, issue 75 features a great April fool’s joke about Sonic’s
new ally Chickles:
Let Chickles live in your
hearts forevermore
Next time –
Knuckles gets shanghaied onto the Ghost Ship, Tails and Sonic have a bunch of
stand-alone stories to kill some time before Running Wild and the Brutus
Trilogy concludes.
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