RH's Sonic Blog of Comic-ness

HE DID THE SAME BIT.

Having a great weekend at Killing Sonic Expo

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #30; “THE RETURN OF UNCLE CHUCK” & “WHO KEEPS STEALING MY CHAOS EMERALDS?!”

TIMELINE: 3235 (1 YEAR AFTER SONIC #1)

Welcome back to ArchieSonic 101, my friends! You know, this comic book seems to have been reimagining a lot of SatAM episodes in the issues we’ve recently covered. I’ve previously pointed out the similarities to No Brainer in Sonic #27 and 28, and now that I think about it, there was also a SatAM episode called Sonic and Sally, which featured a robotic doppleganger of Sally infiltrating the Freedom Fighters - just like in the Sally mini series. But I’m sure that’s all behind us now, right? There’s no way they would just keep stealing ideas from the cartoon, right?

Oh, for the love of-

Okay, I’ll give them a pass because I really like this cover. It’s very tense but also has a certain amount of hope attached to it - will Sonic finally be able to restore his beloved uncle? I do have to minus a few points for the inclusion of Muttski on the cover though, as he doesn’t actually appear in this issue. I do not approve of false advertising on comic book covers!

This feels like the kind of weird dream that Garfield the Cat would have, when forced to be on a diet.

I got very excited about this issue when it came out, because Uncle Chuck was one of my favourite characters from SatAM. At the time I hadn’t seen season 2 of SatAM yet, but his single episode from season 1 - Ultra Sonic - left a big impact on me. It was the first time we’d gotten to see any of Sonic’s family before, and it was sincerely touching to see how much they meant to each other when Sally was briefly able to restore Chuck’s free will. Chuck was smart and fearless, the man with the plan and ready to leap into action. It was devastating at the end of the episode when he reverted to Robotnik’s programming and Sonic had to leave him behind. The last time we saw Uncle Chuck in the comics was when he was acting as Robotnik’s janitor back in Sonic #16, so I was quite keen to see him come back again.

I do like this new attitude of Snively we’ve seen recently, where he mutters an insult under his breath but then changes what he said when Robotnik calls him out on it. It’s another element borrowed from SatAM, and it shows that all is not well between these two.

Right now I bet Snively is reeeeeeally glad he didn’t push that button.

So the machine designed to transport people to and from the Void… gave Uncle Chuck his free will back?

…you know what? Sure! Why not? Let’s just roll with it.

Also, I bet you weren’t expecting this Uncle Chuck-focused issue to include a Snively coup, but here we are!

Unfortunately, Sonic and Chuck’s reunion is missing the emotion that we got to see in SatAM - one of the things that I think makes this just a good story rather than a great one. Instead we get him saying, “Hey, I’m here, it’s really me!’ and just cut to the next scene.

Despite Chuck saying on the previous page that he had to tell Sonic something urgent, I guess this cookout took priority over that. Was this a test from the Freedom Fighters to determine if he was truly Uncle Chuck again or something?

Also, I don’t think any of us had really taken Snively that seriously up until this point, but this issue gives us insight into a side of him we haven’t really seen yet. He’s evil and ambitious just like Robotnik, but I think the biggest difference we’re going to be seeing is Snively being desperate to prove that he can do the job better than his boss. This is likely to make him dangerously reckless and willing to go to extremes that Robotnik would possibly hesitate over.

Yeah, it figures that we’d get Snively’s Robotnik outfit from the end of SatAM. He's gone for a more 1-1 version here, rather than the SatAM costume which was more inspired by Robotnik's outfit.

Not that I mind, of course - it’s hilarious how badly he’s trying to prove he’s the new big bad.

Is Uncle Chuck allowed to say, “Way past serious”? I thought that Sonic was the only one legally allowed to say, “Way past (adjective).” But I guess Chuck thought it rather than said it, so a lawyer could argue that there isn’t actually a case against him. :P 

Uh-oh, I think Sonic’s medication just kicked in. From his point of view, the walls probably just started melting.

Also, Uncle Chuck isn’t going to tell us what his very important matter is, so that it will be a dramatic reveal later.

“Please tell me how clever I am, Sonikku uwu 🥺👉👈!” Wow, they sure got that plane finished quickly. I guess Sonic shouldn’t have stopped for that chilli dog.

Snively’s evil laugh is improving, I’ll give him that. Also, shouldn’t several acres of trees have just appeared behind Sonic? Or possibly on top of him?

Oh snap, Snively’s going for the patented Starfox U-turn!

I think Sonic might have made a bigger impact if he’d been eating potato chips instead. The crunch would have been much louder.

Credit where credit is due, I respect Snively for having this contingency prepared. It shows insight I didn’t realise he had.

Also since Snively brought it up, where has Robotnik been during all of this? Shouldn’t he be there in the Void with Sonic?

Oh, there he is!

Sonic, please don’t encourage the shippers by calling Robotnik and Snively a couple…

I like this story, even though I feel like it lacks the gravitas and emotion Sonic and Chuck’s first (and second too) reunions in SatAM had. The way Uncle Chuck gets his free will back in this one is a little confusing, but who cares - one of the most interesting characters of the series has finally become a member of the cast! Snively’s recklessness certainly raises the stakes and gives us a bit more insight into his character. It also shows that surprisingly, Robotnik exercises a certain amount of restraint compared to his minion.

It’s interesting that Angelo Decasare seems to be trying to write some more serious stories recently - first the one where Sally was roboticized, and now this one. They’re not completely devoid of humour - there are jokes littered throughout (including the obligatory jokes in each issue at Antoine’s expense, of course!) - but compared to stories such as Sonic and Robotnik teaming up to escape their alien captor or Robotnik creating an eternal Winter with his weather machine, these stories feel much more serious.

In this issue we do briefly get to see Sonic struggling with loss and longing to have the only family he’s ever known back, and it’s refreshing to see that more vulnerable side of the character. It would have been nice to see a bit more of Sonic’s joy at finally being reunited after years apart that presumably happened offscreen, and I feel like that was probably left out due to limited page space to tell the story. But I’m sure they needed the rest of this issue’s pages to tell a really important story, right?

…right?

“Important,” is such a strong word… :P

So yeah, this is going to be a more slapstick-y type of story, like you’d expect to see in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. Which is appropriate, considering that Coconuts is here. But okay, this could be fun. We’ve got Patrick Spaziante on pencils, which is always a good time. And we have a new writer, Paul Castiglia, who I believe will later go on to be editor of the series? So let’s see how this one goes!

That first panel of Robotnik makes me think of another one of his more well known rants though, for some reason:

Okay, this has gone from being Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog to straight-up Looney Tunes. …which admittedly isn’t that big a difference. But they’re not being very subtle about this, with Coconuts mentioning his “coyote buddy.” Which reminds me, don’t forget to support Coyote vs. ACME when it hits cinemas soon!

Aaaah, I can practically hear the sounds of Wil. E. Coyote plummeting to his doom. Also, I don’t know why they’re being so coy with this “anteater” nonsense. That silhouette is pretty recognisable.

Wait, what? Bunnie braved multiple perils and boobytraps to steal a bunch of Chaos Emeralds and then… cut them down to make them into jewellery?

…

…yeah, sure. Why not?

I have mixed feelings about this story. The art is fantastic, but the ending bugs me a bit, even in a story this silly. I suppose that suddenly having an armoury full of Chaos Emeralds would shift the balance of power to the Freedom Fighters and potentially disrupt the status quo. This was just meant to be a funny-haha story and not really important to the canon. Still, I can’t see even Rouge the Bat doing what Bunnie did. Stealing Chaos Emeralds? Absolutely! Wearing them as jewellery? Possibly, depending on how heavy they are. But cutting them down like this? Definitely not, and she would murder you for even suggesting it!

[wip]

boss is busy rn, storm…🎶

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #20: “THAT’S THE SPIRIT!”

TIMELINE: 3235 (1 YEAR AFTER SONIC #1)

Welcome back to ArchieSonic 101, my friends! I’m splitting up today’s issue again, so we’ll only be looking at the cover story in this lesson. And what happens in this cover story, you ask? Well…

Soooo… I guess this is the final issue of Sonic the Hedgehog, huh? Pffft, as if. xD However when my fellow reviewer @robotnikholmescomicblog (go check out his video essays on YouTube, they’re really good!) covered this issue himself, he pointed out that if anything, this cover felt like it was marking the passing of Sonic SatAM, whose final episode aired right around the time this comic came out. Coincidence or conspiracy, who can say for sure? Anyway, let’s have a look at what the story behind this distressing cover is…

Fair enough to Sonic for enjoying their time together on the rope. Every week it's usually just Sally by herself on the rope.

Sally’s got a point - they got in here awfully easily, sailing past all those previous guards without being noticed. And now there’s no guards at all? That does seem suspicious.

“Oh no, it’s the consequences of my own actions again!”

I’m not sure Sonic would have been able to escape even if he hadn’t tripped. Surely Robotnik would have made sure when he was preparing this trap that the steel doors were spindash-proof?

Oh no, Sonic is totes dead for real, you guys! …but why do Tails and Rotor have red eyes in that middle panel? They hadn’t even started crying yet.

…huh. That’s a neat trick.

Huh. Maybe they actually did kill him off? That would be a twist.

I wonder what was more traumatic for Sonic - coming to the conclusion that he was a ghost or seeing that godawful statue of himself.

I kinda wish Sonic’s foot had gone right through that rock and then he would have fallen on his butt. Wait, if that happened he probably would have fallen right through the ground… hey wait, how is he not falling through the ground already if he’s intangible? Oh no, I think I strained my brain...

Okay, so I’m not an expert or anything, but my understanding is that this is not how antimatter works at all. When antimatter comes into contact with anything made of matter (which is pretty much everything), it explodes. Violently.

Antimatter doesn’t turn people invisible or intangible or anything like that. Other fictional appearances of antimatter make a bit more sense - I believe it’s used to fuel warp drives in Star Trek, and in Dan Brown’s novel Angels & Demons, scientists were studying it with the hope of turning it into a new energy source.

To be fair, its incorrect use in this comic doesn’t really matter that much. I imagine that Angelo Decesare just needed some kind of phlebotinum for the story and decided that antimatter sounded as good as anything else.

I feel like if Sonic really had died, Robotnik probably would have shown up to the funeral playing Amazing Grace on a vuvuzela or a recorder or an accordion or something like that.

I can’t tell if the Freedom Fighters are dressed as commandos or if they're just planning to take Robotnik down in a devastating rap battle.

Clearly no one told Robotnik that he needs to use salt to repel ghosts. He should have watched Supernatural!

Wait, Sonic knows how to fly a jet? I wouldn’t think it’d be very similar to flying a biplane, but then again what would I know? I’m certainly not a pilot.

Haha, I like this ending. The Elvis toupee is the icing on the cake.

This story is pretty fun. Sonic isn’t really given a lot of time to dwell on being, ‘dead,’ but considering what we’ll see later with Knuckles, that’s probably for the best. It’s touching to see the rest of the Freedom Fighters grieving for Sonic - even Antoine is upset at his passing, and he and Sonic don’t exactly get on very well at this stage in the series. Tails’ (almost) unshakable faith that Sonic is okay is very sweet, and his request for Sonic to ignore his letter if he is indeed dead is pretty funny. 

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #19TIMELINE: 3235 (1 YEAR AFTER SONIC #1)

Welcome back to ArchieSonic 101, where the blue rats are plentiful - like, really plentiful. In fact, I don’t think any other issue of Sonic the Hedgehog better illustrates that point than this one…

Wow, there’s a lot to take in here. We’ve got pirate Sonic, devil Sonic, Terminator/cyborg Sonic, astronaut, viking, footballer, guitarist, mummy… and is that an Australian Sonic in the bottom right corner? I dunno, maybe he's just supposed to be Clint Eastwood. There is another Sonic in the issue later wearing a similar hat with a poncho. Well, I guess we’d better take a look at this issue and find out what this is all about.

I like to think that this cyborg Sonic speaks with a Schwarzenegger accent. Yes, even when he says, “Click! Wrrr…”

This page is mostly just a recap for people who hadn’t read Sonic #11 (like me at the time). 

I will be forever annoyed that we were robbed of getting a spinoff series about an entire team of cyborg Freedom Fighters, all with identical Schwarzenegger accents. Yes, even Sally and Bunnie. …actually, let’s give Bunnie Schwarzeneggar’s really bad American accent from the deleted scenes in Terminator 3.

Stop booing me, you know I’m right!

I bet Dave Manak (and later Art Mawhinney) had A LOT of fun drawing this issue.

Not gonna lie, I do like the shadow swatbot designs. The black looks a lot more intimidating.

It’s a bit weird that Robotnik has live surveillance footage of the Meeting of the Hedgehogs. You’d think the Freedom Fighters would have gathered everyone where Robotnik couldn’t keep tabs on them, but maybe they were so focused on Robo-Robotnik that they didn’t even consider the local Robotnik being a problem. And for once, he actually isn’t.

“Destroy your comic book and act out the action yourselves, because we don’t have enough page space to show this fight scene!”

Robotnik and Robo-Robotnik’s forces are equally matched, so of course Robotnik wins outright and apparently with no casualties! How did that happen? I dunno, you’re the one with the paper cut-outs. You figure it out!

Also, this may just be the earliest instance across all Sonic media of Sonic and Robotnik forming a temporary alliance. It goes about how you’d expect, honestly.

USE YOUR HARPOONS AND TOW CABLES

Robotnik: I despise these filthy Neutrals, Snively. With enemies you know where they stand, but with Neutrals, who knows? Snively: (weary sigh)

So yeah, two pages into their little alliance and Robotnik is already planning a betrayal. Can I get a show of hands - is anyone surprised? Anyone at all? Put your hand down, you know you’re lying.

Considering that Evil Sonic dresses like the Terminator, it seems fitting that he’s summoned in an effect that looks like Skynet’s time travel ball technology. Even though it should have incinerated all his clothing.

This is the second time in this issue that the editor’s asked us to vandalise this comic book. Maybe the colourist, Barry Grossman, just got too tired to finish this chapter? Unlike the pencillers, he did the entire issue.

Also, holy alternate art style, BatSonic! The second half of this story was drawn by Art Mawhinney rather than Dave Manak. Probably because this story took up the entire issue, rather than what the series usually does with two stories per issue. I've had to skip a few pages myself to squeeze this entire story into a single Tumblr post.

Okay, yeah. So this thing is basically just the Infinity Gauntlet.

Evil Sonic is just as big a chump as last time. He’s all attitude and no actual talent. Just in case you forgot, he was ambushed by the harmless animal buddies last time he showed up.

Weird - the giant's hand changed from being small enough to hold to something large enough for Robo-Robotnik to stand in. Neat trick. This giant’s hand may not be able to erase half the universe from existence, but transforming into a giant battle mech is still pretty cool.

The story is interrupted for yet another colouring page. This is a tribute to a famous comic cover featuring Batman and Robin, but I feel like this reference would have gone over the heads of most of the people who were picking up their coloured pencils for this page. 

I’m thinking Sally is not great at maths. It was a cute joke, but there should be ten times as many fingers to point as people to point them at. Also, I want to hear what Sonic Claus' idea for saving the day is.

Yada yada yada, the super power of teamwork, it's a staple of the Sonic mythos at this stage. Also, there’s an art error on this page - BatSonic’s eyes are visible under his mask, which hasn’t been the case in previous pages of this comic.

This is the perfect moment to attack, for sure. I feel like there’s a number of video game bosses like this, where you get an attack of opportunity when they’re in mid-stomp. But for the life of me I can’t think of any specific examples right now.

Man, they really wanted this issue to be interactive for the kids, huh? First we had the swatbot cut-outs, then multiple colouring pages, and now a Where’s Wally-esque page. It’s not the first time Sonic would try something like this though. I remember owning a book called Where's Sonic Now? back in the 90's.

And so Robo-Robotnik was defeated by the power of 10,000 spindashes! This won’t be the last time we see this character though. Or possibly an alternate version of him? It’s not 100% clear, but we’ll get back to that.

This plot point with the giant borg will come back later too. With a couple of unexpected guest appearances too!

This was one of those rare issues where the story took up the entire issue, rather than the issue having a cover story and a backup. And it feels like they needed that, because there’s a LOT in this one. Overall I mostly like this story, but even with it having the entire issue to tell the story it still feels a little rushed at times. We go from one Sonic variant showing up to a gazillion of them suddenly being there. The battle between the two Swatbot armies wasn’t even shown. The battle against Evil Sonic for the giant’s hand is over incredibly quickly, although that may be intentional just to point out once again what a chump Evil Sonic is. But the battle against Giant Borg ends almost as quickly, after Robotnik hyped up what a big threat it would be if it fell into Robo-Robotnik’s hands. The story may have been a bit better if it had been spread out across two issues instead of one, as that could have given a bit more page space to some of those things. They could have had issue 19 end on the cliffhanger of Robo-Robotnik getting the Giant Borg, and then spent more time showcasing the final battle in issue 20. What we got is fine, I guess. It’s no Into the Spider-verse though. :P