#issue review

In issue 7 it was more vague if Sonic and Super were different personalities, or if Sonic was just letting the power go to his head. Here, the former is essentially confirmed, and Sonic reveals he doesn’t remember what happens when he’s Super. That fact doesn’t play any part in this story, but it becomes much more important later. Anyways, the dust settles and it’s revealed that Super cooled the magma into a massive statue of Sonic. I’ve always wondered, why did Super create a statue of normal Sonic? Wouldn’t he much rather have made a statue of himself?

In any case, that’s where the story ends. It’s honestly one of Kitching’s weaker entries, and I think he’s talked a bit before about how he regrets this one. If Super Sonic didn’t completely steal the show, nobody would remember this issue at all, and even then, it’s barely brought up in Super discussions, likely because he doesn’t really do anything except make a lot of threats and stop a lava flow. There are some funny lines, such s Super Sonic calling Tails a whiner and Sonic saying that Tails occasionally has his uses right after saving his ass, but it’s a pretty dull story overall. Maybe if it was published during the period between Issues 11-17 it would be remembered better as a diamond in the rough, but the fact that it’s between Casino Night and the excellent Sonic CD adaptation meant it was never going to be one of the magazine’s standouts.

(I think it came out right after my predictions post for it. I'm hoping, because otherwise, that was just clueless of me.)

So Sonic’s cavalier attitude goes just as you’d expect and the two are encased in a big pink glass ball, just in time for Grimer and some Troopers to find them and give a good evil speech

Meanwhile Robotnik is about to hatch. What will he look like??

So a LOT happened in this story, honestly even more than I remembered. We get introduced to TWO major characters, Amy and Grimer, and we’re essentially introduced to a third, the Kintobor Computer. We get to see Johnny Lightfoot on the front lines and with a fancy outfit for the first time, we see the Egg Fortress for the first time, AND we get Robotnik transforming into his new appearance. God, that’s a lot to introduce in seven pages!

This is undoubtedly the best individual strip in STC so far. Despite so much new stuff being thrown at the audience, never does it become overwhelming, or feel like the story is bogged down with exposition, or anything of the sort. Kitching really was a master at introducing new elements and making them immediately feel like an organic part of the story. Nothing has to be sat down and explained at length, everything new just fits and feels relevant. And even besides all the new stuff, the story itself is great, with Sonic and Johnny just one foot behind Robotnik’s forces the whole time and consequently running into a trap. We get some small yet great character moments from both Sonic and Robotnik, and even though Johnny has always been a bit bland, you definitely get a feeling of determination from him. Unlike Tails or Porker who are more nervous characters, Johnny is always Sonic’s primary backup when involved in a story. Frankly, he’s a badass.

Richard Elson’s art as usual is fantastic, and becomes more energetic with every new issue he’s in. Sonic in particular looks amazing, every panel he’s in is dripping with raw energy. His side characters are still a bit bizarre looking as usual, but that’s just one of those things you have to accept.

It turns out all the faux torture scenes we get in this were REAL torture scenes programmed by Robotnik, and that’s where the greatness of the story is revealed. Everything that is the antithesis of Sonic was used in the mind game to try and break him. Instead of being the leader of the freedom fighters, he’s a child completely under the jurisdiction of his mother. Instead of being able to run wherever he wants, he’s confined in a house and a small backyard, and later literally stuck in the bed. Instead of being able to do the spin attack, all he can do is a lousy somersault and injure himself in the process. Instead of being able to save Tails, he’s completely helpless and can only listen to Tails scream in horror on the other side as unspeakable things are done. The only reason Sonic got out is because the mother was a little TOO like Robotnik and all the subtlety was removed.

This is a great story in my opinion. This could have been a generic “wow, Sonic and all his pals are human, isn’t it wacky” story where it relies on just novelty, but instead Ed Hillyer decided to give us a legitimately intense and nightmarish story with some of the strangest (in a good way) artwork to appear in a Sonic comic. I wasn’t a fan at all of his art in issues 4 and 11, but his style works well here to give a suitably horrific atmosphere.

And the story ends with Sonic giving a suitably comic description of humans as something you couldn’t imagine, even in your worst nightmares. And I mean, looking at all this shit, can you blame him? Sonic’s opinions on humans would be somewhat negated down the line as he ends up on Earth a couple of times and doesn’t seem to be bothered by humans or human civilization there, but that’s all way down the line and doesn’t detract from this whatsoever. I also like the derpy bat that was used in the Buzzer badnik, although it doesn’t really match Sonic or Tails whatsoever.

And that’s the Sonic story of Issue 8. We’re introduced to A LOT in a very short amount of time, and I think it was rather smart for Kitching to use the element explaining Sonic and Robotnik’s origins to also be the thing that greatly cripples them in their battle with Robotnik. This could have very easily been the type of story to be told in flashback and ending with Sonic going “wasn’t that a rad story, kids?”. Kitching was adept at this kind of thing, and he had to be, considering the main strip of every issue was just seven pages long. It is kinda weird how there’s just a giant computer face thing floating around out there, and the start was a bit awkward with Sonic just telling all his friends “come on, we’re going to the Special Zone to meet my god friend and learn about my superhero origins”, but it gets the job done well enough.

Elson’s art is superb as usual, and his especially vibrant colouring this time makes the story feel particularly surrealist in nature, which I think is a good thing. Robotnik is pretty silly looking though in my opinion, with his forced scowl and stupid black eyes, but I suppose he didn’t have much to work with when it came to Robotnik.

I decided to post this whole page because it’s a pretty good indicator of Sonic’s personality as seen by Kitching. Sonic would do this sort of thing occasionally where he would pretend he was either dead or traumatically injured just to get a laugh out of their reaction. It’s certainly interesting and is certainly one of his odder habits. Kitching was intentionally showing even in his earliest work that Sonic wasn’t just a douche, but that there was legitimately something wrong with him. And I don’t mean that as if he has a personality disorder or something, but there’s clearly a major chip on his shoulder that other Sonics don’t have

Interestingly enough, this issue ends with a cliffhanger, in that Tails apparently hasn’t been seen by anyone in days and is probably in real trouble, so that’s that. You might forgive me for not really giving any plot details before this, but that’s because there weren’t any. Sonic destroys some robots, destroys Robotnik’s fucking particle collider, and that’s it.

So, what do I think of this issue? Well, even for early 1990’s video game tie-in standards, it’s really poor. The art ranges from naïve to appalling, there was practically no story, and nobody exhibits any personality outside of Robotnik being evil and making a lot of egg puns, and Sonic being fast. Like I said, it’s cool to see game elements being implemented, but in no way does that balance out any of the cons. If this was all you ever read, there’s no way you would expect the comic to last the better part of a decade.