#sth 1

So, right off the bat, an admission. On day one of this blog, I harped A LOT on how this silly issue is "how the Archie Sonic comics started" and how surreal that was given the later direction of the series. This is, of course, not true, even if this cover proudly labels it the "FIRST ISSUE!" The proper run of Archie Sonic was predated by a pilot miniseries that ran for four issues. In 2014, I decided to save that miniseries for later in an effort to get to The Weird Stuff quicker. But that meant that I was really starting on the fifth issue of the series

In reality, the original issue #0 makes for a MUCH better debut than this issue, with better art from Scott Shaw, a fun opening that jumps straight to Sonic and Robotnik facing off before heading to Knothole and introducing the Freedom Fighters, and a proper origin story for Sonic setting up his past with Uncle Chuck. (Side note: I'm not reevaluating the original miniseries because I covered those in more depth the first time, and as such I have very little to add.)

Meanwhile, this issue opens with Robotnik ranting and raving in his silly little Robotropolis office, hanging what's soon revealed to be a Sonic piñata and beating his poor Badniks

In my original coverage I mostly just juxtaposed this silly scene with the grim portrayal of Robotnik's reign in SatAM and the later comics for laughs. In hindsight, I'm not sure entirely how fair it is. For one, again, this isn't the real first issue. And it's also a decently funny little scene by the standards of these early comics. But I mean... issue #0 did establish that Robotnik had taken over the entire planet and enslaved everyone's families, and then they go and make it all silly. Robotnik himself being silly is fine, of course. Who doesn't love a villain who does really evil shit and then makes light of it? That's Robotnik to a T! But it might be a little odd how the Freedom Fighters don't really take him as a particularly serious threat early on. He's less a cruel despot who's been holding all of their loved ones hostage for the last decade and more of a blowhard bully for Sonic to constantly one-up

I dunno. A lot of the oddities of this early era are just a byproduct of the original pitch, which was to make a mashup of SatAM and Adventures that leaned more towards Adventures in tone. This was, in fact, a directive straight from Sega. (Take THAT, petulant nerds who say the Dreaded Sega Mandates are a new thing!) As editor Paul Castiglia once explained:

"In the beginning, SEGA instructed our editorial team to reflect the art and story styles of the syndicated series, but it soon became apparent from fan reaction that the Saturday morning series was the one striking a nerve. The comic soon followed suit with a mix of the two styles, but a heavier emphasis on the dramatic . . . As the comic series and the animated shows were simultaneously developed, the tight, advanced scheduling of the comic industry kept us from keeping up with last-minute changes made to the shows. This resulted in Sally being printed in various color schemes that didn't match her TV counterpart as well as Rotor being referred to as Boomer."

Anyway, moving on, the Freedom Fighters are introduced like this:

Instead of focusing on Sonic, this first scene is lead by Antoine, who's jealous of Sonic for getting all of Sally's attention. Yes, the full series introduces the Freedom Fighters with a love triangle right off the bat. A grim omen of things to come... But, again, this introduction is a lot less weird if you view this not as issue #1 but as issue #5. I guess Gallagher didn't want to retread old ground, so this issue barely even attempts to serve as a proper starting point, instead coming off as just another issue of a series already in progress

Antoine then heads to the surface, looking for flowers to give to Sally, and ends up getting attacked by Robotnik's invention of the month, the mechanical Krudzu vines

I originally skipped over... basically everything with the Krudzu? Because I was just focused on posting funny out of context stuff. It's a fine threat, and it's thematically fitting to have Robotnik invent an evil mechanical plant that tries to take over the Great Forest. But it is a little odd that the first big threat we get is an indirect one that doesn't require our heroes to face Robotnik. And, in fact, they don't have to lift a finger to stop the Krudzu. They quickly realize that it isn't waterproof, and a convenient storm takes it out while they sit comfortably at home. Pretty underwhelming

This bit is funny, though

Now that I'm reading actual scans instead of those digital versions with the horrible coloring, I also get to see the ads! Such as this incredibly edgy and ableist two-page Game Gear ad that says if you prefer the Game Boy you must be both colorblind and stupid, like a dog. It's so '90s it hurts

Listen buddy Sonic 1 for Game Gear is fine and all but it's no Tetris

The second story in this issue is ostensibly more closely tied to the games, with Sonic heading off to Casino Night Zone. Of course, in Gallagher and Manak's world, Casino Night Zone looks like this

Yes, they do in fact just let Sonic walk right in

The big setpiece I skipped over in this story for some inexplicable reason is a giant pinball machine that Robotnik traps Sonic in, although by the end he's able to cut through the glass ball, break the machine, and blow the whole casino to hell. Silly casino jokes aside, though, this threat is very true to the spirit of the games

This issue also contains a number of bonus features and activities, since this was in that era when it was treated as a comedy variety book. Perhaps the most interesting is this official Sonic-sanctioned chili dog recipe, which they tell you to clip out to ruin the resale value of your comic

And that's about it for this issue! I think if you view it as the first issue, like I originally did, it is a little weak. But if you view it as issue #5, it's fine. It's a perfectly average, inoffensive issue of Gallagher era Archie Sonic, with lots of silliness and a few gags that were okay

I'm unsure if future addendums will be this long, since I had to cover a lot of general information about the early days of the series in this one. But either way, join me next time for a reappraisal of Sonic #2, in which I'll be forced to remember that Verti-Cal and Horizont-Al exist

Meet Me at the Corner of Hedgehog and Vine!

Writer: Michael Gallagher Pencils: Dave Manak Colors: Lyrad Namlede

So this issue is a prime candidate for what I mentioned before - things from very early issues being brought back in much later issues. In this case, in fact, the very last issue of the preboot, in fact. But we have a long, long time before we get there.

We begin with Robotnik smashing a piñata of Sonic to pieces, an activity he fully recognizes is pretty pathetic, when a swatbot brings him a mechanical plant called Krudzu. Where this plant comes from is never really explained; you'd think Robotnik would have been the one to invent a mechanical death plant, but it makes it seem like the swatbot just kind of found it somewhere and brought it in. Robotnik sends his robots to spread the plant throughout the Great Forest where Knothole is hidden, and when Antoine mopes about Sally not noticing him, he goes outside and immediately gets entangled in the plant.

Sonic rescues him, Boomer almost murders him with a chainsaw, and Tails, not knowing what the heck is going on at all, decides to water the plant, which makes everyone panic until it shorts out the plant and makes it blow up, since it's, y'know, mechanical. Then a rainstorm destroys every iteration of the plant out in the forest, and voila, we have the first plot where literally no one did anything relevant. A plant that Robotnik didn't invent was killed not by the Freedom Fighters, but by weather. Sonic the Hedgehog!

You Bet My Life!

Writer: Michael Gallagher Pencils: Dave Manak Colors: Lyrad Namlede

So here we have more of that thing where Sonic invites the kids reading to help him out in the story. Apparently, Robotnik is going to be making a big evil speech at the Casino Night Zone, and the Freedom Fighters want to be there… for… reasons? Seriously, it makes it sound like they're just really into it. There's no plans to attack him there or anything. They're just going for the show!

Once Sonic gets there, he literally just takes a front row seat as if he doesn't expect this to go badly at all. And, well…

Sonic gets captured and put inside a glass ball, which Robotnik then sends through a giant pinball machine for funsies. Sonic then escapes by cutting the glass with his spines, places a bomb off-panel, and blows the place up. Robotnik survives, of course, because if the main villain of the comic died, where would the plot go from there?

*cough cough*