#sth288

Looks like the cast are heading on out to Emerald Hill Zone, with the events of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 seemingly unfolding. Man, you don’t even have to be a fan of the cartoon to enjoy the interactions between the Freedom Fighters. I enjoy Tails being a total kid before his character develops, Sonic and Sally’s continued banter as they make plans, and even Antoine and Bunnie are adorable in their own rights and with a hint of their future relationship! They’ve all got Classic-style black eyes but it does little to dissuade me from how neat their personalities and dynamics are.

Ooh, look at Knothole Village, now located near Emerald Hill Zone and having that familiar checkered soil! It's pretty nice seeing the early Freedom Fighters meshing perfectly with the game events, which I’ll always commend the creative team for attempting. “Classic“ Sally Acorn even still has her SatAM-inspired hairstyle!

And if you’re wondering why King Nigel is looking uninterested and evil, that’s ‘cause the real king is imprisoned in the Special Zone riight now. That’s just Naugus, being creepy.

The Egg Pistons thingy at the end of Sonic 1 has been adapted by Archie Comics up to three times now. xD This one has the added element of Snively joining his boss in them and really not enjoying the ride.

I will say the action this issue is fairly well-done! Sonic beats Eggman’s elevator crusher machine is destroyed and the villain escapes on his Egg Mobile, you know, the typical Sonic vs. Eggman outcome, but it’s drawn so dynamically and the dialogue is so fun I can’t even hate it. xD

Most of this issue covers the Final Zone of the original Sonic the Hedgehog game, but unlike the pre-reboot’s Genesis saga, these are alll set in the main comic’s past! No alternate dimensions, no memory altering Genesis Waves, just the events of the games in the comic’s continuity! As a lore nut, I find these adaptations of the source material fascinating, not only in how well they convey the game events and give the characters dialogue to spruce things up, but also the inclusion of Snively! Previous issues made it clear that, like in the SatAM cartoon the pre-reboot, the little munchkin had been working with Eggman at this time before he took off, so it makes total sense that he’d be a part in the doctor’s plans on South Island and the like.

With us reaching the tail-end of the Archie Sonic, we’ve reached that point where the book was celebrating the hedgehog’s 25th anniversary, which means a whole lot of comic adaptations of old Sonic games! Funny thing that Ian Flynn was the writer for these Classic Sonic stories and then would go on to be the cutscene writer in their re-releases in Sonic Origins. Who could have seen that coming?

These celebrations of the games mark the last few mainline issues of this book, so they obviously come with the baggage of being the last things Archie Comics published involving Sonic. Personally, I like to see them as a couple of fun little stories, though I do appreciate they’re not one-to-one the same as the games they’re based on. I’ll get into that later!

Eric Esquivel’s last contributions to Archie Sonic were these Waku Waku-inspired Off Panel stories, seemingly set in their own universe.