#tkp addendums

No, it still sucks. Thanks for read - no okay fine

It's easy to understand why Endgame always stands out in older readers' memories because it's practically the first arc where anything consequential actually happens in Archie Sonic

Sure, there were memorable events within the first 46 issues and their various spinoffs. The introduction of Knuckles, Mecha Madness, Sonic reuniting with Chuck, rescuing King Max, etc. But rereading my archive a few months ago, it really struck me how little actually happens in that span of time aside from those bits. The series was largely content to rely on its status quo. Robotnik would hatch an evil scheme, the Freedom Fighters would go on a mission to infiltrate Robotropolis (that never resulted in anything). They'd go back and forth like this for a few years. There's nothing inherently wrong with having a status quo, of course, and I'd absolutely take those first 50 issues over the shit Penders wrote later. But the general lack of dramatic consequences prior to this instantly made the Endgame arc stand out. It really does feel like the series finale it was originally written to be

Of course, I'm not reading this as a 9-year-old in 1997. I already know this isn't the end, but rather one of many status quo shifting milestone stories from a series that would last nearly 250 more issues. And like I said back when I first covered this arc seven years ago, the sources of drama here are mostly lame as hell

I'll avoid ranting about Sally's death too much here, but it has to be addressed. It sucks. It's dramatic and it grabs your attention for sure, but it sucks that Sally doesn't even get a heroic death, but rather a sudden anticlimactic death on a random mission with no clear goal, just because Penders thought she "cramped Sonic's style" and didn't know what else to do with her. She had already been largely reduced to a prize for Sonic and the ever-skeevy Geoffrey to fight over, but her fridging here only takes that even further. In her death she is fully transformed into a mere concept for the guys to fight over, not a character with any agency of her own. Hell, this could have been a setup for a twist where Sally has her own counter-plan at play and makes a triumphant return in the climax to reveal that she was actually alive the whole time, and then take part in the final battle with her friends. (The possibility that the report of Sally's death had been a lie was being teased as early as issue two of this arc.) I didn't like the similar storyline in her miniseries, but I'd take it over this. Instead, she's only thawed out at the very end to give Sonic a kiss. She's not a character, she's a reward for Sonic

Actually, a thing I couldn't do when I first covered Endgame was compare it to the series finale of SatAM, as I hadn't seen that at the time. And the difference there is night and day. In the show, instead of being written out, Sally is more present in the climax than ever, to the point where she literally shares Sonic's super speed, allowing her to be there at his side for their final victory. The difference is so stark that it's actually kind of hilarious

(Side note: Some of my critiques in the early days of this blog came off as more black-and-white than I would like. A few times I may have skirted a bit too close to the whole Strong Female Character angle, where a female character has to be an ass-kicking, "empowering" aspirational figure in order to be considered a good character. I'll say very bluntly that there's nothing inherently wrong with writing a story where a female character dies a pointless, tragic death, nor is it inherently bad to write characters with no agency in their lives. (I am a known Gundam liker.) The problem here is that the way Penders writes Sally is part of a larger pattern with his typical Baby Boomer view on gender roles.)

But, okay. I said I wasn't gonna dwell on this. Let's set the decision to kill Sally aside and look at what Penders and co. do with that twist. For one, it's there to shock the reader. And, yeah, it sure did that. But it also turns the early part of the arc into a murder mystery. A classic premise! So, is Endgame a good murder mystery?

Nope!

As I ragged on repeatedly in my original coverage, Sonic immediately gets blamed for Sally's death, and it's pure nonsense. Nobody believes that Sonic, the main hero of the team, has any motive to kill Sally. Because he doesn't. But they don't do anything to disprove it, even though this is a series where Sonic alone has been mind controlled into acting against his will, impersonated by his evil universe doppelganger, and replaced with a robotic duplicate - not to mention how often this shit happens to other characters. When Endgame began, it had literally only been seven issues since Sonic was put on trial for crimes he didn't really commit following the Mecha Madness event. And yet we're already doing this again

Even the question of who really killed Sally doesn't get to be a source of intrigue. None of the established characters end up being a traitor, despite the presence of a traitor being the entire focus of issue #46, and it isn't even an old returning villain or anything like that. No, it's Hershey. A brand new character introduced after Sally's death. But she didn't do it of her own free will - the whole thing was orchestrated by Drago, a confrontational member of the Wolf Pack the Freedom Fighters met literally one issue earlier who was already immediately suspicious, and King Max, who had been replaced by an Auto-Automaton off-screen... somehow. (It's revealed in the end that Robotnik had actually discovered the location to Knothole and sent troops to replace Max all the way back during "Battle Royale," while Sonic was out of town. Why didn't he just blow up Knothole then and there? Who knows!!!)

The actual explanation of how New Friend Hershey could possibly have killed Sally might be even more nonsensical. As Drago reveals, he tricked her into wearing a lifelike full body Sonic costume designed by Robotnik that has an augmented reality display built into the head that makes everyone look like Snively. So Hershey thought she was killing Snively, and everyone else thought she was Sonic because of the costume. Why did Hershey think she needed to come along on that mission and dress up as Sonic? Who fucking knows!! More effort goes into explaining what happened to fucking Crocbot over in Downunda - no, seriously, he gets two whole pages of exposition in #49!

Overall, the best explanation we get for why Robotnik's plan is so complex is that he just seems to be playing mind games to pit the heroes against each other while he finishes the Ultimate Annihilator. But, again, the story devotes very little time to this tension within the team because of how quickly the question of who killed Sally gets resolved, and the only ones who really bicker are Sonic and Geoffrey, who were already constantly at each other's throats long before this

And, yes, the subplot with new characters Hershey and Drago devolves into a domestic abuse story. As I said years ago, I think it's a good thing to teach kids how to spot abusive relationships, but this isn't a well told story about abuse. Drago is a one-dimensional exposition dumping villain who also hits and insults his girlfriend. It feels like it was mostly setup for Hershey to turn the tables and beat the snot out of him in the last issue (which admittedly is kinda satisfying after having to read about Drago for multiple issues), but no matter the intention it's just a bizarre inclusion in this already overstuffed arc

This is all part of what's probably the overall biggest problem with the arc, which is that despite being intended as a sendoff for the series, so much of it revolves around new characters over the actual main cast. Hershey, Drago, and Dr. Quack all get a lot of screen time throughout the arc and are integral to the plot. So is Geoffrey, but at least you could say he was an established character who had fans at that point. (This was years before folks realized the age gap between Geoffrey and Sally, or before Penders made That Tweet.) Most of the Freedom Fighters are totally passive for most of the arc. Rotor, Tails, Chuck, and Amy contribute basically nothing. Dulcy does exactly one absurd thing and then Sonic tells THE GIANT DRAGON she doesn't have to help fight. Antoine starts tailing Drago when he realizes something's probably up, but he and Bunnie are immediately caught and shipped off to literally the opposite side of the planet and kept out of the action until the finale. (How they manage to travel from the Midwest to Australia and back so quickly is a mystery, but nitpicks about travel time are the least of this story's problems.) Even Sonic himself doesn't contribute all that much to Robotnik's defeat in the grand scheme of things, and he spends most of the arc just going "man it's fucked up that Sally died and everyone thinks I did it"

But finally, we come to #50. (Or, well, the "Director's Cut" version of it released as Sonic Super Special #6, which has supplanted it in canon.) I'll stand by my statement that this final issue is the best part of this arc. Broadly speaking, it feels like a proper ending. I like the way it's bookended with Robotnik's arrival in the Acorn Kingdom and his death. It's got some action that feels appropriately climactic, and there's good Spaziante art mixed in there. At the very least, the last issue is in the shape of a good series finale, with the heroes starting at their lowest point and then rallying together to win once and for all

That decent climax is just massively let down by the story surrounding it. The cracks start to show very quickly with the infamous scene where Dulcy reveals that dragons are all walking lie detectors. (Sure would've been convenient to know that three issues ago!!!) Even in this expanded Director's Cut, they just need to get the ball rolling and convince Geoffrey of Sonic's innocence as quickly as possible. Then the Ultimate Annihilator is FINALLY set up after somehow not being mentioned the whole arc and the fighting begins. Again, another concession: Knothole finally being put in danger by Robotnik's invasion and then the U.A. is a smart move. An obvious one, but a good one to raise the tension nonetheless.

Then we get the final showdown between Sonic and Robotnik, which is still pretty good, and after that it's all plot cleanup. (Contrary to what I've been saying for years, it isn't actually said anywhere that Sonic uses his billionth ring to avoid getting blasted by the U.A. I'm not sure where I got that idea from, other than the image of him coming out of a ring.)

Said plot cleanup is just wall to wall nonsense, as if this story wasn't full of that already. The reveal that Knothole has been blasted three hours in the future, a fact that never ended up mattering. Author's pet and Bones McCoy expy Dr. Quack revealing that everything is actually HIS fault, because he's such a super genius inventor that his "Dream Watcher" had the exact part Robotnik needed for the U.A. and that's how he was able to locate Knothole off-screen. The fact that Snively was actually the one to ultimately defeat Robotnik due to him tampering with the U.A. off-screen. (He doesn't even get to gloat about it!) And, of course, the reveal that Sally was alive and recovering the whole time, because readers (rightfully) complained. They kiss so that she can be Sonic's prize for winning, despite the fact that he actually contributed very little to Robotnik's defeat. Roll credits

Yeah, Endgame just isn't good, y'all

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

Our first deeply silly story is kicked off with Sonic overhearing Robotnik talking about "The Bomb." He assumes that this means Robotnik has a nuke, and goes home to warn Rotor and Sally about it. This leads to... the Freedom Fighters protesting for nuclear disarmament?

Okay, not really. This is a Looney-Tunes ass gag where the FFs are really just a projection on the wall to trick Robotnik. But still. It's always funny to see these nakedly political moments in these early comics, but I can't say it doesn't fit the FernGully-ass premise. Some will probably compare this to the oddly executed anti-gun stance of the entire Kingdom of Acorn in later Penders stories, but I don't think that the Freedom Fighters not wanting Robotnik to have nukes is exactly a hard sell

And yes, the fat jokes at Robotnik's expense are constant in these early comics. Just a nonstop barrage of them. At this point they're just white noise to me

Anyway, this story devolves into a series of gags where Rotor and Robotnik are disguised as each other as they fight over the package containing "The Bomb." The ultimate punchline is that it's actually a bug bomb. The end, this one is fine, moving on to BUNNIE

Wait, is that joke about the Swatbots having a quota system... a jab at cops?? Gallagher just earned some points back in my book

So yes, Bunnie's origin story here is deeply silly, as you'd expect of Gallagher. (I still think her first line is funny, even if Gallagher making her say shit like "the south will rise again" would get EXTREMELY TIRING later on.) I can't blame him for writing it like this, since he had no idea that this series would lean into melodrama for most of its run. But in hindsight, it's wild that Bunnie's roboticization, this horrific event that would change her life and define her as a character, happens because of a slapstick gag where Sonic forgets he's tethered to Rotor. And it's not like SatAM ever told this story, nor did the later Archie comics ever retcon this to tell a more serious version. So this remained THE origin story for Bunnie for 20 years, until the reboot necessitated a do-over

There are still some interesting tidbits I can glean from this by reading way too much into it as a Bunnie stan, though. Her roboticization is still treated with SOME weight here compared to the usual antics. I also find it interesting that Rotor worries about Bunnie being a liability, since that would later end up being one of her greatest fears according to that one backup story I'll never ever stop obsessing over. In response we get a nice little moment where Sonic says he doesn't care and that they just need to help this poor stranger because it's the right thing to do

But don't expect this serious tone to last. As soon as they get to Knothole, Bunnie wakes up and starts hopping around and bragging about her newfound abilities like these are things she's always been able to do. It's very Golden Age superhero. A lightning-quick origin story followed immediately by a superpower showcase

(She also hits on Sonic, but a couple pages later she recognizes that Sally has feelings for him and this potential love triangle is aborted... for now.)

Yeah, the tonal whiplash is pretty noticeable, but I'm not expecting these early Gallagher comics to take anything seriously. Judging it by his standards, it's fine. Bunnie makes a good first impression as a fun character with a big personality and lots of cool fighting skills, which is a godsend in this era when Sally's almost never allowed to do anything interesting

I already highlighted this back in the day, but I feel obligated to remind everyone of the incredibly funny thing Antoine says the first time he sees his future wife

Sonic and Bunnie head out to fight a giant Burrobot. They make for a great tag team, with Bunnie's sheer strength complimenting Sonic's speed. It's a shame we didn't see them team up more often as the series went on, but this is a great little showcase for Bunnie. Yeah, Gallagher's not gonna get into the juicy drama here because he was hired to emulate AoStH at Sega's request, but Bunnie shows off that she's good in a fight and that she's eager to turn her partial roboticization against Robotnik to help her new friends. It's not deep, but it's entertaining

And that's issue #3. I am extremely biased, I'll admit, but Bunnie's introduction remains a highlight of these first few issues

The first story of the issue starts out extremely similar to issue #1, except this time Coconuts shows up to murder poor Crabmeat. Yes, this is an AoStH-themed story! One of surprisingly few, considering the early comics were modeled after that show

Coconuts, of course, fights Sonic and Tails, and they trick him into getting blown up by his own bomb by playing monkey in the middle with him (har har). And then... Sonic delivers Coconuts' severed head to Robotnik in a box

So this is where David Fincher got the idea for Se7en

After this, Robotnik naturally calls in Scratch and Grounder. Their introductory scene truly feels right out of the show. Whether that's a good or bad thing will depend on your feelings on that show and/or old YouTube poops. I'm fond of both of those things, so I enjoy this

Antics ensue, Sonic outsmarts the duo by making them bicker with each other, and Robotnik says the line

But now... here we go. The backup story

Cal and Al

Sonic is magically transported to Cal and Al's realm by collecting a bunch of rings, which makes it seem like it MIGHT be a play on the special stages from the game. Except in two issues we're gonna see the actual half-pipe stage, so...? I dunno

And then, of course, THEY show up. So, are Verti-Cal and Horizont-Al really as bad as I thought they were back in 2014? The answer is, of course, no. I didn't truly understand the depths this series would sink to in the late '90s and early '00s. But I still don't like them

Here's a comparison I failed to make the first time around. There's a decent chance that Cal and Al were inspired by DC's Mister Mxyzptlk. For those unfamiliar, he's a funny little guy in a bowler hat with the power to bend reality who's been occasionally messing with Superman since the '40s. (Viewers of the '90s cartoon will remember him for being voiced by Gilbert Gottfried.) Visually, he's usually as out of place in Superman's world as Cal and Al are in Sonic's world, but he's basically a mercurial trickster deity. An all-powerful interdimensional prankster. And that's a fun character archetype! Q, Bill Cipher, arguably Bugs Bunny, My Little Pony's Discord (before they "redeemed" him and he--god no don't get me started on Discord). And who doesn't love Duck Amuck, or that one episode of Ed Edd n Eddy where they broke reality?

The problem is that, as far as these types of story go, Gallagher and Manak seem to have had an extremely limited imagination with this one. Cal and Al's antics only amount to stuff like this for a few pages

They live in a world made of abstract colorful backgrounds. They stand on the edges of the panels. They finish each other's sentences. They mess with the gravity. They make holes for Sonic to fall through. One panel loses its color. (Or perhaps their home zone does these things on its own, and they're simply unfazed by all of it? It's unclear.) And that's it! That's really it. It's four pages of Sonic tumbling around this abstract void as the gravity keeps shifting while Cal and Al mock his plight. The fun of these cartoon logic trickster characters like Mister Mxyzptlk and Bill Cipher and whatnot is that you never know what they're gonna do next, but Cal and Al only really have one trick and it gets boring fast. And yeah, manipulating gravity CAN be a really fun ability, but not when you're only doing it in a featureless void

The other thing, of course, is that this is only issue #2 (or #6, if you count the pilot miniseries). Believe it or not, these two were the first real Archie-exclusive Sonic characters! Ever! Think about that. These two were even introduced before Bunnie. It's SO bizarre. It's like we're only on the second issue of the full series and Gallagher is already out of ideas for what to do with the actual Sonic elements, so he's just throwing in other random things that amuse him. And he wanted these two to stick around! Sonic tries to invite them to join the Freedom Fighters, and they break the fourth wall at the end to ask the readers to write in if they want to see more. Can you imagine a version of this series where these two are regular characters?

But, again, they're not the worst thing ever. They're just kinda lame, and a weird inclusion. I WOULD say that maybe this was just a random story Gallagher put together to meet a quota, and the editor just happened to like it enough to put it in the second issue. It wouldn't be the last time something like that happened in this series. Except... they returned in a one-pager two months later, where they thanked the kids who wrote in about them. So no, it really does seem like there was a concerted effort to push Cal and Al early on

Among the bonus features we also got a short story compiling fan theories about why Tails has two tails, a question I'm still shocked the lore-obsessed Archie comics never attempted to answer. (Seriously - Penders gave us the baby microwave to explain why Knuckles has his knuckles, but Tails was spared? I can't believe it.) The suggestions here are, of course, mostly silly references

The most interesting thing to me here is that Tails suggests getting his own three-issue miniseries, and asks fans to write in if they want to see it. Yes, they were thinking about expanding Archie Sonic into a multi-book franchise this early! In the second issue of the full series!! Before Tails had even been developed as his own character! It felt ill-advised to give Tails his own book even when they actually did it over two years later, so to see this suggestion this early is truly wild to me. They were really eager to cash in on that Genesis era hype while it lasted

Also that joke with Sonic is good

Last but not least, here's somebody talking shit about "the Marios" in the Sonic-Grams