Archie Sonic Issue #1

As we transition over to the main Archie Sonic series, we settle into a pretty familiar rhythm for about the first year or so of the new comic's run. Mike Gallagher officially settles in as the de facto head writer (although we will start to see other writers emerge before too long), and Dave Manak takes over not just as the main penciler inside the book, but also as the sole cover artist all the way until Issue 20, after which a certain "Spaz" shows up and becomes one of the all-time Archie Sonic greats. But I'm getting ahead of myself, so let's just focus on this issue for now.

While I'm not too big of a fan of most of Dave Manak's covers down the road, I have to admit this one is some really solid stuff. It's chaotic and dynamic, without being overwhelming. It shows off Sonic and Robotnik's nemesis dynamic perfectly, and makes Robotnik's Badniks seem genuinely imposing and threatening, something that, as we'll soon be reminded in a minute, is very rare in these early issues. I'm not too big of a fan of the fact that Sally is cowering in fear here, but that's less of a complaint about the art and more about how useless Gallagher has written her to be so far (Tails is also panicking, but he gets a pass because this is when he's the little kid of the group). As far as first issues for a long running series go, this definitely gets the job done, and I'm sure it would have instantly grabbed just about any kid's attention back in the day when it was first released. 

Does this first issue live up to the hype? Well, let's find out, starting with our first story:

"Meet Me At The Corner of Hedgehog And Vine!"... wow that is a mouthful. And now I'm sad, because I'm thinking about the death of Vine... 10 YEARS AGO!? Yikes, I'm ancient. Oh well, at least we'll always have the memories.

OH. Well alright, guess this comic was actually a lot shorter than I remember, Robotnik won on the very first page. I guess his eyes finally being colored properly as black and red was enough to intimidate Sonic into submission. Goodbye everyone, it was fun while it lasted.

No of course not, this is just a fake dummy Robotnik's set up to smash into pieces, which even the doctor admits in frustration to be a really pathetic display for someone who's supposed to be the greatest evil on the planet. It's made even worse when one of his SWAT-Bots comes in carrying a plant, and he proceeds to pound the poor guy into the ground because he hates the environment or whatever...

...Until it turns out that it's actually a ROBOTIC plant called the "Krudzu" (OK fine Gallagher, that's actually a cute name, I'll give it to you) that can infest the entire Great Forest, and then Robotnik is immediately delighted to test it out.

This short little opening is the perfect display of the constant back and forth I've been having with Mike Gallagher's take on Robotnik up until now. On the one hand, I enjoy how absurdly petty he is, to the point of trashing his minions without a second thought and happily boosting his own ego at every conceivable opportunity. On the other hand, I find it incredibly hard to believe that this man was able to conquer an entire planet when his minions are coming up with better plans than him, making regular passive comments about his weight with little to no consequences, and Robotnik HIMSELF is straight up confessing that his constant defeat at Sonic's hands is embarrassing. I suppose you could argue that for where the book is tonally right now, it's perfectly fine, but when this world becomes more fleshed out and we see the kinds of atrocities this man is capable of, it makes this look really awkward in retrospect.

Speaking of awkward, let's check in on our favorite lovable doofus, Antoine:

OK you know what, I actually really like this. The idea that Antoine is so trapped in his own jealousy that he sincerely thinks Sonic and Sally are discussing some deep military stuff when they're literally just framing a map is just the right amount of ridiculous for me to appreciate. It also really works to demonstrate a lot about Antoine's pompous attitude and incredibly fragile ego, which as I've said before goes a long way in making his and Sonic's rivalry feel a lot less meanspirited and one-sided. Plus, it reminds me of this gem from one of my all-time favorite movies:

Obviously, the movie did it better, but if you're making me think of Meet the Robinsons, you're doing something right.

So Antoine is predictably ambushed by the Krudzu, and Sonic and Sally hear his screams up above and rush to the rescue, with Sonic caring more about being able to show off his skills than about actually saving someone because he's just the best hero around.

OK I'm messing with him a little, but he doesn't exactly do himself favors with comments like THIS:

Is that jab at Antoine funny? Sure, but it's definitely uncalled for, especially given the life-or-death peril he's currently entangled in.

Also, while we're out here in the Great Forest, I thought this would be a good time to really demonstrate the point I've been trying to get across with Dave Manak's artwork. It's not bad, sure, but let's just do a quick comparison with Scott Shaw's "Issue 1":

Do you see the difference? They both get the job done, but Scott Shaw's work is just way more polished, and the background has a lot more detail to it. I'll try not to come back to this point too much in the near future, especially since I have zero artistic talent whatsoever, but I just feel like it's worth bringing up here.

So anyway, Sonic goes to retrieve Antoine, Sally helps make sure the tree stump slams shut, and once again, Antoine helps deliver yet another really solid punchline:

Man, I have to give Gallagher serious credit, he's actually doing a lot better in the humor department for this story so far. Rotor pulling out the chainsaw from thin air is so out of left field that it legitimately took me out when I read this one in the Sonic Archives back in the day. Pretty solid joke... until it turns out he's kidding, and was just trimming the table Antoine was on so he can get closer and yank the vines off of him with help from Sonic and Sally. I mean sure, that's definitely the safer and more humane approach, but come on, you almost hit a comedy home run!

While they're helping Antoine recover, Tails randomly walks by, completely oblivious to everything that's been happening so far for whatever reason, and we get our second instance of me going "wow, early Archie Tails is REALLY insufferable sometimes":

I can forgive him wanting to water what he thinks is a completely normal plant, that's perfectly fine and he didn't know any better. But the fact that literally EVERYONE around him reacts in horror, and all he can do is say "wow, I just can't do ANYTHING nice for you guys, huh?" is exactly the kind of blind, entitled stupidity that I would give Chris from Sonic X all kinds of trash talk for back when I watched that show as a kid.

However, after a brief page cutting away to Robotnik doing his typical villain monologue about how the Freedom Fighters are totally trapped, albeit with a really weird joke where his maniacal laughter... scares himself with how evil it is... (I don't even know, man), we learn that Tails's seemingly dangerous mistake was actually a blessing, because the Krudzu, being a robot, is weak to water.

Robotnik... are you kidding me? I guess this isn't ENTIRELY on you since it was your SWAT-Bot that found this thing, but... you didn't even bother to make sure your PLANT-BASED ROBOT was WATERPROOF!? Can you please just have a SINGLE PLAN in this comic that you actually think through, so it doesn't blow up in your face in such an embarrassing way?

And then to add insult to injury, right at that exact moment, a thunderstorm emerges and completely wipes out the Krudzu, ending the story without the Freedom Fighters having to lift a finger. Deus ex machina doesn't even BEGIN to describe it. What a letdown.

This is one of those stories that I feel like could have seriously benefitted from having the whole issue to itself, rather than having to share space with another one as is quickly becoming the common practice. We were actually on a pretty decent roll here, with a few solid jokes and a potentially interesting threat, but then we ran out of time, so we had to give this seemingly imposing enemy the most basic weakness ever so we could just wrap it up and move on. It's definitely one of the better stories we've had so far, but it could have been so much more.

Thankfully, this won't be the last we see of the Krudzu, but it'll be a LONG time before it appears in any form to live up to the potential it displayed here. This is the first in what will be many, MANY instances of interesting concepts that are left hanging out to dry (no pun intended) until Ian Flynn comes along to properly flesh them out in his run years later.

But enough about that. Let's just move on to our second and final story for this issue:

"You Bet My Life!"... oh boy, I already know where this is heading...

CASINO NIGHT! WOOOO!!!

Alright Mike, you have my attention, let's do it!

Actually, before we get into this, I did notice something really odd in the credits for this particular story. If you look down, you'll notice the name for the colorist, "Lyrad Namlede", which is already a really peculiar name on its own. However, when you flip it backwards, you'll find that it is an exact reverse of the editor sitting right next to it, "Daryl Edelman". I looked it up, and this same credit can also be seen in the previous story of this issue as well as both stories for Issue 3 of the mini-series. So, I'm guessing something strange happened in the development of these 2 particular issues, and the editor had to pull double duty by being the colorist, which he then hastily tried to cover up with this alias here.

Now, you may wonder why I'm bringing this up. Well, while this is admittedly a bit of a sudden and random observation, this will NOT be the last time in the comic's history where something like this happens. In the not-too-distant future, we'll see one editor come onto the book who will then go on to become a full-time writer for the comic under his own fake pen name, which will have massive implications for some of the lore going forward. The fast and loose nature of Archie Sonic in its early days, with practically no corporate oversight over these kinds of things, is going to lead us down a WILD road before too terribly long.

Anyway, let's turn our attention back to the comic so I can bonk Tails upside the head for that incredibly dumb comment he made right there. Someone please teach this kid the basic fundamentals of grammar and punctuation before I have a meltdown.

So, the Freedom Fighters made this big dramatic call for Sonic... so he can fold their map for them, because apparently no one else on their group is capable of doing so. To be fair though, I have always been REALLY terrible at that kind of thing, so I feel their collective pain and frustration on that one.

The map is there to help pinpoint the exact location of Casino Night Zone, the sight of Robotnik's next big scheme. I could ask why we need this map when we have this monitor right here that's helping accomplish the exact same task, but that's giving me war flashbacks to the insanely contrived nonsense in The Force Awakens regarding the map to Luke Skywalker. We should probably move away from that before I sink into my crippling depression over how much of a disaster Star Wars has become without George Lucas.

Instead, let's focus on the last panel here, which reveals another odd quirk about this era. For a lot of these early issues, whenever something game related comes up, there will often be a note either from the writer or the editor encouraging the kids reading to pick up their Sega Genesis controller and "help Sonic get there". I can't help but wonder if any kid actually did this, because even when I was a kid reading these issues, I thought the whole idea seemed too goofy for me.

But hey, we're heading to Casino Night Zone, one of my absolute favorites from Sonic 2! After how well Labyrinth Zone was handled before, this is going to be a blast! I can't wait to-

Oh... it's just... a regular, plain old casino. Well, this is a rip-off.

Now, I do feel like it's worth pointing out what I said back in the mini-series when I covered the comic's take on Labyrinth Zone. I do find it nice that they don't feel the need to fully tie themselves down to being an exact recreation of the games' environment. Different interpretations are totally fair game, and they help this continuity stand out. That being said... I can't help but feel like this is a MASSIVE step down from the game in every way. There are no fun springs or bumpers anywhere, the slot machines are completely normal instead of being gigantic and letting Sonic spin inside them, and the colors here are just not visually appealing in the slightest. It's really lacking that signature charm that made the original so iconic and memorable.

Anyway, Sonic heads into where Robotnik is showing off his latest weapon, making sure to get a front row seat so he can see it up close and personal... and that goes about as well as you'd expect.

Sonic, what did you think was going to happen? You were literally sitting DIRECTLY in front of your mortal enemy as he was showing off his new weapon. Did you really not consider the possibility that he would target you while you sat there like a complete doofus?

On a more positive note, I do enjoy the fact that Robotnik chose to bring out Orbinaut like this, with the full stage presentation and everything. That's exactly the kind of performative, ego-stroking behavior I like to see in my cartoon villains.

And bonus points for this incredible display of pettiness on Robotnik's part. As much as I really don't like a lot of IDW Sonic's writing, there is one thing they nailed that applies to every version of the good doctor, whether he be a Robotnik, Eggman, or both. It's not enough to simply kill Sonic, he has to BREAK him. Everything he does is in service to proving his own superiority, and in order to do that, he has to fully, completely DESTROY his nemesis, by any outlandish means necessary.

Yeah, this definitely doesn't look all that fun. But hey, it's still less painful than playing Sonic Spinball, am I right?

Robotnik prepares to keep sending Sonic through the machine until he's totally fried, but he's distracted by a report that someone actually won money in his casino, so in typically evil fashion, he decides to go punish this poor soul severely for having good fortune... and leaves Sonic completely unattended.

COME ON, MAN! WILL YOU GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME!? I was just about to give you a pass this time around, and then you go and pull the oldest villain cliché in the book! Do you want to win or not!?

Whatever. This incredibly short-sighted action gives Sonic the chance to plan his escape, with him using his spines to slowly cut against the glass of the sphere he's trapped in. When Robotnik comes back to put him into the machine again, well... I think you can tell where this is going.

I call absolute baloney on Sonic being able to deflect Orbinaut's shots like that. Not because I find it illogical or anything, it actually makes perfect sense, but because I'm bitter that I'm not allowed to do that in any of the games. That would have made some of those long, slow stretches of Labyrinth Zone WAY less annoying.

Then Sonic sets off a bomb, Robotnik goes flying, and we're pretty much done here.

So that was the very first issue of the official, ongoing Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comic, and it's... OK, I guess. But that's really the problem. Neither of these stories are outright bad, but they feel so limited in their potential due to how the book is structured right now. Thankfully, both the Krudzu and this watered down Casino Night will get their chances down the road to become something more than what they are now, but that will be the result of a future writer who watched from the sidelines as all these good ideas went to waste and decided to actually DO something with them.

And really, "just OK" is how I would describe most of this so-called "gag era". It rarely does anything to be offensively terrible like some of the truly insane stories we'll get later on, but it also rarely does anything to be truly amazing or spectacular. I wouldn't go so far as to compare it to, say, an Illumination movie, because this at least has something of a personality and isn't trying to be incredibly safe and corporate. But on the entertainment spectrum, it's about in that same ballpark for me (maybe SLIGHTLY higher due to fanboy bias). 

Still, we press on. Tune in for the next issue, where we'll greet some familiar faces from a certain Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon...