Sonic the Hedgehog #251 (September 2013)

Spaz/Hunzeker Cover: “It all ends here!” (Insert thanks to the deity of your choice) Sonic going Super: now we know this story’s just about over. Mega Man is going super as well; I don’t know if he even can go super, but this is an alt-universe in a comic book with Sonic’s name on it, so what the hell. Plus guest appearances by secondary characters and villains.

“When Worlds Collide: Best of the Best”

Story: Ian Flynn; Art: Ben Bates; Ink: Gary Martin; Color: Matt Herms; Lettering: John E. Workman; Assistant Editor: Vincent Lovallo; Editor: Paul Kaminski; Editor-in-Chief: Victor Gorelick; Boss of the Boss: Mike Pellerito: Game Kids: Anthony Gaccione, Cindy Chau and Brian Oliveira

When we left our heroes (the ones who matter, anyway) they were bottled up while the Docs lapse into gloat mode and provide a full page of exposition while dozens of robots and a handful of Mobians wail on each other. So what happens next? More robots show up; the ORIGINAL LIGHT ROBOT MASTERS in all caps no less. They check in with Dr. Light before he, Proto and Knuckles head for the Wily Egg.

Aboard said Wily Egg, it seems that Wily and Eggman have different ideas about what to do with reality. Wily figured they were going to cut a few corners but Eggy figured that with a full set of seven emeralds they can do an Extreme Makeover: Cosmos Edition. And Sonic and Mega are still alive because the Docs wanted an audience, apparently. But the show is interrupted when Light, Proto and Knuckles get into the act. After Light springs the boys, Mega uses the Super Adaptor that Light gives him (Don’t leave home without it next time) to merge with his robo dog and power up. Unfortunately, with that boyish face of his, he resembles nothing so much as a kid who’s ready to go out trick-or-treating dressed as a Gundam.

In the Egg Wily Machine X, Egg and Wily discover that the shields and weapons systems are down thanks to some mutual passive-aggressive sabotage. It eventually powers up, despite Knuckles wailing on it. However, Wily and Egg are so fixated on Knuckles and Proto that they fail to notice Mega and Sonic heading toward the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic, predictably, goes Super as does Mega. Eggman’s response: “FIRE EVERYTHING! LAUNCH IT ALL!” Not that it does any good with the heroes in Super mode. But this battle is only a sideshow because the Genesis Wave has begun to goof with the temporal plain. But Mega shoots Sonic at the EWMX which blows up real good. The end?

Not exactly. The Genesis Wave is still out there looking all weird and science-fictiony. So Sonic plans to Chaos Control it into submission. Eggman, meanwhile, ejects Wily’s butt from what’s left of the EWMX and uses it to blind-side Sonic as he’s powering up. Mega is left to Chaos Control his own universe after getting some quick pointers from Sonic. As for Sonic and Eggman, they hurtle into the white-out toward … the next issue.

HEAD: Well, I hope Archie got what they wanted out of this story arc: a bump-up in Mega Man comic sales.

They could use some help. I checked Diamond Distributors’ list for July 13, 2013. Sonic #250 and #251 came in at 14,291 and 12,782 issues shipped, respectively. That puts them at positions 166 and 179 on the list. Sonic Universe #54 clocks in at 194 with 11,398 issues. As for Mega Man #27, he came in at 209 with 10,332 issues. Compare that with Archie #646, which ranked 325 with a measly 4,671 issues shipped. The top 100, of course, is dominated by DC and Marvel titles, with one notable exception: at number 66 with a sizable 35,153 issues, far ahead of anything published by Archie, is IDW’s My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I haven’t subscribed to it myself, but I bought one bound volume of the opening story arc to get an idea of how the comic rolls.

I’ve made no secret of the fact that as far as I’m concerned Mega Man is an acquired taste, and this story hasn’t done much to make me want to acquire it. Aside from being an assumed enemy for the first few issues, once that gets straightened out he’s little more than Sonic’s shadow for the rest of the arc (apologies to Sonic’s other Shadow). About the only variation is when Dr. Light is in his death plunge, and even then it’s Shadow who makes the save before pretty much dropping out of the story. If I thought that Roll was going to be more of a major player I might consider it, but it appears that Capcom and Archie are in agreement that she’s pretty much the mama-san of the Light household. That’s probably why it was suggested that I check out Mega Man 22 where Ice Man develops a crush on her (crushed ice?). But I get a feeling that’s pretty much the exception to the rule.

This arc settled into a rut once Sonic and Mega stopped kicking each other’s asses: it sought to reach a balance between ass-kicking and exposition. There were exceptions which involved Dr. Light and Duo but the story never really got interesting for me. When Sonic goes Super, as I said, you pretty much know we’re rounding third and heading for home. The only time Archie tampered with that was when Sonic and Scourge both went Super in S196’s “Hedgehog Havoc; Part 2.” It turns out that when Scourge does it, the bring-down afterward is like drinking a dozen Red Bulls and then having them all wear off at once.

Mega Man’s use of the mojo of the Archie characters was mildly interesting; I’m not sure what power Rouge threw into the pot but it would probably make an interesting Rule 34 fic. I’m just saying. And I’m pretty sure that Mega Man will lose their abilities since he’s straightening out his own world.

Which brings me to Dr. Wily. Is he an interesting enough villain to make me want to follow the comic? I don’t think so. In part it’s because, just as Mega Man became Sonic’s shadow, so Wily became Eggman’s shadow. And when the two stopped behaving like old queens, Eggman definitely was the badder of the two.

Final verdict is: sorry, I’m not going to subscribe to Mega Man. If you already liked him, it should be a comic you’ll like so don’t let me dissuade you. Me, I’ve read this story over and over and over again in the Sonic comics. Ian writes stories but he also spins variations on stories he’s written before, just as he’s on his way to spinning a variation on “Treasure Team Tango” in Sonic Universe. I’m not looking forward to that, either. Head Score: 6.

EYE: Rather than wear down one artist, the chores were handed off. I found myself actually liking the work of Jamal Peppers and Ben Bates more than that of Tracy Yardley!. Ben gets a huge workout here, especially with the “FIRE EVERYTHING!” 2-page super spread. And he does a good job with the Chaos Wave white-out. Eye Score: 10.

HEART: The longer this arc has gone on, the more any kind of Heart factor has just drained away. The lone exception was Dr. Light falling to his doom; I hate to keep bringing that up but that was pretty much the only Heart moment in 12 issues of story. Unless I missed something in the Mega Man issues. Heart Score: 3.

FAN ART: Quinn shows off his Tails shoes. Now that’s fan love. Kyle does a drawing of Rouge and the Chaos Devil. Maddie draws Amy and Roll. And Debra submits a fan comic where Sonic and Mega back off and let the pair-o-docs cancel each other out.

OFF-PANEL: Jet Not-Appearing-In-This-Story, meet Big Not-Appearing-In-This-Story.

No fan mail, no editorials, but there is an ad for the comic. Like we’re the ones who need to be sold after having slogged through this story arc.