Sonic the Hedgehog #252 (October 2013)

Ben Bates cover: “Hit the ground running,” it says. From the look of it, I’d have used the term “Splashdown” instead. It’s a simple Sonic portrait, with him in that 3-point landing crouch that fits on the cover quite well.

“At All Costs Part 2: A New Lease On Life”

Story: Ian Flynn; Art: Evan Stanley; Ink: Terry Austin; Color: Matt Herms; Lettering: Jack Morelli; Assistant Editor: Vincent Lovallo; Editor: Paul Kaminski; Editor-in-Chief: Victor Gorelick; Extractor Wanna-Be: Mike Pellerito; X-Box One Beta Testers: Anthony Gaccione and Cindy Chau.

We open with Sonic in the process of getting his mind blown. Trust me, that’s the significance of the scenes in the background. He comes to on Mobius in the rain as various Mobians are on the run from (and you’ll have to trust me on this as well) a refit of the Tails Doll back in Part 1, which appeared in S247. Mercifully, this refit design makes it look like a cross between a robo-scorpion and a jet engine and not like the original model. But Sonic is still coming up for air after his extended crossover with Mega Man so when Tails asks him “Are you okay?” that’s a loaded question. Still, it’s a good pretext for exposition, better than some, anyway. But that doesn’t make it any easier when Tails starts rattling off plot points that Sonic doesn’t remember, such as their mission to rescue the king and having saved he Wisps.

As for Naugus, he of the not-so-wispy figure, he’s in the castle bemoaning Sonic’s arrival to Nicole, who seems to have turned her old hand-held digs into an iSnark. She’s been commissioned to produce a “super ring” and Naugus is getting impatient to take delivery. But then Naugus grabs at the hand held unit and his mind gets blown. Freaked out by the flashback, he throws the handheld through the window before following it himself and tries running away from his new set of memories. Yeah, good luck with that.

But the Tails Doll-a-Tron, or whatever, is now Sonic’s Priority One. He enlists Tails’s help, but finds it’s hard to communicate with someone who doesn’t understand his off-hand references. I can so relate to that, Sonic.

Anyway, dealing with the Doll 2.0 involves seeking out the Control Gem, which sounds a lot like a final boss move I’ve dealt with somewhere before. And like any final boss move, it’s not easy. Tails gets swatted aside for his trouble but lands near Nicole, whose voice chip has taken a major hit as a result of being thrown out the window; probably voided the warranty as well. But techie Tails is willing to give her a tweak. When he does, however, his mind gets blown. And he’s so busy trying to process these right-wrong memories that he doesn’t notice he’s about to lose a bushel of life points until Sonic makes the save. Tails tries to explain what he’s going through and Sonic says “Welcome to my world!” and figures dealing with the Doll 2.0 is the best medicine at this point.

As for Eggman, the cause of all this, he’s crash-landed far away in the frickin’ plains … excuse me, the Efrikan plains, along with Orbot and Cubot, which would ordinarily be punishment enough. But Ian can only spare two pages of concern for the big guy (and that’s far more than I’d give him myself).

The plan now is to use Nicole, who has acquires the stutter-and-flutter speech mannerisms of Max Headroom, to interface with the Tails Doll thingie and get it to drop its guard. The plan actually works and Sonic snatches the doll and gem. He thereupon punts the doll out of the continuity, for good I hope, and smashes the gem. The end?

Hardly. Now they have to rescue King Max while coping with what Sonic nicely refers to as “new old stuff.” This gives the comic a chance to indulge in the usual quota of exposition, but in this case it’s actually necessary. Springing the King, however, is way easy, and the reward is a new and improved King Max who’s “not a total jerk” as Sonic puts it. King Not-A-Jerk then asks Sonic and Tails to let him know when they find Sally. For the record, Sally is a) on board the Death Egg, b) in the Arctic, c) not roboticized, and d) wearing more clothes than she used to.

HEAD: Sally’s survival is old news. How old? Since October 2012 when Archie Comics unveiled her new look at that year’s New York Comic Con. Don’t ask me why they didn’t do the honors at that year’s San Diego Comic Con, or even the one in 2013, which may say something about the Archie travel budget. Inevitably, there were howls of protest from the fan base not so much for her expanded wardrobe but for editing out her facial fluff. It’s tough to see what the difference amounts to, but Archie has been screwing around with the Sonic continuity for two decades now and if they haven’t won over the fans by now there’s no point making a federal case out of it.

I waxed at length about pirates in my review of Sonic Universe #55’s “Pirate Plunder Panic Part 1” because pirates have been around a long time and a little background information never hurt. I am not, however, going to do the same with Max Headroom, which so belongs to the Eighties that most of the pre-ado boy market won’t even recognize it. If you want to get an idea of how he sounded, go to YouTube and find a clip.

As for the story itself, it gets down to business and stays there, and that’s a good thing. Given that Sonic just got back into town after his 4-month hiatus, he does have some catching up to do. And the first thing he does is dispose of the Tails Doll plot point, thank you very much. The Doll had been little more than a prop to manipulate as the plot required; here, it actually poses a threat and is not just a dollop of nightmare juice. If it never pops up in the comic again, it will be too soon. Or if it did show itself again, I think it would be more terrifying if it dropped the “Schlurpie” sound effect and introduced itself by singing “Can You Feel the Sunshine?”. The correct response would be to say “No” and then run away.

Sonic is fast, as required, but here he’s also got to think on his feet in this story. That may not be his best event, but it’s a major change from the ass kicking that’s gone before. The comic, in fact, is getting traction and not just running. Head Score: 9.

EYE: Evan Stanley has a firm grasp of the characters and of the need to show them reacting emotionally to the ups and downs of the story line. My favorite drawing is the one panel where she shows Eggman crashed in the desert from an extreme BEV. Eye Score: 10.

HEART: There would be a lot more Heart moments here but for the need to smack down the Tails Doll 2.0. But the return of the King is good enough at this point.

Don’t ask me why the comic treated King Max so shabbily during the history of this comic. For starters, there wouldn’t even have been a King Max if it weren’t for the SatAM Sonic. There, he seemed a decent enough sort who got screwed over by Eggman dba Warlord Julian who exiled the King to the Zone of Silence/Void. Since the SatAM series only lasted two seasons Archie was free to make up the rest, and boy did they ever!

I waited in vain for the writers to give Max a break, and they could have done it easily enough in numerous places. For instance, after Max was rendered paralyzed from getting konked by a Shadowbot in S88’s “Family Matters,” I hoped that at some point Max would ask to speak to Sonic and say “I acted in haste, and this is where it got me. Don’t make the same mistake, lad,” or words to that effect. Of course that would necessitate some character development, which is not this comic’s best event.

So far, the not-a-jerk King Max is a vast improvement. Unfortunately, I hold out little hope if any that this is a permanent upgrade. Archie is in the nasty habit of creating character upgrades that are really stronger than the previous model, only to dismiss them as belonging to “possible futures” or something like that and going back to serving up the same old crap.

But for anyone who comes in contact with Nicole, character development is what it’s all about. All of a sudden, they have to reconcile their right-wrong memories which they’ve pretty much been forced to remember. For this comic, that’s a heavy concept.

It also reminds me of the third season finale of “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,” an episode titled “Magical Mystery Cure,” which is a reference that predates Max Headroom by over a decade. After a miscast spell leaves Twilight Sparkle’s friends with scrambled cutie marks and job descriptions that don’t fit, she enlists her friends to help unscramble each other’s memories. This is accomplished by their pupils expanding to fill almost all available eye space, as images of their pasts flickering across in rapid succession. I got the same vibe when Sonic, Naugus and Tails had their flashbacks.

So I’m afraid that this story, as well as the impending arc ominously titled “Countdown to Chaos,” is not going to be the new normal, the latest Crisis On Infinite Earths-style reset. Pity.

But consider all the baggage that was left behind when the Mega Man arc started: Geoff possessed by Naugus, Sally roboticized, Antoine still in a coma, Bunnie headed off who knows where, the echidna population banished … and that’s just off the top of my head. That’s enough baggage to fill an Airbus. So it’s not likely that Archie will walk away and just rewrite everything. I can only hope that what comes after will be worth it and won’t make me miss the interim arc. Heart Score: only 7, because Archie is hedging its bets again.

FAN ART: Mitchell does a study in black and white of Nicole, Silver and Shard. Steven does a drawing of Sonic in motion. Eva makes Silver look more impressive than he usually acts. And Lefty gives us Sonic finding a Chaos Emerald and experiencing the kind of joy overload I’ve been seeing on “Steven Universe.”

OFF-PANEL: Yeah, even Sonic isn’t looking forward to getting back to the old routine

SONIC-GRAMS: Walter gushes about the Mega Man arc. Beau gushes, especially about Metal. And the same Lefty who submitted the fan art gushes as well. At least now we know what it takes to get your letter published in this comic