Sonic Universe #48 (March 2013)

Tracy Yardley!/Steve Downer cover: Oh he did not say that!

“All For One Part 3: Deep Cover”

Story: Ian Flynn; Art: Tracy Yardley! Ink: Jim Amash; Color: Matt Herms; Lettering: Jack Morelli; Assistant Editor: Vincent Lovallo; Editor: Paul Kaminski; Editor-in-Chief: Victor Gorelick; Meany Head of the Orphanage: Mike Pellerito; Sega Li censing reps: Mayuka Kobayashi, Anthony Gaccione and Cindy Chau

Espio, Charmy and Vector find themselves surrounded by the Sand Blast City so-called Freedom Fighters. Everybody figures they may as well get the fight scene over with, with the Chaotix coming up on the short end. Fortunately, when they’re met by Jack Rabbit he turns them over for the intake interview to Mighty, dba Flex. Thinking fast, Mighty says that they’re his “stupid but loyal” old gang. On the premise of whipping them into shape, he takes them into custody.

Back at his place he’s ready to drop the tough guy act and make with the exposition, including a one-page spread with an almost full-figure portrait on the side of the page; that’s a convention of girl’s manga, by the way. Mighty and Ray report that they traced Matilda to Sand Blast City where they threw in with Jack and his crew.

After smoothing things over with Vector concerning some forgotten grudges, Mighty then announces he’s going over to the other side to have a chat with Baron Bo. As he leaves, Ray gets all farklempt and lets his abandonment issues come to the surface. Vector and Charmy then remind him of the definition of ohana.

The Baron lobs a few literal bombs at Mighty when he shows up but that’s not about to slow him down. He merely pops the top on a tank and surrenders to the driver.

When the Baron asks for an explanation, Mighty tells him about his quest for his sister. Being a quick study, Bo calls for Matilda, aka Tilly. When she shows up, the reunion doesn’t go exactly as Mighty had hoped. Then, with her affect as flat as ever, she does her own exposition: from orphanage to robot to not-robot to the Baron’s Legion.

After she turns in, the Baron explains that given her life experiences it’s no wonder she’s “distant” and he’d hoped that Mighty could snap her out of it. Then, when Mighty asks if she’s happy the Baron says “As happy as any of us can be,” then it’s his turn to play the ohana card. He also tells Mighty he’s sympathetic to his situation “more than you know,” which makes me think about his being related to Bunnie (Remember Bunnie?). He then sends Mighty to temporary quarters in the brig while he contacts Jack about a prisoner swap.

Jack does not take the news of Mighty’s capture well but arranges to go ahead with the prisoner exchange. He also, however, thinks it would be a good opportunity to solve his Baron Bo problem with what some conservatives refer to as a “Second Amendment solution.”

HEAD: Now that we’re out of Mercia and he’s shed the hey-nonny nonsense, Ian has managed to find his narrative voice. This is the kind of storytelling I’ve been waiting for: coherent, with none of the tricks of S244’s “Endangered Species Part 2” and without any needless digressions.

In fact, the tone and characterizations in this story make the first two installment of this arc look like a high school production of “Spamalot.” The occasional humorous touch notwithstanding (e.g. Mighty’s method of surrender), this story takes itself seriously and doesn’t exist for the sake of the fight scenes or the musical numbers.

Baron Bo is a particular revelation here. Mighty’s read of the character is that he’s reasonable, and Ian does nothing to undercut that assessment. The Baron is certainly not cut from the same worn-out cloth as Admiral Kuku the 15^th (or maybe the 14^th; even the comic can’t keep it straight) or even Hood in this same story arc. There’s nothing over the top about him; in fact, he comes off as sympathetic to Mighty’s plight with Matilda (about whom more in the Heart section). This story is character-driven, which is what Ian should have been writing all along. Head Score: 10.

EYE: Really the only beef I have with Tracy Yardley’s artwork is the awkward arm’s length hug on page [14]. OK, I can see the practical problem with drawing a real hug: it becomes difficult to see more than one face, and he obviously wanted to contrast Mighty’s happiness with Matilda’s surprise. But two pages later he does a baby Matilda that’s so awwww-inspiring I’m inclined to overlook the awkward hug. Eye Score: 10.

HEART: Unlike the first act of this drama, this one considers its characters as something more than fighters in funny clothes. And of the key players, Matilda is the prima player.

Even during her first appearance, there was something about her flat affect that caught my attention. Knowing how overboard comic book characters can be, she stood out for that reason. Now that she’s been given a back story, it’s entirely plausible and it explains why she’s so straight-faced. In this case, Ian has clearly done his homework as to what happens to someone who’s been through what she did.

Matilda and Ray have that in common: they have abandonment issues. But whereas Ray is sensitive to the point of being insecure and a bit of a whiner, Matilda takes another approach and has more or less shut down. It so happens I can personally relate to Matilda. I’ve come to call it the devil’s bargain: it’s possible not to feel bad, but the catch is you end up not feeling anything.

She does, however, have a support system in the form of Baron Bo’s Legion. Yes, he’s still part of Robotnik Incorporated, but something tells me that he leaves a lot of details out of his reports to the home office. Of all the sub-bosses who have appeared in this comic, it appears he’s the least affected by any kind of ambition or megalomania. His solicitude toward Matilda isn’t an isolated event, if his own commentary on the situation is to be believed. Granted a heavily-armed Dark Legion unit isn’t exactly a Norman Rockwell kind of “family” but in Matilda’s case it’s literally better than nothing.

The members of the Mercian Freedom Fighters lack the depth to inspire anything like real interest; maybe I could get some fanfic mileage out of Lop or Friar Buck but it would mean taking a lot of liberties with characters whose existence is sketchy at best. There’s no such problem with Matilda or Bo for that matter. They’re both complex and believable, which is what the characters in this franchise should have been all along. I hate to think that this is the exception in this comic rather than the rule. Heart Score: 10.

SONIC SPIN: Paul thanks the fans for 20 years of spending money on this comic while flogging the Sonic-Mega Man crossover. Makes me wonder how the Sonic-Sabrina crossover was received.

FAN ART: William does the Chaotix in a winter wonderland, and Emma gives us Ray roasting marshmallows. And while I try not to play favorites with the fan art section, Sutton’s drawing of a “Baby Werehog” is an accompaniment to the Baby Matilda drawing. The two together should feature a link to “diabeetus” at Know Your Meme.com.

OFF PANEL: Just like Sonic on foot versus those Sega racers would have been no contest, so would arm-wrestling with Mighty. Translation: we just saw this joke.

FAN MAIL: Two letters. Cool Fox Willie is looking forward to Drs. Wily and Eggman opening a joint practice in the crossover, but their competing against each other would be acceptable as well. AT wants to know more about Amy Rose’s back story. He/she also suggests that the sub-bosses should unionizing to get out from under Eggman. Editorial is right in that this isn’t a very viable idea. Plus, let’s face it, villains like Hood need a lot more development because they’re such thin soup to begin with. Trying to hide them in a Legion of Doom-type mob isn’t going to help them out. Baron Bo has the right idea: you should actually have a character and let the other guys worry about doing the same.