Media Essays: A Way Past Cool Retrospective (Archie Sonic Issues 180-197

Part 1 and Part 2 here.

Welcome back to A Way Past Cool Retrospective everybody! I hope you're enjoying it so far and are ready for more as we go into Part 3. For this part, I'm covering Enerjak Reborn, the Mammoth Mogul saga and the Bold New Moebius saga. That's a lot of issues to cover, so let's just get right into it! Oh and if you feel I've been too negative towards the comic so far, rest assured, I'm going to be a little more positive this time around as I feel these are some of Ian Flynn's better issues. As is, I'm still going to criticize if I think any of them are bad at all.

Still, let's go for it!

Issues 180-184: Enerjak Reborn

If you've read the previous issues, you'll have caught on that this story was a long time coming. Flynn began sowing the seeds for this story as far back as Issue 161, his SECOND issue since taking over from Ken Penders as head writer. So after twenty issues worth of build-up, did Flynn stick the landing. Yes, yes he did. Even to this day, I still consider Enerjak Reborn one of Flynn's best stories and one of the few stories that still holds up to this day.

One of the reasons it holds up is that unlike Flynn's previous stories, this isn't a rushed two-parter or a rushed three-parter. This is a five issue epic that is given proper time to breathe and it keeps the action and the tension going from beginning to end. It's one of the few stories Flynn has told that doesn't have terrible pacing. Each issue contributes to the story and it never drags or feels rushed. It's the perfect length if you ask me. And needless to say, this thing isn't some story that comes and goes either. By the time Enerjak Reborn is over, we get A LOT of consequences from the story that effect future stories going forward. The resulting fallout of Enerjak Reborn leads to Locke dying, Knuckles being emotionally wounded by the experience, the dissolution of the Dark Legion and its reformation into the Dark Egg Legion (great name, isn't it? (sarcasm)), the end of the Dingo Regime and the echidnas of Angel Island relocated to Albion. This was a story that had a HUGE impact on the series and before the reboot, we were still feeling the after effects. The whole thing really does feel like some big comic event that "changes things forever" and in this case, it did. While one could say it feels like Flynn's still playing clean-up duty, it didn't get in the way of the story for me and for people like me who haven't read every issue beforehand, it's still easy enough to follow.

Another thing this story excels at is the escalating stakes. Enerjak's threat level is immediately established and he remains a colossal menace to our heroes. He comes off as completely unstoppable throughout the story, as he should do since he's a demi-god and all, and you're constantly wondering how he'll be defeated. While the solution was a little convenient (someone has to sacrifice their life in order to break Finitevus' hex he placed on the Master Emerald), I do like how it's not a tidy solution and that a huge consequence came out of defeating Enerjak to further emphasize how powerful he is. Taking him down resulted in a death, said death being deeply personal to Knuckles since it was his own father that paid the price.

Oh and the best part? Nobody is character assassinated in order for this story to work. While we do get the occasional moment of characters acting dumb for no reason (such as that pointless fight with Sonic and Team Chaotix in Issue 180 that literally did not need to happen), everybody feels in-character and we don't get a lot of idiotic moments. It's so weird how Flynn drops the ball a lot of the time when it comes to writing these characters, because Enerjak Reborn proves he CAN do them right, so issues like Issue 172 and the House of Cards two-parter last time stick out like sore thumbs as a result.

And finally, this story I feel has some of Tracy Yardley's best artwork he's produced. It really felt like it was around here he found his stride and truly turned in some incredible artwork.

Oh and this panel is hilarious. Gotta bring that up at some point if I'm talking about Enerjak Reborn. XD

That said, Enerjak Reborn isn't perfect by any means. It does have a few problems, but none that really ruin the story for me. First of all, Knuckles is Enerjak. Flynn didn't even try to make it a surprise. The whole thing's treated like it's a twist, but it really wasn't. Issues 180 and 181 put way too much emphasis on Knuckles so when it's revealed he's Enerjak, it's not a shocking twist like the story tried to present it is. Rather it feels like we already know the answer and are just waiting for the reveal to happen, which takes away some of the intrigue of the story since the twist was so obvious.

Second of all, this massive, Time Eater-sized plot hole that even Finitevus is curious about in the climax...HOW THE HELL WAS SONIC ABLE TO USE THE MASTER EMERALD WITHOUT BEING CORRUPTED BY FINITEVUS' HEX?!?! Never explained, we're just supposed to accept it. Finitevus placed a hex on the Master Emerald that corrupts whoever tries to use it, hence how Knuckles became Enerjak in the first place, but Sonic uses it to go super with no ill-effect. And no, I'm not accepting in lame "pure of heart" style explanation. We need a more inventive solution than that. It feels like Flynn wrote himself into a corner and didn't really know how to get out of it, so he just did that and hoped it would suffice.

And finally, Locke's death rang extremely hollow for me. Not only did I not care for Locke as I read the story, I've also heard from other fans and essays dissecting Archie Sonic that Locke is an awful father who bombarded his own son with radiation in order to mutate him and even once faked his own death in front of Knuckles, so Locke dying doesn't feel as tragic as the story wants us to think it is. Rather it feels like we're saying goodbye to a character who had it a long time coming. Instead of feeling sad for Locke dying, I'm just thinking "good riddance". The fact Locke's solution to stopping Enerjak was to KILL KNUCKLES also made his death feel more deserved than sad. Seriously, I'm supposed to feel sad that Locke died after all the horrible things he's done and how his first though about stopping Enerjak was killing his own son? No, screw Locke. He deserved to die as far as I'm concerned.

Those things aside, Enerjak Reborn still holds up and is one of Flynn's best stories he's done for the comic. If only all of his work was as good as this...

Issues 185-186: Mammoth Mogul's Retirement

Too bad we have this mediocre follow-up after the awesomeness of Enerjak Reborn.

Issues 185 and 186 give us yet another rushed two-parter (seriously, why is Flynn so fond of those) in where all that happens is that Mammoth Mogul mind-controls Tails, Mighty and Mina, puts them on a suicide run in order to force Sonic to do his bidding and then once Mogul gets the Chaos Emerald and regains his powers, he...decides to retire from being a villain and just outlive Sonic. On the one hand, that's genius. He's immortal what with essentially being the Mobian version of DC's Vandal Savage character (seriously, look him up. The two are staggeringly similar!), so the best way a villain like Mogul can beat the hero is just wait until the hero dies of old age or disease or something. on the other hand, it just feels very anticlimactic that this was what the Mogul Rising two-parter was building towards, just Flynn finding a very convenient excuse to write Mogul out of the comic because...I have no idea why, just because. Like come on Flynn, this guy has quite the history in the comics, don't just write him out of the story in such an underwhelming fashion!

It also doesn't help how yet again, Flynn gives Tails the middle finger with this story. Not only is Tails reduced to a mind-controlled minion to Mammoth Mogul, but the two get no closure with each other, Tails doesn't get a single line of dialogue with Mogul and Mogul treats Sonic like THEY are arch-enemies when in fact, Tails is Mogul's arch-enemy. Tails is the guy who kicked Mogul's ass twice, even when Mogul was powered up into Master Mogul, yet Flynn gives Mogul Sonic tunnel-vision and so he acts like it's them who have the long standing history together. No, just no. I will NOT stand for this blatant Tails erasure Flynn!

And then there's the fact that Mogul marking Tails, Mighty and Mina is just a massive retcon that digs up plot holes that didn't exist before, and Flynn even acknowledged as such when people pointed out to him that Mina couldn't have been marked by Mogul because he was trapped in the Master Emerald at the time she was in Robotropolis! And then you're just left asking very basic questions like "Why didn't Mogul do this sooner if he's marked these characters and has a way to control them?" Like, he waits until NOW to reveal this contingency plan of his? Why didn't he do this before during literally any time he could've done so, like during his last encounter with Tails or especially during The Darkest Storm saga! Mogul's supposed to be clever, right, so why did Flynn introduce this blatant retcon that makes him anything but? All this did was ruin Mogul's credibility as a cunning villain since now he looks incredibly stupid for not taking advantage of this opportunity he's had hidden up his sleeve this whole time when several moments in the previous issues would've been a great time for him to do so.

This two-parter sucks and it was a terrible way to bring Mogul's time as a main antagonist to an end. A villain as powerful as him with such a deep history within the comic universe deserved way better I say...

Issues 187-188: Two Issues of Filler

As if a mediocre Mammoth Mogul two-parter was bad enough, we get these two issues that are just pure filler and are completely disposable.

Literally all that happens in these two issues is Mogul hires a bunch of goons to kidnap Sonic, Sally and Amy rescue him, Mogul gets away with it since they can't prove he's behind everything and nothing gets accomplished. The End. Pure, useless filler. You could skip this two-parter and go straight to Bold new Moebius and not miss anything!

The only good thing this two-parter has worth mentioning is this line from Mammoth Mogul. Seriously, that's a damn good line!

But yeah, these four issues really do feel like they exist to fill in four issue slots until we can get to Bold New Moebius. Just utterly disposable issues that aren't worth your time. Even the artwork by Matt Herms isn't worth putting up with them for. I'm not keen on his art-style. Everybody kinda looks like they're made of putty and he draws weird faces and wonky proportions a lot of the time. The ONLY character who looks halfway decent when Herms pencils the comic is Mammoth Mogul, that's it. Nobody else looks right in his art-style. I feel he was much better suited as a colourist than an artist.

So yeah, these four issues have nothing of value in terms of writing or artwork. The epitome of useless garbage in my eyes. Still, now the filler is over with, let's move on to...

Issues 189-197: A Bold New Moebius

And now we get to our final subject for this part, the Bold New Moebius saga that spanned from issue 189-196. While not as good as Enerjak Reborn, I still find this saga to be another of Flynn's better stories.

Bold New Moebius is mostly comprised of two-parters with Issues 189 and 190, 191 and 192, 193 and 194 and 195 and 196 all being two-parters while Issue 197 is a single part that acts as an epilogue to the saga. However, unlike Flynn's previous two-parters where they're incredibly rushed, these ones are all part of one continuous story so the pacing is a lot better. Like Enerjak Reborn, Bold New Moebius feels like the perfect length of issues. No issue is wasted and nothing drags. We get an action packed story from beginning to end that brings back the Anti-Freedom Fighters and changes them forever much like how Issue 160 changed Evil Sonic forever. Like Scourge, the Anti FFs have new identities instead of being called "Evil Sally", "Evil Tails" and such. We now have Alicia, Miles, Boomer and Patch as part of Scourge's Suppression Squad (great name for an anti-Freedom Fighter team) and we also have Buns the Evil Bunnie and we even get to meet the anti-Amy Rose with Rosy the Rascal. While the names aren't the most creative ever, they do make sense as they're either nicknames the FFs have (or in Tails' case, real name) and Evil Antoine being called Patch is a dark reflector of how his eyepatch is no longer for show. It's so cool how Flynn managed to re-invent the Anti-FFs and give more to their characters than just being the evil versions of the Freedom Fighters. It's a pity he had to make Miles such a hateable little prick though. An evil version of Tails should be an awesome villain, not an insufferable one that makes me not want to see his annoying, smug little face. I especially wanted to deck the little s*** when he said to Tails "Please don't talk little boy. We're trying to have an intelligent conversation.". Go to hell Miles! Tails has thrice the brains you have!

I also like the little subplots we have in the first four parts of the saga that deal with Knuckles' guilt over his actions as Enerjak and establishes the Dark Egg Legion some more after they were set up at the end of Enerjak Reborn. They're pretty disconnected from the main plot, but they don't feel pointless to include at the same time, especially one shocking reveal from Eggman in where we learn his Legionnaires have bombs put in them to insure their cooperation. That was pretty twisted and it adds a layer of sympathy to the D.E.L. as now they're at risk of being blown to smithereens if they step out of line.

Another thing I enjoy about the story is the introduction of a super form for Scourge. I LOVE this thing. Making him purple and giving him black and red eyes is a perfect design and colour palette for a Super Scourge and he looks so badass! Pity it's wasted on a goddamn rapist...

And before I finish with the positive, one quick note I have to add is that Issue 194 has a second story that sets things up for the upcoming Iron Dominion saga that I'll cover next time. I like how it's handled with Snively searching the Egg Net for any possible allies in the Empire he can work with since Eggman's going off the deep end and he gets a reply from someone only known as "RF". It builds intrigue and has us wondering who he's talking to. An effective way to set-up what's to come...

That said, while I do think Bold New Moebius is one of Flynn's better stories, I do find it to be a pretty flawed story that keeps it from being an all-time great. The biggest problem for me is the ending. As is typical for a Flynn story, Bold New Moebius ends on a massively underwhelming note. While I applaud Sonic for using his brain and tricking Super Scourge into powering himself down, which in turn drains him of his power because in the Anti-verse, positive effects have a negative effect instead, I do question why the rest of the Suppression Squad just play along and give back the Star Posts to Dr. Kintobor (the Anti-Robotnik) and pretty much just give up on their invasion of Mobius plan. That just felt like too hasty an attempt to wrap the story up to me. It also has you questioning why Sonic and friends just let the Suppression Squad go in the end instead of tossing their asses into a prison cell. Sonic did just that for Scourge, so why not the rest of the squad? Do they seriously think Kintobor can handle them? And then there's Issue 197 which felt like a pointless epilogue to the story. Why did we need to devote an issue to Sonic taking Scourge to the No Zone to be locked away when the story could've just wrapped up right then and there? We didn't need to devote an issue to that, and ESPECIALLY not to that stupid, stupid subplot with Sally being put on trial with the Council of Acorn! Why Flynn thought that story needed to be told, I have no idea and all it does is further emphasize what a useless idea the Council of Acorn was. All these losers do is create conflict for the sake of creating conflict and make useless, stupid decisions that don't help our heroes whatsoever. This further makes Issues 178 and 179 a colossal waste of time because the one big impact it had on the series, the Council of Acorn, wasn't worth including in the end. Issue 197 should've been a breather issue to tide things over in preparation for the fall of Eggman in issues 198-200, not wasted on this pointless epilogue.

I also find it lame how Fiona just vanishes from the story after Sonic spin-dashes her in Issue 194. No joke, we NEVER see her again after that and Scourge even has to ask Patch where she is in Issue 196. Why did Flynn just forget about her like that? Would it have been too much to at least have a panel that shows Fiona sneaking out of Freedom HQ or something? Oh and get this, Fiona NEVER appears again in the main series. Up until the reboot, Fiona only ever shows up in Sonic Universe arcs. So yeah, Fiona's last mainline appearance and she just vanishes from the story like she was insignificant. Who knows what Flynn's beef with this poor girl was...

And as fun as it was to have another story of the good FFs against the Anti-FFs, the story doesn't do enough with the concept for me. We only get a battle with the two FF groups in the first two parts and that's about it. It especially sucks how Antoine and Patch barely get any interactions together. For a time in the comic, Patch was masquerading as Antoine and he did quite a lot of damage from almost ruining Antoine's relationship with Bunnie to poisoning his father. These two have quite a personal rivalry with each other and...Flynn doesn't really do anything with it aside from the two calling back to it a few times. Instead, the story's too overly focused on our heroes having to stop Scourge, thus making it feel less like a story about the FFs vs. the Anti-FFs and more like "Everybody vs. Scourge".

The story also has an annoying habit of introducing characters and doing the bare minimum with them. Eggman makes a Metal Scourge...and we never see it again after it's destroyed. We meet Rosy the Rascal, the Anti-Amy...and she's barely even a character. She's just another obstacle that our heroes have to face and despite Buns suggesting they get her to help stop Scourge, she doesn't even do that in the end, thus making her introduction pointless. We have the debut of Silver the Hedgehog...and it feels incredibly shoe-horned in so that stupid Hedgehog Havoc two-parter can happen. There was no reason for Silver to debut in this arc, his introduction should've been saved for later and been its own thing! Shadow is also shoved into this story just so Hedgehog Havoc can happen and also so Flynn can clumsily set-up the Sonic Universe spin-off comic that came after this issue, as is Amy Rose's cousin Rob O' the Hedge (long story). Why bother shoving these characters into a story that has nothing to do with them? It really wasn't that vital to the story we have a two-parter where a whole bunch of hedgehog characters fight each other!

As is, Bold New Moebius is a relatively good arc for the most part. If it didn't have those glaring issues I mentioned, it would've been even better. Still, I'll take this over what we got in the previous two parts I've covered.

Conclusion

And that's this round of issues done. Overall, one of the better periods of Archie Sonic, but still very flawed due to the four issues with Mammoth Mogul ultimately feeling like a waste of time, the stupid retcons, Enerjak Reborn trying to make Locke's death seem tragic and Bold New Moebius having a terrible ending that felt like an extra issue was added for the sake of having an extra issue. As is, Enerjak Reborn is a genuinely good story that highly impacts the comic going forward, Tracy Yardley's artwork gets really good here, the return of the Anti-Freedom Fighters made for a fun tussle, Scourge's defeat was cleverly handled and we have a batch of stories where no one is excessively idiotic or out-of-character. Definitely one of Flynn's better batch of issues I say.

Does he keep up the momentum? Find out next week when we cover the Iron Dominion saga...

Support the blog here on my Patreon page.