Watch out for falling Spidermen, it's THE 2010 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG COMICS BEST/WORST LIST Yes, it's that time of year when, with vuvuzelas raised on high and with pants on the ground, we review Sonic the Hedgehog numbers 208 through 220 and Sonic Universe issues 12 through 23 ... heck, let's just fudge and allow in SU24 to finish off the story arc. While the publishing company's flagship books has trekked off in a number of new directions since the passing in 2009 of John Silberkleit and Richard Goldwater (a gay student at Riverdale High, interracial romance, death by cancer for Ms. Grundy), the Sonic Comic wrapped up the one-year Iron Dominion arc, supplemented by a 4-part Sonic Universe arc. There followed in the Sonic comic a couple of by-the-numbers rehashes of the same story in different settings until the mold was spectacularly broken by "Thicker Than Water." Over in the Universe, Tails got a chance to headline before the title was overwhelmed by a comedy tsunami. So let's sort out the fantastic from the "Furry Vengeance." BEST COVER STORY ARC: "Thicker Than Water" (S217-218) A very engaging twist on the formula that dictated the previous 4 issues. Sonic and Bunnie stand between a Freedom Fighter group and a troop of Legionnaires for possession of an oil refinery. The twist: the Freedom Fighters are the Sand Blast Citizens, while the Grand Master of the Legion unit is one of Bunnie's long-lost relations. Mercifully, the duo kicks it old school and screws over both groups by trashing the refinery. And by having Bunnie's uncle acting as a Grand Master, Ian is able to infuse the story with a good deal more Heart than usual. Sterling work. WORST COVER STORY ARC: "Trouble In Paradise" (SU17-20) The message "I'm not a sidekick!" might have played better had not Ian ultimately rendered this story's message as "I'm a Mary Sue!" Tails is just too good to be true here, and that makes the entire story unbelievable, despite the fact that the James Bond trappings of mad scientists, megalomaniacal leaders, uniformed minions and secret high-tech bases also render the entire arc unbelievable. But even when Tails is being beaten up by Speedy, he ends up being so magnanimous about it that he rescues his foe and catches a break. I'm betting that his robotic pet T-Pup will find no home at all in the Sonic comic and will be revealed for what it is: a one-shot gimmick like talking Muttski that the writers will quickly and quietly abandon. And while Angry Birds might make a killer iPhone app, they're pretty darned useless as villains here. Bunnie and Antoine come along for the ride in a pair of thankless roles that anybody else could have filled. A sorry excuse for a story. BEST BACK STORY/ARC: "Hindsight" (S218) There weren't many back stories this past year, but this one rose to the top. Eggman gets to put the smack-down on Snively by emphasizing that not only is he once more large and in charge, but that Snively can forget about the now-incarcerated Regina, the Iron Ex-Queen. Watching Snively squirm, you almost feel sorry for the little twerp. Almost. WORST BACK STORY/ARC: "Welcome Back, Chao" (S217) As an excuse to bring Vanilla, Cream, Cheese and their Chao hangers-on into the Archie Mobius continuity, it worked about as well as could be expected. Unfortunately, Ian betrayed serious problems understanding the cast he is dealing with. Vanilla comes off as generic, a cipher with no real personality to speak of, while Cream should have come with a warning label for any diabetics reading this. Sadly, the mistakes of character here are repeated with a vengeance in the subsequent "Treasure Team Tango" arc (SU21-24). BEST COVER ART: S216 [Jamal Peppers/Terry Austin/Jason Jensen] Sonic working the off-season at Marine World. Seriously, the layout is extremely impressive, with Sonic aboard an orca creating a sort of vortex layout design. Not the usual Sonic cover art, mercifully. WORST COVER ART: S214 [Tracy Yardley!] The big problem here isn't the character modeling, it's the tricky perspective as Yardley! tries to fit too many characters surrounding the Onyx onto the cover, and it just doesn't work. The herd needed to be seriously thinned out here. BEST STORY ART: Ben Bates/Terry Austin/Matt Herms, "Thicker Than Water" (S217-218). HONORABLE MENTION: Jamal Peppers/Terry Austin/Matt Herms, "Hindsight" (S218). While Tracy Yardley! has done the lion's share of artwork for the titles, he's let some others cut their teeth on the Sonic material. And while veteran artist Steven Butler acquitted himself in several story arcs, the Bates/Austin/Herms team reached the top rung with their work on "Thicker Than Water." Mostly, I liked Bates's understanding of gesture and expression, something that can be forgotten or mishandled all too easily in comic art. I especially loved the business of Sonic fooling with Bunnie's hat in the midst of an action sequence in S218. And while the parting of Bunnie and her uncle was played down and the tears were held back, perhaps it was just as well. Excellent work. The Peppers/Austin/Herms team also gets props for doing something that should be nearly impossible: keeping a story that takes place in one room visually interesting. Sure there were cutaways to Conquering Storm on the vid screen and sometimes the background disappeared all together, but beyond that it was all Eggman and Snively in a small room. It could have been deadly, but Peppers kept the design interesting as Snively ran a gamut of emotions not usually allowed for a villain. High points for a story with a high degree of difficulty. WORST STORY ART: Tracy Yardley!/Terry Austin/Matt Herms, "Welcome Back, Chao!" (S217) This isn't BAD art, Heaven knows. But it just doesn't stand up off the page, either. Despite the fact that Vanilla's house gets demolished when Amy Rose does the Anvil Chorus on yet another diabolical device being piloted by Snively, the art just doesn't engage the reader. BEST CHARACTER: Nicole, Iron Dominion arc Bunnie got a small chance at character development in "Trouble in Paradise" before being overwhelmed by Tails's Mary Sue act, and she had a better shot during the "Thicker Than Water" arc. But Nicole got a serious boost both after being compromised by the Iron Queen's techno-magic and then as she fought off her control with Sally's help and kept herself in the closet until S211's "Home Invasion: Part 2" where she gets to say "You're not the boss of me!" to the Iron Queen. Not that things will get any easier for her in 2011, but it was good to see her catch a break. WORST CHARACTER: Thrash, "Echoes of the Past" (SU9-12) While I cringed every time Omega's voice circuit was activated in "Treasure Team Tango," I seriously disliked Thrash the "Tasmanian Devil" even more. This is mainly because he's about as developed a character as a two-minute egg. OK, he's got a super power, namely his voice, but he's also got an unaccounted-for attitude and an undefined "mission" that's supposed to pique our interest but instead feels like something Ian tacked on with the thought that it can be developed later on. Maybe it would have worked if the character himself weren't such a total butt. Seriously, Ian should take his time bringing him back until he either makes him more well-rounded or has definite plans for killing him off. BEST DIALOGUE: Tails: "We're heroes! We do what's right, even when it's hard!" Khan: "It isn't a matter of being hard,' Tails! This is IMPOSSIBLE!" Tails: "Was it impossible to save Bunnie? Was it impossible to save YOU? ... NOTHING is impossible!" ["Iron Dominion: Part 2," S209] WORST DIALOGUE: Sally: "I'm drowning in testosterone." ["Journey To The East: Part 3: No Love In A Conquering Storm," SU15] BEST IDEA: Sorry; can't think of any. WORST IDEA: Ninjas R Us. The Dragon Kingdom, from what we've seen of it, is an all- purpose Asian mash-up. Khan, of course, is based on a character of legend well-known throughout Asia (and who had a minor but important roll in the acclaimed Nita Paley animated film, "Sita Sings The Blues"). Li Yuen and Li Moon are obviously Chinese. The Yagyu definitely have a Mongol thing going on. From Korea to Cambodia, from Tibet to Thailand, from India to Indonesia, Ian and Tracy could have drawn inspiration from any number of untapped cultural sources. So WHY in this arc are we up to our necks in ninjas? Short answer: this is a comic book and that means going with the lowest common denominator and highest recognition factor. And since zombies, vampires and pirates aren't going to work here, it'll have to be ninjas. My problem isn't that ninjas are violent necessarily; it's that ninjas are hopelessly cliched. If you've been keeping score on pop culture, they actually broke through in the 1967 Bond movie "You Only Live Twice" and James Clavell's 1975 novel "Shogun." But at the level of popcult we're talking about ninjas didn't REALLY break out until the 1980s and Eastman and Laird's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." And after the turn of the century when the popularity of manga, anime and imported video games got traction, there was no stopping the flood. So it was probably a matter of following the path of least resistance to reach into the bin and sprinkle ninjas into the stories as needed. The problem with this, though, is that it leaves the rest of the Dragon Kingdom uncharted and unexplored. And yes, I know about deadlines. Still, the more times you go for the cheap way out, the lazier the imagination becomes. I don't know how much recreational reading Ian gets to do while scripting two comic books, but there's a very real danger that a world that could very well have a high wonder content will get very old very fast. That, in fact, is what happened to the "Reigning Cats and Dogs" arc; nothing really happened to make the Cat Country a viable and (dare I say) magical place. Let's give the whole ninja thing a rest for the next few years, shall we?