Sonic Universe #25 (April 2011) Before examining the art, take a look at the cover and see if you notice what's different about it. The difference is in what's missing: the Comic Code Authority seal. The CCA seal had graced the cover of Archie comics, and just about every other comic, since 1954. That was the year that, in response to an outcry over horror and crime comics, and as a response to hearings held by the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, the CCA was established by the comic book industry as a way to regulate their content (and, of course, to prevent any attempts to regulation by the government). The model they used was the old 1930s Hollywood Production Code, another media attempt at self-regulation. The Code was revised on a number of occasions, but was never really enforceable. The appearance of various underground titles in the 1960s and 70s undercut the validity of the arguments that fueled the 50s hysteria. By 2001, Marvel Comics had stopped displaying the CCA seal. In February 2011, DC Comics (which with Marvel still controls a combined two-thirds of the industry) announced that they were dropping out as well; a similar announcement from Archie Comics president Mike Pellerito came a day later. Effectively, the CCA is no more. This isn't to say that the dialogue in an Archie comic will suddenly start sounding like that of "Goodfellas." Archie has its own in-house standards which will continue to guide its content. In the case of the Sonic comics, there's also the input from Cindy Chau and Jerry Chu, the representatives from Sega who act as guardians of the Sonic brand. So nothing much will change with the loss of the CCA seal. So, on to the cover: a very flattering portrait of Silver by veteran Archie artist Pat Spaziante, apparently trying for a 3-D effect with those hands. "Fractured Mirror: Part 1 : Through the Looking Glass" Story: Ian Flynn; Art: Tracy Yardley!; Ink: Jim Amash; Color: Ray Dillon; Lettering: Phil Felix; Editor: Paul Kaminski; Editor-in-Chief: Victor Gorelick; President: Mike Pellerito; Sega Licensing Reps: Cindy Chau and Jerry Chu Two centuries into the future, according to the text scroll, we find Silver still apprenticed to a tattered Mammoth Mogul, where the latter is lecturing him on Time Stones and how to use them. Their session is interrupted by their sensing an intrusion from another time, which leads to a brief discussion on whether beings can cross from one zone to another. Obviously neither of them have read any comic books, especially Sonic Universe's "Treasure Team Tango" story arc where zone-hopping was what kick- started the whole dreary mess. Silver is up for investigating, but not before MM misquotes Lord Acton's dictum "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." A lot of people get that one wrong. Silver decides to check in with Edmund on Onyx Island first, trailing streams of expository thought balloons after him. But once he's in Onyx Island air space he's shot out of the sky by what appears to be Vector, or some other gator with a handle attached to his head and dressed up like someone cosplaying as a Loonatic. The use of a "VEKT" sound effect when he shoots rays at Silver is an "OK, we GET it!" moment. Silver gets it, too, as the stranger drops a couple decrepit buildings on top of him. This being a comic, Silver is none the worse for wear. He then returns the favor as the stranger approaches. The green-visored gator takes off and tries attacking Silver again, but a perfectly good ambush is spoiled by a well-timed "thunder arrow" from "Edmund, the last Guardian," even though he looks old enough to be the FIRST Guardian. He's here to supply additional exposition; it's a thankless job and he relieves the boredom by screwing up Silver's name, which is as much comic relief as this arc can afford. In mid-banter between the two the glowing gator reboots in a scene lifted whole from the Terminator franchise, and accompanied by some of the most dubious sound effects I've ever seen in a comic book ("Whan-na-na-na"?), generates a warp ring and gets out of Dodge but not before Silver stabilizes said ring. Edmund reminds him that he can negotiate the ring with a Time Stone, so he jumps in head-first and comes out the other side of the wormhole in a purple dystopia. He wonders who could be responsible for this, and we're hit in the face with a ginormous statue of Enerjak to drive the plot home for us. Just then the Loonatic Vector shows up with similar versions of the rest of the Chaotix, including Ray. Each of the beings uses laser eyebeams with sound effects that coordinate with their identities: the Charmy character's SFX is "CHRM!," Ray's is "RYY!," and so on. Once more, Ian, we GET it! Given the 6-to-1 odds Silver has his hands full as he's being watched by Enerjak (I guess this makes it version 3.0 or something), who only interrupts watching the fight to torture the Constable and to bask in the glow of his collection of Sonic characters, though they're all been taken out of their original boxes. Makes it easier to mount them on the wall. HEAD: OK, there's something canonical about Silver living in a dystopian world, since that's where he came from in the 2006 Sonic The Hedgehog game. In that game, however, he at least had Blaze the Cat for a companion, but she's now gone to Marine's island and Silver has to keep company with two broken-down old farts, Mogul and Edmund. Silver can't be a happy camper, especially when random time travelers try to drop buildings on his head. In pursuing the Vector being, Silver transports from one dystopia to ... another dystopia. Really, this is getting old. Dystopias have become such a staple of science fiction that it's easy to forget that it used to deal with Utopian futures just as easily. The term is taken from the title of a work by Thomas More, a 16th century humanist scholar, statesman, and eventual martyr to Henry VIII's conception of church and state. The concept of Utopia or of an earthly paradise in general has a long history, going back at least as far as Plato's "Republic," if not to the Biblical Eden. But from "Brave New World" to "1984," from Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" to Pixar's "Wall-E," we've been fed a steady diet of dystopianism for well over a century now. It seems as if we can't take the prospect of a good future seriously any more; it's become an article of faith that the future will go from bad to worse. Maybe it wouldn't if we did something about it, but there appears to be no consensus as to what to do. The Sonic comics certainly aren't immune, as this arc demonstrates. And even when, in the case of the anti-Mobius, there's an outward appearance of Utopia, there's still the one detail that spoils everything. As originally envisioned by Mike Kanterovich and Ken Penders in S24's "When Hedgehogs Collide," it's the existence of the anti-Sonic and his gang, though Ian Flynn has reworked the anti-Sonic into Scourge but with the gang very much there and the poorly-conceived Rosy acting as the Amy Rose counterpart. Ian Flynn can't really be blamed for going with the flow here, and he falls back on the old comic book staple of the recurring villain, in this case Enerjak 3.0. Within the comic, he's become as dependable and enduring a villain as Eggman himself. He's also become, I hate to say this, very tiresome even though the fans may think he looks cool in the retro-Pharaoh get-up. Is this really what Sonic fans want, or only what Archie editorial THINKS they want? Because the more he shows up, the harder it gets for me to care. But be that as it may, Enerjak 3.0 is the Designated Villain for this story arc, and the Boss whom Silver will ultimately have to fight in the fourth installment. Having said that, that appears to be pretty much all we need to know for the moment. Head Score: 5. EYE: Tracy Yardley!'s artwork here is seriously upstaged by Ray Dillon's coloring. On his Web page, raydillon.com, he describes himself as "an illustrator and painter in comic books, gaming, film, and trading cards," some of which on display at his Web site would definitely NOT pass muster with Archie Editorial. His work here is very atmospheric, to say the least, from the orange-colored sky of future Mobius to the predominantly purple realm of Enerjak 3.0. Eye Score: 10. HEART: This is where Ian loses me. I wanted a reason to care about this story, but when it looked like it was going to be just another Sonic Surrogate versus the Latest Incarnation Of Enerjak fight story, I felt myself tuning out. Here's hoping Ian does something about that. Heart Score: n/a. Sonic Spin: According to Paul Kaminski, Enerjak is supposed to be a fan fave. I'll take his word for it, even though I don't share the enthusiasm of the fanbase on this one. Fan Art: Betsy and Megan contribute Silver portraits, while Marlon gives us the Four Hogs (Sonic, Silver, Shadow and Amy Rose) against their Metal counterparts. Fan Funnies: Tamara has Tails trying to go turbo and getting mobbed by Flickies instead. He also apparently didn't get the "No Capes!" memo. Off-Panel: Ian lifts a plot point from the Back To The Future franchise, Part 2 specifically. Letters: Devin speaks up for the Treasure Team Tango arc, especially Amy and Rouge, and gets a promise of major developments for Sonic's 20th. The only other letter is from Lynsey, who asks Paul to do his Shadow impersonation. "Shadow" grouses about his Team Dark allies, doesn't mention that his contribution to the TTT finale was telling Rouge to back off after Teams Nack and Babylon were eliminated, gives an unsatisfactory answer as to why he backed away from Eggman (because he's been so thoroughly house-broken by Archie Editorial that he can no longer say "I'm a brooding loner who plays by his own rules" with a straight face), says nothing worthwhile about the Shadow video game, and attributes his getting past his angst to "defeating enemies ... for hours on end." Personally, I always thought his getting closure with Maria in S171's "I Am" had a lot to do with it, but this being an Archie comic we have to keep things on the juvenile level.