"A traveler, by the faithful hound Half-buried in the snow was found, Still clutching in his hand of ice A banner with the strange device:" THE SONIC THE HEDGEHOG BEST/WORST LIST FOR 1998 "This country's going so far to the right you won't recognize it." John Mitchell, Attorney General under Richard Nixon, Head of the Committee to Re-Elect the President (which became affectionately known as "CREEP"), and convicted Watergate felon. 1998 was the year the Sonic comics went so far off their original premise we have a hard time recognizing THEM. King Max was made whole but has been acting like a nut, Sonic and Tails took their act on the road and went nowhere in the process, and the whole gang tried to spruce up their Image with the help of characters who belonged in another rack of the comic store. Over on the other side of the aisle, in the meantime, Knuckles got religion, was on the receiving end of his first kiss from Julie-Su, and almost got reunited with his dad (who was busy reopening old wounds with his ex). Let's recap. This survey covers the following issues: Sonic #57-68 Knuckles #10-21 Sonic the Hedgehog special: Return of the King Sonic the Hedgehog special: Sonic Kids Sonic #50: The Director's Cut Sonic special: Parallel Paradigm As always, your mileage may vary. We're not talking stone tablets brought down from a mountain here. I'm just a Sonic fanboy with my own take on things. Opinions available anywhere in the world via the World Wide Web, unlike subscriptions to the comics which are available in the U.S. and Canada only. And so: Best Single Issue Story: "Total Re-Genesis" by Karl Bollers (Sonic Kids special). You can't beat the classics, and by following the old "Rashoomon" plotline, Karl Bollers has turned in a great story. Sonic, Sally and Antoine each give their account of a confrontation with a leftover ComBot and it takes Nicole to sort out the truth from the varying perceptions of what happened. Each of the different accounts is true to the personality of the narrator of the moment, and in a year when personality was sacrificed on the altar of plot more often than not, that definitely counts for something. In the end, you realize where each storyteller strayed from the truth but at the same time they don't come off as self-serving liars. That's the trick to a good "Rashoomon" plot: to present one version of reality without being mean-spirited in one's depiction of someone else. And this time the use of four different artists who are limited to their own turf and not falling all over each other as in "The Big Goodbye" actually contributed something to the effectiveness of the story. Worst Single Issue Story: "Back to Basics" by Karl Bollers (Sonic #57) You can summarize this story in two words: "What story?" Actually, the two words that better describe this outing are "clip show," because that's what this story is: the comic book equivalent of a sitcom episode consisting mostly of scenes from other episodes. In this 24-page story, roughly 16 pages are devoted wholly or in part to flashbacks to previous issues. Yet even this would have been forgivable (barely!-- and then only because of Art Mawhinney's artwork) if Karl had done something worthwhile with the stories he shoehorned in after the flashbacks were over: Sonic taking leave of both his parents and of Sally. I know fanfic authors (and I'll admit I'm one of them) who would have taken out a second mortgage on their soul to be given the chance to write those scenes for the comic. Instead, the relationship between Sonic and his parents (which has never really been spelled out since his folks were introduced in "Brave New World") is shined off after about 2 or 3 panels. Sonic saying goodbye to Sally takes up one page but there's not an ounce of passion or honest emotion in it. It felt as if Sonic and Sally had no past, and Karl Bollers had no clue. Best Mutiple Issue Story Arc: "The Forbidden Zone" by Ken Penders (Knuckles 19-21) Hands down, the best story arc Ken Penders has come up with, even surpassing the Forgotten Tribe arc. Ken's no stranger to filling a story with characters and twists, but all of a sudden the characters are more compelling than anything he's done before. I'd never have thought of writing a novel featuring Yanar and the other tribal members or the Chaotix, but Prince Elias, the Summersbys, Geoffrey, even the squad members all seemed to have stories begging to be told, stories which interfaced with each other and formed a complex whole worthy of a novel. Ken's acknowledged this himself (if a little belatedly) and we can expect to see characters like the Summersbys reappear farther down the road. The same was true WRT the subplot about Geoffrey taking on a mission that would bring him to the place where his father had been killed--Ken only realized the dramatic potential of that subplot once the story was in production. I know Mike Teitelbaum did the Sonic novelizations for Troll Books, but if Archway Paperbacks ever wants to add a novelization of "The Forbidden Zone" to its run of Sabrina books, I'd love a shot at it myself. Worst Multiple Issue Story Arc: "Icon," by Karl Bollers; Sonic #62-63. Sonic and Tails are rescued in the middle of a desert by an armored vehicle; it's an appropriate symbol for a story arc that goes two issues and then suddenly tanks. The main story (Sonic and Tails being taken prisoner by the residents of Sandblast City) is a by-the-numbers exercise with Karl Bollers using as few numbers as possible. The motivation for the treachery of Jack Rabbitt is never explained or even hinted at, and the same can be said for the state of siege between the residents of Sandblast City (wisely renamed at some point from the original "San Salvador") and a group of roboticized Mobians. But as badly as the main plot was handled, Karl's treatment of the subplot (Snively escaping from the Devil's Gulag in the company of Drago and other minor villains from the past) was even worse: how they escape is never really explained and we're left wondering whether Robotnik had anything to do with it or whether it was just careless writing on Karl's part. For those who ask that a story arc be coherent as well as entertaining, this falls far short. This is loose continuity so loose that it fell apart. Best cover art: Knuckles #16 I don't think there's a teenager who HASN'T felt this way at some time: totally out of sync with family, friends, the whole world. Knuckles's attitude is brilliantly depicted, and the haunted, mask-like faces of everybody else is more than a little unsettling. And I mean that in a GOOD way. I can only assume this was a Spaz/Penders cover because there's no cover art credit; still, congratulations are in order to the party/parties involved. Worst Cover Art: Sonic #62 It's not that there's anything WRONG with the cover, it's just that...how shall I put this? There was a famous cartoon in Punch magazine where the caption consists of a young dandy's explanation of an abstract painting to an elderly relative: "It's not ABOUT anything, my dear aunt." A Sonic cover, though, should be ABOUT Sonic at the very least. Last year's best cover, for Sonic #52, was most definitely about something: it was about both Sonic and the film noir genre and it was true to both subjects. The same can't be said for this cover. Sonic has this look of grim determination on his face, but in fact he looks pretty much the way he did on the covers of #60 and 61. This was an academic exercise which left no room even for the hedgehog's personality to come through. You could have slapped this cover on ANY of last year's issues and it wouldn't have made a difference. Best Story Art: Manny Galan and Jim Amash: Tie: "When You And I Were Young, Sally" (Sonic Kids special) and "The People's Princess" (Sonic #59). Both these stories have something in common besides having the same artist and inker: they're both mood pieces which don't advance any important plot points but instead are more character-driven. I tend to think that, working under these circumstances, an artist has a heavier burden to keep the artwork from looking routine and to help sustain reader interest, and the team of Galan and Amash succeeded both times out. After having seen countless "baby" and child versions of other characters, from the Flintstone Kids to the Muppets Babies to the cast of A Pup Named Scooby Doo, I was uncertain as to how the Sonic characters' younger selves would appear. Happily, Galan and Amash have not only equipped them with the requisite smaller bodies and larger, more appealing eyes, they have also invested the kids with shades of their distinct personalities. "The People's Princess" was another risk, because it was aimed at putting Sally across as a sympathetic character rather than an Action Heroine. Nothing really "happens" in this story but the artwork is so agreeable that you don't mind coming along for the ride. Worst Story Art: Harvo Mercadoocasio, "Outback Gut Check," Sonic #61. I really don't want to restart the flame war that erupted when Harvo took umbrage with my original assessment of his work in this story, and I know that those who visited him at the San Diego Comic Con have testified that Harvo's artwork didn't look so horrendous in the original as after the printer got through with it. But I've only seen the end-product and while I can believe the fans who saw the original art and who maintain it looked better, I speak for the legion of readers who couldn't get to San Diego or New York City or some other con site and therefore would like to say only one thing: Sonic with a beer gut. Best New Character: "You talkin' to me?" (Harry; the Chaotix Caper, Knuckles #13-15) In case you're wondering, I gave Prince Elias a bye this time around. After all, he only showed up in two of Ken Penders's Knuckles stories before being handed over to Karl Bollers and the Sonic comics for the duration, and his appearance in "Surprise!" (Sonic #68) is hardly enough upon which to build an informed opinion. So that meant looking elsewhere for the Best New Character, and finding him in Harry, the cab-driving dingo of the Chaotix Caper arc. Comic books are one of the few literary venues left where a character doesn't have to be complex; the writer can get away with "good" and "evil" characters and not be bothered by the complexities that lie somewhere in the middle. Yet this is precisely where Ken Penders placed Harry. He's involved in the story line almost against his will and (tellingly enough) pointedly manages to avoid helping Constable Remington and Julie-Su bust up Downtown Ebony Hare's operation during the story's climax. Unlike Nate Morgan, who rambles on about heroism but barely does anything about it, Harry makes no apologies for giving a high priority to saving his own bacon. Yet at the same time it's hard to think of him as a "bad guy." He shows an obvious lack of enthusiasm for either Constable Remington or for General Stryker. Harry manages to give amorality a good name. Sort of. Worst New Character: Dr. Whatsisname, "Parallel Paradigm," Sonic Special #7 You know you're in trouble when the writer doesn't even bother to give a character a name. And that character is the feature villain! Yet that's what Ken Penders did (or didn't do, to be precise) in "Parallel Paradigm." In the midst of shuffling all the characters from the Sonic comic and a bunch of Image Comics superheroes together like so many cards in a deck, this joker somehow forgot to get named. If I were asked to name him, I'd call him "Snidely Whiplash." OK, I KNOW it's been taken, but after all, what IS Snidely Whiplash except a broad caricature of all the stock villains who were fixtures in 19th Century melodramas? And let's face it, this guy is little more than a caricature of a lot of the stock villains in superhero comic books. Worse, he's not even that impressive of a villain. Aside from being able to manipulate time and space via the Chaos Emerald's energy (something which Knuckles has been doing lately without even working up a sweat), he does the standard villain rants until, at story's end, he's just lying there on the tarmac at some government air base for no discernable reason. Ken not only never tells us his name, he never gives us a clue as to his origins, never explains why he's suddenly "like a puppet whose strings have been cut," never explains what happened to him as the various superheroes go their separate ways (with any luck he'll have been the subject of an alien autopsy and he's getting his mail forwarded to several different jars filled with formaldehyde), nothing! You'd think Ken would have given the reader SOMETHING, thrown some small bone our way. But he didn't, so why should we care? I know that Ken was under pressure with the whole crossover project but this kind of back-of-the-hand dismissal is more proper for an anonymous redshirt, not the villain of the piece! However, Ken did hint that this nameless noodge will be showing up in the future to make life miserable for Sonic and/or Knuckles. Do yourself and the rest of us a favor, Ken: don't bother. Best New Idea: "I've had enough of this...adventure!" Sonic the Hedgehog, "Tomb Raider," Sonic #67. From the BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR DEPT.: I've long suspected that Sega views the Archie Comic of Sonic the Hedgehog as nothing more than a means of promoting the character and the games. So they may have been thrilled in their corporate heart of hearts to learn that Sonic and Tails were going to cut loose from the secondary characters they acquired during the run of the SatAM series and become the headliners of the comic. And 1998 was the year they did just that, wandering around Mobius engaging in the kind of adventures that sounded, in development, like they would appeal to the core preadolescent boy audience: a little Robin Hood action, some mecha combat, fighting a bull-headed demon, facing an abominable snow creature, some riffing on an Indiana Jones theme, like that. Now that we can look back on 1998 from the other side, the year seems like one of those vacations where you need another vacation to recover from the one you just took. It all sounded so good, but never really lived up to the promise. Karl Bollers didn't really settle in as the new Sonic "head writer" until #62, and the stories that preceeded it were uneven in quality. Bollers then got off to a bad start with the Icon story arc (see above). The Nate Morgan arc held real promise but fell apart at the end, and "Tomb Raider" felt more like cloning rather than writing. And now that it's all over, Sonic and Tails are right back where they started from. Well, it can now be said that Sonic and Tails have had their shot at being the stars of their comic without having to share the limelight with Sally, Antoine, et al. Yet even then they couldn't escape interacting with other characters in a significant way (Monkey Khan, the Downunda Freedom Fighters, Nate Morgan). Sega should face the fact that Sonic and Tails, by themselves, are simply not enough to carry a comic book. They NEED to interact with other characters (it's a simple law of writing) and why shouldn't those characters be the ones who became established during the SatAM series? Those characters have established personalities, identities, a following. It can only be hoped that Sega will appreciate the fact that it's simply a better comic book when Sonic and Tails get to play off the likes of Bunnie, Sally, Rotor and Antoine. But I'm not holding my breath or betting the farm. Worst New Idea: "This does not involve you." King Max to Sally, "The Mission," Sonic #64. One of the recurring criticisms of Archie's handling of Sonic et al. is usually expressed by the hardcore fans simply as "It's not like the SatAM series." That phrase has come to mean less and less as time goes on and as the series recedes from memory. Just what exactly WAS it about the series that the hardcores still consider to be a touchstone, a standard for Archie Comics to follow? The artwork? The scripting? Those are possible answers. But as I read the Forbidden Zone story arc (Knuckles #19-21), it suddenly occurred to me that here was the quest to determine whatever happened to Queen Alicia, Sally's mother, and Sally's not in on it. Ken has indicated that he has kept her out of the loop because her absence sets up several plots and subplots down the road. What it also does, however, is point up the heartlessness of the Sonic comics. The term "Heartless" may be a bit blunt but I believe it's accurate, and it also requires some explanation: "HEART is a simple word for a difficult story and character device: pathos, empathy with the characters, poignancy--those are the terms you'd hear in a literature course. At Walt Disney Studios, so I've read, it was simply called Heart... "Pathos isn't easy to pull off; if there are going to be any tears, an audience has to identify with the characters so strongly that they REALLY FEEL the emotions being portrayed onscreen. Even when it's done well, some fraction of the viewers won't appreciate it... "Yet Heart, or at least the potential for it, is what distinguished a Disney character from the rest. I look at Bugs Bunny and say: "What a great character! What a funny guy!" I look at Baloo [from the Disney Afternoon animated series "Talespin"] and say: "What a great person to know--what a friend."...We look at the Disney characters a little differently. We love them." Jim Kellogg, "It Fell Off The Storyboard" no. 3, in WTFB [Where The Fun Begins], no. 24, Feb 1998. Veteran Disney animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston didn't call it "Heart" but they were definitely clear on the concept: "In every art form it is the emotional content that makes the difference between mere technical skill and true art. The poet, sculptor, dancer, painter, singer, actor--all eventually can be proficient in their crafts, achieving dazzling mechanical perfection, but their work will be empty and meaningless unless the personal perceptions of the artist are communicated as well. This thought was most simply stated by one studio artist when he noted that many of the young men "could animate beautifully, but that isn't what makes you laugh and that isn't what makes the tears come."" [Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life, p323]. They go on to quote drama instructor Katharine Ommanney, who asked the following questions of actors in training: "Are the characters interesting, lifelike, and vivid? Do you become emotionally INVOLVED with them?" [Emphasis mine] Anyone who's logged enough time watching Disney animation at its best can recognize those moments when that quality of Heart came through. In "Snow White" Grumpy's composure broke and he turned away from the lifeless Snow White; it was a scene that begged to be included in the climax of "Endgame" but wasn't. In "Dumbo" there's the scene where Dumbo and his caged mother can only communicate with each other using their trunks; film critic Gene Siskel once said of that scene: "If that sequence doesn't get to you, check your pulse!" One of my personal favorites is in "The Fox and The Hound" when Copper simply and quietly steps in between the exhausted Todd and the barrel of Amos's gun. In one of the times I saw the film in theatrical release in the early 1980s, that moment drew applause! And frankly I wouldn't even be reading Sonic comics today if I hadn't experienced the same kind of moment in Sonic #18's "In The Still Of The Night" [story by Kanterovich and Penders; art by Mawhinney]. Again, this wasn't Sally as Action Figure With Fur. This was Sally alone, mourning the death of someone close to her. It was, I hoped then (and still hope), a defining moment for the comic. The reader knew that Sally had a heart, because it had been broken. And that's one thing that the SatAM series tried for, if only a couple of times: Heart. There were only a handful of moments but they stay in memory: Sonic having to leave his Uncle Chuck behind in "Ultra Sonic"; Bunnie's sorrow when her deroboticized body proved to be temporary in "Sonic Conversion"; Sally's devastation after watching her father return to the Void from which he'd been temporarily liberated. They were all small moments but powerful ones, and yet these are the kind of moments the Sonic comics have consistently (if not deliberately) failed to deliver. We all know about the emotional anemia that characterized Endgame; it took the virtual rewriting of the entire fourth installment for Archie to even come close to injecting some recognizable feeling into the story! There have been any number of subsidiary characters who've had the opportunity to show emotion, and they've mainly been in the Knuckles books: Charmy in "The Chaotix Caper" was one, and his "reward" has been getting written out of the series! And there's Lara-Le, whose simple piety seems at times more of a plot device than a defining part of her character. But what of the lead characters in the Sonic comic? I can't think of any such moment that took place this past year, with the possible exception of Sonic and Tails calling a halt to their fighting in "Opposites Detract" (Sonic #59). Tails's appearance in the final panel of the final installment of the Nate Morgan/Ixis Naugus arc was beautifully rendered, but it was too little too late to redeem the arc as a whole. And what about Sonic and Sally? Their parting in "Back To Basics" had every ounce of feeling (save a kind of preadolescent awkwardness) effectively drained out of it before the ink was dry. One panel showing Sally at the end of "Parallel Paradigm" had her looking somewhat sad at Sonic's absence, but it was, as I mentioned in my review, 100% more emotion than she was allowed to show in #57 itself. As for their reunion in "Surprise!", Steven Butler had to bend over backwards to keep from hinting at the warmth and affection that the moment deserved. That's why, for 1999, I'm taking up Ken Penders's suggestion to institute a rating system for the stories (see my review of Sonic #68 for particulars). That's also why I'll be judging the stories using three criteria: story, artwork, and Heart. I want this comic to "involve" us, the readers, and not simply become a reason to spend $1.75 twice a month. In all fairness, I have to complete the quotation from King Max that kicked off this discussion by appending the words "For the moment." As of this writing Sonic and Tails are back amidst friends and family, among characters with whom they can interact and build the kind of relationships that can make the readers care about them (and, as a result, make the readers want to stick around for more). But the creatives at Archie Comics have their work cut out for them. It's not enough simply to have a likable character in the same story as Sonic and to hope that some of the Blue Blur's charisma rubs off on him/her. It remains to be seen whether The Forbidden Zone arc was a fluke or whether it was a harbinger of things to come.