Well, they finally did it! A series of graphic novels collecting the series from the beginning, in order. This is what is done with manga, and this is what should be done with american comics. Hunting down random issues of a comic at comic shops is a lot of work, and only worth it to die-hard fans; this makes the comic far more accessible to the average reader and makes things easier for said die-hard fan. (At last, I get all the stories and gag-strips from issue 4!)
Cover
by Patrick Spaziante
Sonic and the Freedom Fighters, in the forest. Each object individually looks almost 3D with the shading; but somehow they're put together in a way that makes them look like 2D images placed together in a 3D environment, sort of like a diorama.
While the "look" of this cover confuses me, I still love it.
Credits Page
The same image of Sonic as on the cover, along with the following credits:
Chairman and co-publisher: Michael I. Silberkleit. President and co-publisher: Richard H. Goldwater. VP/Managing Edior: Victor Gorelick. VP/Director of Circulation: Fred Mausser. Editor: Mike Pellerito. Art director: Joe Pep. Covers: Patrick Spaziante
Table of Contents
Sonic the Hedgehog #1 (regular series)
"Meet Me at the Corner of Hedgehog and Vine"
"You Bet My Life"
Sonic the Hedgehog #2 (regular series)
"Triple Trouble"
"Vertigo-a-Go-Go"
Sonic the Hedgehog #3 (regular series)
"The Bomb Bugs Me"
"Rabbot Deployment"
"Lizard of Odd"
"Tails' Little Tale"
"First Issue!" �Er� not really�
The Freedom Fighters are surrounded by Robotnik and his Badniks!
Written by Michael Gallagher, penciled by Dave Manak, inked by Bill White, lettered by Bill Yoshida, colored by Lyrad Namlede. "Editor Supreme": Daryl Edelman. Editor in Chief: Richard Goldwater. Special thanks to Bob Harris and Susan Reyes at Sega of America.
R&D Swatbot #693-47892 delivers to Robotnik a sample of the mechanical "plant", Krudzu.
Robotnik has a Burrobot seed the Great Forest with the plant, and the plant soon begins engulfing the forest.
With razor sharp jaws, and vines strong enough to strangle a helpless Mobian, things are looking grim for the Freedom Fighters� but then, a thunderstorm lets loose over the Great Forest, short-circuiting the non-waterproof mecha-nism.
Oh-kaaaay�
Written by Michael Gallagher, pencilled by Dave Manak, inked by Bill White, lettered by Bill Yoshida, colored by Lyrad Namlede.
Sonic heads to the Casino Night Zone to spy on a speech by Dr. Robotnik, but he�s captured by the newest Badnik, Orbinaut, and placed in a giant pinball machine. (What is it about Sonic and pinball, anyway?)
Sonic breaks free and blows the casino up.
Sonic wins the First (and probably last) Annual Acorn Awards.
Sonic answers the question, "At what speed do you legs become those blurry wheels?"
How Sonic makes a chilidog.
Daryl plugs "the upcoming" Sonic cartoon, Mark Mitchell asks if any villains from Sonic 2 will appear in the comic (that�s an affirmative), Acme Kid and Don Lewis say how much they loved the mini-series, and Tim Fichera asks if there�ll be a Streets of Rage comic (I believe that was a negative).
A fine example of the first year-or-so of the comic�it�s really no more than a low risk bit of Sonic merchandising, in the form of a humorous comic that fits in nicely with the other Archie titles�But it handles that role with flying colors.
"And awaaay we go!"
By Manak.
Sonic�s on a wanted poster (makes sense, considering he�s a rebel), and Robotnik tells us to "Join Robotnik�s Rats!" (Motto: "We Squeal For Real"). I don�t get it.
(Not to be confused with the game of the same name; this story is actually an adaptation of "The Adventures of Sonic" syndicated cartoon.)
Written by Michael Gallagher, penciled by Dave Manak, inked by Jon D�Agostino, lettered by Dan Nakrosis, colored by Daryl America, and edited by Daryl Edelman. Editor-in-Chief: Richard Goldwater.
Robotnik introduces his latest Badnik, Coconuts. This mean little monkey tries to take Sonic and Tails down, but fails miserably.
Deciding to call out the big guns, Robotnik calls in his newly created Super Special Sonic Search and Smash Squad, AKA Scratch and Grounder. �He should have known better.
Almost a carbon copy of the syndicated show. Only differences are Robotnik�s design, and that Sally is mentioned. �Short, not very sweet, but quite hilarious.
When the Sega engineers were working on their inter-dimensional device, Mobius Prime was not the first world they checked out. No, there were other versions of Sonic they considered creating a video game about. Thankfully, they finally decided on Sonic Prime�
Written by Michael Gallagher, pencilled by Dave Manak, inked by Jon D�Agostino, lettered by Dan Nakrosis, colored by Daryl America.
Sonic is collecting rings, when he gets warped into another zone� one very bizarre zone, inhabited by two bizarre blokes by the name of Verti Cal and Horizont Al.
After a confusing conversation, in ever-changing surroundings, Sonic is dropped back on Mobius.
The making of the foil-embossed covers on issue� well, I assume it must be an issue only available on Mobius�
Sally cooks, while Sonic cleans�
The two steal the other�s Pin-Ups, for their own use.
By Gallagher, Manak, D�Agostino, Nakrosis, and America.
Sonic and Tails read fan letters suggesting how and why Tails ended up with two tails.
Daryl spouts off about Sonic SatAM, and tells readers to color and send in a panel from "Vertigo A� Go Go" to become an official Freedom Fighter.
Jarod Rodriques asks some questions, and gets some answers (Daryl actually answered some questions properly! How quaint). Tyler Montbriand shows off his scientific knowledge, and Alicia Webb is dubbed a Freedom Fighter (is it because she said she�d watch the show even if it was on at 3 a.m., or because she said she never really liked the Marios?).
What can I say? Yet another high-humor, mediocre quality issue.
By Manak
Written by Michael Gallagher, penciled by Dave Manak, inked by Jon D�Agostino, lettered by Dan Nakrosis, colored by Linda and Daryl America, edited by Daryl Edelman. Paychecks signed by Rich AuH2O.
The Freedom Fighters learn that Robotnik is close to aquiring "The Bomb". Rotor disguises himself as Robotnik to steal it� and when they get back to Knothole, they discover that it was a "Bug Bomb".
The tortoise and the hedgehog� (Part two, acording to ish 117)
Sonic talks to himself.
The Tabloids talk about Sally�s color changes, and Sally is not amused.
Written by Michael Gallagher; penciled by Dave Manak; inked by Jon D�Agostino; colored by Linda & Daryl America; lettered by Bill Yoshida.
Enter: Bunnie (cut to scenes of rabid fans screaming).
The Freedom Fighters learn Robotnik is invading southern Mobius, and Sonic and Rotor head down to help fight back.
Arriving in the said region, our heroes immediately spot a couple of Swat bots dragging a naked Bunnie to a roboticizer van. After a accidental and fatefull delay, Sonic leaps to the rescue of our indisposed damsel in distress. But when he gets inside the van, he is shocked to notice that she is now wearing a shirt! Well, actually, he doesn�t notice that�what he notices is that the roboticizer is in the process of roboticizing her. Fascinated, he stops to watch, until Bunnie politely requests he shut it off. He obliges her, and she immediately passes out.
Sonic and Rotor deliver the newly created Rab-bot to Knothole, where she wakes up just as fast as she had passed out, and begins cheerfully showing off the new strength her roboticized limbs have given her. (I�m not kidding! That is how the story is written!)
Bunnie also shows off her romantic side, by falling for both Sonic and Antoine within a couple of panels, as well as her telepathic side by realizing without seeing any interaction between the two, that Sonic and Sally are an item� A giant Burrowbot attacks, and working together, Bunnie and Sonic beat it (though Sonic does most of the work).
Although the story, as written, could have some very interesting implications (a Bunnie who enjoys being a cyborg, and is romantically interested in both Sonic and Antoine at the same time?) they don�t seem to be intended. Especially as said implications are inconsistent with both the show, and later issues. That being the case, this story would have been much better as a drama/tragedy than as a comedy. Still, it is nice that they bothered to give Bunnie an origin at all�in the show, we never saw how she was roboticized. Also, this was the first time a new character was added to the main cast-- a major move for a kid�s comic or show in those days.
Robotnik�s word is law.
This happens to be the one issue I don�t have. However, I do have Sonic Archives Vol 1, so I can still review most of the issue.
It is also my understanding that with this issue, Daryl passed the editorial torch on to Victor Gorelick and Paul Castiglia (of "Adventures of Scott and Paul" fame).
By Manak.
The all-new, grittier, darker, Sonic the Hedgehog!
An odd tale, written by Gallagher, penciled by Manak, inked by Henry Scarpelli, colored and "produced" by Barry Grossman, lettered Bill Yoshida, and edited by Victor Gorelick.
The first comic book appearance of Super Sonic�unfortunately, it is not the first time Sonic has made the transformation, leaving us clueless as to how he ever managed to figure it out�
The story is simple enough�Robotnik accidentally creates a giant robot/monster, Universalimander, which goes around, as giant monsters do, destroying things. Sonic goes to stop it, but isn�t strong enough, so he runs off and gathers enough power rings and chaos emeralds to transform into his super form, in which he easily beats the amphibious mega-badnik.
The only artistic details worth noting are that Universalimander doesn�t look very robotic (but then, neither did roboticized Mobians in those days) and Super Sonic doesn�t look very super (changing color is impressive in a 16-bit video game; not so much so in a simply colored comic book).
No credits; presumably penciled by Manak.
Antoine goes through a bunch of quotes about vanity, when asked to assemble Sally's vanity chest.
Penciled by Manak?
Al and Cal, back by reader demand.
Penciled by Manak?
Like the title says, a pin-up of Super Sonic.
Penciled by Manak?
Robotnik is going to roboticize the card's recipient for his/her birthday. (Not the most cheerful of birthday presents!)
The instructions claim the card was placed in the center of the comic, so you could just remove the connected pages and fold them to make a card. However, that isn't going to work with the version in the Archives...
Penciled by Manak?
Coconuts, Scratch, and Grounder want another chance at Sonic. But first, they'll need to compete in "Villain Auditions".
Bunnie opens a hair salon in Freedom Fighter HQ. I can't see that the style she's offering will be all that popular, though.
No credits. Pencils by Manak?
Continuing where "Lizard of Odd" left off... While Sonic takes a nap, Tails sets out to have his own adventure. He runs into Robotnik's forces, and escapes. However, when he heads into Robotropolis to confront Robotnik, he bites off more than he can chew, and Sonic has to come to his rescue.
Tails overconfidence in this story was meant to be funny, but being a fan of Tails, I just find it annoying. Also, it's rather ironic that in Tails "first solo adventure" he has to be rescued by Sonic.
Nothing special here; even the appearance of Super Sonic isn't all that impressive. Still, not bad.
Compiliation Notes
They kept the basic colors the same, but someone (uncredited) went and added shading through the entire book. That shading/coloring work is rather impressive, too. (It's rather striking comparing the original and revised pages side-by-side.)
Also, I'm glad to note they kept Rotor's name as "Boomer" like in the original issues, and they put in all the pin-up / gag-strip pages.
Final Thoughts
Between the cool cover art, the coloring, and the fact that I want to support Archie's decision to publish these Archives, I'm very tempted to pick up more, even when I have all the issues within an Archive. Unfortunately, I don't have the money to do that right now...