Once again, Team Fighters are hot on Eggman’s trail. Once again, they have to fight Mecha Sally in an effort to rescue her and once again, they fail but save the day for the town under attack. This is starting to get monotonous. However, that doesn’t mean this is a bad issue in any way. In fact, this may be one of the better issues out this year. Why? You’ll have to keep reading to find out.
Also, T-Pup kicks @#$!

Synopsis

With Team Fighters in hot pursuit of the Death Egg (thanks to Tails tracking device), Eggman flies by the Feral Forest and just drops off some robots on his way to New Mobotropolis. Sonic decides that Team Freedom will have to handle Eggman, of they turn their attention to helping the town under attack. Sonic goes after Sally, but she distracts him with a new and improved Silver Sonic. Meanwhile, Elias is in his hut saying goodbye to his wife and child. Colonel Sommersby and his wife agree to protect his family as Leeta and Larry show up to pick up Elias and… wait a second here!

At the end of #238, Eggman decided to go to New Mobotropolis with a stop off at Feral Forest on the way. Team Fighters were in pursuit. At this exact same time, Leeta and Lyco were talking to Lupe about being sent on a secret mission. In the time it took Eggman to reach Feral Forest, Leeta went to Mobotropolis with her sister, got an appointment to see the council only to be confused when they refused help, had Chuck send them to meet Who and the Secret FF’s, get fitted for new suits, had Who give Leeta her first mission to pick up Elias with Larry and got sent on her way to Feral Forest and somehow arrived just before Eggman? That’s either a plothole or the fastest wolf alive!

Back to the book. As Elias and the other SFF’s are sneaking out the back, they are spotted by Tails. Elias tells Tails that while he can’t explain what they’re up to and to please keep this a secret. Tails agrees and says he’ll cover for them. Just then, Sally attacks the house. Sommersby tries to stop her but his hardest punch proves ineffective. As he gets knocked down Amy attacks Mecha Sally. Sally decides to play mind games with the pink hedgehog, but Amy shows she’s more mature than that.

Mecha Sally – “You are assuming you can ‘rescue’ me. That is impossible. Extrapolating your true motive… with my destruction, you would be free to court Sonic, correct?

Amy – “How petty do you think I am? I’m here to rescue my friend!”

Mecha Sally – “We were never fr-“

Before she can finish that sentence, Tails gives her a spindash on the noggin. He tells Amy not to listen since Sally’s not herself. With the two of them, they are a match for Mecha Sally. “No more distractions! You’re getting rescued whether you like it or not!” Sally says there are plenty of distractions as she uses the laser beam cannon that comes out of her head to set fire to the nearby straw huts. Nice housing there folks. The little pig’s house made of straw was the first to go in the fairy tale y’know.

Sonic is doing some accidental redecorating of his own as his fight with Silver Sonic has them crashing through several houses and robots. As Sonic goes in for another brawl, T-Pup arrives to help. “This one’s out of your weight class little dude!” Sonic exclaims just before being surprised as heck when T-Pup does and Davey and Goliath on Silver Sonic by shocking him into a stasis field! With Silver Sonic immobilized, Sonic heads for Mecha Sally who has realized she’s lost her target. With only 10% of the remaining forces still working and with Sonic and Team Fighters about to team up on her, Sally takes off with Sonic just missing her. He almost orders Tails to get the Tornado, but remembers that the whole town is on fire and the villagers are still under attack. He orders Amy to help Sommersby and the villagers fight off the rest of the bots while Tails helps get some water to take out the fires. “I might be getting a handle on this ‘think before you act’ thing” He thinks to himself. Later, Sonic asks to see Elias. Sommersby says he’s not seeing anyone right now. This upsets Sonic, but Tails asks to let it go. Sonic thinks about it for a sec, but trusts Tails enough to say “okay”. Elias, Leeta and Larry arrive back at New Mobotropolis to see it under attack by the Death Egg. We see Team Freedom striking a pose as they are about to get into the fight of their lives.

Review

Despite being a bit repetitive and monotonous for the last few issues, this is really a great example of how these characters have developed and matured. In its own way, it’s also shown that Sally is Mecha Sally’s worst enemy. Why? Just look at how well Sonic has come as a field leader and is following the “think before you act” lessons Sally’s been trying to burn into his noggin’ for all those years. Sally’s teachings as a leader to Sonic, Tails and Amy over the years have rubbed off on them and it shows. Also, I don’t see how any Amy fans can complain about Archie’s treatment of her, especially in this issue. She has shown to be a much more mature and competent character compared to her game counterpart. I loved her fight with Sally and how it showed that maybe, just maybe Sally doesn’t really consider Amy her friend after all. Also, I LOVED seeing T-Pup taking down Silver Sonic with that stasis field. It goes to show that he really is a valuable member of the team. It’s nice to see Colonel Sommersby back after not being seen in the comic for many years. Even if he is a minor character. As far as the art goes, Jamal Peppers does an outstanding job as usual.

As far as the bad goes…yes, this is another “Team Fighters have and adventure chasing down Eggman issue, but at least it’s the best one so far. Also, there’s no way Leeta could have gone to New Mobotropolis and all that meeting with everyone, then getting her assignment THEN getting to Feral Forest without Eggman getting there first. He was making a beeline and she had to have a large detour. I consider that a small plothole myself. However, my biggest beef is with the cover made by cover artist, Greg Horn. All he did was use the modern Sonic pose from Generations and add the awful “Nike smile” head from Sonic Heroes. A style that is only a painful reminder of Sonic’s fall from grace during the 2003-2008 era. Also, why use Greg Horn? He’s famous mostly for DC Covers using superheroes in risqué poses. Not exactly family-friendly Archie material. Plus, the cover has ZERO context of any kind with what’s going on in the issue.

Overall 8/10

While Sonic #239 is more of the “same old, same old”, it’s the interactions and development of the characters that really stand out. Almost every hero gets a great moment and it really shows that Team Fighters really is a force to be reckoned with. I hope that with them showing what a good leader Sonic can be, that it’s a sort of “passing the torch” and that if Sally returns to normal, she’s given a new direction in the book. The FF’s will never be the same again and they shouldn’t be. I think it’s better this way. But Archie, please stop with the Greg Horn covers. He’s not the right artist for this book.