I wonder if Ant and Dec would have been up for doing some of their schtick for Breezie.
The final round of the current arc is about to commence, and Comic Book Resources is providing pre-match commentary. It all boils down to the final two competitors, Sonic and Knuckles. Both have good reason not to lose this match, but they’re not going to hold back for this spectacle! While they fight for the fate of the world though, the Hooligans are still at large and set on carrying out Eggman’s orders, and Metal Sonic is en route to become a wild card in the fray too! Can the heroes finish the match and fend off the attack? Find out in “Champions”: part 4.
Grab a front row seat for the finale to the brawl-iest, punch-iest, contest-iest Sonic comic saga yet! “Champions” Part Four: It’s the battle you’ve all been waiting for (again!): Sonic versus Knuckles—for the title and the Chaos Emerald! The old rivalry blazes to life as the True Blue and Rad Red throw down for glory—and for the fate of the entire world! But with the vengeful Hooligans waiting in the shadows, and Metal Sonic en route, will they even get to finish their fight, or will their foes beat them to the punch? Featuring new cover art from Sonic art legend Tracy Yardley and a super-special new ARCADE VARIANT by the latest Sonic art superstar RAFA KNIGHT!
STORY BY: Ian Flynn
ART BY: Ryan Jampole, Diana Skelly, Terry Austin
COLORS BY: Gabriel Cassata
LETTERS BY: John Workman
COVER BY: Tracy Yardley, Terry Austin, Ben Hunzeker, Rafa Knight
PUBLISHER: Archie Comics
COVER PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE DATE: Apr 8th, 2015
Sonic the Hedgehog #271 is slated for release later today, don’t get beaten to the punch for this knock-out finale!
Source: Comic Book Resources
ANOTHER editor? Didn’t we just get Paul? I don’t know, but every since the Ken Penders stuff Archie seems to be struggling to pull themselves back up to snuff. Reboots, out-of-character moments, this creeping feeling of red tape for the writers, covering not-so-critically-acclaimed games, and now a new editor…
SPLOILERS: Unfortunately this issue disappointed me as I expected. No “real” winner in the fight and certainly no satisfying ending. Not really much happened other than “the tournament ended, heroes got the emerald” (even though that was established the moment Bean and Bark were KO’d). I’m also heavily missing the older, more stylistic artists (not to say this art is bad, it just lacks the American comic-flair). On the more positive side, Sonic offering to throw the fight for Knuckles (seen in the last preview page here) is extremely admirable and is what I’d expect from the character. In addition, Bean being his homicidal-crazy, bomb-loving self was also a nice treat. But that’s all the good I can say.
I agree with your spoiler part, I was massively disappointed here. I was hoping they’d take the massive opportunity I saw to have the fight take too long because of all the interference from Metal Sonic, Fang and Bean then have Sonic go werehog in front of everyone. In fact, that’s my biggest disappointment with this werehog thing as a whole. POSSIBLE FURTHER SPOILERS: It started out as the uncontrollable dark side a lot of fans were hyped for but never got with Unleashed then just kinda petered out to what happened in the game; he partly controls it and it only happens occasionally in front of people who don’t really mind it as long as he’s still himself. In other words, it’s completely stopped even being a constant plot point which it should be, it should be more like Fleetways Super Sonic.
SPOILER ALERT
I think part of the reason why the ending was like that is so the editors don’t intefere with big, controversial fan debates such as Sonic v Knuckles (of course) or Knuckles v Shadow, etc.. Look at the Knuckles vs Amy fight; Amy didn’t even fight! Sure, she was kept in character nevertheless, but still…
Personally, I don’t mind it THAT much; I was still very entertained either way.
I wouldn’t mind, if I didn’t find it boring to read. It had so much build up then nothing really happened. It felt really lazy too, there was so many oppurtunities missed and not much of an actual plot, just they fought, Metal Sonic appeared ’cause why not then promptly had 10 miles of [censored] kicked out of him which is actually out of character, the end.
SPOILERS:
I am glad you were entertained by this arc, but I must disagree with you about Amy being kept in character during her fight with Knuckles. While her aloofness was completely within character, I don’t think her thought bubbles necessary reflected a good reason for her lack of attention. However, I am basing that on her Adventure and Sonic X personality, and she is most certainly a character whose personality changes dramatically from era-to-era. It is quite possible that this is part of her personality now and is within her newly defined character. On the other hand, Knuckles’ reaction to winning the fight so easily was extremely well-done, despite being only a single thought bubble long.
SPOILERS:
I never read Fleetway (so I cannot comment with too much knowledge here), but I do know that the Super Sonic in Fleetway was a dark side to Sonic that made Robotnik look like a kitten. Personally, I don’t think that would have been the best way to handle the Werehog (although I would agree it is better than the route the current writers have chosen to take). What I would have loved to see out of the Werehog was more of a werewolf-like handicap: Sonic loses control and attacks anything and everything that could be remotely considered prey. That actually may have been what you meant, but I wouldn’t like to see the Werehog be explicitly evil so much as an uncontrollable beast that causes Sonic to be a ticking timebomb (unlike Super Sonic from Fleetway, who as I understand was explicitly evil). It honestly would have given the writers a lot of freedom to throw a monkey-wrench into any of the heroes’ plans and cause absolute pandemonium at the “worst” of times (but the most entertaining for the readers). I am amazed that was not the route they took with the Werehog for that exact reason, which causes me to believe that there is some level of red tape they are running into that causes them to take the same route as the videogame. I mean, what writer WOULDN’T want a timebomb character to create conflict whenever and wherever there is none? Its a recipe for a lot of different and well-fleshed out plots, as well as the opportunity to explore how characters interact with the “friend-turned-enemy” monstrosity, especially with those characters that are not explicitly Sonic’s friends.
Yeah, that was what I meant, sorry, my bad. lol
Man I thought it was a great ending to a great arc, I mean come on do you REALLY need to know who’d win Sonic vs Knuckles? In the end the good guys were getting the emerald so nothing would have changed if the fight went on as it should have, and the epic splash panel did that fight service enough. Besides, it’s a Sonic the Fighter adaptation, Metal Sonic was destined to be the final confrontation.
SPOILERS:
My problem with the end of the fight is that it takes absolutely no writing skill or talent to say “everyone wins” or “Tails wins by default”. The winner could have been decided in such a way that they didn’t answer the question “Who would win in a fight: Sonic or Knuckles?”. For example, interference from Bean, Bark, or Fang or injuries from previous fights could have rendered one of the fighters less capable (i.e. not at full strength) causing a clear win for the other fighter. It wouldn’t upset Sonic or Knuckles fans because a handicap was applied and therefore the outcome was weighted.
As for Metal Sonic, his presence was pretty much pointless (except, as you pointed out, to tie it to Sonic Fighters). Had he never appeared, the outcome would have been almost exactly the same: the heroes get the emerald. I would have felt better about his appearance if he had discovered something of importance for Eggman or managed to get away with something more. To be fair though, that is still a possibility, but it hasn’t been revealed to the readers thus far so I will assume it did not occur.
I’m glad you found it enjoyable, but I cannot help but critique the writing here very harshly. It is quite possible that most of the writing blunders I see are caused by red tape or some other outside restrictions, but in the end, this is a piece of storytelling that deserves both credit for its achievements and critique for its failures. When I first began reading these comics (over a decade ago), I felt that the writers had no fear and made stories that were excellent and surprising, albeit sometimes tragic. I would like to see the current writers take similar risks and not be afraid to upset the fanbase over minor outcomes (like here in the Sonic v Knuckles battle). They’ve done it a few times since the reboot already (such as the introduction of Eclipse) and I firmly believe those will have some of the more important and interesting outcomes in future issues. More than likely, this self-contained arc will fade and have no major significance other than the heroes obtaining an emerald. I could be proven wrong in the future, but for now that is all I see coming out of this set of issues.
Please do not take my distaste for this arc as a personal attack against the writers (or your own liking for this arc), I have met many of the Sonic comic writers at conventions and they are all swell individuals. I simply am a very critical person with an extreme love for storytelling, so I always like to provide my critique so other writers may improve and hone their craft.
Ending was a little flat, but the rest of the arc I enjoyed reading 8/10
Most predictable arc ever. Art looked great, but writing was so damn predictable I already knew it would end with a Sonic x Knuckles fight before I even read the first issue.
If this really is the best arc so far in the rebooted comic, this series truly is getting worse.
It’s considered the best by some because of the CHARACTER INTERACTIONS. Has no one heard of them? I guess not.
Honestly, I think you are expecting too much. Since when in any Sonic media(I’m looking at YOU SEGA) has a Sonic story not been cliché and somewhat predictable. This is an all-ages kids book; as long as you please the masses and your audience, someone is doing their job right.