Just read Archie Sonic #200 and I am feeling things.
Holy canoley. Is epic. This was one of the most impactful final confrontations I’ve ever seen and something that will stay with me for a long time. It’s not necessarily at the same scale since Naruto being weekly instead means it had over twice the amount of chapters, and I followed that for a literal decade of my life compared to the months I’ve spent reading Archie Sonic (I’ve read a bunch of it before but this is my first time reading it properly), but this ultimate battle does call to mind Naruto vs Sasuke and everything that represented. The comic had been building toward this clash for 16 whole years, steadily establishing more and more insight into just what this means for each character and how deep the enmity between them runs. I guess it does happen in every game, but to have the two locked in a room beating and jeering upon each other like this is so intense in the Archie setting. The franchise is defined by Sonic and Eggman’s battles, but this is the second of only two times in this entire 500 issue long 24-year Archieverse saga that these two enemies face each other in a serious, no-holds barred struggle. This isn’t just the standard finale to a 3 hour game, this is the end to a war we have watched them fighting for a lifetime. The comic has run for so long. It traversed through so many stories and distinct stylistic eras. All serving as build up to this one dramatic standoff. That I listened to the Sonic Symphony’s rendition of Live and Learn to set the tone for the initial push into New Megaopolis and Big Arms (Generations ver.) during the climactic battle probably went a long in enhancing the experience, but yeah this was probably one of the coolest moments I’ve ever seen come out of the franchise that has been my favourite for as long as I can remember.
Everything that’s happened in the comic so far has led up to this point and you really do feel that coming through. More than anything I think that’s what makes the issue so special. Whether it’s the sheer adrenaline rush of Sally yelling her ultimate orders to the united front of the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix, or how Sonic willingly plunges headfirst into the final battle through the “boss door” of sorts, every setpiece in this issue was so meticulously designed to be badass. Sure this did happen once before in all the way back in #50’s Endgame. But that was so early on in the story that, although intense at points, it felt like a simple juncture in the journey toward escaping SatAM’s slapstick limitations. Like a box that needed to be checked off. It didn’t have anywhere near the same amount of gravitas leading into it. Like hooly dooly the amount of meaning this issue had embedded in it. Archie has been such a wild journey. It was a downright struggle to get through its early years, and despite finding the lore intriguing I don’t think I had ever actually thought to myself that it was enjoyable until the tail-end of the Adventure adaptation. But it’s certainly been a worthwhile read to get here. The story and setting of this world are captivating.
The art here is some of the best it’s ever been, but the big thing that strikes me is just how overwhelming the amount of legacy informing every interaction here is. So much has happened across this journey. Not all of it has been good, but for better or worse each character that stands in the lineup has their own fleshed out past of trials and tribulations. The Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix are both groups whose personalities and purposes are cemented by a backlog hundreds strong. They aren’t the same group that we get minor glimpses of in the game canon. We have been made to know them inside and out. You see Sonic running in and it calls to mind everything he’s gone through over the past 200 issues to reach this point (heck it’s actually closer to 300 with the proper reading order). The loss of his family, and his home razed to the ground by this madman not once, but twice. Through Robotnik, Mammoth Mogul, Ixis Naugus, the Destructix, the Xorda, Scourge and too many more enemies to count, then finally circling back around to strike at the heart of the Eggman Empire itself. Across these multitude stories you come to appreciate just how powerful this blue boy is, why he’s the world’s defining hero.
You see Sally finally return as field commander and remember about how much turmoil she endured to wrestle that position back from her family. Her self image has been pulled between her stiff duties as princess and the desire to be an active protector of the people for almost her entire life. Who is she? What should she do and why? Sally has been stuck on that question for a long, long time, and every time a positive like the recovery of her family seemed to come her way it always had new limitations attached that only confused her further. Suffocated by the world around her for the circumstances of her birth. Love, loss, love, loss, love and then loss again, until she finally manages to figure out what she wants for herself and put these two sides of herself into equilibrium.
You look at Knuckles and how hard he fought to overcome destiny and regain his status quo. His simple life on the floating island is shattered when he’s pulled into a multi-faction mess between his abusive father and the manipulative blood that drips through the many secret societies of echidna culture. Across life, deification, death and rebirth. The Brotherhood of Guardians and Dark Legion have each held grand schemes for him since before he was even born, but Knuckles never wanted any part in their conspiracy. He has spent his life fumbling around. Devoid of the selfishness and hatred that drove his forefathers, seeking simply to find the way to provide his people a happy life as Guardian. And as he stares down the Eggman Empire for the seemingly last time he finally sees an answer before him. Cast down the Eggman Empire and liberate the world from his hardship.
You look at Julie-Su and think how long she’s been working towards undoing her past sins. She was once the enemy of the people and that honestly that might trouble her more than it does those she was persecuting. She’s been fighting her blood just as much as Knuckles, and it’s only through his long-term presence that she’s slowly been able to forgive herself.
You look at Dimitri, his 600-year old body finally reduced to little more than a head, and reflect upon his flawed quest to obtain peace. A brotherly dispute gone awry that caused multiple generations of turmoil, when it turns out that everything he did was motivated by a genuine wish for the good of his people. The Legion and the Brotherhood had simply both been too conceited to reconcile until their backs were against the wall.
You look at Eggman and lament the hatred that has been steadily building for fifteen whole years. This diabolical dictator has been playing both sides for as long as he could remember. There’s been a frustration building in his character since around the timeskip in #130. Despite fundamentally being a creature of hatred, when Sonic returns from space we find that in the interim Eggman has come to refer to two robots as his children. Mecha Robotnik and A.D.A.M. That seemingly inhumane monster has, against all odds, become fond of someone. But this ends in tragedy. A.D.A.M tricks him into believing Mecha was a traitor, and he begrudgingly kills his own “daughter”. Then the truth that he was the real traitor comes out and Eggman has to condemn his own “son”. All this happening while Sonic’s resistance is constantly tugging at his sanity. So with his brief detour into something arguably resembling love cut short, he decides that this is it. The game is finally over. Eggman had always been toying with the Mobians, but this time he would attack with the full might of his industrial empire. Knothole is razed in mere minutes. Yet when he confronts Sonic for what he believed would be the last time, the hero completely blows his analysis out of the water. To add insult to injury, he uses the remnant nanites of his “son” to construct a fortress stronger than ever. Eggman in this version of the story is a monster through and through. I’m not intending to portray him as a sympathetic villain, but I just really want to highlight that when Eggman’s sanity finally snaps here it was a long time coming.
Amy’s growth as a freedom fighter, Vector’s distrust of the Legion, etc: Archie’s Sonic comic is something that constantly expands outwards in setting and characterisation. Characters from near the start remain relevant over a decade, and so as the years roll by their histories are continuously enrichened.
Its cast is convoluted and with the whole series in view the only consistency to be found is in how inconsistent it all is. It’s an extremely fascinating universe of excessive character definition. All of that context feels as though it’s been successfully conveyed in this one final rush. The stakes are in a magnitude of their own. Like obviously I do know that Eggman breaks out of his asylum and returns before the reboot, but this nevertheless feels like the end of an era. A battle long in the making.
skapbadoa 
Leave a comment