“Court-Martial” Mecha Madnes III - Sonic the Hedgehog #40
So Mecha Madness ends with the fallout from the disaster as we see one of the darkest days for our hero….. Antoine.
This is the issue where we see Antoine reach his lowest point as a character. All of his jealousy, all of his insecurity, all of his long held resentment, and all of his misplaced pride come boiling to the surface unchecked. And unlike in issue 16, there’s no outside influence tricking him into revealing his darkest desires. This is all under his own volition.
Now that the danger has past and everyone believes Sonic to be at fault; Antoine has taken this as an opportunity for, what he believes to be, justified revenge and a chance to achieve the recognition he feels he’s been denied.
Bunnie, meanwhile, just feels angry and betrayed.
In her eyes, it appears as if her hero had turned his back on his friends and nearly killed her when he attacked. While Sally, Rotor, and Tails are all conflicted about the trial, Bunnie is actually on Antoine’s side here. She honestly believes Sonic deserves this. Only her reasons are born from hurt and righteous anger as oppose to Ant’s resentment and opportunistic pride.
As for Antoine, he dons the role of lawyer here. A part he will play in the future on occasion.
However as the trial progresses you see Antoine’s anger and hatred transform him into something far less than his usual caring self. Walking over everybody and even upsetting Amy, who’s just a little girl.
And you can see it in his friends faces. They are shocked by this behavior and perhaps even a little be scared by it. He’s gone off the deep end.
Hell, even I’m a little disturbed by that upper right panel where Antoine’s yelling at his future girlfriend/wife. They so rarely, if ever, argue with one another that it’s truly frighting to think that at one point and time Ant would talk over her and twist her words. I guess it just goes to show how far the character has grown over the years.
However it doesn’t last when the character gets his comeuppance from his nemesis.
Also, it looks like Twan’s hair still hasn’t grown back yet. Poor guy. Sonic really is a dick.
Sonic attempts to call Antoine out on his crap and prove his own innocence by bringing up Nack the Weasel.
And this is where I have to call bullshit. Remember my review of issue 38? Yeah, remember how at the end of that story was when Nack made his escape? Remember how, not just Antoine, but everybody was captured at the time?
That had to have been at least a few days ago! There had to have been someone else standing guard over the prison when Nack escaped and before Antoine took on guard duty. So where were they this whole time? Who is the person who failed to report the disappearance?
Like, Ant isn’t in the right for prioritizing his self-image over his responsibilities, but he’s not the one who’s at fault here. Someone lower down the chain of command had to have fucked up and not come forth about it.
Or perhaps there really is a traitor in their mists and they’re using the trial to scapegoat either Sonic or Antoine in order to avoid suspicion? ….. hmmmm……
Anyways, Sally agrees to let Sonic go in order to track down Nack and prove his innocence. And Bunnie’s not happy about it.
She’s still on Ant’s side in all this. Maybe, like me, she can sense how crap that accusation against him was.
Still Sonic leaves and of course manages to capture Nack and clear his name. Sally offers to make a public apology to Sonic, but he declines, if only to highlight how different he is to Antoine.
This ending is a little unsatisfactory, cause on the surface it looks like Antoine hasn’t learned anything at all. Nor has he earned any repercussions for his behavior. However, in the long term, these events will further shape Antoine’s character.
No other stories this issue but here, have an Off Panel.
Yes, how dare you Spaz! We all know Antoine’s the handsomest hero in the comic!
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