“Cry of the Wolf” - Sonic the Hedgehog #113
Issue 113 is often considered one of the worst issues the comic ever produced, along side Sonic Live and the Image Crossover. Why? Well for starters, this an adaptation of an episode of Satam, a show that’s been off the air for nearly a decade by this point. It’s an unnecessary flash back to how the FFs met the wolf pack. One that comes right out of no where and interrupts the on going story line.
Also the art work is horrendous. Even by Archie Sonic’s low standers, it is without a doubt the worst art ever featured in the book.
Look at this! Everything is about it is wrong, from the proportions, to the off-model faces, to the awful scratchy inking, to the flat backgrounds, to the weird off putting coloring. I could spend hours dissecting just how bad this art work is panel by panel. But I won’t, because that would get old fast and we’re here solely for Antoine.
So, therefore, I will be using this adaptation to compare and contrast Archie Antoine to his Satam counterpart instead.
The comic actually starts in the middle of the story. In the show Dulcy was originally with them and we got a good 10 mins of exposition and set up before ever discovering the tunnel.
As explained above she didn’t come along because she was scared and because the plot had no longer any use for her. So why is Twan here then? Because he’s just as scared and just as useless here.
Well the show does bother to give an explanation. Antoine is given the choice to fly back to Knothole with Dlucy, but in a cute and funny bit, Ant actually contemplates on weather or not he should go. He berates himself, claiming he’ll regret it, but still decides to stay anyway rather than leave his princess’s side. It’s a nice bit a character development not often seen in the tv. show.
Also Dulcy apparently calls Antoine, “Tony”, as like a personal nickname. It’s cute and I’m now making it in my Archie Sonic head-cannon.
From here the show and the comic doesn’t deviate to often, not in terms of plot anyways. But there are lines dropped and changed here and there, and in the case of Antoine they completely alter the way his character is portrayed.
For instance, there’s a scene where Antoine gets scared and jumps into Sally’s arms. Here’s how it plays out in the comics.
Here it looks like Ant’s trying to cover up his momentary fright by saying some lame pick-up line for laughs and Sally drops him cause she’s not in a joking mood, but in the show Antoine instead makes a genuine and quite frankly creepy pass at her.
After his initial freak out, he suddenly notices he’s in her arms and says this line, “Why hello my Princess, hmmm…. this is nice….” And he says it in the most icky perverted way. I usually have nothing but praise for Rob Paulsen but this particular line delivery is so cringey and really makes Antoine come across as a creep.
And that’s not the only time the comic makes Antoine out to be better than his animated counterpart.
Eventually they meet up with one of the members of the wolf pack who agrees to show them to his leader. Antoine is suspicious of this newcomer and asks how they can trust him. Or at least his comic version does.
In the show the scene plays out nearly the same, but instead of being a cautious yet rational person, Antoine just mumbles, whines, and whimpers about some dumb curse that’s supposedly on the land. And he continues on about this curse through out the entire episode.
In the comic Antoine’s scenes are pretty much through with at this point. He just hangs in the background not doing much but neither is he a nuisance. But the tv episode keeps stopping to focus on him making an ass of himself. For no real reason other then “comedy”, only most of it isn’t funny.
There’s one scene where everyone is running from a laser firing robot and Antoine trips and falls behind, all the while mumbling about some curse and Sonic coming in to save him at the last minute while simultaneously insulting him. This isn’t some arrogant prick receiving some rightful comeuppance for his behavior. This a man genuinely afraid for his life, and for good reason, being put down by his supposed rescuer.
Like what’s funny about seeing someone so scared by a very real threat? Yes, the curse is fake, but the danger they’re all in certainly isn’t. And if he wants to explain their misfortune away with a curse who’s to say he’s wrong? I mean is it any different from blaming God, or the devil, or fate, or some other higher power for the bad stuff that happens in your own life?
I guess this pretty much sums up the differences between the two Antoines. Proportionally speaking the Satam Twan gets more focus and screen time. Only he is rarely useful or plot relevant, and while the show hints at his potential for growth it never moves beyond his initial “comic relief” status. There’s no character development ever.
Meanwhile in the comics, Antoine more less fades into the background until needed. But when he does show up he’s much more favorably portrayed. He’s allowed to balance his foolishness with competence and he grows and develops as a character into a better person. So even while the quality of the comic is technically far bellow the efforts of the tv show, it still find myself preferring it overall. If only because it expands upon the characters and ideas the tv show squandered.
This is the only story this issue, but before I leave, I highly recommend Adam Bryce Thomas ‘s Sonic 113 Redraw on deviantart if you want to read a version of this story that doesn’t suck.
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