“Courage and Honor” - Sonic the Hedgehog #168
Yeah……. It’s been a while hasn’t it. Lots of things went down these past couple of months both for myself personally and the fandom. I finally got a day off to myself to finish this review but I can’t promise any solid schedule for posting, I’m sorry to say.
You see these reviews take hours to type up. I have to think about what I’m going to write, write a first draft, read it, re-read it, and then re type it several times, track down, cut, edit, and paste pictures/visuals, and then constantly fix typos and spelling errors. All while hoping no technical issues will make me lose my work. I need a good three to five hours by myself to focus and to mentally prepare myself to spend that much time on one task.
And this particular review was quite daunting to me because of it’s importance. So strap yourselves in for a long ride.
We open up with Antoine cleaning up the mess his evil double made.
This actually is an important insight into Patch’s mind set. It wasn’t enough for him to gain power. It wasn’t enough to merely ruin Antoine’s relationships. He actually took the time to physically destroy anything that belonged to his double. From sentimental keepsakes to petty useless stuff like furniture. Why? Why dedicate so much effort and time into something so pointless? Even Scourge didn’t bother to trash Sonic’s things.
Well I have a working theory, all of the evil doubles are jealous of their counterparts. It’s obvious in the case of Scourge, but even then it’s not hard to assume that life in anti-mobius is actually harder then in Sonic’s world. Meanwhile Patch is the only member of the suppression squad to see how his other half lives. Antoine has family, genuine friendships, a woman who loves him unconditionally, respect ect. ect. all things that Patch doesn’t have himself and probably never will.
Perhaps, even more so then Scourge, Patch is the villain most motivated by petty revenge. He will to anything, I mean literally anything, to make Ant suffer. And will see this more sadistic side of him later in the series.
Bunnie comes over to help clean up and she asks pretty much the same question as my self. Antoine gives this answer and a rare insight into the trauma he’s gone through.
As I’ve stated else where, this is an Antoine who is harder, angrier, and more world weary then before. An Antoine with an edge to him. We’ll never know for sure what horrors he faced in Anti-Mobius but the consequences are clear. Gone is the gentle Twan who jumped at shadows. Gone is the pragmatic voice of reason, and mediator, who once told Sonic that fighting isn’t always the answer. This is an Antoine who would cut you in two without hesitation if he believed you to be a threat.
And this scares Bunnie. She’s one of the few to glimpse this darker side of him. One of the few to notice and acknowledge the differences since he’s came back. For the most part Ant plays it cool and can slip back into his old self with ease. Only when Bunnie or someone else he cares about is in danger does his more aggressive nature show. And most of his friends never seem to notice or comment on this change, chalking it up to “maturity” or “personal growth”. Only Bunnie seems to show concern, fearing his new found anger could lead him down a darker path. It’s a worry of hers that she’ll come express from time to time.
But enough doom and gloom! Lets talk about something happy….Like engagement rings for example?
Welp, that lasted all of 2 seconds. Now back to our regularly scheduled angst fest. Better grab yourself some tissues.
Sonic’s come to inform Antoine that his dad has taken a turn for the worst and he and Bunnie rush to the hospital.
Even after all this time, after all of his accomplishments, after all of the battles he’s fought, both psychical and psychological, he still blames himself for his past “short comings”.
Fortunately his father is here to finally set him straight.
Armand also gives his blessings and advise to the happy couple because he is best dad.
There is no denying the perfection that is Buntawn. And the less said abut Scourge the better.
And then if you’re not sitting a puddle of tears by now, the comic gives it’s final blow.
I told you would need tissues.
The passing of Armand is perhaps the most effecting death in the whole comic. Unlike most other deaths, Armand doesn’t get a heroic outing but instead has his final moments in bed sounded by those he loves. And unlike Juliana before him, the audience already knows him and his established relationships. There’s something real and raw in this story and it shows. At the end we get a dedication to Jane Flynn, someone of importance to Ian Flynn no doubt, and you can tell the writer drew upon experience to show some genuine emotion.
But most importantly this marks the final end for Antoine’s character development, coming to terms with his past. From now on Antoine will be a fairly static character but the weight of his experiences will hold more meaning in his future stories.
So that’s it for this review and hopefully it won’t be a full month until the next one.
