House of Cards I & II - Sonic the Hedgehog #178 & #179
So the 7th era of StH is very much like the 3rd era. After resolving many of the dangling plot threads in the previous eras, they both take on a new and fresh approach expanding upon the over all world and changing up the status quo. And while I love both eras, they also feature a server lack of Bunnie and Antoine. So while a lot is going on that will effect both of the characters later, they themselves don’t appear in many of the stories outside of like a cameo here and there.
House of Cards is one such story.
Tails’ parents, Rosemary and Amadeus, start up a revolution to over throw the king. Tails joins their side and comes to blows with Sonic ,while Sally is left to mediate between the two warring fractions. Eventually an agreement is made and an elected council is appointed, one whose decisions will come to effect Antoine and his wife on a personal level in the future.
I mainly decided to include this story in the retrospective because I do deem the council to be extremely important to the characters’ ongoing plot and for those who haven’t read the old comics you’ll need to know where they came from. And really that’s all you don need to know regarding Antoine, but since we’re already here lets unpack this bad boy shall we?
House of Cards is a point of contention among fans. Some absolutely despise it, I’ve seen a few praise it, while others just think Flynn did the best he could with a poor situation. Personally I’m an outlier. I don’t necessarily think the story is particularly bad, nor great, nor a merciful brief conclusion to the Fiona love triangle,
First lets get the main point of criticism out of the way. The Sonic and Tails fight. Most who hate this story do so for this reason. While it’s defenders will agree it’s is bad, but blame Penders for the actual idea and praise Ian for handling the proceedings with decorum.
I honestly have zero problems with it.
Friends fight, family fights, and good drama stems from conflict. The core idea of Sonic and Tails trading blows isn’t a bad one and it’s made all the more credible by having them arguing over multiple issues. There’s the surface level political stuff that Tails uses as an excuse more then anything, just like in real life when major arguments start over seemingly small stuff. Then there’s the lingering issues like resentment and abandonment from being the youngest that’s been hinted out throughout the comic’s run. These things propel the argument forward. Then finally the the main core issue comes out, is discussed, and resolves the the fight. That core issue being Fiona, which is why I suspect so many hate the idea.
Guys lets be honest here. They aren’t fighting over Fiona, she’s gone, they’re fighting over a lack of communication and consideration that Fiona’s presence triggered and/or exasperated. That is a legitimate reason as to why arguments start. And it is seriously better then the games having Tails be randomly jealous of Eggman for no reason when they tried to pull it off there. Plus they resolve the conflict and grow from the experience.
No the only real issue I have with the fight is that we don’t see enough of Tails with his parents before this story. It’s implied that he’s receiving some sort of validation and satisfying other emotional needs from them that he can’t get anywhere else. Which is why he trusts them so fully despite not knowing them very long….only we the audience aren’t actually shown them doing that. All their conversations are either shown off screen or involve other people and hints at plot type stuff rather then character development.
So if the Sonic/Tails stuff doesn’t bother me then what problems could I possibly have?
The revolution stuff isn’t fleshed out enough.
You need more then two people to have a revolution, and Ian Flynn does his damnest to write out any other character who could contribute to this vast sweeping change to the government besides the Prowers and the Acorns.
The actual riot is all of one panel and features a bunch of no named BG characters. You’re telling me that no other named character in the book doesn’t have any problems with the monarchy at all?
I kid, mostly, but the Prowers perspective is delegitimized somewhat by the fact they haven’t been in the book long and the more recent grievances that the kingdom might have aren’t given weight due to that. They can be a instigator for change sure, but they need more established public figures to lend them credence. And no Tails doesn’t count because he he has ulterior motives for joining their side and doesn’t actually care about the government as a whole. Which is a shame because they do bring up good points in their argument.
But they’re not the only ones lacking a base. Elias and Max are the only ones advocating for the throne. Max is left absent for most of the story and Eilas’s heart is only half way in it. And Sonic is advocating for neither side and is simply caught in the middle. Once again Ian writes out an opportunity to have more characters involved when Elias sends all his guards home for the night in order to take on Amadeus man to man.
To be fair the comic does condemn this action as stupid but Antoine should have been there. He would’ve been the ideal spokes person to defend the monarchy in a debate and there’s no way he’d simply would have gone home if there was a known threat to the King.
This lack of nuance and other voices makes it all too easy for Sally to swoop in and resolve everything in a few panels.
I like Sally. This retrospective has retroactively been a revelation as to just how much I do enjoy her character and this is actually one of her best scenes. Fulfilling her promise to better herself from the last story arc while also highlighting her strengths a character. But it’s unfortunately undermined by the lack of panel time and by being too neat and tidy a resolution.
Oh and then there’s Max.
This is the story that made me hate Max.
Now keep in mind I never actually liked the character but I was pretty ambivalent towards him until this point. Sure he was a jerk but he was intentionally written that way and I had, wrongly, assumed that eventually the authors would go somewhere with that. This story pretty much buried that hope for good.
The prefect chance to hold Max accountable and they go after his son instead. A son that he himself is abusing now that Sally’s no longer under his thumb. Oh and he’s also absent for most of the arc.
Yeah the story in-of-itself isn’t actually bad on any major technical level but is without a doubt the biggest missed opportunity in the old continuity.
As for the next entry for the retrospective I’m debating over weather Ishould just skip to the Moebius arc or do a quick recap of events that happen between now and then. I guess we’ll find out next week what I decide.
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