The 25 Recap - 8th Era
- Sonic the Hedgehog 176-200
- Sonic X 21-40 (not actually covered in the retrospective, but it exists)
- Sonic Universe 1-4
This is my personal favorite era of the comic and it’s highly regarded amongst many fans. Gone are the remnants of Penders; Ian Flynn is allowed to really make the book his own. The stakes are high, shake ups abound, and the world is fleshed out anew. Add in some emotional consequences here and there and you have a pretty solid run of stories.
Major events of the era are….
- Charmy Bee is injured by the Egg Grapes - StH 176
- The creation of New Mobotropolis and Nicole regains her mobian form permanently- StH 177
- The Acorn Council is formed - StH 179
- Knuckles becomes Enerjak, destroys Eggman’s robot army, de-powers the Dark Legion, and moves the all the echidnas to Ablion -StH 180 - 183
- Locke dies - StH 184
- The Dark Legion teams up with Eggman - StH 184
- Mammoth Mogul, Ixis Naugus, and Team Hooligan break out of jail - StH 185 & 186
- Scourge and the Anti-Freedom Fighters invade Mobius - StH 189 - 196
- Snively meets Regina - StH 194
- Silver the Hedgehog is introduce -StH 198 - 196
- Mobius Prime’s Shadow & Medal Sonic travel to the Sonic X world connecting the two series - SX 40
- Scourge is sent to the Zone Cops jail -StH 197
- Gamga dies and Omgea is born - SU 3
- Eggman goes insane and is defeated by Sonic - StH 200
Favorite thing about the era: Consistency
Say what you want about Flynn, but he is by far and away the most consistent writer the Archie Sonic comics ever had. And this era is perhaps the most even in terms of quality that the book has ever seen. Even the lowest stories are just merely mediocre at worst and the highs are pretty outstanding. The artwork is overall good and a uniformed art style is reached for the first time in the comics history. Even the pacing, usually Flynn’s biggest weakness, is relatively kept in check.
Least favorite thing about the era: Missed Opportunities
This is a minor nitpick really. Nothing in this era is outright bad per say so what I’m left to criticize is what’s not there. There are a lot of ideas that could have been pushed further and character moments that could have been more fleshed out. Due to either time constraints or the limitations of the “action” genre the comic was boxed into, a lot of opportunities just sailed passed.
Max being held accountable during the revolt. Not enough characters involved in said revolt. Patch not getting the shit kicked out of him by those he actually hurt. More time spent on Anti-Mobius and how it differs from Prime. An extra issue in the event arc to focus on all the characters and how far they’ve come to reach this moment and build up tension for the rising stakes.
The list goes on and on but only because what we do get is so good that I just want more.
Favorite Antoine Story:Brand New Moebius StH 190 & 191 by Ian Flynn
Truth be told he only gets a few scenes, mainly in the second part, and they’re sadly the only focus he really gets during this era. But those scenes are important in establishing his moral compass post-development. Making him a more layered and nuanced character compared to the more straight laced heroes in the book.
Favorite Bunnie Story: Otherside StH 193 & 194
Bit of a cheat here as Bunnie herself doesn’t get a whole lot of focus during this era. But this is the first real look at Anti-Bunnie and through her we can gain a further understanding our main Bunnie and how they differ.
Favorite Buntwan Story or Moment: Bunnie reassures Antoine in “Home, New Home” Eggman Empire III StH 177 by Ian Flynn
I could also have added in their confrontation in Brand New Moebius but that story already has enough rewards and a bit of self-reflection is always a good thing. Reminding the audience and the characters just how far they’ve come.
Favorite Single Story: “Old Soldiers" Shadow Saga III SU 3 by Ian Flynn
Yet another cheat here. This is technically part of a story arc, but it is a very episodic one. You could read any of it’s parts as one off stories and this is the best one. The story of Gamma and his relationship to Omega is far more touching and thoughtful here then anything the games pulled off. And Omega in the comics is always a treat to read.
Close runners up for the spot were “Father and Son” StH 192 and "Sleepless in New Megapolis” StH 194.
Favorite Story Arc: The Anti-Mobius Plot StH 189 - 196 by Ian Flynn
Man I’m cheating a lot during this recap. But oh well, my retrospective; my rules. I consider the entirety of the Anti-Mobius plot as one giant arc, even if the comic breaks it up into mini arcs through out. However if I had to pin-point just one of those mini-arcs then Brand New Moebius would get it with Otherside being a close second.
Favorite Artist: Dave Manak
Now I know what you’re going to say viewers, “Rachel Beth cheating is one thing but this is madness! Dave Manak isn’t even in this era!” to which you’d be wrong. Both Dave Manak and Mike Gallagher released their last contribution to Archie Sonic in issue 185 “The Misfit Badniks’ Salty, Soggy Sequel”.
“Buy Why?” you may still ask. Well for starters Tracy Yardley does 98% of all the art work during this era and he got this spot during the last recap. As for the other two or three new artists that had like one story each, they were still working closely with Yardley using his layouts and his designs as a base.
And besides I like Dave Manak. He’s one of my favorite artists to work on the book and I always felt a little guilty for passing him up during the first couple of recaps. So what better time to give him his dues then during his swansong?
Sure he’s not the greatest artist ever, but there’s a charm to his style that evokes old school newspapers strip comics. A style that was perfectly suited for the early run of the book. Plus he gave us some the most memorable moments from the comic, like the first buntoine kiss as pictured above.
So yeah, there will always be a soft spot in my heart for Manak.
Thus concludes the 8th era. We only got two more eras to go before the reboot happens. So be sure to tune in next time fore the start if the 9th, but until then you can read the last review.
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