Sonic the Hedgehog

Publisher
Archie Comics
Country of origin
Japan
Year
1993

Sonic the Hedgehog #176

By David Rasmussen
27th Aug 07

For awhile now I’ve been reviewing Sonic X, the series that took Sonic to the human world.
And for it’s part Sonic X has been suffering a bad bad fate of mostly 1 out of 5 ratings ever since I’ve been reviewing it. But that was, again, just Sonic X. I haven’t (until now) been looking into it’s counterpart (still set in the original Sonic universe) Sonic the Hedgehog.

I missed Sonic the Hedgehog’s recent milestone, Sonic #175, but here I am now one issue after.
And suddenly you realize Sonic (original) is a far different beast than Sonic X from page 1.
No longer a lame villain, Eggman in the original Sonic universe is actually a total bastard of a character. Not to the level of winning worst villain award anytime soon, but compared to Eggman in Sonic X this is like a complete overhaul for him. He’s destroyed Knothole (the hometown of Sonic and gang) and captured all their friends, leaving it up to Sonic and gang to save them.

It’s not easy though. Tails is really stressed out and blows up at Sonic while they search the remains of Knothole, they have a whole army to face (Eggman has real forces now and they vastly outnumber the few good guys of the series), and they have to hurry before Eggman begins converting their friends and family into enemies. Definitely not a good day for original universe Sonic to say the least.

And unlike Sonic X you see lots more action.
Sonic really kicks it here. Tails puts his tech skills to really good use. And you even have Knuckles and an Amy Rose who is more than just the overtly attention needy grabby “girlfriend” of Sonic (she puts herself and her big whomping hammer to good use).

Emotions roll high level, the action to save the citizens of Knothole pitches high, and for a time it looks like Sonic has gone nuts as he engages a most dangerous gamble that could just as well backfire if he’s wrong. It doesn’t, but it leads to a major cliffhanger and a coming battle of large scale proportion between the furry blue hedgehog and his eggy opponent.

It’s with this issue you realize that Sonic the Hedgehog (original Universe) is what Sonic X should have been, a solid well written series that rates above the meager points that Sonic X has been scrapping by issue after issue. And with a cliffhanger issue (as Eggman comes barreling in with all his forces ready to fight to the finish with Sonic and company) we know that this is a read well worth plunking your $7.25 for a 5 issue read. Sure, it’s not perfect, but after so many Sonic X 1 out of 5’s it’s like mana to see something this solid come out worth being hyped about.

Sonic the Hedgehog #176 gets 3 anger management issues Amy Roses out of 5.

-- David Rasmussen 27th Aug 07