Luke Owen takes a look at Sonic Universe #64 from Archie Comics…
Knuckles and the Chaotix are back in action! “The Great Chaos Caper” Part Two: It’s hijinks and high explosives galore with Knuckles caught in the middle of all the action! The Chaotix and the Hooligans are falling all over each other to get to a Chaos Emerald – the key to saving (or dooming) the world! It’s up to Knuckles to power through the madness and complete his own mission and, in his travels, you’ll never believe who he finds!
Ian Flynn is a hero amongst the Sonic universe and rightly so. For the last few years or so, he has been the principle writer on Archie’s main Sonic titles including Sonic Universe and he was the main reason why last year’s World’s Collide was so epic and brilliant. He is a man who gets these characters, knows their histories and understands why we still warm to them with nostalgia even 20-odd years after their initial debut on the Sega Mega Drive.
So, it’s nice to see that he can also have some fun with them.
Our hero Knuckles is still on his quest to find the spirit that can fix the continents again while the Chaotix are searching for the Chaos Emeralds which they believe are the key to restoring the world. However, they will need to get through the maze that is the abandoned mines below the Pumpkin Hill in order to find one – or perhaps both.
Knuckles is the most serious character within the Sonic Universe (not counting the brooding Shadow the Hedgehog) due to his tragic past and that is the only member of his tribe left alive. However, here in Sonic Universe #64, he is given some much needed levity to create a genuinely funny comic that still gets its story across.
The opening battle that sees Knuckles and the Chaotix (Vestor, Espio and Charmy) take on The Hooligans (Bark, Nack and Bean) is filled with sight gags, word play and slapstick humour. Even in the incredibly light tone of the Archie Sonic comic book world, Sonic Universe #64 feels like a parody. An incredibly funny parody, but a parody none the less. There is even a fourth-wall breaking moment where Bean the Dynamite Duck has his word balloon knocked upside down which he makes note of, in the same word balloon. It’s so bizarre.
It’s even odder then when it shifts back into the semi-serious plot of trying to find the Chaos Emerald. Odder still is that Sonic Universe #64 never feels unbalanced. It still finds moments to drop in some jokes and gags and Flynn has this excellent knack of keeping the tone consistent so the dial never swings in either direction too much. The banter between Knuckles and the Choatix is genuinely funny and there are some good character moments for Vector and Charmy.
Ian Flynn is a genius writer and Sonic Universe #64 really is a shining example of that. He can take a character that is as serious as Knuckles and strap him into this odd situation and yet never ruin the integrity of the character – like the Batman TV show from 1966. Sonic Universe #64 is a great read and very enjoyable. The story moves along at a good pace and it never feels bogged down with trying to cram in jokes.
Luke Owen is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors and the host of the Flickering Myth Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.
