TKP Addendums: The Endgame Arc (Archie Sonic #47 - #50)
I wasn't planning this at all, but the Endgame arc has become surprisingly relevant again for very stupid reasons. The main one being that my mortal nemesis, The Screen Rant Guy, wrote a short clickbait article comparing and contrasting the (only halfway finished) Imposter Syndrome miniseries from IDW to "Archie's best arc," Endgame... solely because we're nearing issue #50 and Starline used the word "endgame" in a random sentence. No, really, that's it. Penders himself then butted into a Twitter thread to proclaim that fans have declared the Endgame arc a classic and that it "will never be topped." In the past he's even called it "the greatest storyline in Sonic history."
So, you know what? Fuck it. It's been a long time, and it can't hurt to go back and write something more thoughtful about it, compared to my original play-by-play liveblog. I also never said my Addendums had to be in order. So... is Endgame actually a classic? Or even any good?
No, it still sucks. Thanks for read - no okay fine
It's easy to understand why Endgame always stands out in older readers' memories because it's practically the first arc where anything consequential actually happens in Archie Sonic
Sure, there were memorable events within the first 46 issues and their various spinoffs. The introduction of Knuckles, Mecha Madness, Sonic reuniting with Chuck, rescuing King Max, etc. But rereading my archive a few months ago, it really struck me how little actually happens in that span of time aside from those bits. The series was largely content to rely on its status quo. Robotnik would hatch an evil scheme, the Freedom Fighters would go on a mission to infiltrate Robotropolis (that never resulted in anything). They'd go back and forth like this for a few years. There's nothing inherently wrong with having a status quo, of course, and I'd absolutely take those first 50 issues over the shit Penders wrote later. But the general lack of dramatic consequences prior to this instantly made the Endgame arc stand out. It really does feel like the series finale it was originally written to be
Of course, I'm not reading this as a 9-year-old in 1997. I already know this isn't the end, but rather one of many status quo shifting milestone stories from a series that would last nearly 250 more issues. And like I said back when I first covered this arc seven years ago, the sources of drama here are mostly lame as hell
I'll avoid ranting about Sally's death too much here, but it has to be addressed. It sucks. It's dramatic and it grabs your attention for sure, but it sucks that Sally doesn't even get a heroic death, but rather a sudden anticlimactic death on a random mission with no clear goal, just because Penders thought she "cramped Sonic's style" and didn't know what else to do with her. She had already been largely reduced to a prize for Sonic and the ever-skeevy Geoffrey to fight over, but her fridging here only takes that even further. In her death she is fully transformed into a mere concept for the guys to fight over, not a character with any agency of her own. Hell, this could have been a setup for a twist where Sally has her own counter-plan at play and makes a triumphant return in the climax to reveal that she was actually alive the whole time, and then take part in the final battle with her friends. (The possibility that the report of Sally's death had been a lie was being teased as early as issue two of this arc.) I didn't like the similar storyline in her miniseries, but I'd take it over this. Instead, she's only thawed out at the very end to give Sonic a kiss. She's not a character, she's a reward for Sonic
Actually, a thing I couldn't do when I first covered Endgame was compare it to the series finale of SatAM, as I hadn't seen that at the time. And the difference there is night and day. In the show, instead of being written out, Sally is more present in the climax than ever, to the point where she literally shares Sonic's super speed, allowing her to be there at his side for their final victory. The difference is so stark that it's actually kind of hilarious
(Side note: Some of my critiques in the early days of this blog came off as more black-and-white than I would like. A few times I may have skirted a bit too close to the whole Strong Female Character angle, where a female character has to be an ass-kicking, "empowering" aspirational figure in order to be considered a good character. I'll say very bluntly that there's nothing inherently wrong with writing a story where a female character dies a pointless, tragic death, nor is it inherently bad to write characters with no agency in their lives. (I am a known Gundam liker.) The problem here is that the way Penders writes Sally is part of a larger pattern with his typical Baby Boomer view on gender roles.)
But, okay. I said I wasn't gonna dwell on this. Let's set the decision to kill Sally aside and look at what Penders and co. do with that twist. For one, it's there to shock the reader. And, yeah, it sure did that. But it also turns the early part of the arc into a murder mystery. A classic premise! So, is Endgame a good murder mystery?
Nope!
As I ragged on repeatedly in my original coverage, Sonic immediately gets blamed for Sally's death, and it's pure nonsense. Nobody believes that Sonic, the main hero of the team, has any motive to kill Sally. Because he doesn't. But they don't do anything to disprove it, even though this is a series where Sonic alone has been mind controlled into acting against his will, impersonated by his evil universe doppelganger, and replaced with a robotic duplicate - not to mention how often this shit happens to other characters. When Endgame began, it had literally only been seven issues since Sonic was put on trial for crimes he didn't really commit following the Mecha Madness event. And yet we're already doing this again
Even the question of who really killed Sally doesn't get to be a source of intrigue. None of the established characters end up being a traitor, despite the presence of a traitor being the entire focus of issue #46, and it isn't even an old returning villain or anything like that. No, it's Hershey. A brand new character introduced after Sally's death. But she didn't do it of her own free will - the whole thing was orchestrated by Drago, a confrontational member of the Wolf Pack the Freedom Fighters met literally one issue earlier who was already immediately suspicious, and King Max, who had been replaced by an Auto-Automaton off-screen... somehow. (It's revealed in the end that Robotnik had actually discovered the location to Knothole and sent troops to replace Max all the way back during "Battle Royale," while Sonic was out of town. Why didn't he just blow up Knothole then and there? Who knows!!!)
The actual explanation of how New Friend Hershey could possibly have killed Sally might be even more nonsensical. As Drago reveals, he tricked her into wearing a lifelike full body Sonic costume designed by Robotnik that has an augmented reality display built into the head that makes everyone look like Snively. So Hershey thought she was killing Snively, and everyone else thought she was Sonic because of the costume. Why did Hershey think she needed to come along on that mission and dress up as Sonic? Who fucking knows!! More effort goes into explaining what happened to fucking Crocbot over in Downunda - no, seriously, he gets two whole pages of exposition in #49!
Overall, the best explanation we get for why Robotnik's plan is so complex is that he just seems to be playing mind games to pit the heroes against each other while he finishes the Ultimate Annihilator. But, again, the story devotes very little time to this tension within the team because of how quickly the question of who killed Sally gets resolved, and the only ones who really bicker are Sonic and Geoffrey, who were already constantly at each other's throats long before this
And, yes, the subplot with new characters Hershey and Drago devolves into a domestic abuse story. As I said years ago, I think it's a good thing to teach kids how to spot abusive relationships, but this isn't a well told story about abuse. Drago is a one-dimensional exposition dumping villain who also hits and insults his girlfriend. It feels like it was mostly setup for Hershey to turn the tables and beat the snot out of him in the last issue (which admittedly is kinda satisfying after having to read about Drago for multiple issues), but no matter the intention it's just a bizarre inclusion in this already overstuffed arc
This is all part of what's probably the overall biggest problem with the arc, which is that despite being intended as a sendoff for the series, so much of it revolves around new characters over the actual main cast. Hershey, Drago, and Dr. Quack all get a lot of screen time throughout the arc and are integral to the plot. So is Geoffrey, but at least you could say he was an established character who had fans at that point. (This was years before folks realized the age gap between Geoffrey and Sally, or before Penders made That Tweet.) Most of the Freedom Fighters are totally passive for most of the arc. Rotor, Tails, Chuck, and Amy contribute basically nothing. Dulcy does exactly one absurd thing and then Sonic tells THE GIANT DRAGON she doesn't have to help fight. Antoine starts tailing Drago when he realizes something's probably up, but he and Bunnie are immediately caught and shipped off to literally the opposite side of the planet and kept out of the action until the finale. (How they manage to travel from the Midwest to Australia and back so quickly is a mystery, but nitpicks about travel time are the least of this story's problems.) Even Sonic himself doesn't contribute all that much to Robotnik's defeat in the grand scheme of things, and he spends most of the arc just going "man it's fucked up that Sally died and everyone thinks I did it"
But finally, we come to #50. (Or, well, the "Director's Cut" version of it released as Sonic Super Special #6, which has supplanted it in canon.) I'll stand by my statement that this final issue is the best part of this arc. Broadly speaking, it feels like a proper ending. I like the way it's bookended with Robotnik's arrival in the Acorn Kingdom and his death. It's got some action that feels appropriately climactic, and there's good Spaziante art mixed in there. At the very least, the last issue is in the shape of a good series finale, with the heroes starting at their lowest point and then rallying together to win once and for all
That decent climax is just massively let down by the story surrounding it. The cracks start to show very quickly with the infamous scene where Dulcy reveals that dragons are all walking lie detectors. (Sure would've been convenient to know that three issues ago!!!) Even in this expanded Director's Cut, they just need to get the ball rolling and convince Geoffrey of Sonic's innocence as quickly as possible. Then the Ultimate Annihilator is FINALLY set up after somehow not being mentioned the whole arc and the fighting begins. Again, another concession: Knothole finally being put in danger by Robotnik's invasion and then the U.A. is a smart move. An obvious one, but a good one to raise the tension nonetheless.
Then we get the final showdown between Sonic and Robotnik, which is still pretty good, and after that it's all plot cleanup. (Contrary to what I've been saying for years, it isn't actually said anywhere that Sonic uses his billionth ring to avoid getting blasted by the U.A. I'm not sure where I got that idea from, other than the image of him coming out of a ring.)
Said plot cleanup is just wall to wall nonsense, as if this story wasn't full of that already. The reveal that Knothole has been blasted three hours in the future, a fact that never ended up mattering. Author's pet and Bones McCoy expy Dr. Quack revealing that everything is actually HIS fault, because he's such a super genius inventor that his "Dream Watcher" had the exact part Robotnik needed for the U.A. and that's how he was able to locate Knothole off-screen. The fact that Snively was actually the one to ultimately defeat Robotnik due to him tampering with the U.A. off-screen. (He doesn't even get to gloat about it!) And, of course, the reveal that Sally was alive and recovering the whole time, because readers (rightfully) complained. They kiss so that she can be Sonic's prize for winning, despite the fact that he actually contributed very little to Robotnik's defeat. Roll credits
Yeah, Endgame just isn't good, y'all
Again, I get why this was a big deal to fans back in the '90s who read this as kids. This story has actual drama and stakes and consequences on a level that nothing leading up to it had. Sure, Sally's death was undone, but Robotnik's mattered. The problem is that, as with so many other Penders stories, it only has the shape of a good story. The actual details that make it up are all fucking nonsense. The needlessly convoluted plot, the focus on brand new characters and pet characters of Ken's over the actual main cast, the tonally bizarre soap opera drama. It's trash. And not even particularly fun trash
Writers: Kent Taylor and Ken Penders
Pencils: Manny Galan
Colors: Karl Bollers
This issue's intro page does little more than recap the events of the previous issue. With his sentence pronounced, Sonic is loaded onto the plane that will take him to the island where the Devil's Gulag is located. But no one is really happy about this. Some are convinced of Sonic's guilt, believing what they saw, but others are reluctant to believe - none more so than Uncle Chuck.
On the plane, Sonic sits quietly, stricken by grief, confusion and anger. He's briefly enraged when he sees that Sleuth Dog is on the plane with him as well, also being sent to the Devil's Gulag, but he doesn't have much time to snap at him about it - a surprise attack from a bunch of swatbots takes the plane down, where it crashes into the landscape below. The swatbots approach the broken plane to find everyone aboard alive but unconscious - everyone except Sonic the Hedgehog, who announces his own name before he attacks.
Look, let's be real here. I find the second panel up there to be just as funny as anyone else - I remember the jokes flying around about it when Forces was announced - but if you take this scene at a whole, we're looking at a wrongly-accused, grieving teenager whose best friend and lover has just died, whom they didn't even let see the body before he was dragged away to be sent to prison. As he races away, we see a brief scene from back at Knothole where, very suspiciously, Drago has suddenly gained a personal audience with the king, informing him of the plane's crash and Sonic's escape. In response, the king orders Geoffrey to be the one to personally recapture the hedgehog.
After running as long as he can through the rainstorm, Sonic is finally forced by exhaustion to take refuge in a cave, where his mind continues to reel. He recalls being visited by Uncle Chuck the night before his sentencing, and it turns out Chuck has some very good reasons to be suspicious. Not only did Dr. Quack refuse to let him see Sally's final medical reports, but the king himself brushed him off angrily when he tried to appeal.
Sonic has at least one person fighting for him for now, but back in Knothole, we find Antoine and Bunnie doing some digging of their own. Turns out Antoine has become very suspicious of Drago, and sneaks over to Hershey's house along with Bunnie, where they overhear a very damning conversation in which Drago all but outright admits that he's a traitor and working for Robotnik. However, before Bunnie and Antoine can get away with this news…
Things just go from bad to worse. Sonic, after falling into a fitful sleep in the caverns, awakens to the sound of awful growling, realizing that Geoffrey has arrived with a pack of Tasmanian Devils (apparently the only Mobian species that never fully evolved into a sentient species) to hunt him down by scent. He attempts to run, but Geoffrey is hot on his tail.
They find each other, and break into a vicious fight. At the same moment in Knothole, the king has called court into session, with the remaining Freedom Fighters, Wolf Pack, and Substitute Freedom Fighters in attendance. He insults everyone for their poor fighting ability, disappointed in how long the war has dragged on in his absence, and announces that he's reinstating the position of Warlord, giving the title back to…
The swatbots accompanying him quickly subdue everyone, leaving him free to take over the city. It's happened at last; Robotnik has discovered Knothole's secret location.
In the caverns, Sonic and Geoffrey continue to battle it out, screaming blame at each other.
In a fury, Sonic knocks Geoffrey down and runs for it, only to find himself trapped on the edge of a cliff overlooking a waterfall. With Geoffrey right behind him, aiming his crossbow, Sonic has no choice… and jumps off the edge to escape.
