If you think the cover is a mess, wait until you read it.
Sonic Super Special #7
Archie Comics Publications (1998)
“Parallel Paradigm”
WRITER/INKER: Ken Penders
PENICLER: Jim Valentino
COLORIST: Frank Gagliardo & Pat Spaziante
COVER SEPARATIONS: Heroic Age
INTERIOR SEPARATIONS: Grap[hic Color Works
FRONTISPIECE & CENTER SPREAD: Pat Spaziante & Harvey Mercadoocasio
SEPARATIONS: Nelson Ribeiro
LETTERER: Jeff Powell
EDITOR: Justin F. Gabrie
A woman named Particle arrives in Mobotropolis, knocking out the investigating Freedom Fighters before warping to the Floating Island and stealing the Chaos Emerald with Mammoth Mogul still trapped in it. She manages to take out Knuckles with her stun power, and we wakes up to the island in the water. (You’d think that all the times that thing has hit the water they’d find a way to make the Island float the next time.) Our heroes journey to a version of Earth set in the Image universe. There they team with the then-current incarnation of Shadowhawk, a teen wearing the armor, The Savage Dragon (hadn’t he stopped being a cop by this point except in the cartoon?), and Union, but they’re all taken down by a mysterious enemy who knows Sonic and has an army of SWATBots. In there, Particle rescues her sister as well as the heroes and Velocity while The Maxx shows up in the villain’s train…somehow. Long story short, our heroes take the Chaos Emerald back and leave a confused pair of FBI agents behind them.
And this is the first big mistake of the comic: the framing device. Two X-Files ripoffs are investigating things. They now know Shadowhawk’s identity. We started with them talking to Particle before she very easily escaped FBI custody. Teen Shadowhawk tells them the rest of the story from where he met up with Sonic’s crew, who are apparently video game characters in this reality and he saw the shows but doesn’t know who Dulcey the dragon is despite her also being a show character that transferred to Archie comics. Despite being set in a superhero universe, not-Scully comes up with an excuse for the multiverse hijinks that somehow makes LESS sense than what she’s trying to deny. Meanwhile, Image characters pop out of nowhere. Spawn and Maxx’s cameos are rather worthless, and Velocity is only there to have Sonic run alongside someone because she’s Image’s resident speedster. The end result is a story that feels pointless.
Except there is a point. This comic only exists so Ken Penders can promote his comic for Image, The Lost Ones, which features Particle and her resumed search for her sister. Linkara reviewed that comic, and it turns out to not be very good. This one isn’t much better. The story is a mess, the Archie artists do not do the Image characters justice in Sonic’s art style, Dragon and Union’s chins are ridiculously huge, and we’ll never see this villain again, which Penders tries to slyly suggest is either a new form for Robotnik or another Robotnik/Eggman from another universe.
Sadly this is a very week story and an even weaker team-up.
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