INFO BURST

Format: Comic strip
Initial Release Date: 25/12/93
Feature character: Sonic the Hedgehog
Villain: Doctor Ivo Robotnik
Other Characters: Animal Friends (various unnamed animals, Flicky the Bluebird, Sally Acorn), Badniks (fake Robotnik, Troopers)
Locations: Mobius, South Island, Green Hill Zone
Items: Power Sneakers
Continuity: Sonic the Comic
Synopsis: Sonic finds his friends opening Christmas presents gifted to them by Doctor Robotnik! Robotnik seems to have turned over a new lead for Christmas and Sonic wonders if he should give the doctor a chance. However, all is not as it seems as the Robotnik watches on from his lair, plotting to make this the last Christmas of Sonic’s life. At the Green Hill Christmas party, the animals celebrate their newfound friendship with Doctor Robotnik, but one of the Trooper Badniks, intoxicated from drinking too much high octane oil, spills the beans and reveals to Sonic that the friendly Robotnik is a robot double with a bomb inside, which the real Robotnik will use to destroy Sonic and his friends. Sonic wastes no time in dragging the robotic Robotnik away from the party, hurling it into the waters of the Green Hill Zone just as it detonates in spectacular fashion. Sonic then returns to the party to celebrate Christmas (and wish the comic’s readers a merry Christmas). Robotnik is annoyed at his plan being a failure but some of the Troopers have a Christmas present for him: an egg-cup chair. Rather than showing gratitude, Robotnik decides the Troopers must be underworked if they have time to go shopping and doubles their workload over the holiday season, noting he always preferred Easter anyway.

CREDITS

Writer: Mark Millar
Artist: Brian Williamson
Letterer: Elitta Fell

Review

Christmas stories are always particularly tricky in the world of comics as they become dated almost instantly. This might have been exemplified nowhere better than in this story which was first released on Christmas day, when there can’t have been many readers to read it anyway, meaning most will have read it after the holiday had already been and gone!

To compound this, Happy Christmas, Doctor Robotnik isn’t particularly holiday themed. There’s snow and there are Christmas presents, sure, but the story wouldn’t have been particularly different if the Christmas element was removed. Aside from the robot Robotnik claiming Christmas is about sharing and forgiving, there’s not a lot here that would look out of place if the same story had taken place in the gorgeous summer sun.

To be slightly more fair, Christmas stories are quite often somewhat throwaway anyway. Writers and editors do tend to want to acknowledge the occasion and, with 26 issues a year, Sonic the Comic could certainly afford to give one up for the holiday. But they can’t really impact on the ongoing story in any major way because nobody’s still thinking about Christmas in January. It’s just the nature of serialised storytelling, unfortunately!

Very much to his credit, Millar once again maintains a good pace with the limited page space available. We get plenty of scene changes which move the story along without anything ever feeling rushed and it’s certainly fun for the reader to know Robotnik is plotting something before Sonic figures it out (though, isn’t he always? Some people need a hobby).

That Robotnik created a robot likeness of himself that, right up to the point of its destruction, truly believed itself to be not only the real deal but one who was kind is quite darkly funny. As Sonic races through the Green Hill Zone holding onto the robot and causes it to melt, it never stops being polite to Sonic and never considers the impossibility of the real Robotnik melting to reveal mechanisms inside. That’s good programming!

Brian Williamson’s art is vastly improved over his last effort, though that wouldn’t have taken a great deal. It’s still not the best art we’ve had in the comic by a long shot, but it’s significantly more readable this time and Sonic and Tails, even when slightly wonky, still manage to look quite cute and expressive.

While I’m not too keen on the fourth wall break (something Sonic the Comic wouldn’t repeat except in caption boxes), it’s forgivable as the comic was still in a state of relative infancy at this point so there really hadn’t been anything to definitively say it couldn’t happen – though I’m certainly glad it didn’t happen again. On a more positive note, the story manages to leave enough space for a fun little epilogue with Robotnik and the Troopers which is a nice addition. Seeing Robotnik be so completely incapable of gratitude that he actually punishes the Troopers for their attempt at kindness towards their master is a fun and silly way to end the story with a smile.

Though it’s not the most memorable story of STC’s first year, this one manages to be a perfectly serviceable bit of fun for Christmas – and, honestly, that’s fine!