INFO BURST

Format: Comic strip
Initial Release Date: 2/4/94
Feature character: Sonic the Hedgehog
Villain: Captain Plunder
Other Characters: Porker Lewis, Johnny Lightfoot, Miles “Tails” Prower, Badniks (Crawlton, Flasher), Sky Pirates (here referred to as the Mystic Cave Pirates), Amy Rose, Filch
Locations: Mobius, South Island, Mystic Cave Zone
Continuity: Sonic the Comic
Synopsis: Sonic, Porker, Johnny and Tails arrive in the Mystic Cave Zone, following the trail of Amy, who has been kidnapped by pirates. Upon arrival, the group are attacked by Badniks, but find no prisoners inside being used as organic batteries. Sonic and Tails are separated from Johnny and Porker and zapped into unconsciousness by a swarm of Flasher Badniks. On awakening, they find themselves face to face with Captain Plunder and his pirates, including his first mate, the spectral Filch. They also find Amy captive but seemingly quite positive about the ordeal. Plunder tries to bargain with Tails’ life in return for the Chaos Emeralds, forcing the fox to walk a makeshift plank over a drop into water below, but Sonic refuses to give up the gems. Plunder learns too late that Tails can fly and so has lost his bargaining chip. Sonic and Plunder scuffle but Amy convinces them to stop, telling them fighting is pointless as Sonic will never give up the Chaos Emeralds. Amy instead suggests Plunder and his crew join forces with the Freedom Fighters – the Kintobor Computer can tell them which of Robotnik’s freighters are worth the pirates robbing and, in return, the pirates can lend a little muscle to the Freedom Fighters from time to time. Plunder and Sonic both make a deal and Sonic and Tails leave with Amy, though Plunder confides in Filch that he still has a plan to get his hand (and hook) on the Chaos Emeralds…

CREDITS

Writer: Nigel Kitching
Artist: Richard Elson
Letterer: Ellie de Ville

Review

Of all of Sonic the Comic’s original characters, one of the most beloved has to be Captain Plunder. In his initial appearance in this story, Plunder is an antagonist, but it wouldn’t take long for him to become a favourite with the comic’s readers. Plunder doesn’t have as many stories to his name as Tekno the Canary or Shortfuse the Cybernik, but he leaves a huge impression on a reader in every single appearance he makes, generally because his physically imposing, brutish size pair superbly with the tremendous opportunities for comedy the character presents.

The strip manages to be an extended highlight reel for artist Richard Elson, with some huge and exciting panels showcasing Sonic and the Freedom Fighters battling a horde of Crawltons, Sonic and Tails being overcome by Flashers and a full-body introduction to Captain Plunder himself – a tremendous design in which every pirate trope is warped, including a Swiss-army hook, a castor wheel peg leg and a tiny, silent parrot that may or may not be a robot or an alien on his shoulder. All of this plus superbly expressive faces on Sonic and Tails throughout and scenes swimming with detail. Despite the murky setting of the Mystic Cave Zone, Elson’s art manages to absolutely shine in this one. We’ve mentioned previously how Nigel Kitching had, at this point, been accepted by readers of Sonic the Comic as the de facto head writer, even though never officially being appointed as such. By this time, Elson was seen by readers very much as the Sonic artist with similar credentials and the Kitching/Elson pairing was proving to be the absolute peak of the comic’s storytelling.

The script, then, is an absolute gem from Kitching. As had become his standard at this point, the level of characterisation on display is something only Kitching was providing in STC’s pages and he’d remain unmatched in that field until Lew Stringer joined the ranks of the comic’s writers. Every interaction between the characters lets them show off their unique personalities and, as one might expect, cause a few clashes along the way. Once again, Amy shows despite her appearing to be a damsel in distress type, she’s actually a lot smarter than she lets on, coming up with a plan that’s beneficial to the Freedom Fighters. We also learn she was captured while trying to protect Tails, an early indication that she’s not exactly weak and fearful.

But it’s really the comedy that’s the strongest suit of this story. Sonic starts things off in a mood, irritated at Amy being captured, then ends up even more irritated as the world seems to conspire to make him look foolish in front of his friends. The highlight has to be the rapid-fire joke barrage of Tails being booted off the plank and momentarily forgetting he can fly, Sonic grousing at the poor distraction that provides, Sonic being unable to spin attack Filch as he’s a ghost and the explanation of how Filch came to be a ghost when Plunder killed him for taking an extra biscuit – and given the sizable hole in Filch’s forehead, it’s easy to imagine how Plunder did the job.

From start to finish, this one’s an absolute treasure – perfectly befitting the favourite pirate of every STC reader.