INFO BURST

Format: Comic strip
Initial Release Date: 24 November 1992
Feature character: Sonic the Hedgehog
Locations: None in particular specified
Items: None
Continuity: Archie Comics
Synopsis: Sonic demonstrates just how fast he can go with a series of speed puns.

CREDITS

Writer: Michael Gallagher
Artists: Scott Shaw, Jorge Pacheco

Review

This is the first of Archie Comics’ shorter strips to stretch to a full page but go beyond a single panel. It’s a pretty straight-forward series of gags about how fast Sonic can go, of varying, mostly decent quality. Scott Shaw’s artwork aids the comedy nicely, with some absolutely delightful facial expressions on Sonic as he variously shows off to anyone who’ll pay attention to him. A couple of the gags are a little on the dated side and some don’t particularly play well to international audiences, with a reference to NASCAR racer Richard Petty threatening to become outdated even in 1992.

Most of what’s here is pretty fun, however. This strip also begins what would become something of an easy running gag in early issues of Archie’s continuity, making Sonic’s speed the subject of the joke. It’s amazing how much mileage Archie’s writers were able to get out of the fact that Sonic is very fast indeed and they’ve got no fewer than six examples of that in this strip, with a bonus “seventh” speed setting to illustrate Sonic’s Spin Dash (resembling more the Triple Spin from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog). It’s fertile ground for comedy, of course, and this single-page collection of puns and gags does a fine job mining it. If nothing else, it’s almost a statement of intent- Archie’s take on Sonic won’t just have feature-length adventures, he’ll also have featurettes of a comedic nature. While this sort of strip would be dropped by the comic in due course, they’re still a nice little addition in the early going.