In anticipation of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (SEGA Technical Institute, 1992), SEGA dubbed November 24, 1992 “Sonic 2sday”. Accordingly, this is a great excuse to celebrate Sonic’s faithful sidekick, Miles “Tails” Prower, who debuted in that title.
Story Title: “Southern Crossover” (Part One to Three)
Published: October 1995 (cover-dated: December 1995) to December 1995 (cover-dated: February 1996)
The Background:
Thanks to an aggressive marketing campaign and being bundled with the all-powerful 16-bit Mega Drive, Sonic the Hedgehog was the blockbuster success SEGA needed to usurp Nintendo from the top of the videogame industry. Despite a tumultuous development, Sonic 2 surpassed this success, selling 400,000 copies in its first week, 6 million units during the Mega Drive’s lifespan, and increasing SEGA’s slice of the home console market by 40%. Widely praised and highly regarded, Sonic 2 also debuted Tails, Sonic’s kid sidekick, who was created by Yasushi Yamaguchi. Resembling the mythical kitsune and devoted to his super-fast hero, Tails became a well regarded staple of the Sonic franchise, becoming one of the few of Sonic’s supporting cast to get his own divisive solo outings. He was also the second to receive a solo mini series published by Archie Comics, who produced the popular Sonic the Hedgehog comics in the United States, which were heavily based upon Sonic’s cartoon adventures. Though spinning off from Archie’s loose adaptation of Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble (Aspect, 1994), Tails’ three-issue miniseries set the groundwork for his greater role in Archie’s comics, which reimagined him as a character of great destiny.
The Review:
Tails’s one and only Archie-published miniseries begins with the young, two-tailed fox drawing by the docks. It seems Tails likes to write and draw his own comic books that paint him as a mild-mannered (and “handsome”) youngster who secretly operates as “Captain Super Fox-Man”, a superpowered “Avenger of Evil” who’s just as capable (if not more so) as his older Freedom Fighter cohorts. While filing his art, Tails thumbs past a list of supplies he acquired during a previous battle against the tyrannical Doctor Ivo Robotnik and his agent, Fiona, a “false fox” who betrayed him. His’ paperwork proves that Dr. Robotnik is building a satellite operation somewhere on Mobius and the fox cub is determined to find it by himself and prove how capable he is. Thus, Tails quickly hides the document from Princess Sally Acorn, leader of the Freedom Fighters and essentially his substitute mother. The two admire the Sea Fox, a nifty little one-man submarine built for Tails by Rotor the Walrus after Archie’s Triple Trouble adaptation. Although Sally forbids Tails from piloting the Sea Fox, he’s seemingly happy tinkering with it and playing make-believe but secretly fumes at being treated like an infant. Consequently, when Sally leaves for an important meeting, Tails takes the Sea Fox out to sea, having secretly filled the tank and embarked on solo ventures before, adamant to show that he’s not a helpless child. Elsewhere, the maniacal Dr. Robotnik oversees the final preparations on his gigantic blimp, trashing one of his SWATbots with his bare hands when the machine asks to check the ship’s inventory against the supply list stolen by Tails. Dr. Robotnik plans to fly supplies to his regional robo-underboss in the Southern Hemisphere (specifically, the nation of Downunda), as part of his grand plan for global domination, cloaking the dirigible to make it undetectable unless one is directly beneath it.
This odd flaw means Tails easily spots the blimp while searching the high seas for signs of the rotund dictator. While investigating a dark patch on the water’s surface, Tails is stunned to find his quarry is in the sky and flies up to investigate. After glimpsing the blimp’s destination, Tails is attacked by SWATbots, just barely recovering in time to trap them in a water vortex with his propeller-like twin tails. However, when Tails returns to the Sea Fox, he’s ambushed by Octobot, a mechanical octopus in charge of Dr. Robotnik’s underwater robotization factory and out for revenge after Tails humiliated him in the Triple Trouble special. After scuttling the Sea Fox, Octobot drags Tails into the dark depths, causing Tails to black out. Outraged that his blimp was so easily spotted, Dr. Robotnik chastises his forces and calls his robo-underboss, a mechanical crocodile named Crocbot, for an update. Thrilled that he’ll soon receive enough supplies to pollute the landscape, Crocbot orders his robotic winged dingoes to patrol in anticipation of the blimp, then loudly boasts of his plans to reprogram Dr. Robotnik’s SWATbots to aid him in overthrowing his master and conquering the world for himself! Luckily for Tails, he wakes up on the back of a massive blue whale named Fluke. His confusion is short-lived as a friendly manta ray named…well, Ray…fills him in on what happened. As Tails was being dragged underwater and nearly drowned, Octobot was suddenly attacked by the “Forty Fathoms Freedom Fighters” (Ray, P.B. the Jellyfish, Bottlenose the Dolphin, and Bivalve Clam). Despite Octobot fighting back by spraying ink, he was shocked by P.B., tackled by Bottlenose, and ultimately flattened by Fluke (though the Sea Fox was totalled). Grateful, Tails immediately enlists the Forty Fathoms Freedom Fighters in expediting his trip to Downunda, with Fluke and Ray only too happy to help and allow Tails to embellish the details in his comic books.
Upon arriving, Tails is immediately detected by Crocbot’s security systems, who dispatches his robotic Wing Dingoes to intercept him. Although Tails puts up a good fight and even takes a few of the robots out, he takes a bite to a tail and crashes to the ground, too injured to fly and barely staying conscious. Tails is thus rescued again, this time by the Downunda Freedom Fighters led by Walt Wallabee and Barby Koala, Wombat Stu, the peace-loving hippy Guru Emu, and Duck “Bill” Platypus. While they’re busy tending to the unconscious Tails, the group is ambushed by the Alpha Wing Dingo, who swoops in and kidnaps Wombat Stu! Walt quickly orders the others to pursue their teammate while he hops away with Tails in his pouch to get the young fox help. After halting communications with Dr. Robotnik to keep his master from seeing the state of his damaged Wing Dingoes, Crocbot initially lashes out in frustration and then gleefully clamps Wombat Stu to a torture rack. Crocbot then assures Dr. Robotnik that all is ready and ends the call, watching with relish as Wombat Stu’s allies approach his base (amusingly modelled after the Sydney Opera House) just as the blimp arrives. Walt rejoins his teammates and gives an update from Tails that catches them up with the plot and they race towards Crocbot’s base to keep him from being bolstered by Dr. Robotnik’s weapons. Tails wakes up at the Downunda Freedom Fighters’ base at the bottom of a giant crater, his tail bandaged and his arm in a sling, and discovers statues of the Ancient Walkers, mystical beings from Mobius’s past who Tails learned of in the Triple Trouble special. He’s then approached by Athair, the wizened and cantankerous great-grandfather of Knuckles the Echidna, who gives the injured fox cub a lecture on ancient history.
Generations ago, Athair’s echidna ancestors were so busy building elaborate, highly advanced cities across Mobius that they failed to spot a comet heading for their capital city, Echidnapolis, until it was too late. Though the echidnas levitated Echidnapolis and a chunk of their land to safety, creating what was then known as the Floating Island, the comet devastated Mobius. Though Tails tries to leave, frustrated with Athair’s riddles and eager to help his newfound friends, the Ancient Walkers come to life and insist he learn more. Thus, Tails learns of how life evolved on Mobius, how dinosaurs once ruled, and how the planet was struck by the Chaos Emeralds in prehistoric times. Many worshipped or tried to harness their powers over the millennia, often being corrupted by their desires. However, it’s said that a “Chosen One” would one day unite the many Chaos Emeralds to bring about the “great harmony”, a destiny Athair believes the Ancient Walkers have bestowed upon Tails! After coming out of a trance to find his wounds healed, Athair gone, and Barby crashing in after Crocbot’s gigantic C.D. Rom Ram attacks the Downunda Freedom Fighters, Tails reluctantly shrugs off his strange experience and goes to help. Although the massive robotic ram beats on the Downunda Freedom Fighters, it’s easily destroyed by one of Walt’s “bomberangs”, frustrating Crocbot and distracting him from helping the blimp to dock. When Tails and Barby attack him, Crocbot mangles the controls and the blimp dramatically goes down in flames along with his plans to usurp Dr. Robotnik. With Barby distracted rescuing Wombat Stu, Crocbot hits Tails with his mechanical tail and leaps into his “nuclear powered Mega-Techa Tank” to escape. Determined to end Crocbot’s threat, the normally pacifistic Guru Emu borrows a bomberang and, assisted by Tails, sends Crocbot careening down a canyon to an explosive end. After tearfully turning down an offer to join the Downunda Freedom Fighters, Tails is overjoyed when the Forty Fathoms Freedom Fighters return with his repaired Sea Fox. Though he’s sad to say goodbye to his new friends, Tails heads home emboldened by the knowledge that Freedom Fighters exist all over Mobius.
The Summary:
I’ve read every single Sonic and Sonic-adjacent comic published by Archie Comics and I’m starting to think that Michael Gallagher may be my least favourite artist, especially from these early days. His work, while capturing the same cartoonish vibe as the cartoons that influenced these comics, can’t compare to the likes of Patrick “Spaz” Spaziante, who had a hand in the miniseries’ covers, which promise a tale of excitement and adventure that sadly isn’t reflected in the pages. We’re still in that weird time when Archie’s comics were more slapstick and cartoonish, meaning we get painful puns, borderline plagiarism presented as homage (particularly in Tails’ comic book fantasises), and childish villains who spend more time shouting than being a threat. It’s a gripe of mine that Archie’s Sonic comics took so long to establish their identity and move away from simplistic stuff, like the Ancient Walkers being cartoonish statues in a bland cave, and nonsense original characters who, while visually interesting, can’t compete with SEGA’s iconic creations. Indeed, the two sets of Freedom Fighters Tails encounters in Downunda leave a lot to be desired and don’t live up to their potential. I feel the writers should’ve focused on the Downunda Freedom Fighters and fleshed them out more if they were going to have such a large role. Perhaps they could’ve been forced from Downunda by Crocbot and operated out of a seaside cave, biding their time to counterattack when they spotted Tails in danger and rescued him alongside Fluke. Then we could’ve seen these new guys in action sooner and learned more about them, something greatly needed since they totally steal Tails’ spotlight!
Not yet the young genius and tech-savvy inventor we know today, Tails is frustrated at being thought of as a helpless kid and regularly defies Princess Sally by taking the Sea Fox out on adventures. Sadly, we don’t get to see the Sea Fox in action as it’s scuttled by Octobot and Tails’ hopes of downing Dr. Robotnik’s blimp solo are quickly dashed when he’s constantly overwhelmed and is either close to drowning or unable to fly because he’s outnumbered, outpowered, and outmatched. Therefore, Tails must be rescued by two sets of largely forgettable Freedom Fighters, I like the visual variety of both groups and it’s always fun when the comics anthropomorphise unique creatures like jellyfish or wallabies, but I don’t know who any of these guys are. What’s their backstory? How did they get into the Freedom Fighter game? What are their personalities beyond wanting to protect the world and hating the dictator and his robotic minions? Honestly, this would’ve been a great opportunity to team Tails up with Ray the Flying Squirrel and even Mighty the Armadillo but, as I mentioned, the story would’ve greatly benefitted from trimming down these original characters. I would’ve had Walt, Barby, Stu, and Fluke, with Atahir as their wise mentor. Make Walt the pacifist who’s forced into violence, Barby the tactician, Stu the hot-head, and Fluke the laidback muscle who carries them across the ocean. Then, use these extra panels to contrast them with the Knothole Freedom Fighters, showing how they accept Tails and don’t mollycoddle him. Indeed, perhaps they’d be compelled to help Tails based on Athair’s foreknowledge of his apparent destiny as the “Chosen One”, perhaps even leading them to revere him as a messiah figure, thus making his decision to return home more of a struggle since Tails would’ve found acceptance and the chance at a greater destiny amongst them.
Instead, Tails is hurt, the Downunda Freedom Fighters take over, and we’re left with a dull history less about things that barely seem connected to Tails. Rather than waste time recapping the echidna downfall, why not focus on the Chaos Emeralds, their influence on others, and the “Chosen One” prophecy? Tails barely seems interested in Athair’s story and doesn’t dwell upon the Ancient Walkers’ words after leaving with Barby, making me question what the point of dedicating all that time to it was beyond sowing the seeds for future plot threads. I quite liked Crocbot, however; he’s got a fun, unique design and I liked how he spoke with an Australian accent and sought to usurp Dr. Robotnik. However, he barely does anything and leaves all the heavy lifting to his Wing Dingoes and flees at the first sign of trouble. Crocbot later returned to plague our heroes again, but he doesn’t get a good showing here as he wastes time monologuing to Wombat Stu rather than torturing him and breaks down in tears when he accidentally destroys Dr. Robotnik’s blimp, making for a particularly weak villain. Honestly, I think Sonic the Hedgehog’s Buddy: Tails missed a trick by not turning to his Game Gear games for inspiration. Tails Adventure (Aspect, 1995) released around the same time this miniseries so it might’ve been unrealistic to expect an adaptation, and Tails’ Skypatrol (Japan System House/SIMS, 1995) may have released earlier in 1995 but it was exclusive to Japan at the time. Still, Archie could’ve gotten design documents and some information on both from SEGA, certainly enough to cobble together an adventure that pitted Tails against Witchcart and/or the Battle Kukku Empire to at least use more game-accurate villains in his solo adventure. Still, this was decent enough and showed that Tails was definitely ambitious for his age, but I think it says a lot that young Miles never got another solo series from Archie Comics…
My Rating:
Pretty Good
What did you think of Tails’s first and only solo miniseries from Archie Comics? Were you disappointed that so much of the story was dominated by original characters? Which of the two sets of new Freedom Fighters was your favourite? Would you have liked to see elements from Tails’s Game Gear titles incorporated instead? What did you think of Crocbot and the idea of Tails having a greater destiny? What are some of your favourite Tails moments from the Archie Comics? How are you celebrating Tails and “Sonic 2sday” this year? Whatever your opinion on Tails, or Sonic 2 in general, drop a comment below and go check out my other Sonic content.
Dr. K's Waiting Room 