Endgame: Looking Back at One of the Most Well-Known Sagas in Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog Comic

By 1997, Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comic was approaching its 50th issue, and amidst concerns that it would cease to exist afterward, a story arc was concocted to, at least initially, bring a sense of closure to the series. Endgame, as it was called, and which ran in issues #47-50, would have wrapped up the series, as well as hint at plot points that would have come along if the series was to continue after the 50th issue. As many Sonic fans know, it is still running strong, with 215 issues published as of this writing, plus numerous spin offs, mini series, 48-page specials, and graphic novels. Recently, the entirety of Endgame has been published in Sonic the Hedgehog Archives Volumes 12 and 13, which are part of a series of graphic novels that feature stories from earlier Sonic comics. In honor of that, I feel that it is time to look back at a saga that has its flaws, but also has its positive aspects, as well.

If you wish to know how big of an impact Endgame was supposed to have on the comic at one point, consider the following: the biggest spoiler of the story arc was announced before it even started. In the fall of 1996, writer Ken Penders revealed that Princess Sally Acorn, the leader of the Knothole Freedom Fighters, would die in Issue #47. Even before the tragic event, there was an outpouring of grief from fans. It intensified once Sally's death came to pass, so much so that Dan Drazen, known for his reviews of the Sonic comic, opened up a cyber shrine for Sally fans to express their feelings regarding the death of the princess. The shrine remains online today, but it has long since stopped accepting new posts.

The death scene itself, depicted in #47, was nothing short of being tragic and memorable. Earlier in that issue, Sally had been warned by her father, King Acorn, who had been gradually turning to crystal after being rescued from the Zone of Silence but had suddenly recovered without explanation, that Sonic the Hedgehog was plotting to betray the Freedom Fighters. Sally, knowing that Sonic was loyal to the team as well as a great hero, did not believe that he was a traitor. However, in a raid on Robotnik's city of Robotropolis, Sally found herself being shot at by the evil doctor's guns while climbing a rope. Sonic came to seemingly rescue her, but instead, he used a knife to cut Sally's rope, sending the princess plummeting to the ground. Later in the same issue, when Doctor Quack, the Freedom Fighters' physician, informed the rest of the team of Sally's passing, they expressed their grief in a beautifully illustrated panel courtesy of Art Mawhinney.

Once Sonic returned to Knothole after everyone else did, he discovered, much to his horror, that he was being accused of murdering Sally, a charge that he denied. Nevertheless, he was found guilty of committing the heinous crime and was sentenced to life imprisonment on the Devil's Gulag, which was much like Mobius' equivalent of Alcatraz. It should be noted that, as strong as the opening chapter is as a whole, there is a glaring flaw in that, throughout the mission, Sonic wears a backpack, while in the scene in which he seemingly sends the princess plummeting to her death, he does not. As a result, it is obvious that Sonic is, indeed, innocent, and that someone else killed the princess, so the idea of making fans wonder if Sonic actually did kill Sally, as great as it could have been, was ruined after the first chapter.

Issue #48 featured Sonic's escape from the plane transporting him to the Devil's Gulag, and his subsequent attempt to try and clear his name while avoiding pursuit from Geoffrey St. John, leader of the Rebel Underground, who was convinced that Sonic had murdered Sally. This plot point led to a rather neat cliffhanger, in which Sonic ended up being cornered by Geoffrey at the top of a cave inside a waterfall and was forced to jump to avoid being captured. As for other highlights, Drago, a wolf who was a member of the Wolf Pack, another Freedom Fighter team, was revealed to be working for Robotnik, and Bunnie Rabbot and Antione D'Coolette, two other Freedom Fighters who would go on to become husband and wife, were kidnapped while spying on Drago. The biggest shocker, however, was yet to come.

For years, Knothole Village, the Freedom Fighters' hideout, had been a safe haven for the team, and Robotnik had tried, and failed, to learn of its location. When King Acorn decided to call the Freedom Fighters over for a meeting, it was actually to lure them into the clutches of Robotnik, who had finally discovered Knothole's whereabouts and had arrived to settle the score with his enemies once and for all. Had King Acorn really betrayed the team? The answer would have to wait until the following issue. This second chapter was a fairly good one, with a good bit of drama and suspense, but the next chapter was when the saga's flaws really started to crop up.

In Issue #49, Sonic found himself falling to the ground, seemingly about to suffer Sally's fate, when he came up with one of the most absurd solutions imaginable: by grabbing some dirt that he had collected in his shoes as a result of all his running around, he made it into a bridge and used it to safely run towards the ground. This rather unbelievable plot point was followed by another later in the same issue, when it was revealed that it was Hershey the cat, a resident of Knothole Village, who murdered Sally. It turns out that Drago made her wear a Sonic costume that she would use to disguise herself and eliminate Snively, Robotnik's rather incompetent nephew and assistant. However, the costume had a special feature in which everyone would look like Snively when it was worn. As a result, Hershey had inadvertently killed Sally because she thought that the princess was Snively. What makes this revelation so infuriating was not only of the idea of a costume making everybody look like one person being preposterous, but also because the costume looked unconvincing unlike in Issue #47. A potentially shocking twist was thus made to look rather ridiculous.

Also in the same issue, it is revealed that the King Acorn who seemingly betrayed the Freedom Fighters, and who informed Sally that Sonic was a traitor, was actually a robot constructed by Robotnik. The real King Acorn, who was still mostly crystallized, was being held in Robotropolis, as was the family of Dr. Quack. The doctor had to do Robotnik and Snively's bidding if he wanted to see his family alive again. Additionally, Bunnie and Antione ended up being prisoners in Downunda, the Mobius equivalent of Australia, where they met the Downunda Freedom Fighters, who had been captured by Crocbot, the mechanical crocodile who ruled the continent. As for Sonic, he received aid from Dulcy the dragon, who had the ability to sense whether or not a person was telling the truth. Realizing that Sonic was innocent, she flew him to the Floating Island to see if its guardian, Knuckles the Echidna, would help him clear his name. This would lead to a brief fight between Sonic and Knuckles, followed by the sudden appearance of Geoffrey, who was determined to settle the score with Sonic once and for all.

As flawed as the third chapter was in spite of some good moments, the finale was where, in some ways, the saga really fell apart due to one unfortunate decision. Originally, Issue #50 was meant to be a 48-page special which would more-or-less tie up as many loose ends as possible and give fans the epic ending that they were longing for. For a variety of reasons, this plan would be scuppered. Consequently, when the 50th issue, which to its credit had a fairly nice computer generated cover by Patrick Spaziante, was released, it was edited so severely that several plot points went unexplained or ended up making no sense. How did Bunnie and Antione escape from Downunda? How did Sonic see Knothole being destroyed when the readers saw no such thing occurring? Why was Knothole now in a time zone three hours ahead of everything else on the planet? What could have been a grand finale became something of a letdown as a result.

It did not help that the fiftieth issue, as well as the saga as a whole, featured a gimmick in which Archie attempted to use as many writers and artists as possible to pull off something of an "all-star jam." Consequently, the writing became incoherent and the artwork was inconsistent. While Ken Penders wrote the basic plot of the story arc, other writers such as Mike Gallagher and Karl Bollers had their own ideas added to the mix, adding to the chaos. As for the artwork, it started out strong in Issue #47, with Art Mawhinney handling the chores. Manny Galan's artwork in Issue #48 was OK, but Sam Maxwell's illustrations in Issue #49, with its off-model and ugly looking characters, was abysmal. For Issue #50, many artists drew part of the story, and as a result, the artwork ranged from great (Mawhinney, Galan, and Spaziante) to passable (Nelson Ortega, Ken Penders, Dave Manak) to downright hideous (Maxwell). Focusing more on having numerous talents working on the story and less on the story itself was part of what made the entire saga, and especially Issue #50, quite flawed.

The edits made in Issue #50 were unfortunate, because there were hints of a solid conclusion to the story arc evident pretty much everywhere. Sonic finally went from being a fugitive to helping out in the final battle, Hershey got her revenge on Drago for being tricked, and Robotnik proceeded to use his greatest weapon yet, the Ultimate Annihilator, to try to wipe out Knothole Village and the Freedom Fighters. The plan ended up backfiring, however, as Snively modified the machine to destroy only one person: Robotnik. With the evil dictator of Mobius finally eliminated (at least until Issue #75), peace would be restored to Mobius for a time. As for Sally, it was revealed that she was not dead after all, but had been kept in a stasis chamber and was in a coma. Sonic took a cue from Sleeping Beauty and awakened the princess with a kiss. Sadly, what could have been a touching sequence was marred by the editing.

It should be noted that Ken Penders' original idea was to have Sally remain dead for all time. After she was awakened, she would have shown some rather uncharacteristic behavior, and she and Sonic would drift apart. This would have gone on for about a year before Sonic discovered that this Sally was actually a robot, meaning that the real Sally was truly dead. However, for reasons such as stronger-than-expected fan reaction to her demise, as well as story ideas from other writers and Ken's commitment to the then-new Knuckles the Echidna comic book series, it was decided to have Sally be resurrected. She remains a major character to the comic to this very day, and seeing as how popular she remains, it would be tough to imagine the series without her.

Fans were surely confused and appalled by the abridged conclusion of Endgame, and as such, Archie had to make amends and bring them the finale the way it was intended to be. First, a story depicting Bunnie and Antione's escape from Downunda was featured in Sonic Super Special #4. This tale was recently reprinted in Sonic the Hedgehog Archives Volume 13. The true closure to the Issue #50 debacle, however, would have to wait until the release of Sonic Super Special #6, which featured a "director's cut" edition of the final chapter.

This extended edition featured scenes intended for the fiftieth issue, but which were left out in order to have the story fill 32 pages including advertisements. These new sequences included Robotnik testing the Ultimate Annihilator on a human, Hershey whaling on Drago for duping her, and Sonic actually witnessing Knothole's apparent destruction. Most of these new scenes were beautifully drawn by Stephen Butler, while Spaziante added a black and white illustration showing what happened when the Ultimate Annihilator was activated, and Mawhinney drew a full page panel showing a kiss between Sonic and Sally following the princess' awakening. Meanwhile, word balloons were added to some of the existing scenes in order to try and clarify some of the more confusing parts of the story and to segue into the new scenes. The result was a much better finale, with many more loose ends tied up, great scenes that should have been added the first time, and an improved sense of closure. Archie likely agrees, as it has included the director's cut edition in Sonic the Hedgehog Archives Volume 13 rather than making fans have to settle for the edited version.

Thirteen years have passed since the Endgame saga ended, and looking back, I see that it had its flaws, but it also had some neat moments. Sally's "death", Sonic's attempts to clear his name, and the final battle with Robotnik were all solid...it is a shame that they all took place in a somewhat convoluted story line. The opening chapter was superb, but then it gradually fell apart before rebounding with the extended version of the final chapter. As mentioned, this was due at least in part to having numerous writers and artists contribute to the story. The story arc would have been more coherent if a single writer and artist handled the entire saga. The team of Ken Penders and Art Mawhinney delivered a great opening chapter, and as such, I would have nominated them to work on all four chapters. Spaziante could have also done the art chores in addition to illustrating the covers. Having somewhat less than talented artists in spots was a mistake, and hopefully Archie will never pull off anything like it again.

As imperfect as Endgame was, however, it is worth checking out. There are moments of brilliance if one is willing to get past some of the weaker sequences in order to see them. The artwork is fantastic in some areas, and some of the most memorable images in the comic's history are featured here. Luckily, the original version of Issue #50 will likely never be reprinted, as the extended edition is far superior to it in every way. Endgame can be found in the graphic novels mentioned at the beginning of this article, and anyone who read the story years ago, or who have never had a chance to check out one of the most well remembered Sonic story arcs in the comic's history, can read it in its entirety. It has its flaws, but it also has moments that are well worth checking out.