Fleming

Commander Fleming is a character that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics. He is a mobian beaver who was a former soldier of the Acorn Kingdom Army and agent of the Royal Secret Service. Following Dr. Ivo Robotnik's coup, he became a Commander in the Rebel Underground until his retirement. He often worked with Lieutenant Smiley, and both served under Geoffrey St. John.

Appearance

Fleming is a brown-furred and buck-toothed mobian beaver with blue eyes and a white (sometimes brown) mustache. He wears a purple (sometimes green) beret, purple utility belt and purple boots.

History

Fight against Overlanders

During the Great War, Smiley and Fleming were part of the force that attacked Colin Kintobor's Overlanders, who were bombarding Mobotropolis. This force consisted of Bernadette Hedgehog, Jules Hedgehog, Sir Charles Hedgehog, and Cocoa Cat. During this attack, Amadeus Prower lost his eye.^[1]

Rebel Underground and Retirement

As a Commander of the Rebel Underground following Dr. Ivo Robotnik's coup, Fleming helped Sally's trainees during one of their early missions, by locating and helping to heal the injured Arlo. Both he and Smiley later participated in an attack on one of Robotnik's bases and helped to defeat the Stealth 'Bots.^[2]

Smiley and Fleming were the men picked by Geoffrey St. John to escort Sonic the Hedgehog to the plane to Devil's Gulag, when Sonic was accused of murdering Princess Sally. After Sonic's escape, Geoffrey, Smiley and Fleming used Tasmanian Devils to hunt him into a cave system,^[3] and then to the Floating Island. Before Sonic was captured, Dulcy the Dragon revealed his innocence, and they set out to return to Knothole Village in Fleming's plane. After Robotnik's defeat, Smiley and Fleming took Drago Wolf to Devil's Gulag.^[4]

Following the death of Robotnik at the hands of Sonic the Hedgehog, Smiley and the rest of the Rebel Underground joined up with the the Knothole Freedom Fighters to retake and restore the decrepit capital, Mobotropolis.^[5]

Smiley and Fleming temporarily served at the Devil's Gulag. After Kodos and Uma Arachnis were freed from the Zone of Silence in crystalline form, Fleming and Smiley incarcerated their frozen bodies at Devil's Gulag. Fleming explained to the guard how the two had escaped. The Gulag guard said that, no matter how wicked Uma Arachnis had been (neither had heard of her before), she did not deserve to be frozen in a crystal state, but Fleming said that it was her own fault for working with Ixis Naugus.^[6]

During a routine sweep-and-clear mission to destroy booby traps laid by Robotnik before his demise, Fleming accidentally tripped a landmine that nearly got himself and Geoffrey killed. While they both lived, Fleming, injured, realized that he was "too old for this game" and retired from active duty, letting Geoffrey became leader of the reformed Secret Service. Fleming was also sent to Devil's Gulag with Smiley as one of the guards their but he like the rest of the guards were serverly injured by the escaped convicts but was saved by the help of Dr. Quack.^[7][8][9]

Relationships

Friends/allies

• Alicia Acorn
• Amadeus Prower
• Bernadette Hedgehog
• Cocoa Cat
• Dr. Quack
• Elias Acorn
• Freedom Fighters
  • Chaotix
    • Espio the Chameleon
    • Knuckles the Echidna
  • Knothole Freedom Fighters
    • Antoine D'Coolette
    • Bunnie D'Coolette
    • Dulcy the Dragon
    • Miles "Tails" Prower
    • Nate Morgan
    • Rotor Walrus
    • Sally Acorn
    • Sir Charles Hedgehog
    • Sonic the Hedgehog
  • Substitute Freedom Fighters
    • Arlo Armadillo
    • Dylan Porcupine
    • Hamlin Pig
    • Penelope Platypus
  • Rebel Underground (former teammates)
    • Geoffrey St. John
    • Smiley (close friend and old comrade)
• Jane Doe
• John Doe
• Jules Hedgehog
• Rosie Woodchuck
• Maximillian Acorn

Enemies

• Colin Kintobor
• Destructix
  • Drago Wolf
  • Flying Frog
  • Kodos Lion
  • Lightning Lynx
  • Nack the Weasel
  • Predator Hawk
  • Sergeant Simian
  • Sleuth "Doggy" Dawg
  • Uma Arachnis
• Dr. Ivo Robotnik
• Eggman Empire
  • Badnik Horde
    • Stealth 'Bots
    • SWATbots
  • Dr. Eggman
  • Snively Robotnik

Trivia

• Fleming is named after Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond novels.
• Fleming was usually referred to as Commander, with Smiley as a Lieutenant. In Sonic the Hedgehog #61 (which did not feature Smiley), Fleming is instead referred to as a Lieutenant by King Acorn.
• Following Fleming's retirement, seemingly identical looking members of the Secret Service are shown as guarding the Devil's Gulag in Sonic the Hedgehog #63, "Icon 2: Cult of Personality", and Sonic the Hedgehog #69, "A Day in the Life".
• His species was not initially obvious, and in his early appearances, starting in Princess Sally #3, he was shown without a tail. However, Snively specifically refers to him and Smiley as "flat-tailed freaks" in Sonic the Hedgehog #54, and artwork in Sonic the Hedgehog #61 shows that Fleming has a beaver tail.

References

External links

• Fleming at Mobius Encyclopaedia, the Archie Sonic wiki.