Abraham Tower (Pre-Super Genesis Wave)


 * For the version of this character after the Super Genesis Wave, see Abraham Tower.

Commander Abraham Tower, some times simply referred to as the Commander, is a character that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series and its spin-off comics published by Archie Comics. He is an Overlander veteran of the Great War and the chief commander for the Guardian Units of the Nation, succeeding Commander Hugo Brass in 3237. During his time as chief commander, he has recruited Hope Kintobor and Shadow the Hedgehog into GUN, and after giving out a few missions for the latter, formed Team Dark with the pair along with Rouge the Bat and E-123 Omega for certain top level missions.

Concept and Creation
Head writer Ian Flynn gave Abraham Tower the name because he "didn't want to be trapped by calling him 'Commander' or 'sir' every stinkin' time". The name came from an old fan-character made up by Flynn for a fan-comic that he never finished. The name is supposed to evoke an idea of authoritative power. "Abraham," whether biblical or U.S. historical, lends itself to the notion of an influential leader. "Tower" is simply enough - tall, rigid, standing over all others.

Appearance
Tower is an aging Overlander male with a lined face, grey hair and mismatching eyes of green and brown. He has stern features and wears a grey uniform adorned with a sash and ribbons of yellow, red and blue. Under Tracy Yardley's pencil, Tower has a shapely face and body and a stooping nose, possibly broken. Under Steven Butler in the Off-Panels of Sonic Universe #3 and #4 his uniform is given the G.U.N. symbol on his left arm and has a visibly more square chin and a somewhat skinnier appearance.

Early Life
Born in the Overlander city of Mega Central, Abraham Tower later relocated with his parents, who were scientists, to Space Colony ARK, where he met and befriended Maria Robotnik. He also witnessed the creation of Shadow the Hedgehog, a horrifying experience for the young child. Abraham and his family were returned to Mobius shortly thereafter as the ARK was placed under military lockdown, and Maria perished as a result. Tower grieved for his friend, and blamed both the Guardian Units of the Nation, as well as Shadow for the tragic events. As he matured, Tower joined the Overland Military, and became involved in the Heritage Project, an effort to reunite the Overland with their distant Human cousins in the United Federation.

He advanced to the rank of general during the Great War, and was a leading presence in leading defeated Overlanders to Eurish where they became part of the United Federation. As a result of his impressive career, Abraham advanced rapidly, becoming head of the G.U.N. forces in Soleanna before becoming G.U.N.'s overall commander. Using his position, Tower effected great reforms in G.U.N., reshaping it into the organization he had long dreamed of-a force largely free of corrupt officers, operations, and other unseemly aspects that had long plagued it.

Chief Commander of G.U.N.
Abraham was responsible for hiring Hope Kintobor as a mechanic and Shadow the Hedgehog as a special agent, being impressed by Hope's mechanical prowess and because she was an enemy traitor and surprised by Shadow's application to join G.U.N. One of his first orders for his newest agent was to send Shadow on a mission to retrieve a Chaos Emerald and ordering Hope to build a Zone transporter to help accomplish that mission.

Commander Tower later sent Shadow and Rouge the Bat on a mission to New Megaopolis to destroy Dr. Eggman's new weapon, the Doom Laser. They, with the help of Sonic, proved successful in their mission.

Commander Tower later sent out Shadow on a mission to find and possibly recruit E-102 Gamma, an old rogue E-100 Series robot who was beginning to wear down and needed help. Commander Tower wasn't the only one interested in finding Gamma, though. Dr. Eggman had deemed Gamma as too much of a threat and sent out E-123 Omega to find and destroy the robot just as Shadow left to find E-102 by helicopter. Shadow failed to mostly save Gamma as he was destroyed by Omega, but Gamma uploaded his free will into Omega, making him rebel against Eggman and decided to join GUN, much to the satisfaction of Tower.

Commander Tower was later present at the second use of Hope Kintobor's Zone-Breaching Platform when Shadow and Rouge were about to head out to the Special Zone to retrieve a Chaos Emerald. Soon after their departure, they were sent back to G.U.N. HQ by the zone's master, Feist, as the duo had failed his challenge. Rouge explained this to Commander Tower, but he was unimpressed that they could not defeat a god-like being such as Feist as he had hoped. Shadow blamed himself for their failure as he had not successfully completed three missions in as many days. Not too long afterward, Hope managed to raise Shadow's spirits up by telling him that the next time he headed out to the Special Zone, they'll have an advantage as they now know how Feist works. After giving E-123 Omega clearance for active duty, Tower had him accompany Shadow and Rouge to the Special Zone as a group under his chosen name of Team Dark, which he said would become evident in time. Despite failing Feist's challenge again, Team Dark successfully managed to retrieve the emerald by using Plan B, much to Tower's satisfaction as he thought G.U.N. an even greater force to reckon with two Chaos Emeralds in hand.

Battle of Central City
When Dr. Eggman and his forces attacked Central City in an attempt to find the traitor, Snively Robotnik, Commander Tower was in charge of commanding G.U.N. to battle the Eggman Empire and protect the city. Employing the Egg 'Stache Flyer, Egg Swats and Egg Camels, the doctor and his forces attacked the United Federation's capital in search of his treacherous lackey. G.U.N. retaliated with E-123 Omega leading a squad to fight against the Eggman Empire, while Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat protected the President during his evacuation. Omega winded up fighting against Mecha Sally, Metal Sonic, and the Egg Paladins (the legionized soldiers of G.U.N.'s Paladin Team Sigma-Alpha 2). Eventually, Snively escaped, which caused Eggman to go after him. The empire made a retreat and left the city. When one of the G.U.N. soldiers informed Commander Tower that the Eggman Empire was retreating, he responded with shame that the empire was only sparing them.

Personality
Commander Tower is shown to be a gruff, stoic and almost an inconsiderate military man, as he didn't even show concern for Shadow, who was said to be becoming one of his top agents. Hope Kintobor was terribly worried over the hedgehog's well being, whilst Tower showed no hesitation or worry. Despite his cold demeanor and military upbringing, Commander Tower does have a soft side which he rarely ever shows, and a great sense of duty towards his people. It is this soft side that made him want to recruit E-102 Gamma into GUN and have him repaired him for his services to the world. He expects his top agents like Shadow and Rouge to be successful no matter how hard on their part, even if they go up against a god-like being. He also seems to be fond of Hope Kintobor, possibly as a result of her resemblance to Maria, whom he deeply regretted being unable to protect.

Trivia

 * Tower appears to suffer from complete heterochromia as he has one green eye and one brown eye.
 * Tower allows Mobians as members of G.U.N., because they are joining the human population, and are worthy allies in the war against Doctor Eggman.
 * Unlike his game counterpart, who was driven for revenge against Shadow throughout most of the Shadow the Hedgehog, his comic counterpart appears to have no such grudges against Shadow, having allowed him to become a member of GUN and openly complimenting him on successfully completing his missions to recover the Chaos Emeralds.