Fleming

This character exists primarily or exclusively within the Archie Comics continuity. Information in this article may not be canonical to the storyline of the games or any other Sonic continuity.

Fleming

Commander Fleming is a Mobian beaver. He 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.

History

During the Great War, Smiley and Fleming were part of the force that attacked Colin Kintobor's Overlanders, who were bombarding Mobotropolis. During this attack, Amadeus Prower lost his eye.

Fleming was a member of the Royal Secret Service since Ian St. John was in charge.

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.

Smiley and Fleming were the men picked by Geoffrey St. John to escort Sonic the Hedgehog (Pre-Super Genesis Wave)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, 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.

Following the death of Robotnik at the hands of Sonic the Hedgehog (Pre-Super Genesis Wave)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.

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.

During a field mission with Geoffrey St. John, apparently to deactivate Robotnik's leftover death-traps in Mobotropolis, an explosion nearly killed both of them. Although both survived with only minor injuries, Fleming realized that he was too old for actual field assignments. Despite Geoffrey's insistence that he had plenty left to offer, Fleming chose to retire from the Secret Service.

Description

Smiley and Fleming are almost always seen together. Both are brown-furred and buck-teethed. Furthermore, they both wear purple (sometimes green) berets and purple belts. They appear identical except that Fleming has a white (sometimes brown) mustache while Smiley does not have a mustache.

Their species was not initially obvious, and in their early appearances, starting in Princess Sally #3, they were shown without tails. However, Snively specifically refers to them as "flat-tailed freaks" in Sonic the Hedgehog #54, and the artwork of Sonic the Hedgehog #61 shows that Fleming has a beaver tail.

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".

External links

• Fleming at Mobius Encyclopaedia, the Archie Sonic wiki.