Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[Silvereyes]

Don't know about the rest of you, but I'm really looking forward to issue #28 tomorrow. I've enjoyed the IDW run so much, and it'll be great for it to hopefully be back up and running. Although honestly, I am also slightly keen for this virus arc to wrap up too, and for the book to move on. Excited for the end of the arc, but also excited for how things will journey past it, especially when Evan Stanley gets a stronger influence on things.

[Kuzu]

Issue #28 is on Wednesday. 

[Silvereyes]

1 minute ago, Kuzu said:

Issue #28 is on Wednesday. 

I know, it's already Tuesday in Scotland.

[Shadowlax]

3 hours ago, Silvereyes said:

Don't know about the rest of you, but I'm really looking forward to issue #28 tomorrow. I've enjoyed the IDW run so much, and it'll be great for it to hopefully be back up and running. Although honestly, I am also slightly keen for this virus arc to wrap up too, and for the book to move on. Excited for the end of the arc, but also excited for how things will journey past it, especially when Evan Stanley gets a stronger influence on things.

I think everyone including the folks who worked on it, are kind of wanting it to wrap up. Covid extended it a lot farther than it meant to go on. And you get the feeling from Ian that he kind of wants to move on too. I personally get the feeling  that Ian may have run into his old nemesis editor with idea, and I have strong feeling that we will find out after the fact the arc was not supposed to be as long as it was

[caitash]

I’ve re-read previous issues and am excited for issue 28 tomorrow.

I do feel that the real-world virus pandemic has affected my perspective a little. Before it was a far-flung, unlikely-to-happen idea, now we’ve been living it in the real world and had lockdown since March I’m kinda ‘very much done’ with virus-related things as a result. It’s unfortunate timing but hey at least it happened almost at the end of the metal virus story rather than near the beginning.

[Silvereyes]

Yeah, the real world virus issue definetly has slightly hampered my enjoyment of the story. It's more fun when it is escapism, rather than something resembling reality. I'm actually dreading the annual slightly, because considering how it looks like it is going to be 6 anthology stories about the virus, I'm betting that at least 1 of those stories is going to have some kind of gut punch to them.

Again, not to be negative, this isn't the fault of anyone at IDW, and I really hope this arc has a good end. But I am rather looking forward to issue #30 and seeing how things go from there.

As a side note, watching SomeCallMeJohnny's re-review of Sonic Colours today, he brings up enjoying the IDW books and wanting Ian Flynn to be hired to write the Sonic games. Maybe it is just me, but IDW Sonic seems to definetly making a splash with a few Youtubers out there, it really feels like the IDW run has brought so much energy to the fanbase. But that might just be me, with the kind of Youtube videos I watch and get recommended and so forth.

[TransPirate]

I am also seeing a lot of positivity towards the comic in fandom, including from more causal fans, and "people making IDW Sonic should be writing the games" is certainly a common sentiment.

I am really enjoying current arc, very emotional and impactful, and even if the ending doesn't live up, I don't think it's going to ruin anything for me.

The nature of the arc didn't allow for much tonal variety but that makes me all the more hyped for what comes next; I tried to ignore solicits and covers but it seems, whether we are jumping straight into the next arc or getting one or two "filler" stories, Evan Stanley's first issues are going to be more lighthearted and shenanigans focused.

[Shadowlax]

IDW is proof that you can just do the actioney stuff and the lighthearted stuff , they both work and the only thing that ruins it is sega higher ups getting involved. I think no matter what you feel about sonic, that's a premise you can get behind. " Maybe sega should just stop and just provide funding and time to the people who kinda know what the hell they are doing " .

 

[caitash]

Issue 28 is out on the app (surprisingly! Usually they have some sort of error that means I can’t get it until they fix it)

I’m DEFINITELY glad this wasn’t the last issue they released before the lockdown delays. The suspense would have been far worse. 

[Shadowlax]

This book is a book of narrative short cuts. Its pretty good, but it is what it is. I ain't mad at it, but its very clear they are trying to wrap things up. That said this book makes me retroactively even more upset at the books earlier in the arc, there are whole books that don't need to be books. And this book kinda summed up at least 3 books in 1 book.

Zavok literally does an attack that might as well be called " speed up the plot"

The book its self is neat. Everyone got to look cool, except the zeti but they suck so whatever. Zavok reminds us that he is in fact a bowser copy.

[Red Hot Jack]

Yeah the Deadly Six suck, even with good writing, now I can finally say it lol

They still manage to be lame, weak, dumb and cheap threats, even Zavok, who is merely a brute.

Everyone else, it sounded like an easy task, especially Rouge and the bots, I actually wish Zavok had more of a presence, more tactical.

I mean, they had the emeralds and could control hordes of Zombots, so much power, yet they just... "ok, nobody can beat us, whatever, haha" that's how they got defeated, serves them right lol

Also, good job for the heroes, Knuckles I hope does more than just caring about the ME and AIZ next time. I like how the Babylons stick together though.

Silver will have a role... interesting.

Overall great issue because we didn't waste too much time for the previous fights, even though I'm kinda disappointed by them being so short, we had more anticipation for the final fight versus the former friends turned Zombots and that terryfing demon that is Zavok (cool transformation btw).

[MetalSkulkBane]

#28 finally.... Eh.

So 3 Zeti down in 1 issue. Or rather 2/3 of the issue. ...Why? Why wouldn't it make more sense to squeeze 3rd fight into previous issue? Or better yet, in #26? Fights are gorgeous looking and have some cute dialogue (Maste Zik's request) but have disappointing conclusion. Basically hero punch their way to victory. It's most jarring with Rouges. It would be so much cooler if

Spoiler

Jet intentionally touched zombot, then infected Zik . That would be badass sacrifice way to win.
OR
Someone actually lost the fight to Zeti, but Rouge managed to steal Zavok's emerald and he would take emerald from one of his underlings. Maybe Zik would win, but get infected and decide to give his gem to Zavok.

You know, some actual twists of expectations.

Zavok and Rouge also didn't showed their tactical skills, I was really hoping for 'battle of the wits' between the two.

And of course we're getting build-up for final battle, which is good enough.

So it's a gorgeous  issue with nice dialogue, but only surprise being lack of surprises.

[StaticMania]

Well that was easy...

[TransPirate]

The comics are finally back! And the next issue is just a month away! And we are getting a whole annual between now and then! Feels good.

[Sonictrainer]

Here's one of the variant covers

....unless I missed it...

[TransPirate]

1 minute ago, Sonictrainer said:

Here's one of the variant covers

And it connects with the one for #27

 

[Diogenes]

So rushed. By the numbers a lot happened but it felt like nothing. Dunno if the team just wants this arc over and done with or if that's my feelings coloring my impressions.

I liked Zavok just hucking a fist full of zombots at the island, at least; that's an efficient solution to the island being isolated. Also check what's at Zavok's feet when he gets huge; that's a Chekhov's gun if I've ever seen one.

[Ellipsis-Ultima]

5 minutes ago, Diogenes said:

So rushed. By the numbers a lot happened but it felt like nothing. Dunno if the team just wants this arc over and done with or if that's my feelings coloring my impressions.

I liked Zavok just hucking a fist full of zombots at the island, at least; that's an efficient solution to the island being isolated. Also check what's at Zavok's feet when he gets huge; that's a Chekhov's gun if I've ever seen one.

Spoiler

Are you talking about the purple thing on the ground in that panel, cause I think that's the Cacophonic Conch from Lost World.

 

[DaMan]

Would be cool if we got super silver. But that’s obviously not gonna happen. At least we got burning blaze though it was kinda underwhelming.

[PC the Hedgehog]

I've honestly not been a huge fan of the pacing of this saga. It feels like the whole infection part was dragged out over a few too many issues, and now it's being wrapped up really fast.

[Dr. Detective]

I just read issue 28 and while I did enjoy it quite a bit, the inescapable fear of the ending being rushed did indeed come to pass, though not anywhere near as badly as I feared so far. We'll see how that pans out in issue 29.

However, as far as this issue goes, the choreography and what happens to resolve the fights aren't necessarily the problem, more so how quickly it got there. I don't agree that pushing one of the fights into the previous issue would have helped much as it would have very much risked taking away from what I felt were the two really well-done fights with Zomom and Zeena. The conceit of Amy and Tails using their brains to fend off Zomom's overwhelming force was, of course, the poetic way to go for them and the entire Zeena fight had an actual story to tell all its own that'll make it the most effective of these anime match-ups.

I stated that I wished they'd at least have one more issue to stretch these fights out a bit more and that still holds true. That way, this issue could have done what the last issue did and just focused on Zazz and Zor while Master Zik and the lead up with Rouge to the Zavok transformation could have happened afterward. It's clear this is happening in part because it's time to wrap up according to the internet which I'm not in total agreement with. 

I for one still hold onto the opinion that everything before this was paced perfectly and to my absolute benefit and liking. I have zero complaints about the pacing of the arc up until this exact point because now's when things are speeding up. Speeding up isn't what I wanted to do.  I'm definitely not the guy who thinks "things before were too slow and now it's too fast". I'm the guy going, "it was perfect before and now it's too fast". So that's a bummer.

I do love Zor and how creepy he is. What happened to end him made sense, but as I say, I do wish it could have been drawn out a bit more. Same with Zazz and Espio. The Jojo-esque beating he gave Zazz was glorious but the highlight was obviously Espio saying that his other Chaotix family members were with him in spirit. Spirits unite.

Then the Rogues stole the show with their epic beating of Master Zik. Despite really wishing that one had gone on longer, seeing Storm uppercut the entirety of Zik's body with his fist was still amazing.

Zavok's transformation was a great sequence. I'm officially dubbing this form Lava Rock Zavok™ of my own free will. Issue 29 will be the final battle and Issue 30 will be the epilogue so I'm gearing up for that. Hopefully I'm ready to say goodbye to the threat of the Zombots. You'd think I would be after so long but I've got mixed feelings about moving on from them. We totally SHOULD, don't get me wrong. Honestly, like I said, I'd really only add ONE more issue. It's a big ol' grand way to finish off by having Zavok just scoop them up and toss them onto the island like that though. I hope he tries to grab the island out of the sky like the kaiju he is now.

So that's my take. I greatly prefer the atmospheric, soak-it-all-in, watch the world gradually burn approach and here it did the speed-up thing that I tend to not like when it comes to Ian's finales. Still, I'd very much like to thank him for all he's done. Regardless of the fast pacing, I still saw myself wishing this were something I could experience in the games. It hit me so hard seeing Zavok do what he did at the end. Imagine him grabbing the island, tilting it, and having a sequence where you have to run up Angel Island at a tilted angle while Zavok's mouth is spitting lava blasts at you.

I drew a little picture to celebrate the existence of Zombot Charmy. Thank you Ian for turning my favorite bee boy son into a scary zombie monster. 

 

[DabigRG]

I almost forgot this was mentioned to be coming out last night, but I suppose that speaks both for my personal attendances and for how this turned out. IDW Sonic 28 was a rather lackluster semifinale with a select few neat points.

Spoiler

• The obvious problem with this issue is that it speeds through all it had set up in previous issues to set the stage for the finale battle. As was quietly evident in the preview, this results in each of the conflicts/matchups either resolving rather quickly for what they were, taking up large amounts of near splash per page. 
  • Not helping matters is that this issue was delayed about 2.5  months from it's intended release, meaning we left on an extended waiting period between this issue and it's two better predecessors. So while it was always fated to be a bit of a letdown, that feeling may have been augmented for some.
• This issue shows the completion of four of the Deadly Six fights after the Filler Two were dealt with in the previous issue...and they weren't that good. If you're a fan of most of the heroes, then you might've gotten a little happiness out of seeing them win out. But otherwise(or perhaps regardless), most of these resolutions will be a bit too brisk or in the last Zeti's case, not happening at all. Which is nothing new for these comics, as Sonic Universe often had to deal with the final battle of it's arcs being rushed.
• Starting with Silver & Whisper vs Zor, this one was mostly shown in the preview, with only Silver's personal comeback and Zor's fate being unspoiled.  And for what they were, they were probably the best--it helps that most of the characters are rather distinct in their outlook & abilities and their matchup was honestly the best from the title drop. Whisper is arguably the weak link here, but she at least plays into Silver's idealism, opens him up to win by sniping the Cyan Emerald's holder, and at least had an entire miniseries plus an interaction with Cream prior to this. And Zor's seeming final moments(more on that later) plays on how both characters are rather brusque about saving teh world and/or getting the job done.
• Next is Espio vs Zazz, which is kind of a middle of the road contender for being weakest of the three. The fight was honestly sorta boring and took up two pages of not very visually impressive...fighting. Credit goes to the shot of Zazz & the Moon Mech over the foggy town at least--that pulled off the environmental effect pretty well. The standout of this one goes to the ninja, who as I'll go into later lives up to his skillset by swiftly getting himself out of harms way and retrieving the emerald while mostly unseen. Though he does pummel Zazz quite a bit for what could've been a bit of catharsis, it was only with enough room to swipe the Yellow emerald and replace it with a humorous sticky note before retreating, musing that the entire Chaotix Detective Agency was there in spirit. So I guess you could say this fight heavily relies on you emphasizing with Espio(or maybe really hating Zazz) to work.
• Third, there is previous believer-maker Babylon Rogues vs Master Zik--I'm honestly struggling on calling this a disappointment. Similar to the spat before it, I feel like the "heroes" had the better element and yet made a sudden comeback. However, what kinda redeems this one, alongside an angle I hadn't noticed until now, is that there's a bit more going on in a page fewer. The Rogues are vaguely notable in how their own nature as either straight one-dimensional pricks or as anti-heroes/villains(I feel it's more the latter) is actually played up here: Jet is directly called out by the bad guy, Wave takes what could be the last coherent thing she says to say I told ya so, and Storm humbly admits that all he's good at is punching things. But then Jet makes up for his mistake by ironically falling back on his own hubris via the Riders 1 Tornado move, Storm sets down what's left of his board to punch the old grape with twinkles in his eyes, and Wave effortlessly catches the Green emerald by raising her wrench as he flies overhead. Each of the Rogues play a part in the immediate takedown, the curbstomp is more dynamic for how simple it is, and as I'll go into with the Zeti, Jet's place is the closest thing to a focal point. 
• Collectively speaking, we get the hijacking villains that are the Deadly Six(minus Zeena and Zomom, with Zavok himself being reserved a special place): this issue unveils the concern I had for their place in this arc in that they're ultimately just last minute final bosses to be beaten rather than bad guys in their own right. Now granted, they did get some good moments and uses within the first half of their four parter as well as a bit of shine in the buildup to their inclusion, but the fact remains that they mostly fill that spot and aren't that elevated as a result. Covering the remaining three side fights:
  • Zor was a highlight thanks in part to having the most to work with on a basic level plus what else the comic gave him, but I stop short on saying he got the best portrayal overall.
    • His status as the group spy was alluded to from the beginning with his exploration of the Eggnet and his personal dark mentality were very briefly demonstrated again with his shadow clones as well as his philosophical clash with Silver; his Owl Mech, while suitably sufficient in design, wasn't that great to start and basically does nothing combat wise here.
    • Additionally, his defeat is interesting: at first, he seems exposed as terrified the moment he lost his footing and saw the oncoming herd approaching him, but then his detailing of the cold-heartedness gives way to approval of it(that face, wtf). On one hand, this matches his macabre fetishism for even his own demise and appears to be a last minute reconsideration for Silver: what seemed like just some optimistic good boy just left him to a karmic fate without so much as a glance. On the other hand, his exact reaction is to exclaim "perfect" and the fact that he practices dark arts even the other Zeti consider taboo makes me wonder if he has something else up his sleeve; a previous Bumblekast episode and the fact that there were very few Zombots on top of not being that close to him lends credence to that musing... 
  • Zazz was for the most part a forgettable adversary, surprisingly. Admittedly, Zazz's strength isn't his flashy flexibility in battle(though he is capable of busting out a bit), but rather his unabashed enthusiasm about a good scrap; however, this simplicity alongside the faux iconography of his Moon Mech means he generally fulfills his purpose better than the majority of the Band.
    •  So with that said, he is a two-sided pence of being a good pummel to give Espio his moment after prior mild grieving and yet being incredibly negligible fighter himself, shooting one wave of Star Missiles and taking maybe a swipe at his unseen prey; his ability to smell him out is barely even noticeable beyond likely being how he knew he was running away. This is on top of being the worst drawn of the Zeti here, thanks to in part to the weirdness of actually closing his hooking mouth, but primarily for appearing to be a sloppy skinny Zomom.
    • Additionally, his wild personality and the roughness of his standing didn't really get much play in this. As I said before, Zazz succeeds due to being a good kind of simple as well as his over the top mannerisms, but his place here didn't really use that and so here we are. He does call Espio relying on his invisibility lame and his own attack is a simple swipe of the claw, plus there's a callback to his original [final] defeat that I'll address near the end, but that's about it. 
    • However, it did not go unnoticed that he is the only Zeti besides the leader who does not get thrown to the Zombots--he is left bruised and screaming in frustration atop the Moon Mech after seeing Espio's note, but otherwise high above any danger. Which, in a possible nod to being the other member to recur on a semi-consistent basis, leaves him the freedom to either show up in the next issue as an extra obstacle or simply opens door for his involvement in future stories.
  • Master Zik is basically a rugby ball that talks here, but he's a relatively effective one for what very little time he gets. Originally, I was down on his face off with the Babylonians since unlike all the other fights, there wasn't any immediate thematic connection between them to drive the conflict beyond the debatable cool factor of the two sides individually. However, this fight ended up winning me over on both accounts and the fact that this was the one that got the most put into it beforehand helps outside of a self-contained format.
    • To touch on the ideological aspect, this very much is founded on not just the young vs old angle ala Master Roshi & Ganos, but rather on Jet's worth as a leader: his immature 14yo arrogance caused him to disregard Wave by dashing right in and thus getting her & Storm dropped the ground, causing them to left when he instantly reclaimed his Extreme Gear to finish the fight himself. Being the original leader of whatever-the-Deadly-Six-was-originally-called, Zik chastises him for his haste in effectively abandoning his teammates for no tangible purpose, which is...interesting in its own right.
    • As the former strongest warrior, however, Zik's time on the battlefield has long since past. He follows up his constructive criticism by calmly asking for whimpering before his order to kill, only for Jet to invert the problem to have Storm One Punch him before opting to send the Emerald back with his board in favor of staying behind to entertain winning a futile battle of attrition alongside them. Master Zik, meanwhile, reveals his own prideful greenness by insisting on complaining that they just got lucky in using no strategy at all, even as a Zombot begins turning him. Which kinda surprised me, admittedly--not his ego, but rather that he didn't survive the fights to rejoin his apprentice in the finale battle, especially given he's the Zeti most prone to tapping into his borderline psychic abilities. Nonetheless, Zik's wounded rejections of the reality combined his apparent willingness toward sacrificial tactics says something about his own leadership and speaks to how devious he ultimately is.
• Finally, we get to the final shoe-stealer that was Rouge, Orbot, and Cubot vs. the Master of Chaos Zavok--IF THERE WAS ONE! Seriously, am I only one really disappointed that this didn't happen? I know you shouldn't trust a cover in this business, but this was totally right up the [previous?] comic's alley--a matchup the games would never make happen, with characters that tend to get overlooked or sometimes dissed for not being cool/badass enough.
  • Not sure what the Shapebots would be contributing admittedly, but Zavok is intended to be a villain who looks like a monstrous bruiser, but thinks like a well-taught martial artist who usually gets an idea of what advantage he can take before throwing himself into the thrill of battle; this up against, who while passing for a bit of airheaded bimbo is actually self-made thief turned spy capable of kicking possibly as hard as Knuckles can punch. This would've been a battle between interdependent fighters who are about as clever as they are well built.
  • Instead, it inevitably gave way to Rouge simply swiping the throne's White Emerald, bizarrely stating that she was forced to choose brute force even though that's more in line with sabotage. In her court, I suppose she simply means alerting him to her presence and then carelessly dropping the Faceship onto his Zombot vanguard with him still on it--something Sonic is sure to ask her about. Orbot also comments on how he can't believe he and Cubot had to go along with that, with the two not quite making it out in time since they can be seen still compact on the wreckage of the ship.
  • Moving onto Zavok himself, he kinda drew the short straw here. Since the other Zeti got to feature in their own terrorizing complete with karmic defeats in the bulk of these issues, he's just left crashing along with the ship without a fight himself. He had some good, if slightly repetitive speeches and a few interactions with his team as well as Eggman's cronies prior to this, but when it came time to show his stuff, he was just left shoving wreckage off of himself and turning into a emerald powered kaiju(more on that later).
    • I noticed this part of the arc more than once referred to him as an angry brute, which is...weird. That's an angle of his character design, sure, but there IS more to him than that even if the series often struggles to try bringing it out effectively. He has had the speeches here and there, he almost never forgets his formal manner of speaking, and he does briefly muse that Angel Island is beautiful despite otherwise not comparing to his own sky home, but he's mostly spent his paneltime getting agitated when he can't figure out where Eggman is hiding, rushing off violently when he suspects Sonic has boarded the ship, and practically smashes the "Fuck You" button in the cliffhanger. I guess it could be trying to distinguish him from Eggman, but I think its on the wrong side of the slant.
    • Speaking of him being a beast, he recovers from the crash by pushing aside a slab of metal and tapping into the Purple Emerald by showing his "true strength" as Giant/Chaos/Hex/Whatever Zavok. This is excellent time to comment on the artwork, as the second half of this issue really takes advantage of Ms. Stanley in how she makes Zavok look more horrific: she takes a page from Lost World itself in making his head a dull grey in the darker lighting, highlights that the red spikes are technically separate from his head by depicting him with short grotesque teeth in his face, and having his size shifting produce veins across his upper torso as the emerald embeds in his chest Mammoth Mogul style.
    • Finally, his transformation has him seemingly lose his reasoning by forgoing any further speech, emulating his fight in Forces by having his pupils no longer be visible in his lividity, fire an Emerald charged fireball to tilt the Island, then pull a Titan Shifter by grabbing up a handful of his Zombots and throwing them on to face the remaining heroes.
• Wrapping this up by briefly touching on the other characters, I'll once again address Silver while also mentioning Sonic, Eggman Amy, and Knuckles. In a brief recollection that I'll assume happens just before the end of last issue, the surviving dispatches return in tow with the other Zeti's emeralds.
  • The inevitable loss of Cream and the Babylon Rogues is quickly noticed, with Amy coming to tears at allowing even Cream to be lost, and Sonic unconvincingly assuring they'll be alright.
  • He then does something I honestly wasn't quite expecting despite solicits: he brings up how the absence of life in the future means that they'll fail on their own and so asks Silver to help change the past since he obviously time-traveled; this is interesting because not only does it take advantage of his status as an anomaly, but it also involves Sonic the Hedgehog admitting he isn't enough to get the job done.
  •  In contrast to Team Fighters, Eggman maintains a hint of his antipathy by simply remarking upon the losses, sassing Tails' tendency to state the obvious, and never taking his eyes off Zavok since he knew he'd no doubt refuse to go down without a fight
  • Rounding this out, there's Knuckles. Now admittedly, he hasn't done much in this arc due to his understandably relief at going home, but he's consistently provided a likewise feeling of unworn hospitality in spite of his seclusion. This ranged from grounded support in providing the truly final refuge for the Resistance & their rescued, being quick to confront Eggman, Metal, & Starline when they warp in, and comforting Espio when he shows just a hint of how losing Charmy & Vector has effected him. And that range continued to having some of the few bits of genuine humor when he reacts to the possibility that experimenting with the Warp Topaz could've caused the Island to explode to being outraged that Zavok basically spit on his island. While he's mainly been a observing host for the eleventh hour, the fan in me also hopes he manages to get in some brawling in the oncoming Battle with Zavok.

 

[SatAMhog]

Anyone notice this is the SECOND final battle on the Floating Island we've had in less than two to three years?  

Spoiler

Rita Repulsa made Zavoc grow...Silver will have a pivotal role in the final battle. Huh.  This will be the first Super Sonic fight we get in the comic...hope it's great!  The issue itself was pretty much "hey we gotta get four battles done in one issue...DONE! Cliffhanger!" so it's eh for me but I enjoyed it for what it was.  Lovely to see Whisper and Wave again.   LOVED Espio's fight...really showed off his skill as a ninja!

 

[DabigRG]

On 6/23/2020 at 7:57 AM, Shadowlax said:

IDW is proof that you can just do the actioney stuff and the lighthearted stuff , they both work and the only thing that ruins it is sega higher ups getting involved. I think no matter what you feel about sonic, that's a premise you can get behind. " Maybe sega should just stop and just provide funding and time to the people who kinda know what the hell they are doing " .

 

And also healthy levels of freedom!

17 hours ago, caitash said:

Issue 28 is out on the app (surprisingly! Usually they have some sort of error that means I can’t get it until they fix it)

I’m DEFINITELY glad this wasn’t the last issue they released before the lockdown delays. The suspense would have been far worse. 

Really? What makes you say that?

15 hours ago, Shadowlax said:

This book is a book of narrative short cuts. Its pretty good, but it is what it is. I ain't mad at it, but its very clear they are trying to wrap things up. That said this book makes me retroactively even more upset at the books earlier in the arc, there are whole books that don't need to be books. And this book kinda summed up at least 3 books in 1 book.

Such as?

Quote

Zavok literally does an attack that might as well be called " speed up the plot"

The book its self is neat. Everyone got to look cool, except the zeti but they suck so whatever. Zavok reminds us that he is in fact a bowser copy.

He's not suppose to be Bowser!

I got more Beast or I guess Armored Titan there. But then I guess that's just me and/or my patiently continued hype.

14 hours ago, Jack at Home said:

Yeah the Deadly Six suck, even with good writing, now I can finally say it lol

They still manage to be lame, weak, dumb and cheap threats, even Zavok, who is merely a brute.

Everyone else, it sounded like an easy task, especially Rouge and the bots, I actually wish Zavok had more of a presence, more tactical.

Quote

Zavok and Rouge also didn't showed their tactical skills, I was really hoping for 'battle of the wits' between the two.

Same here. I wish he and Rouge had more going on in general.

Quote

I mean, they had the emeralds and could control hordes of Zombots, so much power, yet they just... "ok, nobody can beat us, whatever, haha" that's how they got defeated, serves them right lol

It varied depending on the Zeti, but yeah, a number of them did sorta come down to that.

Quote

Also, good job for the heroes, Knuckles I hope does more than just caring about the ME and AIZ next time. I like how the Babylons stick together though.

Silver will have a role... interesting.

 

7 hours ago, DaMan said:

Would be cool if we got super silver. But that’s obviously not gonna happen. At least we got burning blaze though it was kinda underwhelming.

That's what it seems like, which would imply he can still do it.

 

13 hours ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

#28 finally.... Eh.

So 3 Zeti down in 1 issue. Or rather 2/3 of the issue. ...Why? Why wouldn't it make more sense to squeeze 3rd fight into previous issue? Or better yet, in #26? Fights are gorgeous looking and have some cute dialogue (Maste Zik's request) but have disappointing conclusion. Basically hero punch their way to victory.

Yeah, that is kind of a good question, isn't it?

Quote

It's most jarring with Rouges. It would be so much cooler if

  Hide contents

Jet intentionally touched zombot, then infected Zik . That would be badass sacrifice way to win.
OR
Someone actually lost the fight to Zeti, but Rouge managed to steal Zavok's emerald and he would take emerald from one of his underlings. Maybe Zik would win, but get infected and decide to give his gem to Zavok.

You know, some actual twists of expectations.

I was kinda expecting the latter myself.

 

11 hours ago, Sonictrainer said:

Here's one of the variant covers

....unless I missed it...

Zor's face, lol. I didn't notice that before.

9 hours ago, Diogenes said:

So rushed. By the numbers a lot happened but it felt like nothing. Dunno if the team just wants this arc over and done with or if that's my feelings coloring my impressions.

I liked Zavok just hucking a fist full of zombots at the island, at least; that's an efficient solution to the island being isolated. Also check what's at Zavok's feet when he gets huge; that's a Chekhov's gun if I've ever seen one.

Oh, what now?

[....]

Oh wow, I never would've noticed that was actually something.

9 hours ago, Stay at Home Ultima said:

  Hide contents

Are you talking about the purple thing on the ground in that panel, cause I think that's the Cacophonic Conch from Lost World.

 

Yep.

 

6 hours ago, PC the Hedgehog said:

I've honestly not been a huge fan of the pacing of this saga. It feels like the whole infection part was dragged out over a few too many issues, and now it's being wrapped up really fast.

Unfortunately, that's nothing new: these comic arcs tend to have so much build up and progression in them that by the time we get to the climax, the actual face off tends to be fairly short while leaving the rest of the comic to actually wrap things up nicely.

1 hour ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

I just read issue 28 and while I did enjoy it quite a bit, the inescapable fear of the ending being rushed did indeed come to pass, though not anywhere near as badly as I feared so far. We'll see how that pans out in issue 29.

However, as far as this issue goes, the choreography and what happens to resolve the fights aren't necessarily the problem, more so how quickly it got there. I don't agree that pushing one of the fights into the previous issue would have helped much as it would have very much risked taking away from what I felt were the two really well-done fights with Zomom and Zeena. The conceit of Amy and Tails using their brains to fend off Zomom's overwhelming force was, of course, the poetic way to go for them and the entire Zeena fight had an actual story to tell all its own that'll make it the most effective of these anime match-ups.

Agreed, as that's an aspect I didn't fully consider within memory.

1 hour ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

I stated that I wished they'd at least have one more issue to stretch these fights out a bit more and that still holds true. That way, this issue could have done what the last issue did and just focused on Zazz and Zor while Master Zik and the lead up with Rouge to the Zavok transformation could have happened afterward. It's clear this is happening in part because it's time to wrap up according to the internet which I'm not in total agreement with. 

That is a fair solution. After all, they're called the Deadly Six because there's six of them.

Admittedly, Zazz and Espio wasn't as involved and detailed enough to require many pages, but still.

1 hour ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

I do love Zor and how creepy he is. What happened to end him made sense, but as I say, I do wish it could have been drawn out a bit more. Same with Zazz and Espio. The Jojo-esque beating he gave Zazz was glorious but the highlight was obviously Espio saying that his other Chaotix family members were with him in spirit. Spirits unite.

 

Dammit, why didn't I think of that?!

1 hour ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Zavok's transformation was a great sequence. I'm officially dubbing this form Lava Rock Zavok™ of my own free will.

Huh. Has a decent ring to it.

 

20 minutes ago, SatAMhog said:

Anyone notice this is the SECOND final battle on the Floating Island we've had in less than two to three years?  

 

Uh...woops.

(I mean, it's the perfect place to end this, but uh...)

[Zulon Eredas]

Missing shipment means I couldn't get the issue this week.