Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[A super No.1 washedupgamer]

Eggman's robot looks like it would make a pretty cool boss battle in an official sonic game.

[DabigRG]

A little surprised no one's commented on the ending yet.

[caitash]

1 hour ago, DabigRG said:

A little surprised no one's commented on the ending yet.

Still waiting to read it tbh, I buy the issues through IDW’s own app but it’s not on there yet. I COULD go buy it digitally elsewhere but then I’d have the annoyance of a single issue being on a different platform when I re-read them later.
 

They really dropped the ball on this release. I’m wondering if they legit delayed it until next week but since the physical copies were already out there they changed it back to this week but then rushed to release it digitally, it’s very messy.

[Sonictrainer]

We have a preview of Bad Guys #1

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Also, the Bad Guys Logo has changed

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Finally, we have the combined covers of 31 & 32.

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[Ellipsis-Ultima]

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Starline having multi tool spur weapons is kinda cool not gonna lie.

Also the lil logo at the center kinda reminds me of Sonic Heroes for a second.

 

[PC the Hedgehog]

Really liked all the little character moments in the past two issues. A shame that the amnesia subplot ended up being so pointless. Allowing Sonic to spend some time exploring Blaze's world would have been a refereshing change of pace.

Not that next issue won't be. Man, it's gonna be so weird seeing a new main writer on the book. IIRC, won't this be the the first time since Ian's Sonic career began back in 2006 that he's not the main writer on the mainline Sonic comic?

[SBR2]

It's not likely but I almost hope that the reason Sega allowed Blaze's palace might be a hint at something involving her world in the games. 

It'd be a neat bit of synergy to have something from a future game have an early bird cameo in the comics. 

[MetalSkulkBane]

Side note, but you know what I dislike about comic as the medium?

The fact that I'm never "in the moment" always looking forward.

When I watch the movie I watch current the movie. When I play the game, I don't think about it's non existing sequel. Even in cartoon it's usually save to say my mind is in current episode.

When reading comic I always  know there is next issue, not in 1-2 years, but very next month . Snarky joke about IDW schedule aside. I always know about upcoming miniseries or about staring arc. Sonic Universe was best example. Part 4 of any arc was almost a chore, because I was already being teased about next arc that is aaaaalmost here.
And because comics are shorter that most of other media, every story has small content, big chunk of which isn't for sake of THIS story, but build up for something in the future, months or years from now on.

I suppose it's kinda nice, knowing there is more just around the corner, but I'm more of bench-watching, 100% completionist kind of person. If I like 2 things I prefer to exhaust first one before going to second, not constant switching... if that makes any sense to you.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Bad Guys 1 preview thoughts:

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Ngl, I really hope this miniseries highlights Starline's cunning better. It's always implied he's meant to be above it all, and that's why he's better than Eggman, but the mistakes he tends to make are downright idiotic (Hiring the Zeti, despite A. their traitorous nature, and B. their grudge against Eggman, and now assuming Eggman would be dumb enough not to revoke his access.

I get they wanna show that Starline needs to make an active effort not to be as short-sighted or as arrogant as Eggman, but there has to be a better way than Starline just assuming that someone with an IQ of 300 would be dumb enough not to immediately revoke his access in case of betrayal. Eggman's problem is short-sightedness and arrogance, not out and out stupidity. 

 

[Mauro Fonseca]

On 9/23/2020 at 11:09 PM, PublicEnemy1 said:

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Fucking knew SEGA wouldn't let Ian be ballsy enough to change the status quo. A potentially interesting set-piece came and then ended in the span of 2 issues. It's like it shouldn't have happened at all.

 

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Is it really down to "SEGA wouldn't let" or "Evan's getting to tell her stories now, don't want to force her to have to deal with an amnesia plot I introduced two issues before she took over"? It's easy to just think of it from the perspective of wasted plot but you gotta remember Ian's leaving the main book for at least a year, now. Evan deserves to have her as-close-to-clean-slate to work from without endless baggage from Ian, and "Sonic's amnesiac" would definitely count as unnecessary and unwanted baggage to throw at someone else getting to head the comic for the first time in 14 or so years.

 

EDIT: point being, ending the amnesia right now is the right thing to do; if you want to complain, I'd complain about it being started this late despite having to end by 32, or it getting started at all.

 

[SBR2]

1 hour ago, The KKM said:

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Is it really down to "SEGA wouldn't let" or "Evan's getting to tell her stories now, don't want to force her to have to deal with an amnesia plot I introduced two issues before she took over"? It's easy to just think of it from the perspective of wasted plot but you gotta remember Ian's leaving the main book for at least a year, now. Evan deserves to have her as-close-to-clean-slate to work from without endless baggage from Ian, and "Sonic's amnesiac" would definitely count as unnecessary and unwanted baggage to throw at someone else getting to head the comic for the first time in 14 or so years.

 

EDIT: point being, ending the amnesia right now is the right thing to do; if you want to complain, I'd complain about it being started this late despite having to end by 32, or it getting started at all.

 

Spoiler

That's a fair point but Ian isn't technically leaving the book. He's just not the head writer anymore. He's said on Twitter and on his portfolio on Bumbleking that he will still be contributing stories but that the over all plot of Season 3 is Evan's.

 

[Meta77]

He left her a clean start. The memory plot was a tad to big i think. She has already stated her stories are not going to be as serious as Ians. So the whole sonic with memory lose with eggman attacks is probably a tad to much action lined with where she will take the series for awhile.

[Mauro Fonseca]

3 hours ago, SBR2 said:

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That's a fair point but Ian isn't technically leaving the book. He's just not the head writer anymore. He's said on Twitter and on his portfolio on Bumbleking that he will still be contributing stories but that the over all plot of Season 3 is Evan's.

 

Like I said, "for a year"  He's not writing the book for a year, unless they suddenly decide Seasons are no longer a year lol. He might not write the main book for longer than that, or just 12 issues certain, we don't know, but that year should be guaranteed from how they've explained it.

[Slashy]

On 9/26/2020 at 6:21 AM, MetalSkulkBane said:

Side note, but you know what I dislike about comic as the medium?

The fact that I'm never "in the moment" always looking forward.

When I watch the movie I watch current the movie. When I play the game, I don't think about it's non existing sequel. Even in cartoon it's usually save to say my mind is in current episode.

When reading comic I always  know there is next issue, not in 1-2 years, but very next month . Snarky joke about IDW schedule aside. I always know about upcoming miniseries or about staring arc. Sonic Universe was best example. Part 4 of any arc was almost a chore, because I was already being teased about next arc that is aaaaalmost here.
And because comics are shorter that most of other media, every story has small content, big chunk of which isn't for sake of THIS story, but build up for something in the future, months or years from now on.

I suppose it's kinda nice, knowing there is more just around the corner, but I'm more of bench-watching, 100% completionist kind of person. If I like 2 things I prefer to exhaust first one before going to second, not constant switching... if that makes any sense to you.

I think the problem is that the comic never does a fully self-contained story. There is always a plot point a story starts off from and there is always a plot point left hanging for the next arc to deal with.

Because there is no end goal, no overarching plot, no major changes to the status quo you are never left satisfied by anything. The comic basically takes what should be self-contained stories and makes them not self-contained, I guess because rather than trusting the audience to continue buying comics because of amazing storytelling, the comic relies on carrots on sticks.

[SBR2]

57 minutes ago, The KKM said:

Like I said, "for a year"  He's not writing the book for a year, unless they suddenly decide Seasons are no longer a year lol. He might not write the main book for longer than that, or just 12 issues certain, we don't know, but that year should be guaranteed from how they've explained it.

I think he said on Twitter that he does have at least an issue or two coming in 2021 actually. 

[DabigRG]

Uh, I think this pandemic finally got to Mr. Yardley!.

Edit: Okay, I got the context better, but maybe there was a better way to express that observation.

[KoDaiko]

Looks like the preview's out for #33:

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One question:

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Is this Clutch?

 

[DabigRG]

19 minutes ago, KoDaiko said:

Looks like the preview's out for #33:

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One question:

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Is this Clutch?

 

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Presumably. Looks like a burly creature with small rabbit ears and a beard.

I'm assuming Amy's hesitation in the last page is the fact that they're going to a potentially seedy place

 

[Zulon Eredas]

The designs look weird, like they're stickers or something

[Ryannumber1gamer]

32 was probably one of the most disappointing issues in a long time for me. Everything wrong with Ian's finales cropping up in the worst ways possible. Rushed fights, pointless plot lines, etc. 

Spoiler

Sonic losing his memory happens for four pages overall, and nothing is done with it, Eggman's here just to dick about, basically. All of the heroes, barring Rouge and Tails are completely useless (I couldn't believe it when I saw Amy and Jewel arguing over issuing commands, as if Amy couldn't just take up the field leader role for a quick moment, even know she'd been doing that throughout the Metal Virus arc already). 

Nothing is done with Sonic's memory loss, so that's just a waste of pages, he gets his memory back in a very weird Deus-Ex Machina where Blaze jogs it via super form, the fight itself feels rushed, and in the end, Eggman just leaves to continue on with his schemes. And what do we get in the end, Sonic just reaffirming that "oh, *maybe* he'll change one day", and giving us a very generic "The Adventure Continues..." end page.

Fucking hell, just what was even the point? Why did Eggman need to attack here? Why did we need this fight? We've had nearly 20 issues of straight fighting over and over again, and instead of carrying on what Issue 31 did, and letting us see everyone pick their lives back up, and get things back on track, and giving us actual time to see anything interesting about Sonic's memory loss, Eggman just pops back in for a pointless fight that's only there to make the other heroes look absolutely incompetent without Sonic. The only real things I can say I enjoyed was Omega's retaliation, and Rouge beating the Babylon Rogues to the punch with the jewel, and Vector taking charge to fight Eggman.

Other than that, this was a severely underwhelming, rushed, and pointless conclusion to an arc that could've easily just skipped the memory loss bullshit and been far better focused.

 

[KoDaiko]

21 minutes ago, Zulon Eredas said:

The designs look weird, like they're stickers or something

Yeah, the highlights make them look like they're made of plastic. Color looks a little too bright/saturated too imo.

The lines & script are by Evan Stanley, colors by Reggie Graham.

[KoDaiko]

Sorry if this counts as a double post, but we got new covers for #34:

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Now another question:

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new character?

 

[DabigRG]

1 hour ago, KoDaiko said:

Sorry if this counts as a double post, but we got new covers for #34:

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Woah, five characters in one! Clutch appears to be a girl and  a lynx/bobcat.

Lol at the sleeping Chao

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Now another question:

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new character?

 

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You know, if I didn't know any better (or see the Metal Sonic esque fin), I'd say we have a real Wild Child on our hands

 

[Sega DogTagz]

3 hours ago, KoDaiko said:

 

Now another question:

  Reveal hidden contents

new character?

 

Spoiler

Huh... Just thinking out loud here, but between the blocky fingers and the subtle glowing eyes, you could convince me that thing is supposed to be a sentient badnik. Maybe along the lines of coconuts? 

 

[MetalSkulkBane]

I've been thinking: what's up with Jewel height in relation to Charmy?

Are all bugs just small? Doe that mean Charmy will never grow any taller?
Is Jewel same age as he? I think she's 16. Plus that would make her Tails-lever prodigy, maybe above.
Or maybe she's just a small person?