Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[Big Panda]

2 minutes ago, Dash Speed said:

With the why they discribe the classic four and Blaze being the main players, it seems like team dark and chaotic are sidekicks rather than main allies, which is a waste of their justification of beong in this plot with sonic andbthe others. Why is blaze getting main focus over Shadow a character more popular than her as a main core cast member.

Isn’t this arc meant to be like four issues long? I’m sure Team Dark will get some screentime in the other parts.

Also:

[Dash Speed]

Just now, Ernest-Panda said:

Isn’t this arc meant to be like four issues long? I’m sure Team Dark will get some screentime in the other parts.

Its a hierarchy order that matters in events with an all star cast especially fandom sipport involving the most important characters in it. blaze comes second to Shadow and rouge in any revolving major event with the classic three. Marvel plays this all the time with Iron man and Cap even being head liners for the first phase though Thor is equally important in event arcs.

Their forgetting that the this issue sales wise picked up after shadow and rouge. No one cares about blaze getting a push in the story, since she's not as popular as Shadow is.

[Sonic Fan J]

Blaze may not be as popular but trying to force Shadow in when the narrative does not call for him yet would actually hurt the story and sales in the long run because of bad story telling. While plastering his face everywhere may make an easy short term sale, it does not necessarily lend itself to good story telling and as a result long term sales.

[Dash Speed]

8 minutes ago, Sonic Fan J said:

Blaze may not be as popular but trying to force Shadow in when the narrative does not call for him yet would actually hurt the story and sales in the long run because of bad story telling. While plastering his face everywhere may make an easy short term sale, it does not necessarily lend itself to good story telling and as a result long term sales.

You could say the same thing about Knuckles. He's always "forced" tied to Sonics character even though he's less plot relevant to his adventures alone. Yet their pushing him as a quessintial to sonic as tails is a a main support character equally important as sonic is when tied to his narrative. Blaze should not supplant shadow in top billing at anything since unlike shadow, she doesn't have a strong dynamic to sonic like shadow does.

[QuantumEdge]

Ah, y'know what, screw it.  Predictable as this turns of events was, I still found it pretty incredible.

The issue played out as though Ian was intentionally trying to fanservice me.  I've always wanted Metal to take the reins as the new big bad and while it wasn't executed quite the way I wanted it to (Archie set up the idea a lot better with Breezie and his rebellious quirks), I've come to the point where I'll take a flawed version over nothing at all.  What really bowled me over though was Adam's work.  I can only dream of having a rate of improvement as fast as his.  Everything in this was so expressive and dynamic and full of motion.  Without a doubt this featured the best fight in a long while.  I just hope Neo is here to stay for more than just this year's story line.  Because making him revert back to silent goon just feels like a place he shouldn't have to go back to now.

[Meta77]

I really hope neo is here to stay cause one thing I really hated in archie were one shot cool villians that did little to nothing for long periods. Finitus was one I liked

[NikoS]

Spoiler

Can i just say that Metal was perfectly handled in this issue, IMO this was the best issue we had until now.

Call me cautiously optimistic.

EDIT:

Also,

Quote

Also:

Nice S&K reference!!

[Marco9966]

59 minutes ago, Dash Speed said:

With the way they discribe the classic four and Blaze being the main players, it seems like team dark and chaotic are sidekicks rather than main allies, which is a waste of their potential and justification of being in this plot with sonic and the others. Why is blaze getting main focus over Shadow, a character more popular than her as a main core cast member?

How about this: I'm a Cream fanboy, why isnt Cream the main focus? (sarcasm)

[Sonic Fan J]

32 minutes ago, Dash Speed said:

You could say the same thing about Knuckles. He's always "forced" tied to Sonics character even though he's less plot relevant to his adventures alone. Yet their pushing him as a quessintial to sonic as tails is a a main support character equally important as sonic is when tied to his narrative. Blaze should not supplant shadow in top billing at anything since unlike shadow, she doesn't have a strong dynamic to sonic like shadow does.

I actually fully feel that most of Knuckles' appearances are forced and a disservice to his character as a result. However, I will argue that in the case of the IDW comics so far his role as leader of the Resistance that is still cleaning up the remnants of Eggman's forces places him neatly in the story as of now. Further, Shadow and Blaze both have their roles to play and you have to give Ian time to develop that. Impatience for popularity will do no one any good if there is no build up or pay off and the characters just feel squandered, which is how I feel about Shadow so far in this story. 

 

33 minutes ago, QuantumEdge said:

Ah, y'know what, screw it.  Predictable as this turns of events was, I still found it pretty incredible.

 

  Hide contents

The issue played out as though Ian was intentionally trying to fanservice me.  I've always wanted Metal to take the reins as the new big bad and while it wasn't executed quite the way I wanted it to (Archie set up the idea a lot better with Breezie and his rebellious quirks), I've come to the point where I'll take a flawed version over nothing at all.  What really bowled me over though was Adam's work.  I can only dream of having a rate of improvement as fast as his.  Everything in this was so expressive and dynamic and full of motion.  Without a doubt this featured the best fight in a long while.  I just hope Neo is here to stay for more than just this year's story line.  Because making him revert back to silent goon just feels like a place he shouldn't have to go back to now.

 

 

26 minutes ago, Meta77 said:

I really hope neo is here to stay cause one thing I really hated in archie were one shot cool villians that did little to nothing for long periods. Finitus was one I liked

As someone who prefers Metal's normal design to his Neo, I'd prefer a compromise so fans of either can get both. If it was up to me I'd probably set it up so that after this arc Metal can't use his Neo form continuously giving him a goal to strive for besides kill Sonic, but if he feels the chips are really down he can whip it out and show whatever fool who is challenging him what a bad idea it is. Further, played from this angle if Metal was given his own story arc this limitation would create a form of tension that keeps readers turning the pages. Though, I would definitely keep the ability to talk available if going this route just to show that his normal state is not all there is to him.

[Celestia]

That S&K cover is gorgeous. I love how tiny Sandopolis looks from a distance, lol.

[Meta77]

Nah I'd rather they keep the neo form. Much more threatening.  plus the neo form gives him the ability to talk opening up for a larger plot. Just the old beeper metal was cool but got boring fast since there's only so much a silent bot can do. Thankfully a lot of people like his return. Granted it depends on what artist get a HD of him to make him look bad as like this issue

[Red Hot Jack]

I'm excited for the Battle for Angel Island, it's good that they are coming back there, with a focus on Knuckles and Blaze. 

Also, the solicit for 8 mentions that Whisper is a "Guardian Angel" and everyone calls her in a whisper (to tie into the name, but she's got to be called that for a reason). Can we predict anything about her, going by these details and the design? I hope she's a unique character.

One more thing, I kind of like the yearly plans Ian is doing, it feels like watching a season of a show, but I hope some things stick to future years, or teases for future plans, and I'm hoping Ian does more world building next year.

[MetalSkulkBane]

Ok, just read the issue. And so "Chairman Saga" ends, or whatever we'll call this period.

Let's be honest, Flynn didn't do much work today. He just said "Thomas, bring you A-game S-game. I'll slap few references and be done."
(Unless he's responsible for choreography, I don't know how this work).

But yeah, artwork is goooooooooooooooooooooorgeous. My fav

But let's at least acknowledge the plot

Spoiler

Chairman is Metal Sonic. It's only a twist because we though that would be too obvious. Eh, good enough.
Now, I prefer true Metal designs over Neo, but bringing him back adds to the scale of the situation. I get that and can work with it.

My only concern is Metal's personality. So far he's just generic evil baddie (although trowing parts of Egg Pawn at Sonic was delicious detail). In Heroes Metal is kinda going through something . He rebelled against his master, , convinced himself that Sonic is a copy, changed haircut.

Now he says 'haha, I'm true Sonic now" but it lacks any meaning, it's just Flynn throwing references. I just wonder if Metal will be character in this role, or just cool looking dangerous boss fight. ( Knowing Flynn he'll have character moments, but in completely different way than I expected)

 

[QuantumEdge]

4 minutes ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

Ok, just read the issue. And so "Chairman Saga" ends, or whatever we'll call this period.

Let's be honest, Flynn didn't do much work today. He just said "Thomas, bring you A-game S-game. I'll slap few references and be done."
(Unless he's responsible for choreography, I don't know how this work).

But yeah, artwork is goooooooooooooooooooooorgeous. My fav

But let's at least acknowledge the plot

  Hide contents

Chairman is Metal Sonic. It's only a twist because we though that would be too obvious. Eh, good enough.
Now, I prefer true Metal designs over Neo, but bringing him back adds to the scale of the situation. I get that and can work with it.

My only concern is Metal's personality. So far he's just generic evil baddie (although trowing parts of Egg Pawn at Sonic was delicious detail). In Heroes Metal is kinda going through something . He rebelled against his master, , convinced himself that Sonic is a copy, changed haircut.

Now he says 'haha, I'm true Sonic now" but it lacks any meaning, it's just Flynn throwing references. I just wonder if Metal will be character in this role, or just cool looking dangerous boss fight. ( Knowing Flynn he'll have character moments, but in completely different way than I expected)

 

It's like I said.  I've come to the point of being happy about this plot finally happening that I don't care if it's execution is a bit off, but...

I can understand feeling that his character lacks the (albeit slight amount) depth he had in Heroes, such as his goals and thinking.  However, I can't help thinking the copying of Eggman's intellect somewhat influenced his behaviour in the issue, which to me adds a bit of extra polish to the writing.  That said, I would much prefer he were working with his own agenda instead of following Ol' Papa Eggman as usual.  It would be nice if IDW at least made some sort of prequel story for Metal.  Explaining his thinking, that whole "True Sonic" business and showing how he got to this point.  It's a perfect excuse for a super sweet Metal Sonic mini-series, which I'd be down for in a heartbeat

 

[DabigRG]

4 hours ago, Drifting Jack said:

Tangle didn't interest me much in her issue, I felt a bit diappointed, Blaze was a lot more interesting, hopefully Whisper is used in better ways. And I definitely need to see more of Tangle!

Essentially, minus the disappointment.

4 hours ago, Drifting Jack said:

 

But no, I disagree with everything you guys say about issue 6 as it is my favorite one.

Well, at least someone enjoyed it.

4 hours ago, Shadowlax said:

Yeah, shadow really feels like someone told him he had to introduce shadow early because they were pushing him. And then subsequently told him " Oh hey you can't actually reference the last game shadow was in in any regard in the plot " and then made that

Which is really friggin bad, considering what a relatively noteworthy role he/"he" played, how ever superficially.

[Shadowlax]

4 hours ago, Sonic Fan J said:

 

Which isn't in itself a problem to me at this point since the role he played was to demonstrate to Sonic that amnesia does not necessarily change someone. The problem was that he came in after Sonic made up his mind about Eggman and not before so the conflict that Sonic was faced with was already resolved before Shadow's arrival would affect him in anyway.

I personally find that a bit of a problem because, none of that games plot seems to have any repercussions involving this character who was kinda key to this game. And makes me feel like this whole plot line is sort of worthless because of that, because this plot line is supposed to take place after forces. So we are arbitrarily deciding that like major shit from the plot of forces doesn't matter, why even set it after forces, why not just start a new thing entirely

4 hours ago, Sonic Fan J said:

Blaze may not be as popular but trying to force Shadow in when the narrative does not call for him yet would actually hurt the story and sales in the long run because of bad story telling. While plastering his face everywhere may make an easy short term sale, it does not necessarily lend itself to good story telling and as a result long term sales.

It also might make people dislike the character. As of currently his character due to the irrelevant nature of the book he was featured in, is a murderous angry asshole who wastes everyone's time. This depiction of this character could have been avoided, if they would have just waited for a more relevant time to introduce said character.

3 hours ago, Sonic Fan J said:

I actually fully feel that most of Knuckles' appearances are forced and a disservice to his character as a result.

I feel like Knuckles is a weird case because sega chained him to a thing, and for him to function he has to ignore the thing or be bad at his job, or both. To like be included in narrative, or the narrative has to be dead centered around thing. So knuckles is a weird case where some of the disservice is because sega clearly just doesn't really care too much about chaos emeralds anymore but they chained a popular character to a really big one. Shadow avoids this issue somewhat by narratives suggesting he doesn't really need chaos emeralds anymore. So I would say cut knuckles a little slack

3 hours ago, Sonic Fan J said:

However, I will argue that in the case of the IDW comics so far his role as leader of the Resistance that is still cleaning up the remnants of Eggman's forces places him neatly in the story as of now. Further, Shadow and Blaze both have their roles to play and you have to give Ian time to develop that. Impatience for popularity will do no one any good if there is no build up or pay off and the characters just feel squandered, which is how I feel about Shadow so far in this story. 

To be quite cynical I don't think shadow is gonna have a role to play until this arc is over

38 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

 

Which is really friggin bad, considering what a relatively noteworthy role he/"he" played, how ever superficially.

Sega don't wanna reference it, so now were are stuck with " shadow the man with no defined motive, but he's popular so he's here " 

[antyep]

3 hours ago, QuantumEdge said:

It's like I said.  I've come to the point of being happy about this plot finally happening that I don't care if it's execution is a bit off, but...

 

  Hide contents

I can understand feeling that his character lacks the (albeit slight amount) depth he had in Heroes, such as his goals and thinking.  However, I can't help thinking the copying of Eggman's intellect somewhat influenced his behaviour in the issue, which to me adds a bit of extra polish to the writing.  That said, I would much prefer he were working with his own agenda instead of following Ol' Papa Eggman as usual.  It would be nice if IDW at least made some sort of prequel story for Metal.  Explaining his thinking, that whole "True Sonic" business and showing how he got to this point.  It's a perfect excuse for a super sweet Metal Sonic mini-series, which I'd be down for in a heartbeat

 

 

 

Spoiler

It would be nice if Metal worked on his own agenda too, maybe we have a Brotherhood of Metallix going on. I think I remember Ian actually had the okay from Nigel Kitching. Too bad Sega has that 'only one Metal Sonic' rule or whatever.

 

[Kuzu]

5 hours ago, Dash Speed said:

With the way they discribe the classic four and Blaze being the main players, it seems like team dark and chaotic are sidekicks rather than main allies, which is a waste of their potential and justification of being in this plot with sonic and the others. Why is blaze getting main focus over Shadow, a character more popular than her as a main core cast member?

 

4 hours ago, Dash Speed said:

Its a hierarchy order that matters in events with an all star cast especially fandom sipport involving the most important characters in it. blaze comes second to Shadow and rouge in any revolving major event with the classic three. Marvel plays this all the time with Iron man and Cap even being head liners for the first phase though Thor is equally important in event arcs.

Their forgetting that the this issue sales wise picked up after shadow and rouge. No one cares about blaze getting a push in the story, since she's not as popular as Shadow is.

 

4 hours ago, Dash Speed said:

You could say the same thing about Knuckles. He's always "forced" tied to Sonics character even though he's less plot relevant to his adventures alone. Yet their pushing him as a quessintial to sonic as tails is a a main support character equally important as sonic is when tied to his narrative. Blaze should not supplant shadow in top billing at anything since unlike shadow, she doesn't have a strong dynamic to sonic like shadow does.

 

You aren't going to be satisfied until everything is about Shadow are you?

 

Good god man, not everything has to be about Shadow. I get he's your favorite character and all, but you're such a blatant fanboy about this that I honestly can't believe what you're saying is legit. You'll be shocked to read this, but there are other characters besides Shadow that exist in the universe of Sonic the Hedgehog with their own stories and roles to play. Shocking I know, but yes...there are other characters besides Shadow that exist :V

[Shadowlax]

1 minute ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

 

 

 

You aren't going to be satisfied until everything is about Shadow are you?

 

Good god man, not ''everything'' has to be about Shadow. I get he's your favorite character and all, but you're such a blatant fanboy about this that I honestly can't believe what you're saying is legit. You'll be shocked to read this, but there are other characters besides Shadow that exist in the universe of Sonic the Hedgehog with their own stories and roles to play. Shocking I know, but yes...there are other characters besides Shadow that exist :V

Just  Monica    Shadow

[Dash Speed]

4 hours ago, Sonic Fan J said:

I actually fully feel that most of Knuckles' appearances are forced and a disservice to his character as a result. However, I will argue that in the case of the IDW comics so far his role as leader of the Resistance that is still cleaning up the remnants of Eggman's forces places him neatly in the story as of now. Further, Shadow and Blaze both have their roles to play and you have to give Ian time to develop that. Impatience for popularity will do no one any good if there is no build up or pay off and the characters just feel squandered, which is how I feel about Shadow so far in this story. 

 

 

As someone who prefers Metal's normal design to his Neo, I'd prefer a compromise so fans of either can get both. If it was up to me I'd probably set it up so that after this arc Metal can't use his Neo form continuously giving him a goal to strive for besides kill Sonic, but if he feels the chips are really down he can whip it out and show whatever fool who is challenging him what a bad idea it is. Further, played from this angle if Metal was given his own story arc this limitation would create a form of tension that keeps readers turning the pages. Though, I would definitely keep the ability to talk available if going this route just to show that his normal state is not all there is to him.

It's obvious Shadows role compared to blaze is fanservice and being shoehorned for showing him off, not a pivotal role in the story plot with sonic directly.

Tell me how thats fair especially how the character is used to implement in a story much better than others since he is one of the heavy story types in the series. Next is Silver. Why does blaze get put in equal standing in the main plot with sonic and Eggman again in this comic over someone who was in Sonic forces? shadow and team dark play no main part in being the ones who help sonic out the most.

Evennin the gsme Shadow got overshadowed(pardon the pun)by the oc and Knuckles resistance. Knuckles is more a spotlight stealer than Shadow in that game considering he plays the pivotal force in the games as the resistance leader up onto this comic, Shadow and Team dark just has a insignificant tie in to the main villain and stays minor up to the last second of the games story in forces, while you could argue Rouge doing more for the narrative which supports Knuckles the most who then works under sonic as the main face, which goes back to my hierarchy term

Sonic and Eggman> Knuckles, Tails, Amy > Resistance > Shadow, Team Dark, Chaoxtix.

 

[RedFox99]

3 hours ago, Dash Speed said:

It's obvious Shadows role compared to blaze is fanservice and being shoehorned for showing him off, not a pivotal role in the story plot with sonic directly.

Tell me how thats fair especially how the character is used to implement in a story much better than others since he is one of the heavy story types in the series. Next is Silver. Why does blaze get put in equal standing in the main plot with sonic and Eggman again in this comic over someone who was in Sonic forces? shadow and team dark play no main part in being the ones who help sonic out the most.

Evennin the gsme Shadow got overshadowed(pardon the pun)by the oc and Knuckles resistance. Knuckles is more a spotlight stealer than Shadow in that game considering he plays the pivotal force in the games as the resistance leader up onto this comic, Shadow and Team dark just has a insignificant tie in to the main villain and stays minor up to the last second of the games story in forces, while you could argue Rouge doing more for the narrative which supports Knuckles the most who then works under sonic as the main face, which goes back to my hierarchy term

Sonic and Eggman> Knuckles, Tails, Amy > Resistance > Shadow, Team Dark, Chaoxtix.

 

Like Kuzu said, Shadow doesn't always need to have more importance than the others whenever he's around. I mean I understand you like him, but it's not fair that a lot of the other characters have to always be background characters when he's around and he always has to be a main character. 

[Skull Leader]

17 hours ago, Marco9966 said:

The squad then and now

BTW when do we get solicits for issue 10?

 

Why can't we have this on the games as well? Funny how the comics actually acknowledge that the main group is made of four characters (bonus points for also making Knuckles have legit motives) and not three.

Anyway, I really like how they handled Metal, striking a nice balance between him doing something to be on the spotlight and not achieving it at the expense of the good old doc like in Heroes. If there's something I applaud the people running the IDW book is how they take stuff from the games and improve it in a way that makes fans happy.

 

[DabigRG]

1 hour ago, Dash Speed said:

Why does blaze get put in equal standing in the main plot with sonic and Eggman again in this comic over someone who was in Sonic forces? 

Sonic and Eggman> Knuckles, Tails, Amy > Resistance > Shadow, Team Dark, Chaoxtix.

 

I think you just answered your own question. Besides, unlike Shadow, Silver's actually getting some major screentime with the story next issue. And probably in a more meaningful way than in Blaze's issue, too.

And Team Chaotix are part of the Resistance. Hell, Vector got more lines and character moments than Amy did. 

[Dr. Detective]

Fucking gorgeous issue. Good God, it was so beautiful. Metal Sonic looked spiffy as hell. Instantly the first thing that came to mind was how and what techniques were used to make him look that good.

However, the main take away from this was the fight. I swear the choreography and movement reminded me of a chapter of One Punch Man. I wish I could see this thing animated.

Fights have never been the strong suit of any of the Archie comics. The best fight it had in my opinion was the one where Sonic and Megaman fought against Bass and Metal Sonic in the first Megaman crossover. Due to the tactics used to defeat them spanning the length of the entire issue, the fight actually had a chance to breathe and sink in as something epic that was happening. I feel like this one very easily tops it. 

I seriously can't stress enough how great this fight was. It brought back that itch of wanting a grand spectacle Sonic anime to come out sometime in the future. Or at the very least, that desire to see something like that Unleashed opening done with a choreographed fight between two characters once more.

I also like this take on Neo Metal Sonic. It would have been redundant to just go for the whole "I'm taking over now that Eggman's gone" thing again but this is very much playing to the idea of him being a modified and coded robot. He's fully aware of what he did in the past and how he was programmed to think the way he does now, but isn't going against the programming at all. Not only that but he's still on this kick about copying others, replacing others, stealing identities and what not. There's something to this idea behind Metal Sonic here. A soulless robot whose attempts to find his own identity come from him repeatedly borrowing from other people's identities instead is interesting. Not only that but it's subtle too. He's not literally looking to the sky and going "Who am I?" and "This is who I am!". Partially because he's a menacing villain and the fact that he acts this way is still legitimately creepy and unsettling.

I always wonder if robots can go insane whenever I think of Neo Metal Sonic.

So yeah, I really enjoyed this one. Holy moly.

It did kind of strike me just how much they're sticking to the main games when I saw the group shot at the end with them all whooping to victory like that though. Mainly due to Knuckles. I do admit to still preferring him the way he was in the Adventure games and the first two seasons of Sonic X but I have a feeling that if things had properly developed to this point with his character, I wouldn't have an issue with it. There's things about him that I can infer well enough in advance for it not to be that big a deal. It's not like Ian would ever forget Knuckles is the guardian of the Master Emerald. That's really all I want the games to recall at this point anyway.

 

[DabigRG]

1 hour ago, RedFox99 said:

Like Kuzu said, Shadow doesn't need to have more importance than the others whenever he's around.

That's the problem--most of the "dreamcast" era treated Shadow as this perpetually tone-setting & high stakes character in the Sonic series and now the colossal returns to form have him feel out of place as a shadow of what the series derailed into.