Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[Celestia]

24 minutes ago, SBR2 said:

Kinda surprising since going by this thread everyone fucking hates the new book.

Personally I've been really enjoying it, I just haven't felt the need to argue with people about it. Or, say, make passive aggressive comments about it.

[DabigRG]

1 minute ago, lulzers said:

Though he also said he'll include both of them if it results in a situation in which both of them die.

Damn. That's friggin cold, mang. 

[StaticMania]

3 minutes ago, lulzers said:

For Elise, Ian said there WAS potential for her.

Though he also said he'll include both of them if it results in a situation in which both of them die.

Oh, so he won't do it then.

[GentlemanX]

57 minutes ago, lulzers said:

About Chris Thorndyke not appearing in IDW Sonic, I've heard in an interview (which I unfortunately can't find anymore) with Ian Flynn that if he were to leave out any Sonic character, it would be him.

In other words, Ian hates Chris as much as the fans. Thankfully ensuring he will never appear again.

Joy.

But seriously, source. Ian knows every  character has fans.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

As far as people hating this comic goes, honestly I’m seeing it less that this has anything to do with quality and more to do with the fact that this book is just now establishing itself and some were expecting a bit too much out of it.

Maybe some parts weren’t up to par, but we’ve really have yet to get to anything major. They’re still building up.

[DabigRG]

Since that issue is on the way to coming out(pretty dang fast too), I think I'll go ahead and talk about my thoughts on Issue 3.

Spoiler

 

• I half agree about the artwork(and colours): Sonic, the villagers, and for the most part Tumble ironically look fine, but Rough and Knuckles look kinda off more often than not. Rough is kinda understandable given his unusual feral appearance and relative newness, so I’ll focus on Knuckles: I think the base problem was that his muzzle was too rounded/circular and for lack of a better word cuddly. Didn't Ms. Hernandez  do the Knuckles, Amy, and Mighty backstory in Archie a little while back? Though I guess you could also say she's simply out of practice. Aside from from them and a few odd poses/faces here and there, it looks good enough.
  • As for the colors, its very contextual: it looks good during the beginning and ending scenes when they’re out in the sunshine—kinda like a combination of  Mr. Yardley!’s work and mid-2000s/GBA official art. However, when they’re in the warehouse, things look too bright at times. The scenes where Sonic and Knuckles were wispering at the Wisps and  Sonic/Rough briefly moved away from the table during the fight are where it’s noticeable.
• Now, for the writing—honestly, this struck me as being a little too wordy, exposition heavy, a few times redundant, and generally newcomer friendly for its own good. Mostly around explaining the Wisps. The idea of Sonic’s speech and Knuckles explaining that Tails gave them the cipher to communicate with the volunteering Wisps are fine, but when Sonic and claim they even offered to wait in the deployment pods, it’s a little too much information. There was also things like Sonic calling Knuckles “Commander Knuckels” and Knuckles saying both that he can’t wait to go on a treasure hunt and that he misses Angel Island--twice. Which isn’t bad by itself, but rather an example of how some of the dialogue could’ve been worded/sentence’d better for brevity and “naturalness.” It picks up at the end, but it’s still roughly 65% of an overly explanation script. I honestly question  if Mr. Flynn was really the one who wrote the final script.
• Finally, there’s our new bad guy duo: Rough and Tumble are...a mixed bag. I liked the Coordinated Badass Boast thing they had going, them getting the opposite formation type hero as their one-on-one opponent, and Tumble dribbling Sonic before inadvertently setting up his counter, plus the Stink Bomber was both a neat little move along the lines of what I half expected Rough to be capable of. However, I still have an issue with their overall presence—namely, that they were somewhat interchangeable and the fight against them was still too short ultimately. When Scaredy explained how they duped the town into hoarding they’re weapons and serving them, I took that to mean that they’re actually quite crafty, no, manipulative and improvisational for otherwise lowlife thugs. Combined with their coordinated prepping, the fact that they’re brothers, and their being pitted against The Fighting Buddies, you’d think they’d be a swift force that legitimately requires the two to tap into their own teamwork and guile to defeat in their first meeting. And while we get a few moments with elements of that, they’re really short-lived and the two seemingly go down in a flash afterwards, as far as we can see.
  • Tumble is where a majority of those problems come from. Given his promotional appearances, you’d assume he’d be relatively distinctively the more “no-nonsense” of the two and/or the smartest in terms of personality--still open/prone for goofiness and theatrics on occasion due to their inherent brotherhood and threat-level, mind you, but still somewhat more focused than his more rustic brother. Thus, his frequent grins, the face he makes when getting Rough out of the floor, and blanket reaction to the Ivory Wisp leaving the Lightning Wispon(even though he had the Yellow/Drill Wisp[on] in the flashback?) was kind of a downer. Also, I definitely think they should give him a lighter and/or medium shade of red for his eyes in the future, as they look really jarring next to everyone else…or by himself, for that matter.
• The cameo from Yacker was confusing. For the a second there, I thought he appeared out of nowhere and Sonic was absorbing him to boost around and into the Skunk Bros, but it was apparently meant to be a visual flashback-esque panel like Archie occasionally used and like the previous issue did with Tails. In which case, it makes Sonic’s motivational speech even more unnecessarily long.
• I liked the background characters collectively more than in the previous issue, where only Lanolin and "Klonoa-Pup" really stood out positively. Here, these villagers look like they all belong together and in Sonic's world. Not!Safron, Too horned Chameleon, Greenish Ram, and ActuallyChubby Bear in particular.
• Okay, that mystery villain's...mystery is getting ridiculous now. I could somewhat forgive the previous issue being weird about hinting at them, but that chair was practically empty here!
• That red and cyan font on Tangle and Blaze is vexy. 
• Also, missed opportunity for a Sonic&Knuckles namedrop.

 

•  

[DabigRG]

6 minutes ago, Conquering Storm's Servant said:

As far as people hating this comic goes, honestly I’m seeing it less that this has anything to do with quality and more to do with the fact that this book is just now establishing itself and some were expecting a bit too much out of it.

Maybe some parts weren’t up to par, but we’ve really have yet to get to anything major. They’re still building up.

Eeeh, sorta the case, more or less.

[Sonic Fan J]

Also on the topic of the criticism against the comic I'm one of those who is more likely to talk about what I felt was weak than what I felt was strong. On a whole from what I can tell a lot of the criticism I've been seeing is more because people like the comic so far and want to see it get better in a hurry. As for me, I may just prefer picking out the weaker seeming elements so that way others can defend them and provide me with a positive view point on them to further my enjoyment.

 

Moving on to Tangle's debut, while there isn't much to see yet at least she's already living up to her namesake. I kind of have to wonder just how much her tail can stretch though.

 

On the matter of concern for Sonic mentioning the possible advantages of having accepted Amy's offer, he quickly counters that when he observes that the Resistance isn't present and his free traveling nature allowed him to get to a town that otherwise would not have seen any outside help. In light of this, while I could at most see Sonic possibly relying on Tails in the future to keep him in touch with the Resistance I don't feel like there is any reason to worry about Sonic letting himself get tied down. To me, it's more a set up to justify him keeping in contact with the Resistance in the future while doing his own thing as a way to keep the narrative focused if a plot demands a more direct approach rather than Sonic stumbling into it. Roughly, it's a way to avoid future contrivances or at least cover them up.

 

Now fancy that, I tried the positive defensive angle for a change after I just explained why I usually take the negative questioning angle. Go figure

[PublicEnemy1]

1 minute ago, Sonic Fan J said:

Also on the topic of the criticism against the comic I'm one of those who is more likely to talk about what I felt was weak than what I felt was strong. On a whole from what I can tell a lot of the criticism I've been seeing is more because people like the comic so far and want to see it get better in a hurry. As for me, I may just prefer picking out the weaker seeming elements so that way others can defend them and provide me with a positive view point on them to further my enjoyment.

 

Moving on to Tangle's debut, while there isn't much to see yet at least she's already living up to her namesake. I kind of have to wonder just how much her tail can stretch though.

 

On the matter of concern for Sonic mentioning the possible advantages of having accepted Amy's offer, he quickly counters that when he observes that the Resistance isn't present and his free traveling nature allowed him to get to a town that otherwise would not have seen any outside help. In light of this, while I could at most see Sonic possibly relying on Tails in the future to keep him in touch with the Resistance I don't feel like there is any reason to worry about Sonic letting himself get tied down. To me, it's more a set up to justify him keeping in contact with the Resistance in the future while doing his own thing as a way to keep the narrative focused if a plot demands a more direct approach rather than Sonic stumbling into it. Roughly, it's a way to avoid future contrivances or at least cover them up.

 

Now fancy that, I tried the positive defensive angle for a change after I just explained why I usually take the negative questioning angle. Go figure

Good on you

[Dash Speed]

13 hours ago, DabigRG said:

Who did the coloring in this issue?

To be fair, he was focused more on dealing with them as a threat that had managed to take over the town and been pushing around the villagers.

I agree that he has a somewhat similar sense of humor as Sonic, but I'll let it slide in instances like this.

 

11 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Knuckles taking a humorous moment seriously blends the aloof side of him really well with the headstrong, no-nonsense attitude he takes in certain situations. This is fine. I feel its hyperbolic comparing this to him just being a slow idiot. There's layers to this sort of thing and Knuckles has always needed a balance that handles this side of his character well. Its always been apart of him in some form. Its just been flanderized towards mimicing actual idiocy instead of something like this.

Plus, this doesn't in anyway negate his ability to see the humorous side of things in other situations. Specificy when there's down time.

 

7 hours ago, StaticMania said:

Knuckles can be too serious...that's like one of his defining character traits. Where that line ends is the ambiguos part when it comes to how he treats certain situations...

I'm just used to seeing this behavior in Shadow. Who is essentially the anti thesis of Sonic as a concept and a dark side to everything the traditional Sonic cast represents Knuckles was just not evident about this in the even in the Adventure series, and pretty much acts like his non cannon side which I guess makes sense.

If Shadow was in Knuckles place, he'd probably brutally dispatch them unconscious without a second thought and scar them for life. He would mock them coldly too!

[DabigRG]

8 minutes ago, Dash Speed said:

and pretty much acts like his non cannon side which I guess makes sense.

 

...What?

[Dash Speed]

6 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

...What?

The archie and stc comic Knuckles who was dead serious and very composed.

[DabigRG]

1 minute ago, Dash Speed said:

The archie and stc comic Knuckles who was dead serious and very composed.

Oh.

Well, maybe STC anyway.

[Sega DogTagz]

20 minutes ago, Dash Speed said:

If Shadow was in Knuckles place, he'd probably brutally dispatch them unconscious without a second thought and scar them for life. He would mock them coldly too!

The last time he did that, he inadvertently created Infinite. Whats two more

 

lol

[PublicEnemy1]

6 minutes ago, Sega DogTagz said:

The last time he did that, he inadvertently created Infinite.

Which is something Ian can fix. 

[Meta77]

I just read issue 2 and 3 today after I got home from work. All I can say is issue 2 is the high so far. That artwork was the best I have seen in a sonic comic in years. Amys expressions and emotions. The blend of her outright saying she loves sonic but also giving the reason and just the chemistry felt amazing compared to the games or archie books in her love and admiration of him, the subtle blushes, sonic saying at the end he would not mind her coming along. This is the Amy I wanted

Issue 3. The art dropped big time. Granted its another artist but still that was a huge drop in quality and just everything. The villians were not as strong as I hoped either. But this is just issue 3 so far and even the old sonic comic did not start off just super strong.

[Shadowlax]

3 hours ago, PublicEnemy1 said:

Which is something Ian can fix. 

Fix infnite, fix shadow, or fix shadow creating bad guys via beating their asses. 

I think the last two have value and in themselves don't need fixing

 

I think the first hing is beyond repair though

[MetalSkulkBane]

7 hours ago, SBR2 said:

Kinda surprising since going by this thread everyone fucking hates the new book.

I think most newcomers can enjoy IDW Sonic just fine. But archie veterans just have higher expectations, knowing what Flynn is capable of. (and I do mean Flynn, most artists work just fine).

And just to be fair, Archie Preboot took forEVER to click with me, somewhere to 264 (Werehog debut). Sonic Universe had to pick up the slack.

[Marco9966]

We don't hate the book, we give constructive criticism because we love the book and want it to be the best.

My criticism:  Hernandez's lines are sometimes too bold, there is no emphasis on what should stand out in a drawing, a same character should have thin inks (example eyes, ears...) and thick inks (example: hands, point of emphasis like arms...). Either look up some inking tutorials or have someone else ink.

Because that's what makes the difference, her art looked amazing in Archie with a different inker, but here it looks kinda off.

The inks make or break the drawing.

[Ellipsis-Ultima]

So the last cover is the promotional thing given in some of those events right?

And they got the logo placement right in that one!

[Red Hot Jack]

I don't think people are hating on the comic or being biased but maybe they set their expectations too high? Compared to Countdown to Chaos, I think that was better, more story and engaging even though the old memory set turned out pointless. But compared to the early Archie comic issues? So much more interesting and balanced.

Also better than StC which was basically a fan fiction.

So I don't know, knowing Ian maybe I was also expecting more story, coming off from Forces.

[Ellipsis-Ultima]

Huh, Jonathan did this variant for the first issue of the series.

Are there any other variants we're missing here?

[Sega DogTagz]

4 hours ago, Shadowlax said:

 

I think the first hing is beyond repair though

You say that like Ian doesn't have a pretty good track record of taking undesirable characters and flipping them into the best version of themselves. 

If he could take Silver, Big and Omega and get some milage out of them, he can likely do the same for Jackal boy

[StaticMania]

Just now, Sega DogTagz said:

...Big and Omega and get some mileage out of them, he can likely do the same for Jackal boy

They weren't...undesirable...

[MetalSkulkBane]

7 minutes ago, Jack the Maniac said:

Also better than StC which was basically a fan fiction.

 

Actually, Fleetway was way more accurate than early Archie.

Amy was actually important (rather than FF), Metal Sonic was on model, there was no city of echidnas, zones and badniks were much more recurring. Even badnik organic bateries are more accurate than turning into robots.