Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[DabigRG]

2 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

I don't really want Neo Metal Sonic to be doing this. This is far more exciting as a person to person infection and the fact that it works on plants just makes it even better. I also rather like how much crueler it is to have Sonic and the other heroes having to attack or fend off innocent victims turned zombot rather than a gooey robot. I'd especially prefer he stay on the back-burner for a while after his buffonish performance during the climax of the last arc. 

No, that's not what I meant.

1 hour ago, StaticMania said:

IF                                                                                                       ON.

If it was Metal Sonic doing this it'd just be regular roboticization.

IF                                                                                                       ON.

What's going on here? 

Everything functioning properly, Static?

1 hour ago, Meta77 said:

Fights? Sonic vs Starline, Sonic gettting pummled by Neo, Eggman chocking starline for attacking sonic. Plenty of villages and locations shown. Just cause they dont have some giant billboard plastered saying WELCOME TO TROPICAL ISLE CITY does not make them less interesting. Plenty of emotional pieces such as eggman attacking the very people that saved him and took him in, the girl crying and scared cause she was infected. Charmy being caught. Literally disarming one of the zombot skunk brothers.  Sorry the comic is not 200+ issues in with more to build upon like the Champions arc which honestly was pretty boring in the long run for the end result. IAN is telling one hell of a good story in my book. Much better than any of the mess Sega has done in the last decade nearly. He knows how to make an actual evil eggman. And working around what I am sure Sega will allow is tough. Again its only at issue 17. Not one comic in my 30 years living that I know has had a steady bridge that early on.

While I agree on some of the fights, the only location that immediately comes to mind as interesting is ironically Tangle's hometown.

Not that Windmill Village or Barricade Town aren't/can't be interesting, mind.

But that's technically just my opinion.

1 hour ago, Wraith said:

I mostly enjoyed the moment to moment character interactions in year 1 which is probably why 2 isn't grabbing me as much. With things being more serious a lot of that spark and humor is gone for the sake of drama that honestly feels pretty generic and uninteresting.

Agreed.

[Shadowlax]

1 hour ago, Wraith said:

I thought the neo metal sonic fight was really well choreographed and the action has generally been a pretty creative showcase of the characters abilities otherwise. The only thing is that it feels sort of weightless because the book is pretty light on emotional stakes. Based on year 1 I'd agree with the sentiment that Ian doesn't know how to follow through. I thought the last couple of issues were the worst of the batch. I enjoyed a lot of year 1 regardless but that's a pretty big hole to have in your storytelling skillset. 

I mostly enjoyed the moment to moment character interactions in year 1 which is probably why 2 isn't grabbing me as much. With things being more serious a lot of that spark and humor is gone for the sake of drama that honestly feels pretty generic and uninteresting.

May I ask what your preferred direction would be?

[Wraith]

8 minutes ago, Shadowlax said:

May I ask what your preferred direction would be?

Ian's road trip setup is fine, but he needs to have some characters go with Sonic for multiple issues or something instead of passing the mic around. This is a character driven book that doesn't keep focus on it's characters long enough for anything to really happen.

[Dr. Detective]

While I think that what was showcased by the Chaotix last issue did a lot for their characters, a part of me does worry that what I saw won't be capitalized on to its fullest when all is said and done. When Charmy comes back is he going to be feeling remorse or regretful of the way he put his heroic optimism above Vector's pragmatizm? Will there be hurt feelings and comfort headed his way or will it just be a happy reunion and we just move onto the next thing?

It wouldn't ruin what happened for me but it would stand as a case where something could have been expanded upon for a character that wasn't because we have to keep companion hopping. Perhaps that could be ironed out with something akin to a format that had mini-arcs inside of an entire saga like during the Unleashed saga of the Archie comics.

Although I wasn't a huge fan of the Unleashed saga, it's structure allowed for multiple mini-arcs to happen such as the Champions Arc, the underwater city thing, and the really bad one that took place in Chun-Nan. Also the Great Chaos Caper and Naugus' invasion of Angel Island happened too, under the guise of Sonic Universe. (Which, to be fair, isn't happening right now, though Ian has stated he wishes something like it would). 

I find this story to be far more interesting than any of those I listed but after this is done, I could see this comic benefiting from something structured a bit more like that. Right now the characters and the spotlight they've been given hasn't been an issue for me but I can see an avenue where it might be one day.

[Kuzu]

46 minutes ago, Wraith said:

Ian's road trip setup is fine, but he needs to have some characters go with Sonic for multiple issues or something instead of passing the mic around. This is a character driven book that doesn't keep focus on it's characters long enough for anything to really happen.

I think having a character around per arc is the preferred setup, because yea with the exception of Sonic, the cast changes every issue, so there's no time to get connected and feel invested in whoever is participating 

[SBR2]

Honestly this is kind of a problem doing a more straight forward close to the games Sonic comic. Sonic's whole thing is that he runs from place to place and while his friends do meet up with him you can't really expect them to constantly be following him wherever he goes.

It just doesn't make much narrative sense to say Sonic's in Station Square for this arc and he just happens to run into Amy and Knuckles and Shadow while he's there. That's why SatAM and Boom grounded him to one place and had a team of friends. 

[Kellodrawsalot]

5 hours ago, SBR2 said:

Honestly this is kind of a problem doing a more straight forward close to the games Sonic comic. Sonic's whole thing is that he runs from place to place and while his friends do meet up with him you can't really expect them to constantly be following him wherever he goes.

It just doesn't make much narrative sense to say Sonic's in Station Square for this arc and he just happens to run into Amy and Knuckles and Shadow while he's there. That's why SatAM and Boom grounded him to one place and had a team of friends. 

I agree,Sonic has a huge cast of friends and allies and it get too busy if all characters would follow him, that was my issue with the archie books, wayyy to many characters, 

[MetalSkulkBane]

You know what could help? Give us Sonic Universe already back up stories

Have a main story with just characters you need and push fan-service guest into 5 page back-up (multiparter if needed). It worked well for Archie (especially when Aleah Baker wrote).

And I already said once how I would fix Year 1 finale

Spoiler

- Cut out dragon form, use super from as the final boss. If you really wanna keep it, Metal build a look-a-like to trick heroes.

- Super Metal wrecks Sonic and Knuckles, but before final blow is interrupted by Burning Blaze. Epic fight, sadly her form goes up too fast (probably used up too much power  on a decoy. That would be actually clever, unlike her wasting time on some badniks)

- Then everyone does their best to slow down Metal, juuuust for a few seconds while  barely conscious Knuckles drags himself to Master Emerald. He breaks Metal's control and heals himself and Sonic. Together they beat Neo Metal into submission.

 

[DabigRG]

Just to clarify my point from late night,

12 hours ago, DabigRG said:

You know what Mike just made me think of: The zombots were loosely inspired by the Metal Skin Cheat Code from Sonic Heroes, right? 

Why wasn't Neo Metal Sonic the one doing this?

I meant that Neo Metal Sonic could've been the one ordering the release of this virus, given it's so similar/connected to him anyway.

10 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

In my case, when people got hostile with me for not liking the Silver Arc in Archie, I just doubled down on the hate.

It doesn't work. 

...You didn't like the Silver Arc?

Which one?

9 hours ago, Wraith said:

Ian's road trip setup is fine, but he needs to have some characters go with Sonic for multiple issues or something instead of passing the mic around. This is a character driven book that doesn't keep focus on it's characters long enough for anything to really happen.

 

8 hours ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

I think having a character around per arc is the preferred setup, because yea with the exception of Sonic, the cast changes every issue, so there's no time to get connected and feel invested in whoever is participating 

 

7 hours ago, SBR2 said:

Honestly this is kind of a problem doing a more straight forward close to the games Sonic comic. Sonic's whole thing is that he runs from place to place and while his friends do meet up with him you can't really expect them to constantly be following him wherever he goes.

It just doesn't make much narrative sense to say Sonic's in Station Square for this arc and he just happens to run into Amy and Knuckles and Shadow while he's there. That's why SatAM and Boom grounded him to one place and had a team of friends. 

Yeah, that'd pretty much be an improvement on this inherent setup.

33 minutes ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

You know what could help? Give us Sonic Universe already back up stories

Have a main story with just characters you need and push fan-service guest into 5 page back-up (multiparter if needed). It worked well for Archie (especially when Aleah Baker wrote).

And I already said once how I would fix Year 1 finale

  Reveal hidden contents

- Cut out dragon form, use super from as the final boss. If you really wanna keep it, Metal build a look-a-like to trick heroes.

- Super Metal wrecks Sonic and Knuckles, but before final blow is interrupted by Burning Blaze. Epic fight, sadly her form goes up too fast (probably used up too much power  on a decoy. That would be actually clever, unlike her wasting time on some badniks)

- Then everyone does their best to slow down Metal, juuuust for a few seconds while  barely conscious Knuckles drags himself to Master Emerald. He breaks Metal's control and heals himself and Sonic. Together they beat Neo Metal into submission.

 

That's another good idea, actually. 

[Shadowlax]

I agree that a story with a more focused cast that allowed the characters to be characters would be good.

I don't think that's gonna happen untill we get more books though. I feel like what's happening now pleases the people in charge. Sticking with certain characters for a monthly book would mean you just wouldn't see characters for years depending on the circumstances or in some cases too man characters to frequently. And that just opens up the issue people had with sonic universe but in a single book. You can't just go years without seeing tails or knuckles that's problably a no go. So this is where we are at

[SBR2]

2 hours ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

You know what could help? Give us Sonic Universe already back up stories

Have a main story with just characters you need and push fan-service guest into 5 page back-up (multiparter if needed). It worked well for Archie (especially when Aleah Baker wrote).

And I already said once how I would fix Year 1 finale

  Reveal hidden contents

- Cut out dragon form, use super from as the final boss. If you really wanna keep it, Metal build a look-a-like to trick heroes.

- Super Metal wrecks Sonic and Knuckles, but before final blow is interrupted by Burning Blaze. Epic fight, sadly her form goes up too fast (probably used up too much power  on a decoy. That would be actually clever, unlike her wasting time on some badniks)

- Then everyone does their best to slow down Metal, juuuust for a few seconds while  barely conscious Knuckles drags himself to Master Emerald. He breaks Metal's control and heals himself and Sonic. Together they beat Neo Metal into submission.

 

Honestly Backup stories seem to be a dying thing. They pop up occasionally but the only regular backups I see are the "Continuing Adventures of ___" backups in the Power Rangers comics and those are like 2 pages per issue.

Quote

Yeah, that'd pretty much be an improvement on this inherent setup.

But there's also the problem that it wouldn't feel like a pure Sonic comic if he's tied down like in the Archie comic. Sonic is a super powered hobo. He just goes from place to place and yeah that works fine for episodic games but for a continuing narrative? Well look at the complaints largely from people who wanted a more true to the source Sonic comic.

[Diogenes]

9 hours ago, SBR2 said:

Honestly this is kind of a problem doing a more straight forward close to the games Sonic comic. Sonic's whole thing is that he runs from place to place and while his friends do meet up with him you can't really expect them to constantly be following him wherever he goes.

It just doesn't make much narrative sense to say Sonic's in Station Square for this arc and he just happens to run into Amy and Knuckles and Shadow while he's there. That's why SatAM and Boom grounded him to one place and had a team of friends. 

That's about how the games have always worked, though. Tails crashes his plane right near the hotel Sonic happens to be staying at. Tails and Amy independently decide to break into a military prison to save Sonic, and Knuckles pops out of a sewer right next to them halfway through the game. Tails just happens to be in Apotos while Sonic's running around there, and Amy just happens to be in Spagonia after Sonic's traveled there. It's a bit contrived, sure, but I'm plenty willing to overlook that for the sake of a better story, especially if the alternative is boring, meaningless realism.

[Sonic Fan J]

Admittedly contrivances can be used to make the narrative better if you are looking to be engrossed as much as possible. When you play everything logically you tend to leave a lot of possibilities on the floor just because it doesn't make logical sense. I'm all for logic when it benefits the narrative, but in the same vein I'm also all for contrivances when they benefit the story as well, as long as they are presented well or in an entertaining way that allows me to ignore the bad parts of the contrivance.

Right now though I would say that my favorite issues so far are still Issue 2 and Issue 17. They just resonated with me and left me excited for more. Hopefully 18 won't be another 3 for me where I follow up an issue I enjoyed with an issue I just don't care for.

[Kuzu]

Contrivances only work for so many times before the suspension of disbelief kicks in. It works for the video games, because the plots are just there to service the gameplay and is merely a means to an end. 

Without gameplay to draw attention away from it, it definitely starts to stick out; that these characters just so happen to be close to whatever action is taking place, no matter how implausible it is. It works for Sonic because he's a nomadic hero, but you can't use the same justification all of the time for everyone else unless they're specifically travelling with Sonic.

[DabigRG]

2 hours ago, SBR2 said:

 

But there's also the problem that it wouldn't feel like a pure Sonic comic if he's tied down like in the Archie comic. Sonic is a super powered hobo. He just goes from place to place and yeah that works fine for episodic games but for a continuing narrative? Well look at the complaints largely from people who wanted a more true to the source Sonic comic.

...How? 

I was pointing that having another character tag along for more than one issue on occasion would break up the trend a bit and allow time for that particular plot to character dynamic to breathe in conjunction with the pacing. 

[SBR2]

3 hours ago, Diogenes said:

That's about how the games have always worked, though. Tails crashes his plane right near the hotel Sonic happens to be staying at. Tails and Amy independently decide to break into a military prison to save Sonic, and Knuckles pops out of a sewer right next to them halfway through the game. Tails just happens to be in Apotos while Sonic's running around there, and Amy just happens to be in Spagonia after Sonic's traveled there. It's a bit contrived, sure, but I'm plenty willing to overlook that for the sake of a better story, especially if the alternative is boring, meaningless realism.

I mean again that works for a game that comes once a year but a monthly comic or even a weekly cartoon makes those contrivances more obvious. 

[PublicEnemy1]

Just gonna leave this here.

[DabigRG]

28 minutes ago, PublicEnemy1 said:

Just gonna leave this here.

Uh, can we not? 

Where did that Freedom Fighter cover come from, though? 

[Big Panda]

It’s not a cover, it’s professional fanart by Matt Herms.

[Eurisko]

That was a great video. Gonna check that guys channel out.

[MetalSkulkBane]

Really? He rambles listing things he likes, without saying a single argument why he likes them.

All he could say about Archie was  "became like fanfic" and "it got weird with love triangles", which is really ignoring everything Flynn wrote (...fine, everything past House of Cards). And calling out furries is just confusing in many ways.

I just re-read Archie Reboot. Mega Drive, Championship, Cassia & Clove, Eggman Dozen. Is any of this a fanfic furry soap-opera?

[Big Panda]

Bringing up problems that haven’t (or hadn’t) been relevant for years to “prove” their point is a common trait of blind Archie Sonic haters.

[StaticMania]

That wasn't the best video to just plop down like that.

I don't get it.

[Zaysho]

1 hour ago, PublicEnemy1 said:

Just gonna leave this here.

Can we not do this hit and run posting of videos with obvious bait titles that's just going to stir up people in this topic? If you're not gonna follow it up with your own comments, it's just spam as far as I'm concerned.

And no, I'm not giving this views.

[PublicEnemy1]

2 minutes ago, Zaysho said:

Can we not do this hit and run posting of obvious bait videos that's just going to stir up people in this topic? If you're not gonna follow it up with your own comments, it's just spam as far as I'm concerned.

And no, I'm not giving this views.

Okay. I just wanted to leave this to induce some positivity in the thread since it's pretty negative here and I was trying to brighten it up. Sorry.