Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[Edward850]

1 hour ago, Fire-N-Space said:

Ian Flynn stories are to serious for a Mario comic feels like he'll start changing things that don't need to be changed.

Ian Flynn literally wrote a story where Eggman moonlighted as a luchador, calling himself El Gran Gordo.

[SBR2]

49 minutes ago, Edward850 said:

Ian Flynn literally wrote a story where Eggman moonlighted as a luchador, calling himself El Gran Gordo.

Which is BTW one of the pinnaclesof human achievement. Something nobody has ever come close to surpassing. And funnily enough he wasn't even supposed to write it. 

On Bumblekast Ian revealed the story was originally going to be done by a WWE writer (probably for the same novelty as having the Dreamwave Transformers writers do an issue) but they ducked out so Ian wrote it and had an absolute blast doing it.

[Shadowlax]

6 hours ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

I swear, some of you spend more time complaining about how your favorite character isn't exactly what you want them to be than actually talking about what's happening in the book.

"Amy is Out of Character, Flynn hates Shadow" 

It's the same thing, every month here. It's really exhausting to read after the ....5th or so time. 

Rolls out of bed

If there was more interesting shit happening in the book than a zombie story several years past its experiation date 1 year into it I would be talking about that. There are some premises I feel you have to wait for before you do. Large scale time travel, apocalypses , alien invasions. Like these things you do after you have well established who those characters and the world  to shake things up. But we barely have that so like a lot of the scope of this gets very limited and its kinda hard for me to care. I literally just reads as " guy really wants to tell a zombie story " this to me just seems like werehog part 2. Hopefully it doesn't turn out this way, the promise of it going on to next year doesn't really inspire hope? I mentioned this before but Ian flynn when he has an idea really wants to ride it out, but never been good at over arching narratives.This kinda feels more of the same, if something of severe interest happens, I will mention it. I think the potential very serious story that could happen about some form of an abuse relationship in the side book is kinda neat. Otherwise there isn't enough here for me to discuss? The story isn't interesting enough. The world isn't established enough for me to speculation. We are still wondering the frame work on which this world exists right now due to sega editorial, let alone zombie weirdness.

And to be blunt, I really like shadow. And I would prefer he would be written better. But in particular in this case, he not be thrown into the fire for a story that isn't interesting. Worlds unite was traaaash , but I could have a whole ass discussion about the other narrative problems and losses in potential outside of shadow. This is uh... there's nothing much to do.

I don't know if you read the manga , I thiiink its called Katekyo hitman reborn. But after they switch it up to from being comedy slice of life to mobster fighters Z , they do like a time travel arc, one arc in and it looses a lot of meaning for most of the characters because I haven't spent enough time exploring those charactrs for future versions of them to mean anything. And same here we haven't spent enough time with any of these characters for zombification to mean anything. And the one storyline which was the " should he have murdered the fat doctor man " got rendered pointless. There was no mention of it, so no one is learning or considering anything.

So like what's the point? It could get better, just I dunno. What do you want me to talk about here, there isn't enough material or characterization to have any dicussion to any significant degree? Sonic is a character based series, it is sold on its ability to produce interesting characters. Characters have held this series up through its bad periods. And this story is more focused on the arc than the characters, it isn't that interesting. It might be the exact opposite thing you do , year 1.

5 hours ago, DabigRG said:

Okay, so I'm gonna do a quick review of Issue 20.

You know, I kinda didn't like this issue during the first half(?); after reading the rest, I think it's decent and just sorta weird.

  Hide contents

So weird overview--this issue almost felt like it wasn't really written by Mr. Flynn. Like, it vaguely hits certain beats associated with him, but something about the way it read felt handed off. I suppose the artwork helped with that, though.

Anyway, to hit on other points real quick:

• Omega's behavior in that fight seemed out there initially. Like him jumping into the fight instead of retreating was great and his dedication to taking out as many Zombots as he [thinks he] can over wanting to protect Sonic was fine, but he otherwise seemed overly thoughtless. Gotta love the black comedy of his rescue, though; which is indeed shocking, considering he's barely recognizable now.
• Speaking of black, I guess I should talk about the bio-android here. Interesting how the virus seemingly gimped his conditional speed, but otherwise may have made him stronger. Took me a moment to realize he ripped Omega's are off though.
• Guess this issue's turnout got spoiled shortly before release. I'll come back to this at the end.
• Probably should put this in a separate spoiler, but did anyone else suspect that Silver will be the inside contamination?
• Nice to see Cream and Gemerl again, admittedly unexpectedly. Her underlying trauma due to recent events was a nice touch of down time and the latter's continued halting towards Sonic is an interesting contrast. However, she's a good example of both what I'm talking about and also a inkling I noticed in her reintroduction, but may not have brought up: it still kinda feels like Sonic's dialogue is a bit overcompensating regarding her.
• The Chaotix wanting to bring Charmy back confused me a little. Like yeah, on one hand they just want to get their little buddy back and safe, but on the other hand, he's clearly gonna be a considerable threat in his own right--moreso than Cheese and Chocola.
• Amy's scene was good for getting the tone across, but a tad jarring.
• So we finally address an important detail here: Silver said his future was teeming with metallic flora and covered in the T1000 stuff, but there was no one (or rather nothing) around. Which begged the question: what happened to the Zombots?
• And now the ending(and the afformentioned spoilers): Starline laments that Eggman had nothing planned for controlling the virus past deployment and while he is running tests to create one, it isn't a surefire solution unlike one he has documented in his files--his former Six Demon Clique. So not only is Zavok obviously on the horizon(as hinted at for the unproduced Archie issue 310), but his master and brethren are as well. This is still a concerning, if intriguing development: is Starline planning on bringing them down to the planet in order to risk controlling them and what sort of effect could their presence possibly have on this conflict?
• Likewise, the recent solicits confirmed that Sonic is still alive and will in fact be helping Tails synthesize a cure. Was part of the initial disappointment with the beginning of this issue, as his final transformation seemed like a sure thing for quite some time.

 

 

 

(Wow, three pages of primarily arguing about what Shadow effectively being the worst character in this comic supposedly proves. Nih.)

 

I don't think it made him stronger at all.Shadows normally trying to maim people that badly. Shadow with no mental restrictive and barely any cognitive functions besides " Destroy " might have less inhibitions. I thought it would give him venom stretch powers, it didn't though

[MetalSkulkBane]

To me adapting Mario games is bad idea. It kind worked for Mega Man, cause he had fairly complex plots for a NES games (and later tittles didn't really evolved). Flynn could connect games, introduce characters before the adaption, giving them more depth, polish the barely explored world.

Mario has 2 types games: that have no story to tell and few 3D that had their story told in satisfying way. Okay, Mario 1,2 and Sunshine may have enough unexplored ideas, but how do you do Super Mario World, let alone "New Mario" tittles? What there is to be add to Odyssey? Nah, if I was writing I would try IDW Sonic, world post games. More toys to play with. I would start as quirky fun adventures Like first issue would be about trying to build kidnap-proof castle for Peach,  next about Bowser Jr  kidnapping Toadette and trying to establish Toad as his nenemis like his Papa with Mario, but Jr has no idea to run this thing, leading to hijinks. And after year or two of silliness I would check if Nintendo let's me do something more ambitious, like big arc about Tatanga returning.

And what are your hopes/expectations on other Nintendo IPs?
My first pick would be Metroid, that could be fascinating if done right and this franchise could use world building. Like learning more about other Bounty Hunters from Prime3 and that DS game. Or exploring Space Pirates personalities. Seeing Samus take smaller bounties. Develop her relation with Baby. Only problem: after Other M, Nintendo won't allow touching it.
Zelda would be fun, but is waaaaay to many problems to consider (Link characterization, which game to pick, 'sacred cow' status)
Donkey Kong would.... eh, who even cares? I'm sorry, I just never got exited by big ape and his ape friends.
My guess is biggest chances have Star Fox, Kid Icarus and maybe Kirby. Last one always been experimental (clones, robots, yarn!, anime) with tone really fitting with 2010s (adventure time, Lego movie, Ok KO. You know, mix of crazy random and cute cheerful). First two have established voice and reputation, yet aren't on pedestal like Mario or Link. No new game on horizon, but not as dead as Earthbound or F-zero.

[Shadowlax]

You make a wario ware comic . I feel like a lot of people like wario ware and its kinda ripe for weird stories. Nothing serious... just weird as hell

[Wraith]

I respect Ian Flynn a lot but I want him as far away from Zelda as possible. Metroid too.

He's pretty good at characterization and comedy though so I think he'd be a good fit for Mario, honestly. 

[Shadowlax]

30 minutes ago, Wraith said:

I respect Ian Flynn a lot but I want him as far away from Zelda as possible. Metroid too.

He's pretty good at characterization and comedy though so I think he'd be a good fit for Mario, honestly. 

wild off topic, who would you want penning a zelda

[Wraith]

42 minutes ago, Shadowlax said:

wild off topic, who would you want penning a zelda

I have to think really hard about that and get back to you because I still haven't figured it out

[Sonic Fan J]

On ‎8‎/‎28‎/‎2019 at 4:45 PM, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

I do want to address this, because I feel it's worth mentioning: but I feel like you're looking more for a character based narrative than one centered on an overextending plot. 

I'm a few days late responding to it (gotta love my schedule) but only to an extent.

While I do prefer a character driven narratives as I watch stories for the characters first and foremost, characters need something going on for them to take action. I typically prefer when there is a character driven initiative that gets things going, but that isn't always necessary. The biggest problem with my preferences though is that it either requires a far denser medium than the IDW comics to give us time with the characters to experience the story and it's effect on them, or I need to slow down and really take it's time so the characters that are most important to the story get there chance to really experience and react to the story based on who they are. Not surprisingly, Issues where I get to see the characters being themselves and reacting to the plot based on who they are are typically my favorites.

That was really my problem with this issue is just that no one had any time to be anyone beyond Sonic, Cream, and Omega. Considering I prefer Sonic more as an adventurer instead of an action hero, and Cream really doesn't do anything for me, it's what made Omega the highlight of this issue for me. Though he additionally has the advantage of being a really simple character who doesn't have a lot beyond his face value so short appearances work well for him. 

Really I'm in a strange place with this arc, as I feel it both needs to slow down and speed up. If I'm supposed to be seeing Sonic experiencing loss then it desperately needs to slow down and strongly focus on his relationships. If I'm supposed to be enjoying a zombie action flick, then it needs to speed up and stop dragging it's feet (mind the pun) and do something. It's been such a weird arc so far. When I can't tell how I'm supposed to take the story because of pacing issues I typically fall back on the characters to carry me through. When they don't have enough attention or time either though it all just falls apart for me. As a result, so far issue 17 has been my favorite of this arc just because the Chaotix really had time to relish the spotlight while playing off of each other and the story. It's especially funny to me that a Chaotix focused issue is my favorite of the arc so far as normally I don't really care about them. So that is one thing I can say this arc has done well so far; it made me enjoy and care about the Chaotix.

[Kuzu]

5 hours ago, Wraith said:

I respect Ian Flynn a lot but I want him as far away from Zelda as possible. Metroid too.

He's pretty good at characterization and comedy though so I think he'd be a good fit for Mario, honestly. 

Any particular reason for this?

[thumbs13]

I think Flynn'd do a great Mario comic personally, but I'd honestly like to see him on Kirby. That's a series with a lot of stuff to play with.

[Red Hot Jack]

I'd rather have him work with Zelda, he is great at world building so, why not? I don't think he's that good with comedy though, to be honest. Also Splatoon, as he can make great characters out of avatars (see Whisper).

Btw, about the Deadly Six showing up, obviously Starline doesn't know this, but they don't simply control machines, they can do weird things with them, as seen in Lost World, which is the worst written Sonic game so they don't really explain that very well, but it's there. I wonder what surprises might come out of the Zombots...

[Wraith]

2 hours ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

Any particular reason for this?

He has a larger than life style and likes to cram as many characters, plot points, etc into a story as possible and move as quick as he can when Zelda imo should be quieter and slower paced. 

[Red Hot Jack]

44 minutes ago, Wraith said:

He has a larger than life style and likes to cram as many characters, plot points, etc into a story as possible and move as quick as he can when Zelda imo should be quieter and slower paced. 

I don't see any bad into making complex stories with various subplots and cliffhangers, characters traits etc. 

Yeah the amount of characters can be an issue, but he proved with IDW that there is no need to introduce them so frequently, besides the very first issues, there weren't many introductions compared to the Archie days.

[Wraith]

2 minutes ago, Tangled Jack said:

I don't see any bad into making complex stories with various subplots and cliffhangers, characters traits etc. 

Yeah the amount of characters can be an issue, but he proved with IDW that there is no need to introduce them so frequently, besides the very first issues, there weren't many introductions compared to the Archie days.

There's nothing wrong with them, but I don't think It'd be a good fit.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

14 hours ago, PublicEnemy1 said:

The fact that Nintendo was picky with how Bowser HELD HIS TEACUP in Wreck-It Ralph. Check, check, CHECK.

Dafuq?

Seriously?

Also, I’d be interested in seeing how Ian would do Zelda, but given how BotW is, that’s more of a challenge than anything bad. That on top of the Zelda series being done in incarnations over eras and timelines as opposed to a set period like Sonic and Mario, tho it’s not like he can’t make a stand-alone.

[Mark_The_Dephiles]

Speaking of topic derailment how the hell did we get to talking about how Nintendo handles their IPs while I was gone?

[Ryannumber1gamer]

3 minutes ago, Mark_The_Dephiles said:

Speaking of topic derailment how the hell did we get to talking about how Nintendo handles their IPs while I was gone?

Ian released the plans for his scrapped Mario comic.

[Celestia]

12 hours ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

Mario has 2 types games: that have no story to tell and few 3D that had their story told in satisfying way. Okay, Mario 1,2 and Sunshine may have enough unexplored ideas, but how do you do Super Mario World, let alone "New Mario" tittles?

There were Mario comics at the time of SMW that (admittedly) made up a story to fit in there, but that could still work. I agree it'd be better to just not do adaptations in a modern attempt though.

[Kellodrawsalot]

On 8/29/2019 at 12:01 PM, Tangled Jack said:

I'm not shocked by all of this mess because Ian has always been accused to play favorites, game fans and Sonamy fans accused him of using Sally as a pet character, and vice versa the SatAM fans thought he was killing them off later in the original continuity. Shipping Wars… blah blah blah. Similar to that, he gets accused of hating Shadow.

Besides, no one pointed out that Knuckles is one of his admitted top favorite characters, and where is he in this arc?

By the way, I requested this cover and here it is, Surprise!

Yep, that's Hesse, and it's the cover for issue #25, an extra long issue.

I agreed and boy that looks awesome! kind of looks like street art on a cover, it really pops!

[SBR2]

Honestly on the topic of a Mario Comic I'd prefer one that's sorta just set around the games. Set it after Odyssey or something and do like a Tie-Into new games but largely just do their own thing.

Honestly something like the Plants vs Zombies comics where they just release OGN's on occasion would probably be a better way to do a Mario comic. 

[Slashy]

I think abandoning year long arcs and having every arc be 2-6 issues would go a long way in fixing this comic's problems. It would allow stories to be built more around the characters rather than the other way around.

Also not basing itself so heavily on Forces would help as well. I think the resistance has run its course and so have the plethora of dull looking cities/villages.

[Mark_The_Dephiles]

8 minutes ago, Slashy said:

I think abandoning year long arcs and having every arc be 2-6 issues would go a long way in fixing this comic's problems. It would allow stories to be built more around the characters rather than the other way around.

Also not basing itself so heavily on Forces would help as well. I think the resistance has run its course and so have the plethora of dull looking cities/villages.

2 issue long arcs? These comics are pretty short. If the arc reset every two issues i think it would really start to feel like a sitcom. Maybe it could work if they had sub arcs that lasted only a few issues that are built into an over all larger arc similar the late Archie four issue sagas fitting into the shattered world arc.

[Slashy]

Just now, Mark_The_Dephiles said:

2 issue long arcs? These comics are pretty short. If the arc reset every two issues i think it would really start to feel like a sitcom. Maybe it could work if they had sub arcs that lasted only a few issues that are built into an over all larger arc similar the late Archie four issue series fitting into the shattered world arc.

I did say 2-6. Flynn did a great job with Sonic X, and most of those stories were only two issues long (granted they did have a higher page count). If they were actual sub-arcs that resolve themselves (i.e. not what IDW considers sub-arcs) that would be fine too.

These stories are not really built for 12 issues, and both arcs seem to suffer trying to reach that goal.

 

[DabigRG]

Trying to decide if I showed look back over the last few pages for stuff I can reply to or not.

16 hours ago, Shadowlax said:

. I literally just reads as " guy really wants to tell a zombie story "

Probably because that's literally how the original, original version came about.

 

16 hours ago, Shadowlax said:

 

I don't think it made him stronger at all.Shadows normally trying to maim people that badly. Shadow with no mental restrictive and barely any cognitive functions besides " Destroy " might have less inhibitions. I thought it would give him venom stretch powers, it didn't though

Goddammit, I knew it.