Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[MetalSkulkBane]

#29 WE'RE FINALLY DONE!!!

This issue is very similar to end of Sonic Unleashed adaptation in Archie's "Panic in the Sky". Very few surprises, just one big climax. It's not perfect, but I think it's flashy enough to satisfy.

Big difference is atmosphere. When Sally and FF sat on sidelines I rolled my eyes on obvious pointlessness of their presence, Here you can still smell desperation in the air. It's finally over, so everyone rather than bringing their A-game is throwing last pathetic attempts to do something. It's brutal. With that said, I wonder if I should praise Flynn or just give all credit to ABT's art, which once again is glorious.
Biggest disappointment is Zavok. Just saying it now, he earns tittle of "worst Zeti of Zombot Saga", something that I would never predict when 2020 started.

Ok, specifics small moments

Spoiler

- Knuckles punching Shadow is my favorite moment of "pathetic desperation". Knuckles plan buys seconds, but dang he's stubborn and will sacrifice all to protect his island. It's a small but great moment for him. I actually like it well more than anything he did during fight with Neo Metal and there he had abundance of time.
- Second best moment is Eggman going from worst type of villain murdering Amy in cold blood to pathetic loser defeated by a frog. All in span of single page. Love it.
- Like everyone said, Tails moment is fine, it's justifiable in context (even if he could choose different pose). And don't whine your favorite doesn't get to be cool, this fox has more "cool moments" through whole IDW than anyone else, including Sonic.
- Speaking of favorite, Tails whispers "sonic please" and he gets his wish as, METAL Sonic gets to kick ass. Nothing as emotional like above, but I'll take it. I just had annual.
- Rouge, Whisper/Tangle, Cream, ... all small but cute moments. And hey, when virus cleans up you can see Avatar cameo. Neat
- On negatives, Zavok puts just enough resistance for others to be cool, but himself he's lame. What's more to say? Fighting Super forms will always be a little disappointing as they are virtually unbeatable.
- Oh yeah, the Conch wasn't used. That surprised me a little.

And one big thing

Spoiler

Super Sonic and Super Silver (but not Shadow) do their thing. I still say that Warp Topaz wasn't necessary. Sonic speed slows down virus. Super Sonic speed cures virus. It would make perfect sense.
Whatever, they do their weird, nicely looking thing. I find it disappointing, Starline kept banging  how dangerous that maneuver is and they just do it. Anticlimactic, good writer would give them victory but for a heavy price, something SONIC IS DEAD!!!

Huh.

Value of this will depend on next issues. I'm trying to avoid spoilers so I have no idea how long it will last.  Frankly it's hard to be sad, since we all know he'll be back, but I would love if next temporary status quo was "world without Sonic", a lot of smaller calm stories about people trying to cope or fill out his shoes (maybe chance for Shadow to shine? I would be even okay with Shadow being a jerk, it would make thematic sense for him to get as ruthless as possible to protect peace, because he knows Sonic way failed and he think himself as  planet's last hope). I mean, isn't that Flynn's main job, taking ideas that Sega tried (in Forces) and doing them again but better?
But no, more realistically he'll be back in next 2-3 issues and I don't know how that can be satisfying. I just hope Knuckles, Amy and Team Dark will get to shine. After annual and Zeti-punching they are ones who need most love. Okay, and maybe Charmy.

 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

 

[Side note—these spoiler tags suck major ass]

At least Tails cowering in this situation makes sense considering he put up a fight beforehand and almost everyone he cares for is lost.

In Forces, only Sonic was lost, and he cowered away while everyone else was still alive and fighting. That’s why it was stupid there.

The difference between these two is clear as day and not even in the same universe in terms of context. Anyone who doesn’t see that and wants to bitch about it is blatantly trolling, and you guys can tell anyone outside the forums I said that and will be happy fight them about if they want.

[dbzfan7]

Spoiler

 

Ok now I have context. It's fine overall. Really didn't need the Forces pose. Literally the first page has a perfect scared Tails who at least looks like he has some sense of self preservation. But to be fair he was infected so it feels pretty hopeless to even fight back at that point. So it's fine. Though I find it bizarre Cheese and Chocola are faster than Tails. Guess Cheese and Chocola are speedy too as well as gods in power if Advance Cheese is anything to go by.

It was pretty funny that Eggman pushed Amy into Big to save himself only to have Froggy infect him. His final act was both sinister and clownish at the same time.

I'm sorry though but seriously why the "Sonic dies?" plot.....really....why? No one would or should buy it. Hell he was in Super form and Silver was with him so if Silver survived why would there be any doubt Sonic wouldn't? And they were both invincible in the super states so it's kinda hard to buy an explosion like that doing much even in universe. We already had the world without Sonic thing in Forces and so this feels like a retread. Hopefully it can do something with the idea that's worthwhile this time.

It's a fine ending even if it kinda just feels same ol same ol.

 

 

29 minutes ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

 

  Hide contents

 And don't whine your favorite doesn't get to be cool, this fox has more "cool moments" through whole IDW than anyone else, including Sonic.

Don't really believe that but ok.

 

[Shadowlax]

I'm not gonna tell anyone that their favorite character did all this so they shouldn't be mad. It's ther perspective and I don't think you often win that argument. If you feel your character got short changed do you.

 

I haven't read the book yet but twitter is simultaneously " cool things happen" and "this is kinda lame"

I expect the middle of that

[Kuzu]

Honestly, I liked it. I'll elaborate more in a bit.

42 minutes ago, Shadowlax said:

I'm not gonna tell anyone that their favorite character did all this so they shouldn't be mad. It's ther perspective and I don't think you often win that argument. If you feel your character got short changed do you.

 

I haven't read the book yet but twitter is simultaneously " cool things happen" and "this is kinda lame"

I expect the middle of that

Sonic twitter doesn't agree on anything, take any opinions with a grain of salt.

[DaMan]

I really liked it. Well maybe really is an overstatement but I did like it even though it did feel rush.

 

I’ll say my thoughts later on when I feel like it but I don’t think this was bad by any means.

[MetalSkulkBane]

47 minutes ago, Shadowlax said:

I'm not gonna tell anyone that their favorite character did all this so they shouldn't be mad. It's ther perspective and I don't think you often win that argument. If you feel your character got short changed do you.

That's... a good point. I think scene was fine, but I phrased my opinon in mean-spirited, forceful  way

[SBR2]

10 minutes ago, Kuzu said:

Honestly, I liked it. I'll elaborate more in a bit.

Sonic twitter doesn't agree on anything, take any opinions with a grain of salt.

I mean if we're being honest the majority of the fandom doesn't agree on anything.

[bingboomer]

i cant wait to see what comic con idw news is all about. 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

2 hours ago, Shadowlax said:

I'm not gonna tell anyone that their favorite character did all this so they shouldn't be mad. It's ther perspective and I don't think you often win that argument. If you feel your character got short changed do you.

There’s a difference between someone perceiving that their favorite is being short changed and someone making shit up that isn’t true (or “lying” in other words) and calling that “[their] perspective,” and for years Sonic fans have a frequent tendency and love of lying about things for one reason or another. So perspective can kiss my ass when anyone is doing that and expecting people to accept it, because people tend to know better than that.

I’ll accept different opinions, but no one should tolerate lying. Not that anyone has done that here, but just something that needed to be pointed out.

[Diogenes]

Spoiler

Huh. No conch? Really? Even after dropping Sonic right onto the beach like 10 feet from it? They put the gun on the mantle but never fired it.

The "plan" didn't really amount to much, just go there and do the thing. No clever tricks or particularly impressive shows of strength. The last struggle for survival on Angel Island was alright, as was Super Sonic casually taking out Zavok, but there wasn't much actual tension; we know they couldn't lose and that winning was going to fix everything. Though I guess sucking up the virus (a thing they can do, apparently?) at least leaves some consequence compared to just rewriting reality or something...but between the fallout of Forces and this it's kind of tiring having the setting get the shit kicked out of it. And Sonic's "death" is borderline meaningless until we see what they do while he's gone.

At least this arc is finally over.

 

[MainJP]

3 hours ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

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[Side note—these spoiler tags suck major ass]

At least Tails cowering in this situation makes sense considering he put up a fight beforehand and almost everyone he cares for is lost.

In Forces, only Sonic was lost, and he cowered away while everyone else was still alive and fighting. That’s why it was stupid there.

The difference between these two is clear as day and not even in the same universe in terms of context. Anyone who doesn’t see that and wants to bitch about it is blatantly trolling, and you guys can tell anyone outside the forums I said that and will be happy fight them about if they want.

Spoiler

I think it's less about Tails cowering but rather about him cowering EXACTLY like in Forces, like, holy fuck, just draw him walking away, running, being pestered by a bunch of infected flickies, anything would've been better than the "SONIC HELP ME" pose.

 

[A super No.1 washedupgamer]

Spoiler

It's small but let me just say that orbot giving sonic advice again is adorable. 

Also, a fitting end for Zavok. Exactly how he dies in lost world, anticlimactic.

 

[VO.SUPER]

Volume 2 is getting released in Japan on August 31. They also get a slightly different cover than we did. (55:46)

 

[DabigRG]

Not much to talk about with this issue. It's basically just the rushed ending of an entire saga as well as a battle, although the latter is more justified.

Spoiler

 

I guess if I can criticize anything, it's the weird flow of the issue. They're obviously jumping around to hit on what they can, but that combined with the panels can make things feel disjointed in a way. Oh and the dialogue in spots was a little weird. 

Lol at Eggman. A bit of a shame we don't get clarification on whether he himself can be infected, but whatever.

In terms of the genre, Zavok is lucky size-shifting is a natural extent of his abilites that was just bolstered by the emeralds; well that and maybe that this is a spinoff. Wonder what's gonna happen with the conch--hell, what happened to the other four Zeti?

Low key, I forgot Cream and Gemerl were just flying around after what happened with Zeena.

Lastly, where do you think Sonic dumped...whatever that was?

 

 

8 hours ago, Marco9966 said:

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You think its time for Blaze to come and save Sonic?

 

Spoiler

Or is he gonna go to her?

 

7 hours ago, prowerboy26 said:

I can't speak for other fans but I really don't have an issue with this. Like someone else said, context matters.

Eh, Tails. He's fine.

[Wraith]

Spoiler

I'm disappointed that they didn't use any of the more "intuitive" ways to get rid of the Virus-either Sonic running around it or the conch. The conch not coming into play at all after that first bit is something I didn't think about until it was pointed out above but I did the ending was missing some sort of  clever "gotcha" moment that rewarded more attentive reading. The plan just sort of goes off without a hitch. I'm tempted to say this needed another issue but considering the last 10 months have been people just begging for this arc to be over it's probably for the best they went with the mercy rule.

 At least the visual of them pulling the virus out and warping it away is cool and leaving it in space will be leveraged later I'm sure.

That was pretty much the only part of this issue I thought was clunky. I'm having a lot of fun otherwise. My favorite part was the spot of hopelessness at the end where Sonic  had to push himself in the face of what felt like a surefire loss. I really really missed having a moment like that in the games. That little bit of friction that makes you think "Can they do this?"

Once Sonic pops super though things swing wildly in the heroes's direction. I guess that's not unlike the actual games though lol

It was nice to see everyone reunite. They threw some fun gags in there with Knuckles, Shadow and Rouge. Cream's family being back together was touching, and most importantly, this issue gave me exactly what I wanted in one way. 

idk about yall but I'm eating 

Wasn't perfect, but as long as I can keep saying "That was fun." at the end of it I'll stay hooked on it. Genuinely interested in seeing if Sonic is going where I think he's going, too. 

 

[Shadowlax]

Its not the worst issue in the world, but its kinda rushed and what you expected. Kinda neat. But i'm tired of this story at this point.

[DabigRG]

4 hours ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

#29 WE'RE FINALLY DONE!!!

This issue is very similar to end of Sonic Unleashed adaptation in Archie's "Panic in the Sky". Very few surprises, just one big climax. It's not perfect, but I think it's flashy enough to satisfy.

Big difference is atmosphere. When Sally and FF sat on sidelines I rolled my eyes on obvious pointlessness of their presence, Here you can still smell desperation in the air. It's finally over, so everyone rather than bringing their A-game is throwing last pathetic attempts to do something. It's brutal. With that said, I wonder if I should praise Flynn or just give all credit to ABT's art, which once again is glorious (again, comparison to ugly "Panic in the Sky).

Eh, I thought that was better paced, but that's me.

Who did the art of Part 4 again?

4 hours ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

Biggest disappointment is Zavok. Just saying it now, he earns tittle of "worst Zeti of Zombot Saga", something that I would never predict when 2020 started.

Yeah, not much went on for him. I liked his interactions with Zor & Zik, seeing how Evan Stanley & (whoever did the Motobug issue) handled his design, and maybe his initial transformation, but that's about it. 

Him not facing off with Rouge also didn't help. Zazz at least had the mosh pit mention and got to be a spiritual win for Espio.

 

4 hours ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

Ok, specifics small moments

  Hide contents

- Knuckles punching Shadow is my favorite moment of "pathetic desperation". Knuckles plan buys seconds, but dang he's stubborn and will sacrifice all to protect. It's a small but great moment for him. I actually like it well more than anything he did during fight with Neo Metal and then he had abundance of time.

And one big thing

Yeah, I guess that cool

4 hours ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

  Hide contents

Super Sonic and Super Silver (but not Shadow) do their thing. I still say that Warp Topaz wasn't necessary. Sonic speed slows down virus. Super Sonic speed cures virus. It would make perfect sense.
Whatever, they do their weird, nicely looking thing.

 

They needed a way to get rid of whatever once they finished curing everyone.

 

4 hours ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

Spoiler

- Rouge, Whisper/Tangle, Cream, ... all small but cute moments. And hey, when virus cleans up you can see Avatar cameo. Neat

 

Lol at Rouge in particular.

Oh really?

4 hours ago, dbzfan7 said:

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 Though I find it bizarre Cheese and Chocola are faster than Tails. Guess Cheese and Chocola are speedy too as well as gods in power if Advance Cheese is anything to go by.

 

 

That and being smaller with proper wings probably means they feel less wind resistance.

4 hours ago, dbzfan7 said:

Spoiler

I'm sorry though but seriously why the "Sonic dies?" plot.....really....why? No one would or should buy it. Hell he was in Super form and Silver was with him so if Silver survived why would there be any doubt Sonic wouldn't? And they were both invincible in the super states so it's kinda hard to buy an explosion like that doing much even in universe. We already had the world without Sonic thing in Forces and so this feels like a retread. Hopefully it can do something with the idea that's worthwhile this time.

 

Because he was the one holding the Warp Topaz.

3 hours ago, Kuzu said:

Honestly, I liked it. I'll elaborate more in a bit.

Sonic twitter doesn't agree on anything, take any opinions with a grain of salt.

It's like it's social media.

2 hours ago, Diogenes said:

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Huh. No conch? Really? Even after dropping Sonic right onto the beach like 10 feet from it? They put the gun on the mantle but never fired it.

 

Which makes me think even more that there's another plan for it.

2 hours ago, Diogenes said:

 Though I guess sucking up the virus (a thing they can do, apparently?) at least leaves some consequence compared to just rewriting reality or something...but between the fallout of Forces and this it's kind of tiring having the setting get the shit kicked out of it.

Yeah, I was a little confused by that too. It didn't fully register that's what was happening.

 

[dbzfan7]

2 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

Spoiler

 

That and being smaller with proper wings probably means they feel less wind resistance.

Because he was the one holding the Warp Topaz.

 

 

Spoiler

Well when one person keeps up with Sonic's casual running speed I would think chao wouldn't be able to do that. But perhaps that advanced craziness has been memed or something to continuity.

Silver was still right next to him and even then they were both in invulnerable states.

 

[Kuzu]

Spoiler

I had actually forgotten about the Conch until it was brought up; yea, that's a real missed opportunity. I'll echo what was said and say that things pretty much went as expected; no twists or turns or what have you, just a straightforward solution. Somewhat anticlimactic, but this arc has gone on long enough (through no fault of it's own mind you, it would have been finished by now had it not been for the delays) so I'll let it slide. 

The visual of removing the virus from the planet was extremely cool I'll admit, and it was nice to see Silver take center stage after so long. And honestly, after all of the crap that these guys have been through, it's nice to see them all happy for once. I really liked this more than I thought I would. 

 

The cliffhanger is almost eye roll worthy, but I hope nobody believes that Sonic is actually gone. It feels like the Season 2 finale of Sonic X when Sonic was temporarily displaced and he group had to deal with the fallout from it. 

 

But yea, the main bulk of the arc is over with, and we got three more issues for the denouement. Honestly, looking back, I didn't actually dislike this arc. There were a lot of moments I liked, and probably the only thing that stands out as really bad for me was the whole Shadow debacle in Issue #19. Right now, it's sitting at a solid B-, and it could shoot up depending on how the next three issues play out. 

[DabigRG]

18 minutes ago, dbzfan7 said:

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Well when one person keeps up with Sonic's casual running speed I would think chao wouldn't be able to do that. But perhaps that advanced craziness has been memed or something to continuity.

 

Did you play Sonic Advanced 3?

[SBR2]

Spoiler

So I'm just going off what I've read here since I can't really buy comics but here's a crazy thought. What if Sonic's gone for a few issues? I don't think any of the solicits have directly mentioned him so what if the mystery of where Sonic went is a storyline that leads into a 30th Anniversary story arc.

 

[Kuzu]

15 minutes ago, SBR2 said:

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So I'm just going off what I've read here since I can't really buy comics but here's a crazy thought. What if Sonic's gone for a few issues? I don't think any of the solicits have directly mentioned him so what if the mystery of where Sonic went is a storyline that leads into a 30th Anniversary story arc.

 

He's directly mentioned in the solicit for Issue #33, and he's on the cover of #32.

[calamityCons]

My favorite part was this one.

[dbzfan7]

1 hour ago, DabigRG said:

Did you play Sonic Advanced 3?

Yes. Hence the memeing.