Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[DabigRG]

32 minutes ago, calamityCons said:

My favorite part was this one.

I like the idea of the moment more than the context, if I can put it any way.

[NeoZDuwang]

I know these comics are made for kids and they don't want to drag things even more, but I just wish each Zeti could get at least one entire issue for their battles, maybe it's because i'm used to long-anime style arcs like Dragon Ball have, but it always bothered me how the fights in these comics are so short and it's all resolved so easily that it feels like every victory to the heroes was undeserved.

Most of the time, it's something like "Character X punch Character Y, they talk a little, the fight ends", no choreography that's just fun to look at, no smart strategy that make you go "WoW", nothing. It's always feels so rushed and uninspired that any page containing a fight scene mighty as well just be blank with a "Fight is happening" text written over it.

With that being said, the ending itself was pretty cool and I don't have any complaints about it , I do enjoy Flynn's writting a lot, and IDW Sonic has been a fun ride for me from the beginning, but i'll never not be annoyed when I see a fight scene in the book...

Spoiler

As for the "Sonic is dead" in the end, I'm very neutral about it, on one hand, yeah, it's overplayed and it's obvious that he's not really dead, but I'd rather wait for this plot point to be resolved so I can know what they're gonna do with it before forming an opinion about it.

 

 

 

 

[SBR2]

59 minutes ago, Kuzu said:

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

Tracy played vague on if the firey  guy was actually Sonic or not though.

[SBR2]

59 minutes ago, Kuzu said:

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

Tracy played vague on if the firey  guy was actually Sonic or not though.

[PublicEnemy1]

3 minutes ago, SBR2 said:

Tracy played vague on if the firey  guy was actually Sonic or not though.

Given that 

Spoiler

Sonic took the virus into the Sun,

I don't think that it can be anyone else BUT Sonic.

[DabigRG]

20 minutes ago, PublicEnemy1 said:

Given that 

  Reveal hidden contents

Sonic took the virus into the Sun,

I don't think that it can be anyone else BUT Sonic.

Wait, dafuq--is that what he did?

[PublicEnemy1]

6 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

Wait, dafuq--is that what he did?

Yup. 

Spoiler

That's what the warp topaz was for.

 

[DabigRG]

1 minute ago, PublicEnemy1 said:

Yup. 

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That's what the warp topaz was for.

 

Spoiler

I get that, I just didn't think he thought that through and just warped the stuff to a seemingly empty location.

 

[A super No.1 washedupgamer]

1 hour ago, calamityCons said:

My favorite part was this one.

Didn't know charmy's shoe was also a microphone.

[Dr. Detective]

I kinda wish Silver didn't say that one line about the Zavok fight being "anticlimatic" because honestly, I surprisingly didn't think it was.

I went into this issue extremely worried that I was in for an even more rushed issue than the last one. However, despite the pace having obviously still been kicked up a notch, they managed to fit in quite a whole lot of stuff and it felt more natural then I expected.

The Zavok fight went on for a respectable amount of time before they nabbed the emerald and when they went super, I assumed that to be more or less wrapped up anyway. Its an emerald-less Zavok against both Super Sonic and Super Silver. There was no way.

I was also delighted by the amount of scenes we got of stuff going wrong with the others. I think the highlight had to have been all the Eggman stuff.

I literally said aloud "Good God, he's such an asshole" when he booted Amy in the fucking head to smack her into Big right after she saved him. 

The image of Eggman cowering in fear of Big is funny enough but the image of Froggy leaping over Eggman and Eggman screaming "NO! NOT LIKE THIS!" is some next level hilarity. It'd make an excellent out of context panel.

I probably don't have to say that all three of the Chaotix singing together was a special kind of warm and fuzzy for me either.

Yeah, um, was positively surprised by how well the landing was stuck. I was quite worried it wouldn't.

Man, it feels great having gotten so many issues lately too.

I'm totally in the minority on this but I would have been on board for this virus to have kept going. I kinda wanna see the bad ending. We'll say that ending plays creepy Silent Hill music over the credits. Theme of Laura maybe.

[Kuzu]

Yea, Eggman got an audible "F*** you" from me when I got to that page. He's such a f***king dick, it's great.

 

[Sonictrainer]

Spoiler

I'm wondering if Sonic got knocked into Blaze's World...

 

[calamityCons]

God, same. Eggman’s page was probably the best “You piece of shit, I love you” moment ever. It’s a really great sign that Flynn’s writing resonates when so many people have audible reactions to the things going on. I remember feeling the same way when i read the first Flynn book I ever did in the 2000’s, the one with Super Shadow, Super Sonic, and Turbo Tails fighting against the ADAM-possessed Tommy Turtle. I had zero context beyond what was in that book, and I still had a strong reaction to Tommy’s death and the threat of ADAM’s control. 

When it comes to fight scenes, those are probably among the most difficult things to write well. As a creative person, a lot of the fun comes from the mundane things, conversations and worldbuilding and comedy are all things that can come really easily to any writer. Fight scenes are difficult because a lot of people struggle to see beyond the “now they’re punching each other in a green room, then they punch each other in a canyon, etc.” They need to have a lot more to them in order to be engaging and find appreciation from the audience. You need a compelling reason for why the characters are fighting, the personality of the characters involved, their superpowers or lack thereof, an engaging environment for them to fight in, clever strategic moves you could implement, what priorities the characters have, and making sure the composition of the fight poses and important moments are readable and can be caught by anyone watching. Juggling all of those factors is difficult, and while I don’t blame Flynn at all for having trouble with it from what I’ve been told about his later work (I’ve never read the post-reboot Archie comics), I do find it a bit sad that he apparently continues to struggle in writing these climactic fight scenes.

my take on this issue’s fight scene? It’s pretty rad, a quick and desperate last stand to get everything back to normal ASAP because they’re all exhausted and it’s high time it stopped. Zavok can go fuck himself, I don’t mind him being a chump against Super Sonic. Sonic tossing the metal virus into the sun was super rad. Silver having forcefield powers is not something I expected, but hoo boy did I cheer when Metal used BLACK SHIELD!!! I love that thing, it is just a simply purple-black diamond thing but wowzie wow do i always feel giddy when i see him use that for some reason. 

I’m here for the gang finally being able to take a breather and relax for a bit. Rouge “spending her last moments with her true love” aka the Master Emerald was amazing. Team Chaotix are the best dads and child trio. Big and Amy! Cream’s family reunited! TANGLE AND WHISPER!

I had fun. ^^

[StaticMania]

The reunions were nice...

[Zaysho]

These panels were worth it if nothing else

Spoiler

The rest of the issue? It's fine. I actually enjoyed the storyline when it started but thought it dragged on a little too long because most of the issues just felt like nothing happened other than for drama or to make Sonic feel like shit. What really saves it are lots of strong character moments and the artwork consistently being amazing. It's a similar issue reboot Archie had that I feel still isn't being properly addressed, and I don't think a sister book is really the answer even if Sonic Universe helped Archie with giving the rest of the cast things to do so the main book could focus on Sonic. IDW is structured around the same framework the modern games have used where everyone more or less gathers around Sonic and there doesn't feel like there is as pressing a need to do more with them. It'll be interesting seeing Ian and Evan tag each other in and out in the future, since I think it'll make for a nice breather.

[DabigRG]

This issue has probably the first humorous moment involving Shadow. Kinda makes me wonder if there's still meant to be a connection with Knuckles.

49 minutes ago, calamityCons said:

When it comes to fight scenes, those are probably among the most difficult things to write well. As a creative person, a lot of the fun comes from the mundane things, conversations and worldbuilding and comedy are all things that can come really easily to any writer. Fight scenes are difficult because a lot of people struggle to see beyond the “now they’re punching each other in a green room, then they punch each other in a canyon, etc.” They need to have a lot more to them in order to be engaging and find appreciation from the audience. You need a compelling reason for why the characters are fighting, the personality of the characters involved, their superpowers or lack thereof, an engaging environment for them to fight in, clever strategic moves you could implement, what priorities the characters have, and making sure the composition of the fight poses and important moments are readable and can be caught by anyone watching. Juggling all of those factors is difficult, and while I don’t blame Flynn at all for having trouble with it from what I’ve been told about his later work (I’ve never read the post-reboot Archie comics), I do find it a bit sad that he apparently continues to struggle in writing these climactic fight scenes.

That and the comic only has a certain amount of space available that needs to be taken into account alongside the plot. The Neo Metal Sonic fight was one of the best precisely because there wasn't much that needed to be established in that issue and thus the bulk was dedicated to him throwing down with Sonic.

[A super No.1 washedupgamer]

14 minutes ago, Zaysho said:

These panels were worth it if nothing else

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What's shadow mad a rouge for? Lol

[StaticMania]

6 minutes ago, Pelvic WOO! engine said:

What's shadow mad a rouge for? Lol

He clearly doesn't respect her thieving ways.

[DabigRG]

Has anyone ever directly asked what Sonic Team contributed to the Metal Virus?

[knuckles20]

49 minutes ago, Pelvic WOO! engine said:

What's shadow mad a rouge for? Lol

That she was more concerned about the Master Emerald than she was for him. Dude got cuckolded for a giant ass rock.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

2 hours ago, calamityCons said:

When it comes to fight scenes, those are probably among the most difficult things to write well. As a creative person, a lot of the fun comes from the mundane things, conversations and worldbuilding and comedy are all things that can come really easily to any writer. Fight scenes are difficult because a lot of people struggle to see beyond the “now they’re punching each other in a green room, then they punch each other in a canyon, etc.” They need to have a lot more to them in order to be engaging and find appreciation from the audience. You need a compelling reason for why the characters are fighting, the personality of the characters involved, their superpowers or lack thereof, an engaging environment for them to fight in, clever strategic moves you could implement, what priorities the characters have, and making sure the composition of the fight poses and important moments are readable and can be caught by anyone watching. Juggling all of those factors is difficult, and while I don’t blame Flynn at all for having trouble with it from what I’ve been told about his later work (I’ve never read the post-reboot Archie comics), I do find it a bit sad that he apparently continues to struggle in writing these climactic fight scenes.

I think it’s less that and more a case of not flooding the writing with an info dump of description when it comes to action scenes. You want to describe actions with brief description with high impact, and sometimes when you go over the top, the writing can get bogged down by the words.

There’s a difference impact in writing, for example:

“He ran through the streets as fast as his feet could move him, running faster and faster until he broke the sound barrier and shot like a rocket, shattering windows in his wake.”

in comparison to writing:

”He bolted through the streets like a rocket, breaking the sound barrier and shattering windows in his wake.”

You can clearly see which ones better at describing the same thing. Detail is great, but keeping things simple is a matter of not overwriting, which tends to happen with a lot of writers.

[calamityCons]

29 minutes ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

I think it’s less that and more a case of not flooding the writing with an info dump of description when it comes to action scenes. You want to describe actions with brief description with high impact, and sometimes when you go over the top, the writing can get bogged down by the words.

There’s a difference impact in writing, for example:

“He ran through the streets as fast as his feet could move him, running faster and faster until he broke the sound barrier and shot like a rocket, shattering windows in his wake.”

in comparison to writing:

”He bolted through the streets like a rocket, breaking the sound barrier and shattering windows in his wake.”

You can clearly see which ones better at describing the same thing. Detail is great, but keeping things simple is a matter of not overwriting, which tends to happen with a lot of writers.

That point is completely moot with a visual medium like comic books, though. Over-description is a problem, sure, but not when you have a picture to convey a thousand words. Comic books are more than just the writing, it’s certainly a huge factor but you never find paragraphs like the one you used as an example in a comic book. I’m uncertain what you meant to say by using that example. 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

4 minutes ago, calamityCons said:

That point is completely moot with a visual medium like comic books, though. Over-description is a problem, sure, but not when you have a picture to convey a thousand words. Comic books are more than just the writing, it’s certainly a huge factor but you never find paragraphs like the one you used as an example in a comic book. I’m uncertain what you meant to say by using that example. 

Not really. That’s actually how comics are written. It’s similar to writing a book or a screenplay—you’re painting a picture with words. Not that they don’t have their own nuances that set each other apart, as per its specific medium, but the principles are still the same in general.

Comics can suffer from over-description and infodumps just like every other form of storytelling. And believe me, I’ve found plenty of cases in comics where that has happened—check out Archie Sonic issues written by Ken Penders if you want examples.

[Ricochet]

Finally, It came to a closure. Good riddance. 

The Six were among the most irksome parts of this arc. It was just plain silly.

Welp, alright, at least now is clear to me that these comics are not my cup of tea.

[calamityCons]

Mmm, I still hold that over-description is moot when it comes to these comic books in particular. What you're describing about Ken Penders' work is what I mentioned as the fun/easy parts to write. I've done comic writing myself, and as a writer, many times what you enjoy daydreaming about your characters can be very different from what is actually engaging to an audience. A writer who spends pages just describing how uninteresting characters attending boring parties and talking about nothing important (like in M25YL) is different from a writer who details where all the characters in the scene are and what they're doing. When you write an action-packed scene, you can include all the detail you need and it's up to the artist to convey all the information through their artistic composition.

Here's an example from Issue 28, page 17:

There is a lot of detail crammed into this one panel that no doubt must have required over-description to some degree. 5 portals, 8 characters, 5 Chaos Emeralds, one portal machine, indications of where they are in the background, an extreme gear, etc. All of these are key to understanding how much happens at once, all in one picture. In this sense, I think something being over-described in script form is irrelevant, because the artists were able to "pick up the slack" so to speak. Their interpretation of the text they were given was able to cram all the relevant details.

I think the important part is that the description given by the writer has "meat" to it. There are a whole lot more things that go into writing a compelling narrative that I've learned from school and my own study and research, but my main point is that Comics are a visual medium at the end of the day, and  there are a lot more factors than simply over-description, if you ask me.