Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[Dejimon11]

9 minutes ago, Wraith said:

I've actually noticed more random delays and gaps than normal from the other books I follow. The pandemic is probably still creating complications for everyone.

Apparently IDW has been having this issue for a while before Covid started, the pandemic just made things worse. 

[SBR2]

20 minutes ago, Rabbitearsblog said:

I also do the same thing when it comes to the comics. I just wait for the story to come out in trade rather than pick up a single issue because delays can happen and I would rather read the story in its entirety than in pieces.

Well its not so much that I want to it's that I have no choice. I don't really have money or a way to get to a comic shop so I just have to wait.

[dudebro1993]

I have to say, the current arc is boring me, it just drags on with no progress in sight. Hopefully I'm wrong and it picks up the pace. Does anyone know how long this arc will last?

[DabigRG]

2 hours ago, VisionaryofSUPER said:

It's hard not to. I actually think this arc, along with the previous ones are pretty well paced as is. Little space is wasted on pure filler I feel like, but the thing is for what these things are as far as low stakes arcs go it's just not compelling enough to hold on for this long. The threats aren't particularly noteworthy, and the mystery of Belle isn't especially hard to get either.

Effectively.

Sonic & Tails vs Eggman is a tale as old as time for this series and it's 80% of what the games have been giving us for the past decade, so there's little there worth thinking about. And while Amy is along for the ride, she hasn't really added much to the equation beyond the move in the preview.

As for the premise of this tower, idk, maybe it feels like it went by too fast to leave an impression; Eggman's using it to test out some new invention, so maybe it could have greater significance later on, but it hasn't had that much of a presence now. And I already complained about the Egg Vipers last time, so I won't go into those.

Tangle is here, but she seldom contributes much to half of her appearances since she basically just shows her face, makes for a funny or two, and stretches her tail before leaving again. She's kind of about fanservice, but rarely about character or plot substance.

That just leaves Belle to carry the intrigue for the story and unfortunately, that's where the reality of things show the most. We already deduced what her general origin is from the moment we saw her and anything else to come of that is dependent on that being confirmed or jossed first, but that's felt more dragged out than it kinda is because there's little there as is. It's simultaneously been a while since she was introduced and it's only been a few issues since then, so she hasn't done much to familiarize herself either way.

And that's because she's been given little to do besides seem shifty, say a nutty catchphrase occasionally, and get a little dorky for a second before going right to being guilty about something. And speaking of which, isn't she supposed to be meeting some old acquaintance or something in this issue? Cause assuming it's not just Eggman/Tinker, it doesn't seem like the arc has moved towards that encounter at all; they would at least give her something to legitimately be concerned about, but they need time to do so first.

[Sega DogTagz]

5 hours ago, Wraith said:

I agree that it's not fair to hold it against the staff, but it's still better to vocalize how it feels on the reader's end so hopefully IDW tightens things up in the future.

Oh for sure. These delays do unfortunately impact the reading experience, so we should be letting everyone know that this is a problem and it needs to be addressed with more consistency.

As long as we are being fair and separating pacing complaints from what the writers can and can't control, then everything is peachy.

5 hours ago, Rabbitearsblog said:

I still don't understand why IDW have so many delays with their comic books.  The other comic book companies don't have this problem (I think), so what's wrong with IDW?

I feel like we were throwing the same complaints at archie a while back. I am sure you would be able to find no small amount of posts in the old thread about how the Sonic books were always delayed and how the rest of the industry seemed to have their ships under control in context.

I'm starting to think the comic industry itself is just prone to delays. That or they are really laid back about doing what it takes to stay ahead of the curve and avoiding them.

 

[Kuzu]

I do agree that this arc was kind of nothing; like, we had a few funny lines or two, and there's some attempt at character driven drama with Belle...but yea, it's just been Sonic, Tails, Amy going to weird locations and bopping a few robots before the inevitable Eggman showdown, and the Tangle and Belle side of things isn't that much since the former is more or less just comic relief, and the latter doesn't really do much at all despite this "mystery". 

Think this arc would have served a bigger purpose if it was about Belle mainly, with everyone else accompanying her. 

[SBR2]

I don't know. "Sonic Tails and Amy bopping around a weird location" sounds like a blast to me.

I mean not everything has to be for the benefit of expanding the larger story. Sometimes things can just be for fun. Though granted maybe 4 issues is the wrong length for that.

[Red Hot Jack]

The feeling I had when reading the last issue was: things are shaking up and finally paying off quickly, not much happens... that's it? Way too short and I feel empty.

At the same time I feel not much happened and the thing last only a few minutes.

Spoiler

It's pretty much Eggman exposing Belle to the truth and her reaction, plus the tower is destroyed and Orbot & Cubot get thrown off the Tornado lol

But I liked how the reveal happened, quickly and sharp (thanks Eggman)

I liked the elemental Egg Vipers honestly, they deserved better. In general this arc had good ideas but they didn't do much with them. I wanted more consequences to Belle's story which should have been the focus, I agree, and they will come eventually it's just it felt like an empty filler arc just to get to this point. I mean, 4 issues to get here. Chao Races and Badnik Bases at least had a lot more going on.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind focused game accurate stories with more character drama, action and less "big catastrophe" scale, I don't feel like this was done correctly. There is a lot of room for improvement. I mostly felt this way with the first 4 issues.

[Kuzu]

10 hours ago, SBR2 said:

I don't know. "Sonic Tails and Amy bopping around a weird location" sounds like a blast to me.

I mean not everything has to be for the benefit of expanding the larger story. Sometimes things can just be for fun. Though granted maybe 4 issues is the wrong length for that.

Its literally the bare minimum of a story dude. 

If that's all it takes to satisfy you, fine but I kind of like having a bit more meat on plotlines to stay invested.

[SBR2]

23 minutes ago, Kuzu said:

Its literally the bare minimum of a story dude. 

If that's all it takes to satisfy you, fine but I kind of like having a bit more meat on plotlines to stay invested.

IDK man. As long as the story is fun I don't really care if it's too meaty.

[Wraith]

The payoff with Belle was actually very good. I also like the way Evan writes Eggman's dialogue and hope he gets a big part in her next arc. Art seems unfinished, but I figure you might as well cut them some slack on that since it seems like shit is on fire behind the scenes. Aside from that I like this arc about as much as the last one, so yeah. Maybe a bit too much fluff, but I probably wouldn't have minded it if it wasn't for the scheduling.

 

Sonic, Tails and Amy don't get any of that juicy drama/development, but I don't think they're they're going to do any of that stuff again with them considering sega's mandates combined with how the last two arcs went over. Probably gonna be action/comedy stuff with them while chars like Whisper and Belle get the more serious stuff.

[Diogenes]

I wouldn't mind a simple, fun story but this just never really got to the point of being fun. I think it would've been better if they had just focused in on one "wacky evil plan" instead of flitting between several (and ending on the lamest one). Risks losing Eggman's "ok Belle here are several ways how I am a bastard man" bit but I think they could've done basically the same with one well-explored idea (maybe make the spooky fake town into the endless noneuclidean maze? Instead of the admittedly cute slot machine the robots are cannibalizing parts from their fallen brethren to survive? Tangle saves the day by being the thread in the labyrinth? idk just spitballing), and I'd take the risk if it meant not getting 4 chapters that feel mostly like filler.

[Soniman]

Decent pay off at the end there with Belle and Eggman but not really worth the 4 issues of mostly forgettable action and everyone going through the motions. A 5/10 arc at its finest, not really badly written or anything to make me dislike it but nothing really interesting to talk about or sink your teeth into for the most part.

Also Amy's line about not taking Orbot/Cubot prisoner is stupid as hell they're vital assets to Eggman and crippling his Empire in anyway would help like cmon lol

[Wraith]

"Vital" isn't a word I would use to describe orbot and cubot. It's easy to see why they'd think there's no harm in turning them loose but it'd be funny if they spent an arc or two stuck at the resistance base for a while.

[Kuzu]

41 minutes ago, SBR2 said:

IDK man. As long as the story is fun I don't really care if it's too meaty.

And fun is subjective.

Sonic and co bashing up robots has been the norm since 1991, so its hardly anything special or worth praise at this point.

 

 

I don't even hate this arc, its just kind of boring.

[Dejimon11]

Belle finally confronting Eggman had a satisfying payoff but the overall story was pretty mid. Bring on the Zeti arc. 

[Endy]

19 minutes ago, Soniman said:

Also Amy's line about not taking Orbot/Cubot prisoner is stupid as hell they're vital assets to Eggman and crippling his Empire in anyway would help like cmon lol

sonic characters taking prisoners would be really weird 

[Kuzu]

16 minutes ago, Enderwoman said:

sonic characters taking prisoners would be really weird 

Isn't that what they did in Archie.

 

 

In any case, yea...this arc was pretty nothing. Belle's confrontation with Eggman was pretty good, but not really worth the amount of fluff this story had. If Sonic, Tails, and Amy had some type of subplot of their own, this would have been way more engaging. I suppose the mandates pretty much require all game characters stay as static as possible with little character introspection.

That's a shame, especially since that means the OC's are the ones who have to carry the emotional weight of these story arcs while the characters everyone knows will just be going through the motions.

[Endy]

this story was not particularly clever in how it uses its premise considering Sonic and friends are trapped in a reality warping world that Egg Man can bend to his will with a mere thought 

a lack of clever action or characters being clever is a very consistently running theme in these Sonic comics especially so since the last arc had a very fun action it sucks to see it resort back to just bashing robots when there were endless ways to make this scenario interesting 

since the action is not very interesting the only thing this story had to fall back on is Belle but all of that is pretty much only at the end. the emotional climax of this story is completely unrelated to any of the other ideas presented, the whole thing is just the characters breaking stuff. perhaps if more of the story was about Belle and Eggman interacting with eachother before breaking her heart instead breaking stuff that would make it more impactful. 

the saving grace is that it is short and full of character. the short length makes its lack of wit more easily tolerated, unlike some other stories in this comic Book.

 

9 minutes ago, Kuzu said:

Isn't that what they did in Archie.

yes. 

[VO.SUPER]

The arc was fine as its own thing. Just not enough to carry all these months of waiting.

[MetalSkulkBane]

#40... sigh. Yeah, I'll mirror everyone's opinions, it's not great.  Which is funny, I could swear last issue everyone was against me on this.

Simple story can be fun, just look at Sonic Mega Drive or IDW #2. But honestly, this wasn't a simple story. A magic psychic breaking dimension is not a lazy minimalist plot. It starts with intrigue and twists. And then just end on flatline. And it lacks cuter moments from previous issues.

Artwork was fine, but I'm REALLY getting annoyed with shading.  It already feels like rip-off that IDW sells us unfinished product (games at least have patches these days), but could they pick less randomly which panels get shade, which don't. Like how about first pages have ink, last don't, at least there would be consistency. First bloody page is the worst, it has Sonic shaded but Tails and Amy not shaded. It looks awful, like they're cardboard cutouts.

But like many said, I'm not angry, just disappointed. To not end on complete negativity, one good scene is Belle talking to Eggman. Simple, but effective, Eggman just shatters all her disillusions in one short conversation. That I quite liked.

[DabigRG]

This issue was eh for getting things over with and the punch near the end was very much hampered by, again, the small amount of anything going on character wise, the delays killing what momentum it might have had, and the story around having little to do with even setting it up.

 

Ah well, ready to finally get into the kinda mixed payoff of the Deadly Six being separated and unaccounted for next time.

Spoiler

The idea of Belle knowing the exact truth from the beginning and desperately looking for a scrap of it being more complicated than that is effective in theory, but it took to long to get to it and it's surrounded by stuff that doesn't really go with it; plus I can't say we didn't have any buildup, but going by memory it feels like it was incidental development or basic denial. Her breaking down at the end is similarly kinda weird for these reasons as well as the colors/art not really supporting it. Ah well, maybe with her presence and Starline once again butting in halfway through next arc, we can actually move forward and do stuff with her opened up character.

 

As for everything else, eh.... Idk, being reminded that this was in fact 4 issues makes me second guess a bit, but it makes the feeling that the tower stuff wasn't very memorable seem more of a shame. And the idea that Tangle showing up kinda screwed things and caused the place to explode seems like it could be funny, but it clashes with what was going with Belle and even then just sorta happens. Ergh, Idk, maybe this is something where rereading the entire arc will help pull it together a little better.

 

1 hour ago, Kuzu said:

Isn't that what they did in Archie.

 

 

In any case, yea...this arc was pretty nothing. Belle's confrontation with Eggman was pretty good, but not really worth the amount of fluff this story had. If Sonic, Tails, and Amy had some type of subplot of their own, this would have been way more engaging. I suppose the mandates pretty much require all game characters stay as static as possible with little character introspection.

That's a shame, especially since that means the OC's are the ones who have to carry the emotional weight of these story arcs while the characters everyone knows will just be going through the motions.

Yeah, but then you actually had a detailed/varied governmental/worldbuilding structure and characters who would actually consider, advocate, and enforce that stuff there.

Idw is very much lacking in those kind of characters and arguably overall infrastructure. 

[Dejimon11]

 

Already off to a great start 

[PublicEnemy1]

When do you think we're gonna get that "big announcement" that's supposed to happen this month?

[KoDaiko]

I am not enjoying the split story format used in this and the previous arc. They keep switching between stories and doesn't give enough page or focus to keep each of them equally engaging, to the point it feels like filler.

Unrelated, I find it funny the main series is giving Belle 3+ arcs/12+ issues to flesh out her backstory and development, when all the other original character's story are pushed to a spin-off. From what I've seen, if we took out all the unrelated sections Belle's story would probably fit into one 4-issue arc like the other's just fine.

I guess her connection to Eggman makes Belle special but if then I wish they wove in the Bad Guys plot in the main series too, since what the villains (especially Zavok and Starline) were doing behind the scenes feel semi-important.