Sonic Forces Digital Comic (Moment of Truth, Stress Test, Looming Shadow, Rise of Infinite)

[NikoS]

@Forterror-Metallix

Spoiler

13 minutes ago, Forterror-Metallix said:

So does this comic take place before Mania, or did the Ruby originate there and then end up in Modern Eggman's possession? 

i guess it's the latter, this is the first test made after the ruby arrived from mania''s dimension

 

[Blue Blood]

Remember how Sonic Boom Shattered Crystal included a digital prequel comic, setting up the game's intro and Shadow's role? I would like to see this comic included in Forces as well. 

[RedFox99]

6 minutes ago, Crazy_Diamond said:

I actually think this comic in general is a fantastic idea for several reasons. The first reason is that the story in Forces won't need to be bogged down by endless exposition. So they don't need to break the pacing of the story by introducing Silver and explaining why he has come back from the future and stuff like that. By getting this kind of stuff out of the way first, the story can be more tightly paced without going into tangents. The second thing is the fact that the comics have really cool art and are really well writing. ABT and Ian Flynn have really done a great job with this for sure. 

I think we know for sure what the Phantom Ruby does now. It can create physical illusions, Phantoms basically. A very powerful effect indeed. But what's really interesting is the fact that Eggman is already in possession of the Phantom Ruby, before the game starts. I wonder why he uses the Phantom Ruby Prototype to create Infinite then? This seems to be getting more and more interesting.

Plus it's free and available online.

[Dee Dude]

Welp, since I haven't talked about the actual comic yet.

It's great! Who knew Knux and Silv would have such a fun teaseful chemistry? That's the magic of Flynn I suppose.

The mere fact that they remembered Pachacamac's tribe and village utterly warms my heart, let's remember Ian may be writing this but Sonic Team are still the ones in charge of these comics so let's remain hopeful they'll at least mention these callbacks in the full game.

I didn't think Eggman would have the actual Phantom Ruby because I figured he was using the Prototype from Speed Battle to create Infinite judging from the Story trailers.

I'm looking forward to this story more and more!

[Sonikko]

These comics are pretty good. I love how they're depicting the characters, the canon aknowledgement.

They're good.

If the game's gonna be like that, then it has a chance to have a good plot for once. But honestly, I'm pretty sour about it, 'cause the game looks like it's gonna bomb critically, and Sonic Team's gonna shove all of this away again for the next 10 years.

I want more.

[Dr. Mechano]

I liked the part with Eggman. He was drawn well, even though he didn't really get any good lines in aside from exposition this time.

Knuckles' method of "calming Chaos down" by repeatedly punching him was kinda great too, not gonna lie.

Amazing how much better this chapter is now that it doesn't feature that whiney, self-loathing Avatar.

[Kellan]

Tumblr tags:

sonic forces prequel comic ian flynncan we all just agree silver at this point is a time cop of sorts?some sort of cataclysm befalls the future?here comes future boygoing to knuckles too of all peoplewould this make silver the second in command of the resistance?*thinking sounds*

 

So, Silver may be the second in command.

[SBR2]

Flynn Writes the best Knuckles I swear. This was a ton of fun and it's nice to actually see Knuckles Canonically guarding The Master Emerald. Also I don't care what anyone says Silver's great.

[Shadowlax]

20 minutes ago, Crazy_Diamond said:

I actually think this comic in general is a fantastic idea for several reasons. The first reason is that the story in Forces won't need to be bogged down by endless exposition. So they don't need to break the pacing of the story by introducing Silver and explaining why he has come back from the future and stuff like that. By getting this kind of stuff out of the way first, the story can be more tightly paced without going into tangents. The second thing is the fact that the comics have really cool art and are really well written. ABT and Ian Flynn have really done a great job with this for sure. 

I think we know for sure what the Phantom Ruby does now. It can create physical illusions, Phantoms basically. A very powerful effect indeed. But what's really interesting is the fact that Eggman is already in possession of the Phantom Ruby, before the game starts. I wonder why he uses the Phantom Ruby Prototype to create Infinite then? This seems to be getting more and more interesting.

I would argue that, if your story cant explain why a character who seems to be somewhat pivotal to plot is around you are telling a shitty story. 

Ok so if them dudes except Eggman, Chaos and Zavok are illusions.... where the hell is shadow?

[RedFox99]

1 minute ago, Shadowlax said:

I would argue that, if your story cant explain why a character who seems to be somewhat pivotal to plot is around you are telling a shitty story. 

Ok so if them dudes except Eggman, Chaos and Zavok are illusions.... where the hell is shadow?

I understand what you mean but at least the comics are free so there's that.

Maybe Eggman used the Phantom Ruby to create illusions to play with Shadow psychologically.

[Shadowlax]

Just now, RedFox99 said:

I understand what you mean but at least the comics are free so there's that.

Maybe Eggman used the Phantom Ruby to create illusions to play with Shadow psychologically.

Maybe? 

I'm betting on, shadow is actually like around.And you find him, and you fight him and he actually has no idea why everyone is so pissed at him, he's literally been doing something else the entire time, Or he's been captured, which i'm eggman would actually make sense to do. I mean, if he gets out, he's guaranteed to try and murder you. But if he doesn't, you don't have to deal with him murdering you.

[Balding Spider]

This was... lots of fun. Really liked what I read, especially enjoyed the fight scenes. Can't wait for the next one.

[Crazy_Diamond]

3 minutes ago, Shadowlax said:

I would argue that, if your story cant explain why a character who seems to be somewhat pivotal to plot is around you are telling a shitty story. 

Ok so if them dudes except Eggman, Chaos and Zavok are illusions.... where the hell is shadow?

I get what you mean. However, that logic only works under the assumption that this is an isolated story, when that is not the case at all. When you have a story that ties into other stories already (for instance, tying into Adventure, Mania, etc.), then using another story to explain the connections isn't shitty, it's smart. As for everybody being an illusion, I'm not sure exactly. They is something I've noticed in this comic, and that is the fact that the glitchy effect doesn't appear once on Chaos, despite it presumably being an illusion. However, it does appear on Chaos and Metal Sonic in Forces. That makes me think that there is some other part of this that we don't know about. For instance, there might be some difference between the powers of the Phantom Ruby and the Phantom Ruby Prototype. It's definitely an interesting thing to think about.

[Shadowlax]

1 minute ago, Crazy_Diamond said:

I get what you mean. However, that logic only works under the assumption that this is an isolated story, when that is not the case at all. When you have a story that ties into other stories already (for instance, tying into Adventure, Mania, etc.), then using another story to explain the connections isn't shitty, it's smart. As for everybody being an illusion, I'm not sure exactly. They is something I've noticed in this comic, and that is the fact that the glitchy effect doesn't appear once on Chaos, despite it presumably being an illusion. However, it does appear on Chaos and Metal Sonic in Forces. That makes me think that there is some other part of this that we don't know about. For instance, there might be some difference between the powers of the Phantom Ruby and the Phantom Ruby Prototype. It's definitely an interesting thing to think about.

Maybe its just a more powerful illusion.

Like Prototype illusions, just poof. And the more powerful illusions warrants boss fights. To then reveal that they are infact, just that

[Salamander]

This comic does seem to give the game away.  Congratulations to everyone whose theories were correct!

[JezMM]

Damn this is that good lore shit that I've wanted back in the series for yeeeeears.  I have to keep reminding myself that what I just read is an official part of the main game series canon and not Archie Sonic because it's still too good to be true right now.

[NikoS]

44 minutes ago, Kellan said:

can we all just agree silver at this point is a time cop of sorts?

Silver is the new Zonic confirmed!!

[Clewis]

That was pretty decent. It's always nice to see Knuckles written as an actual character rather than just "existing" because the plot needed characters outside of Sonic, Tails, and Eggman.

Although it did remind me of how dumb the concept of Silver's character is. He's from the future, but every time he returns to fix something the future ends up fucked because of something else. He travels back and forth so often he might as well just stay in the past. I mean, it's not like he's sticking around in the future for an extended amount of time anyway, with it consistently being ruined again as soon as he gets there.

[Fletch]

1 hour ago, Kellan said:

Tumblr tags:

sonic forces prequel comic ian flynncan we all just agree silver at this point is a time cop of sorts?some sort of cataclysm befalls the future?here comes future boygoing to knuckles too of all peoplewould this make silver the second in command of the resistance?*thinking sounds*

 

So, Silver may be the second in command.

If that means Silver can finally get some more screen time and chance to shine then I'm all for it. Guy needs to be in the spotlight more.

[Forte-Metallix]

27 minutes ago, NikoS said:

Silver is the new Zonic confirmed!!

Well, in post-reboot Archie, he pretty much was, since he was traveling across the multiverse closing Genesis Portals!

Also, since Knuckles isn't surprised to see Chaos at the beginning, does that mean Chaos really can just come out of the Master Emerald whenever he wants? I knew saying Battle wasn't canon was a bad idea!

[Dr. Detective]

Better! MUCH better! Holy shit, that was awesome. The only thing that could make this better is if the comic was included in the game or there was a cutscene version of it somehow. 

I'm grateful that their hints that they've actually paid attention to the story and provided explanations for the motivations behind the character's actions wasn't just PR speak tailored towards us to calm us down. It seems to be the case with Shadow as it is with Chaos, Knuckles's involvement, and Silver's time traveling. They even added in a few nice touches like the Pachacamac village, the mention of the Master Emerald's denouncement, and Knuckles just coyly mentioning that he loves treasure hunting but prefers the peace and quiet of his island. This is EXACTLY the kind of stuff I want to see. I'm not asking for a whole lot more than this. Really, I'm not.

I do find it funny how Silver's future works though. Does it just change whenever there's a calamity that's about to happen? Like one morning he's making coffee in his pajamas and all of a sudden the world turns into the apocalypse outside. He rolls his eyes and goes "Here we go again..."

[Razule]

1 hour ago, Shadowlax said:

I would argue that, if your story cant explain why a character who seems to be somewhat pivotal to plot is around you are telling a shitty story. 

Ok so if them dudes except Eggman, Chaos and Zavok are illusions.... where the hell is shadow?

Kidnapped?

[Clewis]

33 minutes ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

I do find it funny how Silver's future works though. Does it just change whenever there's a calamity that's about to happen? Like one morning he's making coffee in his pajamas and all of a sudden the world turns into the apocalypse outside. He rolls his eyes and goes "Here we go again..."

If Silver leaves for the future, and then some time after an event occurs that causes the apocalypse, Silver's future would already be in an apocalyptic state when he arrives. Silver and Sonic's respective time periods are a part of the same timeline.

That's what makes Silver constantly using time travel to influence the future so amusing. He never manages to truly fix anything about the future, because his actions in Sonic's present always end up causing Eggman/Nega/whoever to cause another apocalyptic event while he's gone. Then he essentially has to do a u-turn to fix another mess. Repeat ad infinitum because Sonic Team doesn't house very good writers.

[Marcello]

I liked this. Knuckles' expressions reminded me of Hesse's art in Mega Drive, which is great. I'm also liking Knuckles being a bit of a cocky doofus.

[SonicWind]

Honestly, I'm glad Sonic Team seems to be paying attention to continuity again. It gives me hope for Forces' story.

Hopefully, this means they've done the same in the actual game.