Scrapnik Island #4 Reader Reaction and Impressions

[Slashy]

Spoiler

I loved it, which is really saying something given my usual thoughts on the comic.

It is rare that a comic delivers a story with good pacing, character exploration, a compelling plot, an location with an actual personality, and a good, clearly delivered message.

Right now for this comic this story deserves a 10/10 just for managing to include everything I want to see in a top tier Sonic story.

At this point I am just gonna ditch the main comic, there is clearly hope for Sonic IDWI never thought this comic would actually hit the target, maybe not a bullseye, but hit the target on everything I wanted on it

I did get Toy Story 3 vibes from Mecha Sonic nearly falling in the disposal.

I think I will just ditch the main comic from now there was a clear quality gap from 2021-2022 with the specials and minis providing much stronger writing and fresh ideas (even when they tied into the main comic Impostor Syndrome was still much better than what came after issue 50 for the two).

I think it might be worth it to dedicate a thread to story structure, as I have said and now have seen others saying the same thing (including the writer of this story) that the comic overall may benefit from a story structure shift to more episodic storylines much like Scrapnik Island.

[PC the Hedgehog]

I thought I knew the direction the story was going to go, and it totally threw a curveball. Absolutely love what they did with Mecha Sonic. Best ending to an IDW Sonic comic in a long time--possibly ever.

[Red Hot Jack]

I loved it too, it does feel a complete story even though it's short and self contained, but it's sweet at least, the drawings and colors are fire as usual, in particular I enjoyed seeing the golden sea of trash on the island, and I was surprised that they managed to include classic stuff into the modern comic to be honest. Mecha Sonic is the highlight of the show. Also, upon re-reading the previous issues, I gotta admit Tails was pretty badass too.

Spoiler

So we got:

- "Ill crush you!" SMBZ reference

- The reference to the OVA where Sonic tries to save his metallic alter ego

Also I totally did not expect Mecha to live, but it's great when Sonic morals actually succeed, Mecha had a great short arc, but I was disappointed that they didn't use the Egg Carrier to leave the island, I get it, the moral of the story is they can be free on that island, safe from Eggman but I saw the potential for more story rather than a short self contained one, I wouldn't want to ruin this ending though.

While redemption may be predictable, Mecha was simply messed up on his mind, same for Surge and Kit, so I definitely think eventually they will have the potential for redemption, it gets repetitive if it happens all the time, but they clearly deserve a better ending too, not saying I want Surge and Kit to be heroes. It's also too soon to bring them back again.

 

[DaddlerTheDalek]

I didn't expect this to be so wholesome!

[Sonictrainer]

We got some Sonic OVA inspired Promo Art

Quote

Nathalie F: Scrapnik Island #4 is out today!!! Right now!!! The final one!!! Here's an indulgent promo image I made for it!

 

[Razule]

I prwfer the longer form stuff in the main comics, but this was a nice, simple story. 

Spoiler

Thought they were going to just repeat what happened in the OVA for a second, but Sonic finally got a redemption win. Feel-good stuff

 

[The Deleter]

At last

 

Spoiler

 

The perfect sandwich

[Dr. Detective]

That was cute. Adorable even. Mecha crying through Sonic is great stuff, if only because seeing happy tears stream down Sonic's face like that was always going to give me the warm fuzzies.

[Sonictrainer]

We have some more information and art

Quote

Daniel Barnes: Okay, now that the entire miniseries is out, I will definitively answer this question, since a million people have asked me:

Scrapnik Island takes place between Issue #56 and #57

It was very important to me that Scrapnik be viewed as a standalone story, on its own terms. Chronologically defining the story's exact placement, while it's unfolding, would diminish that.

 

Scrapnik Island is a very good entry point, for those who are unfamiliar with the Sonic comics.

The story is canon to the main series, but written in such a way that it stands completely on its own. You just have to know who Sonic, Tails, and Dr. Eggman are.

 

 

 

 

Quote

 

Daniel Barnes: The final issue of Scrapnik Island is out today, and I just want to reiterate how much of a dream project this all was for me.

Sonic's been there for me since childhood, through all the good and bad times in my life. His freedom. His determination. It's inspiring.

I’m very humbled to be able to contribute to his legacy in some small way, and very grateful for the support of the entire @IDWPublishing Sonic crew, and the folks over at @sonic_hedgehog.

@JLawrence_Art and @Loopyyylupe, I literally couldn't have asked for a better team.

@IDW_David_M and @rileysauruss, thanks for taking a chance on me and helping us tell the best possible version of our story.

Thank you all for joining us on this adventure and for the kind words. Here's hoping I get to contribute more to Sonic's universe in the future.

 

 

Alright, time for some concept art

Quote

Natalie Haines: Super glad to be even just a small part in the Scrapnik Island miniseries

Here's some background Scrapniks that I designed and @JLawrence_Art was so generous to include in some of the pages throughout the series 

Hope you all enjoy the comic!

Quote

Deegeemin: I'm very thankful to the Scrapnik team for including these designs I made for this series.. It's honestly super cool. Here's the full lineup of these little guys! If you pick up the comics, keep an eye out for some of them!

Quote

Deegeemin: Almost forgot this cute lil sketch I made of Carina and Mecha Sonic

Quote

Thomas Rothlis: Big thanks to the Scrapnik team - @JLawrence_Art, @Danny8bit & @Loopyyylupe for including my scrapson, Nevin, in the series.

Then we have some Covers without text

 

[Zaysho]

Really enjoyed this mini-series, gave me the same feeling I had reading Archie at its peak during the King Scourge arc.

Scrapnik feels more like what the mainline IDW series should have been from the start. I don't mind ongoing storylines or big continuities either, but IDW has never really stuck the landing with me and a lot of it just feels like lip service to remind me of the series' heyday rather than using that continuity in a meaningful way in service of a story they're trying to tell. I don't even really fault the creative team entirely, since I get why they want to do this stuff and they want us to know that this stuff still matters, but often times it just feels like it's done for the sake of it and drags down everything else.

Scrapnik is like the complete opposite to that. It's littered (heh) with references and callbacks too, but I feel they're used more effective to actually inform the plot and characters, and it's not bogged down by trying to be everything all at once while Sega is looking over the writers' shoulders the whole time. It's just a more focused story and it's a quality I don't really see in the ongoing which is why I stopped reading it altogether.

Spoiler

Wasn't at all expecting this last issue to be a callback to the OVA and it was very pleasantly surprising, and I'm so glad Mecha Sonic still exists at the end of it. Ending got me. Mecha Knuckles got done dirty though.

edit: clicked the quote box instead of spoiler because I don't know how to forum anymore lol

[Kuzu]

The main book really could stand for more smaller scaled and focused arcs. This was the best arc in the entire series by far.

There was a beginning, middle and end and the focus was consistent.

 

I appreciate what Ian and Evan are trying to do with the main book, but I really hope they take cues from the positive reception from this story and focus more on telling a story as opposed to trying to make sense of the convoluted mess of the series continuity.

[Soniman]

Can’t say I really get the the criticisms of the main book here maybe I’m just dumb , so I don’t see this as some diamond in the rough/stand out exception but I CAN say it was a very good story with a satisfying conclusion and definitely one of my new favorite stories in the series alongside Imposter Syndrome and Metal Virus

[Red Hot Jack]

More like, it doesn't have to be Scrapnik Island vs the main book, just like Archie vs IDW, or whatever. Although I understand there are big differences so the comparison is a given, but we can like both.

Scrapnik was very short and the pacing was miraculously good, I would like more "snack adventures" between big sagas, but I'm not sure how many issues I would like them to be, this standard "4 issues miniseries" is lame because not every story can be the exact same lenght, some minis can have a lot of meat and feel like they happen too fast, others have not much going on and are extended for the sake of 4 issue format. 

I felt like Archie did this well, we got the Train arc which was 2 issues long, for example, and some 3 issues arcs, as well as IDW's Last Minute arc.

Oh I liked Trial by Fire, the camping arc mostly for the interactions and Belle's development but yeah now that would have been cooler as a side story and not main book material.

[Ducktor Naldush]

Just like the 30th Anniversary and Tails' Special, this is the closest thing to what I would want from a Sonic comic. A story that begins and ends without the baggage of a larger and suffocating need for "lore" and "ongoing continuity". 

Felt totally satisfied reading this and I will definitely buy the trade paperback once it comes out next August.

I hope going forward the mini-series will focus on this kind of stories that can be read separately from the main book and that aren't just meant to build up what's happening (or what is going to happen) in another comic.

 

Spoiler

The Sonic comic that I would like, a monthly anthology comic with 3 or 4 one-shot stories completely detached from one another, can't be made in today's US comic book industry (and sadly Italian comics had to follow suit), so I'll take what I can get.

 

[Kuzu]

I just have a preference for smaller, character based stories as opposed to large, epic plots that span multiple issues. I think the former suites Sonic as a series personally.

[Zaysho]

I didn't even make it a binary one or the other thing so it's especially weird to see a response making it out as pitting one against the other when neither I nor anyone else... said that? I don't personally like mainline IDW's approach and I've been following it for four years. In particular I don't like the way it handles game continuity in relation to the comic's narrative because it feels like it's just plying me with lore and canon but it feels shallow despite having all this material to draw from. Scrapnik just happened to address that issue for me in a really simple, direct way. But the things I don't like about IDW are the things I've seen people really love about it (the characters, the continuity hooks), and that's perfectly valid, but it's not for me and it doesn't really go deeper than that.

[Slashy]

1 hour ago, Zaysho said:

continuity hooks

I have rarely seen anyone say that they love how continuity driven the main comic is just that they appreciate that the comic recognizes the continuity of past events and does not try to ignore them.

Scrapnik Island does the same thing.

[Zaysho]

17 minutes ago, Slashy said:

I have rarely seen anyone say that they love how continuity driven the main comic is just that they appreciate that the comic recognizes the continuity of past events and does not try to ignore them.

Scrapnik Island does the same thing.

That's fair. I wasn't sure how to describe what I was thinking of beside it being connected to the games and how it tries to tie things together though I'm willing to admit it's not super frequent, but I just never enjoyed how IDW specifically tried to do it. Not bad, just doesn't work for me.

[Slashy]

2 hours ago, Zaysho said:

That's fair. I wasn't sure how to describe what I was thinking of beside it being connected to the games and how it tries to tie things together though I'm willing to admit it's not super frequent, but I just never enjoyed how IDW specifically tried to do it. Not bad, just doesn't work for me.

It works in stuff like Archie and comics like TMNT because they are their own universe. IDW Sonic is not. It is expanded universe material that is not allowed to heavily influence any other material in the franchise. It is written as though it can.

[Wraith]

15 hours ago, Kuzu said:

I just have a preference for smaller, character based stories as opposed to large, epic plots that span multiple issues. I think the former suites Sonic as a series personally.

Sonic as a series has historically had both, so it doesn't seem fair to force a comic adaptation that's shown it could do both down onepath. I just wish the bigger arcs were better.

[Darkvizardberrytan]

The best thing about this issue and the entire Arc like the normal IDW comics its canon. Though I wonder how many years till we see them again.

[MetalSkulkBane]

 

My extremely late thoughts on the issue. Since Scrapnik Island turned out to be not what I expected (sad character story with, not a horror), I felt I need re-read the whole thing with proper expectations.

Yes, the horror element is still present, but it was never the focus. With the ending of the last issue, I get that this was as brutal as it could be, still allowing Mecha to reform. Even his throwing Tails into the trash wasn't just "well he can't really hurt Tails" but rather "Mecha pushing his trauma on others".

For some minor complaints, the story does suffer from its timing. Sonic Prime commercial scarring the gorgeous cover aside, even Sonic lampshades how recently he keeps trying to reform his villains. Plus now I have to agree that Sonic's leg injury was mostly a crouch for the story to work. I defended it earlier as a horror aesthetic, but again, this is 25% horror at best. But really, those are nitpicks.

My bigger problem is Mecha Knuckles. He feels very pointless in the grander scheme, just an excuse to wake up Mecha Sonic's "evil side". It still confuses me a bit about how it even worked. The way it was shown, a punch from Knux turned him evil, kick from Sonic made him good. Feels kinda lame, but also vague enough to be open to interpretation I guess?

Example of a better-used plot point? Body switch never happens, which at first seems lame (why tease it if don't do it), but it creates a mind-link between both Sonics, which is a very elegant way to reveal Mecha's inner thoughts to Sonic and in ever so clever and touching tears moment.

Yes, the last issue really won me over. The melting scene is really touching. Mecha's turmoils, Sonic's characterization, and everyone coming together to save the day. (And I'm 70% sure this is a reference to Sonic OVA and I enjoy using Mecha as a stand-it for Metal for what-if reformation story. But anyone else was thinking about Toy Story 3?)

The final message is both great closure to the story and a really good, dare say "deep", lesson. So yeah, amazing mini-series.

 

[sonicclaasic]

I enjoyed reading Scrapnik Island thought It was amazing to read especially seeing Mecha Sonic & Knuckles as well In this Issue. The artwork In this Issue for me was amazing. I got the complete normal variant covers of the series as well.