Sonic the Hedgehog IDW #59 - Minithread

[Sonictrainer]

This is the Spoiler Thread for Issue #59

[MetalSkulkBane]

Ok, so I am two mind on this issue. As

Shadow Fan
Duuuude! Shadow was DA BOSS! His Chaos Control was so fricckin cool! Art in this issue is just so pweetty :3 !!!!

I suppose he didn't really accomplish anything, might even take himself down in the process. And personality-wise he managed the height of "not being a prick and/or making terrible decisions". Kinda hoped facing his androids would have...any emotional impact beyond a mild scowl. But whatever. I'm not gonna be picky. I got a win and I'll take it. (Happy Shadow fan noises)

General Reader
Soooo, what does this issue actually... do?  The last time Sonic meet some friends, they kicked badniks in cool way, but Eggperial City is still standing.
In this issue, Sonic meets some friends, they kicked badniks in a cool way, but Eggperial City is still standing. Truly groundbreaking.

Things are a bit more interesting with Neo Diamond Cutters (some gorgeous shots of Eggman) but that's a much smaller part of the story. I feel like Sonic group was (aside from one beautiful Shadow moment) just kinda going through the motions, you know? Like it only exists to pad out time between the actual plot doing stuff.

Little things
- I find it funny how they balance Rouge being a morally grey thief, using "DnD Looting" approach.
- I don't know why, but I really like how Shadow Androids are deployed. Looks cool.
- Eggman & Sonic give nice subtle complements towards Shadow in this issue
- I'm still a bit confused about what's happening to Diamond Cutters, especially considering events from this issue.
- Whisper totally tried to kill Eggman.

Overall okay issue, but Shadow Shinning Moment aside, I expected a bit more.

[sonicclaasic]

Spoiler

I enjoyed reading this Issue #59 I thought It was awesome where Shadow fights the Shadow Androids and Shadow uses the crystal that are generating chaos energy and Shadow saying fake emeralds and took the advantage of It.

The battle scenes where fantastic and I love the part with Lanolin, Tangle & Whisper hiding from Dr Eggman when they were Invisible and spying on him and his plans. The artwork In this Issue Is fantastic again credits to the artists for their hard work. Overall fantastic Issue

I put spoiler tag just In case. 

[Red Hot Jack]

It was fine-to-enjoyable, I'm starting to get bored as other people previously said with the "fight fight fight" arcs and would like something more interesting, not necessarily slice of life but more adventure oriented, than conflict/defeat bad guy. That said it is a good issue with better moments from the game cast, last time the highlight was basically the new Diamond Cutters

Spoiler

Shadow is well handled here, obviously his purpose is to search fights but here he is both powerful and has limits, it's the ideal choice, to show how badass and dangerous he is but also not too OP. Nice touch using the fake emeralds. The androids look quite spectacular and more resilient than the average badniks, thankfully, I appreciate how they are colored differently. The art is amazing.

There are other cool moments, like Sonic/Amy/Rouge and Eggman is intimidating as I would expect from the comic.

Whisper suffers more and more, if there is one thing I enjoy from this arc, like with Power Surge, is that they exploit every bit of emotion they can have, and it's on the poor girl here, Shadow is also slightly insulted. I didn't understand what happened in the end though, did Tangle escape, was she let go, or did she get trapped like the other two?

Overall solid but I still want something different for a change. I like how this arc uses more of the side cast though.

 

[Kuzu]

I find it so funny how when Team Dark finally return, Shadow and Omega are immediately separated so Rouge can hang out with the other main characters lmao. 

Anyway, issue was...fine? If nothing else, I'm glad Shadow got to do something cool for once. Like sure, he's immediately taken out afterwards, but that's incidental than anything as opposed to being stupid. Beyond that though...yea, not much happened aside from Eggman capturing Whisper and Lanloin at the end. Oh my god, and there's still two more months of this arc...

 

I gotta say though, despite being the apparent main characters of this arc (and getting higher billing than anyone besides Sonic), the new Diamond Cutters haven't actually done much so far and now Eggman's captured two of them. Weird choice, you'd think they would be more involved in the proceedings, but I guess that's what the next issue is for.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

For some reason, the idea of Eggperial City being a replicating structure reminds me of the Megastructure from the Blame! manga.

Just smaller in scale. Makes me wonder if anyone got inspired by that series or if it was a coincidental similarity.

[Sonictrainer]

Fanartists have started redrawed a panel of Sonic & Rouge from this issue

This one is by ess_n_stuffs

[Technically Inept]

The Shadow androids deployment honestly felt random, sudden, and out of nowhere.

I was slightly hopeful for Shadow at first. Shadow's reponse to Sonic greeting him was to remain turned away, head to the ground, while uttering a quiet almost hesitant, "...Sonic." I was thinking we were maybe going to be getting a seemingly reflective Shadow on our hands, and maybe one who was a bit self-conscious about how ridiculous he had been acting up to that point.

And for sure, he wasn't as annoying this issue as he usually is. Still had some lines that felt kind of, cheesy, unnecessarily arrogant/snide, tryhard "tough'' guy though. Could definitely hear this stuff in Kirk's voice.

"Please. these cheap copies don't deserve to wear my face."

"These are just cheap copies created by the doctor. He will pay dearly for this insult."

"Fake emeralds... I hate to stoop to using such a pale substitute."

Just shut up, honestly.

Then again, I'm not a Shadow fan. So as someone who doesn't really have a certain way they like Shadow to be written, what do I know?

 

Edited April 26, 2023 by Technically Inept