Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): Issue 32
Publication Date: September 23rd, 2020
Something I really miss about Archie’s “Sonic” books was their ability to make the comic feel like a special event. Every one-shot was a “48 Page Special!” Segments in the issue would often have “End of Part One” at the first act stop, which made the story feel like an exciting cliffhanger, even if the next chapter was a few pages away. The mini-series were heavily promoted, sold as exciting adventures that warranted their own spin-off. It was mostly carny style hucksterism but it one hundred percent worked on me as a kid. The later Archie “Sonic” and IDW’s series haven’t really captured that feeling much... But one tactic Archie would often employ was connecting covers, comic books that made a cool picture when you put them side-by-side. IDW has occasionally revived that gimmick, as they did here with the “Recovery” story arc. It’s fun and I wish they would do it more.
Anyway, “Recovery, Part Two” jumps right into the action. Eggman has crashed the Restoration’s victory party in a giant death-mech. Omega is strapped to the front, seemingly powering the suit. Tails and the gang scrambled to organized a plan against the sudden invader, finding themselves caught off-guard and unprepared. The situation grows even more grave once Eggman jacks his machine into Gemerl. Meanwhile, in the Sol Dimension, Blaze begins a risky ritual in the hopes that it may jog the amnesiac Sonic’s memory. Will he make it back home in time? Well, of course he does.
“Recovery, Part Two” is another issue primarily devoted to action but at least it's decent action. See, part of the appeal of SatAM and the early Archie comics was that the Freedom Fighters were underdogs. They had limited resources and individuals, fighting a guerrilla war against an enormous enemy. The comic lost sight of that in time and Ian Flynn, for all his strengths, has never been great about capturing that feeling. However, this issue brings a little bit of that emotion back. The good guys aren’t ready for Eggman’s attack at all, forcing them to completely think on their feet. Vector ends up taking the lead, as Amy and Jewel essentially run away. Tails has to improvise a method to hack into Eggman’s computer system. Everybody kind of gets their asses kicked but make a strong showing against the villain. It’s fun and reminds me why I liked these characters in the first place.
And, of course, it’s all ruined the minute Sonic shows back up. His memory restored, and Blaze somehow knowing exactly where to teleport him back to, Sonic rushes in and finishes Eggman off with ease. Is it possible Sonic is just too powerful? Is this a side effect of Sega’s dumb-ass mandate that Sonic can “never loose?” This is not the first time I’ve gotten the feeling that the blue hedgehog’s comic book might be better without him in it. Watching a bunch of under-prepared goof-balls do what they can against a far more powerful enemy is way more compelling than our super powerful hero blasting in and saving the day within minutes.
What’s more disappointing is that Flynn had an opportunity for an interesting story here. At the issue’s beginning, Sonic is still clueless about his identity. After Blaze zaps him with her plot-reversing magical crystals, Sonic is seemingly restored... Yet I wondered at first. His body language is still a little royal, with bows and hand waves. His dialogue is slightly more elegant than we are used to from the hedgehog. I thought perhaps Ian was suggesting that the decadent “Mr. Needlemouse” persona wasn’t entirely banished.
There’s even a moment here that could’ve been cool. After defeating Eggman’s mech, the villain flies off and Sonic makes a comment to himself about how there will be a next time. And a next time after that and so on. What if, instead of letting Eggman float off, Sonic slammed into the EggMobile and brutally captured Eggman? This would signal to his friends and the readers that Sonic didn’t return from the brink of death unchanged. That something was up and maybe their savior and companion isn’t the person he’s always been. That would’ve raised the stakes, set up an exciting new story, and ended the issue on a hell of a cliffhanger.
Instead, everyone gives Sonic a big hug and he goes rushing off into the sunrise on the final page, seemingly completely returned to normal. So why did Flynn even bother giving Sonic amnesia for one single issue? Why have his personality shift just to immediately undo it? Why tease the possibility that the Restoration may have to carry on without him just to bring him back the next issue? It’s a seriously wasted opportunity. These two issue have felt like one of two things: a senselessly rattled-off time-waster until whatever the next thing will be or Flynn setting up a story he’s not being allowed to tell. Knowing how Draconian Sega is with how their corporate I.P. characters are used, I wouldn’t be shocked if the latter is true.
In fact, there’s a couple of examples of backsliding character development in this issue, that makes me wonder if Sega isn’t making unreasonable demands again. Amy running off from the conflict is kind of weird. I get she’s exhausted and scared and all that. But she’s never had any problem facing down a giant robot with her hammer before. The minute the chaos starts, Jet and the Babylon Rogues immediately decide to rob the jewel museum, undoing whatever character development they had recently. Rouge has already beat them to ransacking the place because her lust for shiny things is seemingly all that defines her these days. Except she then immediately changes her mind and helps Tails. Not to mention Eggman becoming a quasi-comedic character here, right after he almost ended the world with a zombie virus. And then Sonic just let’s him get away, even though part of the last arc was about Sonic feeling regret over the last time he did that!
Naturally, no mention is made here of how the world is recovering from the Metal Virus, what this two parter was ostensibly suppose to be about. It all feels kind of off, like Flynn was on a tight deadline or perhaps exhausted himself. I think the only new idea Flynn really has her is Eggman’s latest doom machine. Drawing pre-existing robots into the machine’s power source is another cool idea that goes absolutely nowhere. All it really amounts to is Gemerl going down like a bitch, for the third time in a row. Some serious Worf Effect is happening with him, to the point where I’m wondering why the heroes insist on hanging around with this guy.
It’s a sloppy, disappointing issue that is only saved by some fun action beats. This is an example of a story I probably would have enjoyed if it wasn’t overwhelmed by all the obvious ways it could have been better. Unless Flynn is ramping up for something actually interesting, “Recovery” has been a rather lame buffer between bigger arcs. The art is really nice, by the way. Adam Bryce Thomas can always be counted on to deliver awesome looking images. [5/10]
Ian on the bumblekast talked about how he was caught off guard and confused by how a lot of people were expecting the sonic amnesia stuff to be something bigger than it actually was. All it ever was meant to be was a book end to his solo run on the book and an excuse to get sonic out if the action and make a big return. The closest to Sega meddling was Ian mentioning that he was surprised they let him do it in the first place and that they had him cut out the scene where Marine names him Mr needlemouse because they're not allowed to introduce games characters near the end of an arc (which is also why cream and gemeral were absent from 9-12 despite showing up on one of 9's covers). In the end Ian basically went "i guess it was a misstep on my part"
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