Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): Issue 10

Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): Issue 10
Publication Date: October 31, 2018

I apologize for being tardy, Hedgehogs Can’t Swim readers. I’ve gotten into the habit of posting the bonus reviews of IDW’s on-going “Sonic” book on the weekend after they came out. However, October’s issue was published on Halloween. (Disappointingly, IDW didn’t give us a cool, spooky variant cover or anything.) If you don’t follow my other blog, Film Thoughts, you might not khow busy the end of October is for me. In-between that and other Halloween festivities, I plum forgot about the new comic book coming out. And then I kept forgetting to post this review after I wrote it. So that’s why this review is going up several weeks after you were expecting it. I hope you found me appropriately remorseful.

So, where were we? “The Battle for Angel Island, Part 2” picks up where we left off. The Resistance is fighting through Metal Sonic’s forces on Angel Island. While the less important supporting cast battle with the robot goons, Sonic and Knuckles get their asses kicked by the Master Emerald infused Robot hedgehog. Eventually, Shadow intervenes and seemingly wins the day. But it’s just a momentary victory, Neo Metal Sonic changing into a more fearsome form. Meanwhile, those skunk punks from a few issues back kidnap the amnesiac Eggman from his peaceful village.

As you’d expect from a story arc with the word “battle” in its title, this one is quite action-packed. Some of these moments are pretty cool. The neatest moment has Tangle using that huge-ass, prehensile tail of hers to swing one of the Egg Fleet cannons around, the bad guy forces blasting themselves away. There’s also a really cute moment where Rouge flies overhead, dropping heart shaped bombs on the unknowing Egg Pawns. The fight with Metal Sonic is a lot less interesting but it does feature an amusing moment where the super-charged bot just drags Sonic and Knuckles’ faces across the floor for a bit.

But, yeah, that big title bout is pretty uninspiring otherwise. You’d expect Sonic and Knuckles to re-strategize the moment the bad guy reveals his superpowers, instead of just taking a beating for a few pages. Then again, that comic book tendency of thinking less and fighting more goes both ways. As powerful as he is, Metal Sonic pretty clearly could’ve killed both Sonic and Knuckles immediately. Instead, he toys with them for a while, giving Shadow plenty of time to rush in and save the day. I have problems with that too, some other guy saving Sonic and Knux’s asses, instead of the protagonists thinking of a way out of this predicament. (I’m also underwhelmed by Whisper blasting several Badniks out of the air with ease and Blaze spirit-bombing a carrier ship.) This fight seems a little too easy for the heroes at times.

The quasi-twist ending is also a totally expected moment. From the minute Flynn introduced Neo Metal Sonic, it was largely assumed that the “Sonic Heroes” final boss form – an ugly robot dragon known as Metal Overlord – would eventually appear as well. Flynn doubles down on this, introducing a more-or-less identical version of the form given the redundant title of Master Overlord. As far as I can tell, the only difference between the two versions is that Master Overlord has the Master Emerald embedded in his crotch. Any intimidating factor this transformation might’ve had is stripped away, as we all saw it coming. It’s the obligatory power-up scene and generates no excitement at all. The only thing I like about this moment is Metal Sonic sprouting a couple of extra eyes as the change begins.

As I said, what’s happening above ground is way more involving in general anyway. While the Resistance’s campaign seems to be going a little too easily, that ease does allow for some more character interaction. Tangle’s adrenaline junkie attitude continues to be delightful. She gets several moments with Vector, saving his butt from a fall with her butt, which is a pretty funny comedic gag. I also like the casual way Amy and Rouge chit-chat during quiet moments, showing that the more mature Rouge now treats the formerly girly Amy as an equal partner. I also like Tails thinking on his feet, cooking up a plan in the middle of combat.

Some subplots continue to percolate in the background. While creating a small sun to throw at Metal Sonic’s army, Blaze’s interior monologue continues to hint at some secret reason she has for traveling back to this dimension. Even though there’s only been a few months of build-up, I can already tell that whatever reveal that’s coming will be underwhelming. As for Rough and Tumble Eggman-napping Mr. Tinker, I have mixed feelings about it. Robotnik’s mellower alter-ego continues to be a total delight. We see him singing wholesome songs, while the kiddies enjoy his Badnik-themed amusement park. (One of the kids resemble Bunnie, which we probably shouldn’t read too much into.) Seeing this subplot come to an end will be a bummer but at least we care about what’s happening.

After a strong start, “The Battle for Angel Island” falters a bit in its second part. I guess the lead-up to the fight is inevitably more interesting than the actual fight. Will Flynn perks things up, as we head into the second half of the arc? Hard to say, especially since the introduction of some giant thing for the heroes to fight isn’t very exciting. Still, maybe everyone uniting against the power-mad enemy will lead to some good moments? Let’s hooe IDW can wrap up its first, very mixed year on a positive note. [6/10]