Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): Issue 14

Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): Issue 14
Publication Date: February 27, 2019

Well, guys, it looks like I’m finally caught up with IDW’s “Sonic” comic. Even if this comic ends up running for thirty years, I’ll always think of it as the “new” Sonic book. I’ll admit, I’m still finding myself a little resentful about how things ended up with the Archie series and I’m unfairly holding that against the latest on-going. I suspect, no matter how good or bad IDW’s book ends up being in the long run, I’ll always be holding a torch for the “Sonic” comic of my childhood. I’m a capricious nerd driven primarily by nostalgia, you’ll have to forgive me. Anyway, here’s my review of issue 14 of our modern day “Sonic” comic.

“Misdirection” sees Sonic still on the trail of the re-emerging Eggman. An informant has led Silver and Sonic to a frosty mountain base. There, they are attacked by Metal Sonic. Dr. Starline soon reveals himself as Silver’s informant, that the whole thing was a trap. While the two villains test themselves against our spiny heroes, Eggman continues to test his new biological weapon.

Instead of learning from 2018’s mistakes, Flynn is once again taking too goddamn long to get to the fireworks factory. “Misdirection” is another intermediate issue, filling time before the real story can actually begin. Most of the issue is devoted to a fight between Sonic and Metal Sonic. This is hard to get excited about, considering Sonic spent most of last year fighting a more powerful version of this same character. The issue ends with no new information being gained, the story moving in no way at all. Sonic begins and ends the issue aware that Eggman is slowly coming back but uncertain of his plan. It’s “Fallout” all over again, Flynn favoring mindless and repetitive action scenes over actually progressing the story.

This is very frustrating but at least the issue ends on an interesting note. Starline comes very close to knocking off the hedgehogs, as he detonates the base just after Sonic and Silver rush inside. They survive, of course, but Silver is injured. The next scene that follows has the time-traveler awakening in a hospital bed, Sonic and Amy near-by. It’s a nice little empathetic moment, showing that us that these characters care about each other. The issue then ends with some cute flirtatious banter between Sonic and Amy, as the two head off on the next adventure together. (It seems this story arc will also follow “Fallout’s” tendency to pair Sonic up with another cast member in each issue.) I wish the rest of the issue balanced character development and plot like this.

Seemingly the only reason “Misdirection” actually exists is to show off Dr. Starline’s superpowers. And I’m left fairly underwhelmed. The duck chimera’s ability to open portals certainly has interesting combat application. Just look at the previous comic’s Dr. Finnitevus and his warp rings for an example of that. Instead, Starline mostly uses his powers to open portals under his enemies or to zap them somewhere else after they lunge at him. Aside from giving the title a double meaning, Starline’s portal powers underwhelmed the readers.

The duck-beast’s devotion to Eggman, and how the real thing contrasts with his actual impression of his hero, proves way more interesting. After Starline seemingly explodes Sonic and Silver, Eggman yanks him through the portal. While Starline was expecting Eggman to be happy that his mortal enemy is apparently dead, instead he’s enraged. Flynn leans on that old standby of “Only I’m allowed to defeat you” to explain why Eggman didn’t kill Sonic years ago. Which is pretty lame and undermines the ruthlessness Flynn has Eggman portray later in the book. Hopefully, Flynn is building towards a conflict between Eggman and Starline, with never meet your heroes emerging as the moral, as that’s way more interesting to me than Eggman’s willingness to actually defeat his foe.

While a number of other artists have worked in IDW’s “Sonic” already, Tracy Yardley continues to be the busiest hedgehog doodler in town. He does a fine job here. The action scenes, rout as they may be, are at least excitingly portrayed. The flying, splashing snow is a really dynamic addition to Sonic and Metal’s brawl, as they naturally kick up a lot of the stuff. His facial expressions remain as strong as ever too. I like the absolute glee on Eggman’s face as he cruelly taunts his latest test subjects or the awe Starline shows as he rants about his hero.

So, it’s another mixed bag. While there’s one or two moments here that I like, it’s difficult for me to recommend this comic book. Why is Flynn stretching things out so laboriously? The world is established and so are the characters, even the newer ones. There’s no reason to spin your wheels for another month, before actually starting the next story. My patience is starting to run out. [5/10]