Sonic the Hedgehog: Tangle & Whisper: Issue 4

Sonic the Hedgehog: Tangle & Whisper: Issue 4
Publication Date: December 11, 2019

Welcome to 2020, Hedgehogs Can’t Swim readers! I didn’t mean to take New Year’s Day off but the truth is I’m entering the new decade with a horrible cold. That, combined with generally being way behind schedule, meant I had to miss a day. Hopefully, I can get the blog back on track now that the new year is starting. And what better way is there to start the new year then by putting the previous year to bed? So let me wrap up my coverage of IDW’s recent “Tangle & Whisper” mini-series. (IDW delayed this issue several times, so I feel a little less bad about this review being a bit late.)

Anyway! “Showdown” has Whisper and Tangle on the former base of the Diamond Cutters, waiting for Mimic to arrive. Soon, the fight begins, the shapeshifters bringing a small army of Badniks with him. However, the fight ends up being more personal than that. While disguised as Sonic, Mimic tries to get the drop on Tangle. It doesn’t quite work out for him as a fight soon emerges. Once Whisper and Tangle have the villain at their mercy, they have to make the hard decision of what to do with him.

Somewhat disappointingly, the final issue of “Tangle & Whisper” plays out in as straight-forward a fashion as possible. As the title indicates, this issue is about nothing more than our heroes confronting the bad guy. Mimic has previously outsmarted Tangle and Whisper but they are ready for him this time... So ready, in fact, that they easily outsmart him. He falls into a trap he really should’ve been smart enough to see coming. Once ambushed, it’s not long before he’s beaten into submission. Seeing the heroes win is nice and all but I wish it had taken a little more effort on their behalf.

Having said that, Mimic at least continues to be a fun villain to watch. His ruthlessness remains amusingly hammy. While fighting Tangle, he assumes the form of Jewel, which successfully throws the lemur off enough for him to get a couple shots in. I guess it’s just typical Kid’s Media Villain Syndrome that he’s so easily beaten, that he monologues when he should be delivering a killing blow. (There is something of a disconnect there, as we already know Mimic is a remorseless killer.) Yet it is entertaining to watch him be such a son-of-a-bitch.

Though there’s another reason, beyond simple story logic, that Flynn probably should’ve acknowledged Mimic’s willingness to kill more. After Tangle wraps him up, Whisper puts the muzzle of her Wispon to his head. At this point, we have the old debate about whether or not it’s right to kill truly despicable people. Tangle eventually talks Whisper into taking the high ground. Instead of truly tangoing with the debatable ethics of capital punishment, or even acknowledging the contrast between Mimic’s willingness to kill and Whisper’s reluctance, Tangle just convinces Whisper that it’ll be a greater humiliation for Mimic to be captured, to live with the knowledge he failed. While discussing whether a remorseless murderer like Mimic truly deserves to live or not, I’m not shocked Flynn wimped out. Obviously, “Sonic” heroes aren’t killers, even if Eggman’s recent actions in the main series suggest maybe they should be. Besides, Flynn’s not going to throw away a good villain this soon, especially not when IDW’s Sonic-verse is still so young.

Moreover, the morality of executing evildoers is not Flynn's main point here. "Tangle & Whisper" is and always has been about the Power of Friendship. Mimic is pointedly shown as never caring about his fellow Diamond Cutters, which is why he was able to turn on them so easily. He refers to friends as a weakness, a liability. Tangle and Whisper, meanwhile, succeed because of their Friendship.(Though I wish Flynn showed them more actively working together in this issue.) Interestingly enough - and this is what makes the whole thing work for me - this bond is not depicted as an all-powerful, absolutely mending, magical process. Tangle and Whisper go their separate ways at the end of this issue. Whisper is still coming out of her shell, is still recovering from the trauma of her recent past. But the love and support Tangle is giving her has helped. The two have changed each other for the better. Isn't that nice? To see a kids comic acknowledge that, though friendship is a wonderful and healing thing, it also takes time? Either way, Tangle and Whisper are clearly BFFs and seeing them part is a bit bittersweet. Which is an interesting note to conclude the mini-series on.

Still, this is an issue largely devoted to action and, in that regard, it is a little disappointing. The small fleet of Badniks Eggman sends with Mimic apparently poses no threat to Whisper. She easily blasts a bunch away. It's such a non-challenge for Whisper, that her fight happens largely off-panel. This also keeps Tangle and Whisper apart for a long stretch of the story. When they finally come together, Mimic doesn't put up much of a fight. While it's certainly cathartic for the heroes to just wail on the bad guy for several panels, it reads as a bit of an anti-climax. After chasing the dude for three issues, he goes down after a few whacks. Sure, there are some neat superpowers on display. Whisper molds her wispon into a bludgeon while Tangle coils him up in her tail. But it's nothing we haven't seen them do before. I guess I was expecting a little more.

So "Tangle and Whisper" ends in a slightly underwhelming way. Still, three outta four ain't bad. "Tangle and Whisper" is still a winner in my book. While the main "Sonic" series is slightly more into defeatism, "Tangle and Whisper" was fun and bright yet emotional and meaningful. It's one of the few times when you can tell Flynn was really going for something deeper, about self-forgiveness and kindness. This issue probably tops out at a [6/10], maybe a [7/10] based on the strengths of those last few panels. But the entire mini-series was resoundingly a creative success. I have no idea what the sales figures were like but hopefully they were high enough to justify doing this again. If not as an on-going, at least as another limited series. Even if IDW is still pretty young, It's clear the supporting corners of the "Sonic" universe are where it's at.