Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): Issue 25

Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): Issue 25
Publication Date: February 12, 2020

IDW’s “Sonic” comic now begins its third year. Archie would always make a big deal about anniversaries, even if two or five years aren’t commonly celebrated that way at the other big comic companies. Even though the Archie legacy has ended, some old habits truly do die hard. Sonic is making a big two-five on the A cover, which is drawn by superstar artist Tyson Hesse. The introduction and title page have been slightly re-designed too. The celebration ends as soon as you open the book though. We are still mired in the oppressively grim Metal Virus Saga and things are going to get worst before they get better.

“A Sudden Shift” finally asks the question of what the hell Knuckles has been up to while the world is in the throes of a crisis. Apparently he’s just been chilling on Angel Island, totally unaware of what’s happening below. Sonic and the threadbare remains of the Restoration pay him a surprise visit. They are soon joined by Eggman and Starline. See, Starline’s plan to bring in the Deadly Six and take control of the Zombot horde went spectacularly wrong. Instead, the Zetis immediately turned on the doctors and seized control of the Empire. Now, enemies — including some faces we haven’t seen in a while — must put aside their differences if they hope to save a doomed world.

A bad habit of Ian Flynn’s that I’ve observed in the past is his focus on plot mechanics over other, more pressing matters. Yep, this is another one of those issues devoted to rearranging the pieces, moving all the characters and necessary elements into place, before starting the next chapter. In screenwriting, we call this the tedious end-of-second-act plot shift. And, ya know, it’s pretty much the last thing I care about right now. It seems like most of the world are zombies, the heroes are at wit’s end, and even the bad guys are screwed. Watching Flynn re-juggle his action figures before the next big set piece is just not interesting to me right now. The majority of this issue is everyone just considering various new plans and it’s so boring.

Granted, this is a scenario potentially loaded with dramatic tension. The Deadly Six betray Starline, forcing Eggman and his lackey to make a quick escape. When Eggman decides the Warp Topaz is the key to controlling the Zombot crisis, he screws over the platypus, forcing the henchman to make a drastic escape. (Presumably so he can be brought back for a future story arc, as a chaotic third party.) This stuff is shockingly low on tension though. Because we always knew the Deadly Six were going to betray Eggman, because Flynn fucking told us. We knew a schism was coming between Starline and his boss, as it’s been gratuitously foreshadowed for months. There’s no friction at all in Eggman and the Restoration forming a truce, everyone immediately deciding they have no choice but to work together.

While I emphatically do not care about the Babylon Rogues, Flynn bringing them in is the most unexpected twist in this issue. Because they aren’t characters I remember or think about, I genuinely did not expect their arrival. The moment Sonic convinces Jet to help them out by appealing to his ego is some clever writing. Flynn also sneaks in one really touching emotion moment, that he honestly should’ve built the entire issue around. While Eggman formulates a plan with the Restoration, Whisper has him in her cross hairs. Only Cream pleading to her better nature, resulting in lots of tears from everyone present, prevents the wolf from assassinating the Eggman right then and there. Imagine if this wasn’t a book shackled by corporate mandates. Whisper, emotionally traumatized and totally justified in her actions, blows Robotnik’s head off and suddenly the story just got a whole lot more interesting. It wouldn’t make things any better for our heroes but, damn it, Whisper’s grief deserves validation.

But Flynn can’t get that dark. Instead, he gets extremely dark in other ways. With the Zetis assuming control of the Zombots, they latch down on the world in various horrible ways. Zomom demands a village feed him an endless supply of food, or else they'll be infected. Zeena does the same thing but with gifts and jewels instead. An almost tastelessly dark panel has Zor — the goth Zeti, a ridiculous character whose nihilism Flynn plays totally straight — forcing a Mobian to watch as he infects the man’s child. Maybe it’s just because the book has been dumping one hopeless story event on us after another. (Which also includes an exhausted Silver, arriving from the decimated future, I should add.) Maybe it’s because the Deadly Six are such shallow, uninteresting, cartoonish villains. Maybe it’s because a real pandemic is spreading across the world right now. Either way, I have no patience for how grim this series has gotten recently.

While the script remains bleak, at least the artist is having fun. Adam Bryce Thomas, once again, contributes some excellent images. The shots of Whisper’s face twisting in agony continue to be viscerally upsetting. His line art makes the Deadly Six, goofy-ass looking characters, far more intimidating than they would’ve been otherwise. He also adds some unexpected humor. Like Amy’s eyes glinting with homicidal clarity the minute Eggman appears on the island. Or everyone’s reaction when the sound of Storm’s rumbling belly interrupts a serious conversation.

Hopefully, Flynn spending this entire issue setting up the dominoes for the big finale means this story arc only has a few more issues left to go. I’m really ready to move on to something less apocalyptic, Ian. As for this issue, it’s mostly yet another miserable slog. Remember when “Sonic” comics were fun? Yeah, okay, me neither. [5/10]