Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): Issue 31

Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): Issue 31

Publication Date: September 16th, 2020

As the real world remains in the grips of a deadly virus that isn’t going away any time soon, Ian Flynn and IDW’s “Sonic” comic must’ve found itself in a weird situation. Flynn will always deny all political subtext but he stumbled into a shockingly relevant blue cartoon hedgehog book here. When all we wanted was escapism, he had to run with a grim storyline he plotted out years ago. Now, the zombie apocalypse is finally behind the “Sonic” comic but it’s in the uncomfortable place of seeming insincere. We now know that the world will not move on easily from a shattering pandemic. How does a goofy kids book go about acknowledging that?

By mostly ignoring the problem, it seems. “Recovery, Part 1” focuses on the Restoration attempting to, uh, restore things back to normal. Amy is utterly overwhelmed, feeling like she’s not the person for this job. Jewel offers to help. The Chaotix are similarly swamped with missing person cases, with Cream and Vanilla stepping up to assist. Tails, Tangle, and the others turn to helping out however they can and celebrating... But Eggman has other plans. Meanwhile, in Blaze’s dimension, Sonic is totally unaware of who he is.

Yes, Flynn totally dodges the question of “how does the world come back after the apocalypse” by not focusing on the world at all. We do not see any ruined cities being rebuilt. We do not see former Zombots reuniting with their family. We certainly don’t see people grappling with the trauma of having been zombified. We don’t even know if they remember anything about the experience. The only nod towards the world being totally devastated is a panel of Amy standing in a ruined office — lol nobody thought to move Restoration HQ to a new building? — and the Chaotix subplot acknowledging that there’s a ton of missing people. Flynn doesn’t even bother to show Gemerl being repaired. He shows up here without a huge hole in his chest.

Instead, the focus is on the characters’ eagerness to return to normal. This desire is made very literal when Silver returns to his future and finds a shining, towering city. (Is Silver constantly aware of the shifting timeline? Can he not just pick a good future and live there?) Tails is utterly certain Sonic is alive and will return. Whisper’s biggest concern is that the Babylon Rogues were invited to the victory party. Everyone seems happy to help undo the devastation that is presumably just off-panel. I guess this is the difference between a cartoon virus that leaves its infectees alive and a real world virus that has killed almost two million people. But the narrow focus on just how our superhero protagonists are feeling makes it hard to swallow this recovery. 

But I’ve been bitching a lot lately about how the book can’t slow down and focus on the characters getting to feel things. Admittedly, “Recovery, Part 1” does feature some decent moments of that sort. Amy and, weirdly, Shadow are the only ones seemingly mourning Sonic. Amy misses when things were simpler and she was just a goofy fan girl chasing after her favorite teen idol. Yeah, I miss that world too, pink hedgehog. Shadow, meanwhile, has to acknowledge his sadness in the gruffest, broodest manner possible. Sonic proved him wrong — Shadow wasn’t strong enough to fight off the Zombots — and now he can’t even tell the guy how humbled he is. Sega is supposedly insisting Ian always write Shadow as a headstrong asshole, so I’m willing to consider any change in his attitude as positive character development.  

Ultimately, it’s up to Tangle and Whisper to really keep me reading. Tangle, being her empathetic self, honestly asks Tails how he’s doing in the face of Sonic’s apparent loss. Later, she has to tell Whisper to calm down after she spots the Rogues. It’s really adorable how much these two lesbians love each other, especially in the panel where Whisper’s tail starts wagging as Tangle puts an arm on her shoulder. There’s also a pretty cute moment of what I’m guessing is flirting between Vanilla and Vector, a ship that seemingly has some precedence but I had never even considered before. But I get it, because Vanilla is a single mom that has been alone for years and Vector is jacked. Cream’s mom, I give you permission to go ahead and get croc’d. (Jet’s character development apparently went right in the shitter though, as he’s back to being just as annoying now as he was to begin with.) 

I guess my main complaint with “Recovery, Part 1” is that it’s not as character focused as it seems to be. This is an issue focused more in figuring out where the characters will physically be, post-Metal Virus, than considering how they are feeling. Flynn makes sure to set up several future plot lines. Eggman immediately goes back to scheming, which does lead to some amusing comic relief with Omega. This seems to promise a big ol’ action scene next issue, which makes this old man sigh a little. Starline reappears, his faith in Eggman’s methods shaken but not his fan boy devotion to the doctor’s genius. Rough and Tumble are dug out of a hole and let loose. Presumably as set-up for the then-upcoming “Bad Guys” mini-series. Even when taking a breather, Flynn has to keep plotting. 

Most questionable is Sonic’s fate. The titular hedgehog only appears in the first few pages. Seemingly, he has no memory of his heroics on Mobius his home world. Instead, he’s adopted a foppish dandy persona known as Mr. Needlemouse, much to Blaze’s visible annoyance. You may recognize this as almost the exact same plot Eggman went through in the comic’s first year. Maybe Mr. Tinker being so well received is why Flynn is visiting a similar fate on Sonic. Is this going to follow up on Eggman’s theory that Sonic isn’t so different from him after all? Will Mr. Needlemouse be a villain or at least a huge prick? Or is Flynn just utterly out of ideas? I guess I’ll find out soon enough. 

Hey, at least it all looks nice.  Adam Bryce Thomas isn’t just excellent at action. This more conversation based issue shows his general mastery of the “Sonic” world.  He really conveys how overwhelmed Vector and Amy feel in these moments, the former’s facial expressions being especially well done. This emotional drawing creates some comic relief too, as Rough and Tumble and Tangle and Whisper both get some amusing reaction shots. Thomas is even good at suggesting what the otherwise stoic Shadow must be feeling in all this. Thomas is also the only artist currently working on this book that draws Rouge at the correct level of thiccness, an observation I definitely did not need to put into words. 

Man, the people who really enjoy IDW “Sonic” must think I’m the bitchiest old man alive. Sorry, guys, but this issue didn’t really work for me either. Though Flynn is handling the aftermath better here than he did in the previous issue, he’s still too focused on plot and enough on heart. [6/10]