Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): Issue 35

Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): Issue 35

Publication Date: December 2nd, 2020

So here’s something that personally pleased my OCD. IDW packed the last two months of 2020 with “Sonic” content, insuring that both the “Chao Races and Badnik Chases” story arc in the main book and the “Bad Guys” mini-series wrapped up before the year ends. (Issue 36 of “Sonic” came out on the 30th of December, just barely squeaking in.) Which means both arcs will be under consideration for my yearly Best/Worst. That makes me happy, that I can really consider the year as a full entity, instead of having to judge any unfinished. This means nothing to most readers but, ya know, I gotta be me.

[Update: Nevermind, the last issue got delayed so just disregard this entire paragraph]

Anyway, part three of “Chao Races and Badnik Chases” picks up with Sonic, Tails, and Belle in an Eggman base full of exploding Badniks. With some quick assistance from their new puppet friend, Sonic and Tails make it out. That’s when an emergency call from Rouge calls the trio away to White Park. Sonic drops Belle off with Amy and Cream, to help free the abused Chao. That’s when Clutch awakens and summons some Badniks if his own, complicating matters. Tails wants to help Rouge and immediately gets his dumb ass captured. He awakens in a careening roller coaster with Rouge, who reports she was brainwashed by a mysterious stranger. Sonic and Shadow swoop in to help, though the asshole behind these shenanigans has other plans. 

Earlier in this story arc, I wondered if Evan Stanley would be able to balance the various plot points she was juggling. Turns out, this was a valid concern! “Chao Races and Badnik Chases” starts to go off-the-rails — lol rollercoaster pun — in its third installments. Stanley has trouble keeping track of where all her characters are. Belle has to get in Clutch’s penthouse, to help unlock those Chao and prove her worthiness. Meanwhile, Tails needs to end up in that rollercoaster, so Sonic has someone to rescue. Yet, to keep the stakes continuously rising, Stanley introduces more evil robots for Amy to fight. This ends up making Sonic look like an ass, as he immediately abandons Amy and friends just when he was needed the most. You know things are getting a little convoluted when Stanley has to introduce magical mind control to ensure all the characters are moving in the directions she needs them to.

It’s a little frustrating to see the plot get jumbled up like this and to see the characters get lost in the shuffle. It’s nothing new for this comic, as Stanley follows in Flynn’s footsteps by adding bigger and bigger action scenes. Twice in this issue, a sudden tidal wave of Badniks show up to complicate things for our heroes. This makes sense for an Eggman base but seems slightly random in Clutch’s penthouse. Wouldn’t it have made more sense for everyone to gather by the roller coaster for the big finale next issue? But, no, we need more action now now NOW. So Stanley throws in a neigh-indestructible giant polar bear robot for Amy and Gemerl to battle. This also allows Clutch to escape, insuring they’ll meet again and always in more sexy and exciting ways. Another example of narrative logic being sacrificed for comic-book-y impulses. 

I guess that’s just par the course for comics. Something that’s also par for this specific hedgehog-related course is characters being immediately defined by their superpowers. Belle had a promising introduction last issue, as a sad toy eager to find an inventor who no longer exists. I imagine Belle’s Quixotic quest to reunite with Mr. Tinker will come up again. For now, she’s a puppet girl with lock-picking tools in her finger tips, a gimmick which just happens to be useful to our heroes at that exact moment. Maybe it’s just me but I’m more interested in Belle’s psychosis than her superpowers. Also, the good guys immediately integrate this former Eggman robot into their team, which probably isn’t the best idea. There should be a probationary screening period before someone can join the Restoration.

The fucked-up plot doesn’t really start to move smoothly again until the final third. Once the strangled set-up for getting everyone in place is passed, Stanley creates a pretty cool action sequences. A roller coaster is a dynamic setting for a fight. Shadow’s reappearance is nicely dramatic. The issue ends on one hell of a cliffhanger, with an avalanche heading towards the hotel. Yet there’s a problem with these events as well. Stanley reveals who the mysterious parka wearer with the glow-y hands is. It’s Starline, which is not as cool as the ideas I had and also spoils the end of “Bad Guys.” Now we know Starline makes it out of that story just fine and seemingly with more superpowers than ever before. I doubt this was Stanley’s fault and might have been a scheduling mishap. But, damn, you couldn’t have held off on that reveal for another month?

About the only character development we get in this issue centers around Amy. She continues to be pulled in two by her desire to be a useful, strong Freedom Fighter Restorer(?) and her nostalgia for simpler days. She gets all blushy and shy when Sonic drops in, her crush clearly still intact. At the same time, she is determined to topple the bear-bot. After her recent abandonment of her Restoration leader role, she’s eager to prove to herself that she’s still a competent warrior. This would actually put that really shitty moment from a few months back — where she fled from Eggman during the victory party — in a better context. Amy still wants to be a bad-ass but she’s been overwhelmed here of late. She’s basically having an apocalypse-induced breakdown. I feel ya, Amy. Hopefully the book is actually building towards something with this and it’s not just Sega’s corporate mandates fucking the comic’s characterization.

Evan Stanley wrote and drew the last two issues, which is a lot for one person to manage. So, for issue 35, Adam Bryce Thomas was drafted to handle the art duties. I wonder if this wasn’t a last minute decision, as Thomas’ work is not up to his usual standards. In fact, the action scenes are a little hard to follow here. I’m still not entirely sure what happened in the first scene in the Eggman base. There’s a little too much leaping and speeding around for me to keep track of everything. Amy fights with the ursine Badnik is also a little incoherent. It’s possible that Thomas’ love of stylized action scenes might have gotten a little ahead of him here. Or maybe he was just on a tight deadline. Obviously the dude is talented so I’m just chalking this one up to an off day. 

After two enjoyable issues, “Chao Races and Badnik Chases” starts to eat its own tail a little, an event I foresaw happening. Stanley probably should’ve just focused on Amy, Rouge, and Cream sneaking around a casino, instead of trying to cram in two or three other plot points into this story arc. Maybe it’ll all come together swimmingly next issue. As for this one, I’m afraid I have to hand out another [6/10].