Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): Issue 36

Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): Issue 36

Publication Date: January 13, 2021

In the past, after catching with IDW's ongoing "Sonic" comics, I've always tried to post reviews of the new issues as they come out. Usually, I post these reviews as bonus content on the weekends, so as not to disturb the perfect flow of my regular Monday-Wednesday-Friday updates. That never really worked for me though, as I usually just forgot to post on Sunday or whatever. I guess I've really gotten used to the rhythm of the three-updates-a-week schedule. So, from now on, new IDW reviews will pop up on one of the regular days, whenever I get around to writing them. Got it? Okay, good, let's continue.

Anyway, here we are at the last issue of "Chao Races And Badnik Chases." (Which is apparently actually entitled "Chao Races and Badnik Bases" and I've just been writing it wrong the whole time.) As an avalanche races towards the chateau, Sonic and Shadow are forced to choose between saving their friends – still Starline's prisoners on the roller coaster – and saving the innocent bystanders. Sonic makes the hard choice of stopping the avalanche. Luckily, Rouge and Tails save themselves and disengage from Starline. Meanwhile, Belle and Cream successfully free the Chao held in Clutch's suite, giving the gang the extra strength needed to defeat the unleashed Badniks. The group confront Starline one more time as they escape the building. 

Evan Stanley pulls off something surprising with this issue: She made me laugh several times. Yes, this issue is just full of chuckles. When Rouge frees herself, she gives a shout to Omega's disembodied head to activate his "auditory interference." Which means he starts screaming at Starline until he drops him, which is pretty funny. At the end, when Cream is explaining her adventure to a none-too-pleased Vanilla, Rouge vacates the area in an amusing manner. Mostly, this issue is a treasure trove of delightful reaction shots. Whether it be Sonic's shocked look when the barricade of trees he made does not stop the avalanche, Belle's eyes rolling back as the Chao burst free from their cage, or Starline deadpanning as the avalanche barrels down on him, this issue made me chuckle far more than expected. 

The levity comes at a cost though. This is a story with a time limit. Our heroes have to stop the bad guy, get the robot parts they need, and escape the building before the avalanche flattens all of it. Despite that being a good way to generate suspense, the events in Clutch's room certainly seem to take up a lot of time. Avalanches don't take that long to get down a mountainside, Evan! But it ends up not mattering. All the hotel guests were safely evacuated off-panel before the snow plows through the building, which is why there's no suspenseful panels of our heroes helping everyone get out in time. Sonic and Shadow harmlessly jump out of the newly-created snow bank at the end, totally fine. A giant wall of snow colliding with him at ramming speed doesn't seem to slow Starline down much either. Why introduce a natural disaster like that if it's not going to affect the plot more?

Looking back at "Chao Races and Badnik Chases Bases" as a whole, a concern I had early on turned out to be well-founded. Stanley just put a little too much plot, a few too many characters, into this arc. Ask yourself: What was the emotional core of this story anyway? Is it Belle being accepted among the good guys? That kind of happens on the sidelines of the main plot. Was it the effort to restore Omega? It seems like that, ostensibly the motivating force of the entire story, was often forgotten in all the competing plot lines. Stanley seems to bet on Clutch's abused Chao being freed to be what plucks at our heartstrings this time. If that's the case, Stanley should've focused more on depicting the Chao as abused victims and less as the assholes that Cheese was competing against earlier. 

Stanley should've made Belle's subplot a backstory running concurrently with the main story, to give her introduction a little more room to breathe, and resisted the temptation to indulge her Chao fetish altogether. Instead, she should've focused more on the bits of character development that grabbed me the most. I've seen people complaining about Shadow's characterization in the IDW comic. Yes, he has been an overly gruff asshole. But one must remember that this Shadow hasn't had the character development Archie's version did. We start to see his prickly exterior defrost a bit here. He's focused solely on getting revenge on Starline before Rouge points out that people might die in the avalanche, asking if he could live with that. He makes the right, moral decision and tries to stop the snowfall. (Not that it ends up mattering but never mind.) Closer to the end, while having a terse and mildly homoerotic conversation with Sonic, Shadow secretly passes an apple to the little asshole Chao that shares his likeness. That's a cute little touch, that shows Shadow isn't a relentlessly dour douchebag one hundred percent of the time, even if he's not willing to admit it. Hopefully, by this time next year, IDW Shadow will be more comfortable letting the wannabe tough guy/bad boy façade slide. 

The other bit of character development that intrigues me is Cream and Gemerl's increasingly codependent relationship. Gemerl is getting his shit wrecked a lot here of late, to the point where it's getting hard to take him seriously as a protector at all. In this issue, some simple Badniks are enough to leave him wobbly and sparking. That's when Cream has a brief heart-to-heart with the robot, informing him that it's not just his job to protect her. She can protect him too. They've got each other's back. Which is a nice moment and seems to build on the events both characters lived through during the Metal Virus saga.

Considering the announcements for the upcoming issues, it looks like Evan Stanley will remain in the head writer's chair for at least one more story arc. Which might be why she devotes some time to setting up future plot points at the tail end of this issue. Starline's motivation is revealed: He wanted to capture Tails. The final scene reveals he just grabbed a handful of his fur, which the doctor implies will be enough for whatever he's planning. Is IDW's "Sonic" headed for a clone saga or does Tails have some special property the doctor wants to exploit? Meanwhile, the exact nature of Belle's creator is being kept mysterious... Even though I thought Mr. Tinker was already confirmed to be her builder. Is Stanley planning a twist there or is she just bad as disguising her intentions? I guess we'll find out in the upcoming months. 

If it seems like I was harsh on this story arc, I'm sorry about that. I did enjoy "Chao Races and Badnik Bases" overall. Stanley pretty clearly set out to write a fun, light-hearted arc to act as a breather following a year full of turmoil and a horrible virus. (Both in and out of the comic.) I just wish she balanced her various ingredients a little better. This arc had a lot of delightful moments but lacked cohesion. If she's going to stick around as head writer, hopefully she'll get a little better at that. But I guess I'm in a good mood, as I'm still giving this issue a soft recommendation. [7/10]