Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): Issue 40

Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): Issue 40

Publication Date: June 9th, 2021

Time sure does fly when you're old. As a kid, the run from my first few issues of Archie "Sonic" to issue 40 – with its unforgettable Spaz cover, of Sonic dangling off Nack's hovercraft – seemed like a very long time. We had just wrapped up the epic "Metal Madness" arc and "Endgame," and the comic's first huge anniversary, wasn't far off. The truth is I hadn't even been reading the comic for two years by that point. But your perception of time literally speeds up as you age. IDW "Sonic" has been running a little over three years at this point, its own issue fifty fast approaching, and it still feels like the "new" Sonic comic in my brain. The point is: I'm old. It's going to happen to you too.

Anyway, enough of me rambling about my diseased brain. What about a plot synopsis for part four of "Test Run?" Sonic, Amy, and Tails are getting the stuffing kicked out of them by Eggman's remote-controlled robots, deep inside the pocket dimension he's created. Tangle arrives just in time to help out, turning the tide. In the control tower, Belle finally gets into contact with Eggman and has her worst fears confirmed: He is her creator. Before the little puppet has time to have a full-blown meltdown, the gateway into the pocket dimension starts to overload. Sonic, Amy, Tails, Tangle, and Belle make a quick escape right before the entire tower collapses in on itself.

This is the second full-length arc of Evan Stanley's writing we've gotten in this comic. Some of the problems I had with "Chao Races and Badnik Bases" reappear here. Namely, Stanley can't nail the landing, her pacing going out of control in the last chapter. Issue 40 is awkwardly split between the big boss battle happening within Eggman's manufactured dimension and Belle finally learning the truth about her origins. Neither is really given the page space they need to be satisfying, the comic rushing through both events in order to give everything wrapped up in time. I don't think Stanley is a bad writer but it's becoming increasingly clear that it's hard for her to tell a complete story – or at least a satisfying one – in four issues.

Last time, I was underwhelmed that a story that had been imaginative and mildly spooky up to this point was ending with a generic boss bottle. One gets the impression that Stanley wasn't much invested in the fight between Sonic's gang and the robots either. While Eggman is having his little chat with Belle, he leaves the machines on auto-pilot. With Tangle's assistance, this is when the battle starts to turn in our hero's favor... And it mostly happens off-panel. We see that Amy started swinging the fire machine around like her hammer and that the water machine got wrapped up in its own hoses. But we don't see how these events actually played out. We're just dropped back into the tail end of the battle, our heroes already on the way to their victory.

The worst part is that there are hints the fight with the machines could've been more compelling. In the beginning of the comic, Sonic and the others are all but beaten. The hedgehog is sliding all over the place thanks to the water-spraying bot. Amy and Tails are encircled in flames and starting to become exhausted. Sonic is still fighting back, telling lame jokes and trying new strategies all the while, but you can tell his resistance is starting to wear thin. If Stanley has focused on that desperation a little more, this would've been an exciting battle. Instead, Tangle drops in, Eggman is AFK for a minute, and our heroes win in-between sequences.

This is not the only missed opportunity in this issue. After Eggman reveals to Belle that he is, in fact, her Daddy, he proceeds to explain how this whole set-up works. That he built a pocket dimension, that there's an ever-expanding maze around a generic town where he can test bizarre new evolutions of his Badniks. Its exposition devoted to explaining things we already know. Afterwards, Belle and Tangle leaving the door open too long cause a fatal feedback loop that makes the entire tower ouroboros itself. It's a sloppy explanation for the entire building going boom, to force a dramatic escape for our heroes. Once again, it feels like Stanley shoved this in because she felt she had to. That the arc needed to end with blockbuster pyrotechnics, no matter how contrived.

The one non-disappointing part of "Test Run's" end is Belle finally discovering her "Mr. Tinker" and Eggman are the same person. It's a pretty shattering experience for the little puppet, to learn that the loving creator you remember is actually – and has always been – the monstrous villain you're fighting. The callousness with which Eggman treats this information is nice. But I wanted a little more. Belle cries about it for a while – I guess her tear ducts are wooden too – and explains that she hoped she had more of a purpose. Then Tangle pats her on the head and says it's alright and then the issue ends. I hope the book continues to mine Belle's angst for further dramatic material. If a pat on the back and a short pep talk is all it takes for her to realize her dad being evil doesn't mean she has to be evil, it'll be such a waste.

Adam Bryce Thomas draws the first six pages with Stanley herself doing the rest of the book. The art is fine but does look slightly rushed, making me wonder if Thomas came in last minute to lighten Stanley's load. (Regular commenter Digamma-F-Wau informs me on Twitter that Stanley's page had separate inkers, which might explain why it looks a little off.) Overall, the "Test Run" arc had some great moments but really petered out in the second half. Honestly, I really wish Stanley had focused the entire story on Sonic being stuck in an endless maze and played up the existential horror a little more. IDW is rushing out issue 41 next week, which has Ian Flynn returning to kick-off an arc about the Deadly Six, so who knows when we'll get back to Belle and whatever spooky shit Starline was planning... [6/10]