Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): Issue 54

Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): Issue 54

Publication Date: October 26th, 2022

Which method do you prefer? A constant deluge of new content, always dropping down on your head all the time, or a slow drip-release of shit to talk about? This is a debate people have been having for a while and Netflix, a long time proponent of the "binge method" of release, seems to be moving towards the weekly release schedule. It really does seem a slower release, that gives people more time to think about and discuss things, keeps stuff in the public consciousness longer. I don't know if the comic industry has learned that yet though, as IDW has put out two "Sonic" comics this month. I guess last week's "Scrapnik Island" issue made me reset my brain or something because I forgot a new issue of the regular "Sonic" book came out this week until I saw it was released. Well, I guess I'll just talk about it today. 

Anyway! Let's pick up where we left off last time. Sonic and Surge are still rumbling in Central City, the hedgehog starting to feel overwhelmed. Whisper gives Sonic her last wisp but that only leads to Surge completing her collection, making her even more powerful. Tails MacGuyvers a device to slow the villain down out of random shit he found in a hardware store. When Kit arrives and sees that his waifu is still alive, he gets all sore at Tails and runs off with the incapacitated Surge in his arms. Meanwhile, Eggman is cooking up his own evil scheme. 

I guess, the older I get, the less patience I have for the action comic story structure. What was the point of the "Overpowered" story arc? Sure, it added a little more character development to the new villainous duo. Yet it seems to have mostly existed to tell us things we already know, in preparation for more important events further down the line. Surge got more powerful by swiping Whisper's little floaty alien friends, an event that will surely be undone in time. Kit spent a little time with the heroes before ending up back with his partner-in-crime, making his recent character development seem like a waste. Surge announced to the world that she's a bad-ass threat that equals, and maybe surpasses, Sonic in power... But we knew that already, didn't we? 

Honestly, these last two issues really just seemed like an excuse for Sonic and Surge to duke it out, for this comic to fulfil its requirements as an action series. Unfortunately, as I've previously stated, Evan Stanley's writing shows its greatest weaknesss during her fight scenes. This is another rumble that feels over dependent on what power-ups the characters have at this moment. Whisper loaning Sonic her last remaining wisp, just for Surge to suck that one up too, feels like a totally pointless moment. It has no effect on the story and achieves nothing but fill page space. Why not just have Surge grab all of Whisper's wisps at once? It really feels like Stanley was thinking "Oh, we haven't seen Sonic get a wisp power-up in this comic, let's do that." And that kind of fanboy driven speculation almost never leads to valuable storytelling. 

All this fight scene really does – and I genuinely don't know if this is a good thing or not – is undermine Surge's qualifications as a badass. Sonic's ankle is still fucked-up and he has to stall for time, so Tails can slap together a gizmo to save the day. This leads the battling duo into a hardware store, where Sonic just repeatedly punks Surge. He trips her by throwing nuts and screws on the floor, causing her to do an epic face plant. He slams a bucket down on her head. This is after a frankly hilarious panel of Surge shooting a laser beam from her eyes, like she's cosplaying as Cyclops or something. I'm still internally debating whether humiliating Surge like this makes her less of a threat or if it's funny and, therefore, good. 

But let's talk about Kit for a bit. The fallout of issue fifty really made it seem like Surge's soggy sidekick would be hanging around with the good guys for a while. The idea of the fidget pity fennec learning that the people he has was programmed to hate weren't so bad, and being forced to confront his devotion to Surge, would've been a compelling story arc. Instead, this issue immediately has him teaming back up with Surge. The minute he sees that onee-chan is still alive, he immediately falls back into his old programming of hanging onto everywhere word she says and being totally devoted to her. He even scornfully sneers at Tails, about why he would ever want to hangout with him when he's got a supercool big brother of his own to look up to. 

On one hand, I guess this is realistic. We can't expect Kit's entire personality to change overnight. In my experience, people usually keep doing the things they've always done. Of course Kit will continue to be a huge, pathetic simp to Surge. It's literally what he's been programmed to do. Yet it does seem like a waste of a good plot point. I think Kit being forced out of his comfort zone, and challenging the preconceived notions he has in his brain, would've been more interesting to watch then immediately getting these two back together. 

Then again, maybe these two screwups need each other. After Kit rescues Surge, there's a cute scene of the two of them hiding out in Starline's old base. (While Kit holds up a lantern with a water tentacle.) Surge is tormented by another ghostly vision of Starline that only fades once Kit gives her a great big hug. It's nice to see this character, who prides herself upon being a perpetually edgy bad-ass all the time, show a little vulnerability. She even cries a bit! She puts a hardened exterior back up as soon as possible but it just further established that, yes, Surge is a sad hurt little kid deep inside. Plus it's cute. 

Ultimately, that's when this issue really started to work for me. Once the formulaic fighting is all over, and things slow down for some interaction between these characters, that's when the issue starts to become good. For example, there's a really cute series of panels where Belle attempts to comfort Whisper. I like that. I even kind of like the joke about Cubot having a Vocaloid style action figure, as out-of-place as that particular moment is. (Feels like Stanley was getting a little "Boom" in our IDW there.) I guess at this point, it should come as no surprise that the little character beats are more compelling to me than the characters beating on each other.

Issue 54 reveals itself as one of those issues that exist mostly to pad the story out until the next big action beat. It seems the next series of issues will involve Eggman in this tussle, which is set-up here. It's frustrating that the smaller moments are so compelling when the book seems more preoccupied with deeply pedestrian fight scenes. I guess that's just the name of the game when you're reading a kids' book ostensibly targeted at seven-year-old boys. [6/10]