Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): Issue #58
Publication Date: March 1st, 2023
The exact machinations of comic book release schedules remain a bit mysterious to me, as you've no doubt observed during previous reviews. Issue 58 of IDW's "Sonic" book was originally due out on the first of March, 2023. For whatever reason, it was then pushed a week ahead... Yet, through methods I can only speculate on, the issue ended up leaking on the original release date. This prompted IDW to just go ahead and put the book out on the 1st digitally, with the physical release following on the 8th. This really raises the question of why the issue was delayed in the first place. Are their weird contractual or printing factory limits involved or something? My fiancée was the business major, not me, so this kind of shit goes over my English-major-having ass.
Anywho, "Urban Warfare Part 2" picks up with Sonic battling Badniks in the otherwise empty Eggperial City. He gets a helping hand when Silver, Blaze, Amy, and Tails show up. After clearing out the army of robots, the quartet formulate a plan to disrupt Eggman's new power supply and free Whisper, Tangle, and Lanolin. The Diamond Cutters, while inside this weird micro-dimension, talk out some insecurities and try to put their own plan together.
I criticized the previous issue for Ian Flynn's structure-centric writing. The first part of "Urban Warfare" was really preoccupied with laying the groundwork for the rest of this story arc. Unfortunately, this matter-of-fact, plot-heavy style continues in this second part. After being joined by the other heroes and clearing out the Badniks, Sonic and his friends turn their eyes towards saving their friends... Which means busting up the power source for Eggman's city. This leads to several very dull pages of our cast reasoning out how Eggman's latest scheme is powered and how they can interrupt that cycle. Really, the panels devoted to Sonic or someone suggesting an approach, only for that plan to be rebuked via another character spouting off some exposition, feels like the stuff of fanfiction. I don't read this comic to learn the mechanics of Eggman's improbable mad science! Approaching a story only in terms of what the plot can and can't do – much less devoting most of the dialogue to that exact topic – strikes me as pretty boring.
It also doesn't help that this story feels strangely free of tension. At the very beginning of the comic, Sonic is alone in a city surrounded by enemies. That sounds pretty upsetting, especially since he just watch his friends get sucked into an inter-dimensional reverse wedgie. Instead, the hedgehog is smirking in that first panel. After his friends show up, they make scrap metal of the Badniks quickly enough. Especially with Blaze and Silver's superpowers. These pages are devoted to the heroes tearing up the robots, not struggling against them. Amy grabbing the mallet from an Egg Hammer robot and turning it against the machine is played like a big, bad-ass moment... Yet it's hard to feel like the heroes have ever been challenged in these scuffles. Only after dropping the hammer on the machine's head does Amy seem to sweat any. It's a scene devoted to showing how tough and strong she is, not to making the good guys feel like they are outnumbered and outgunned.
The cumulative effect is an issue that feels like it has little at stake. Even the Diamond Cutters, stuck in a pocket dimension, don't seem to be in any particular danger. They're just cut off from their friends. Sonic and the gang focus on cleaning the Badniks out of the city, before turning towards destroying the giant crystals that are now powering the city. I suppose some people might consider this a positive feature but that kind of structure – of “let's do this thing and then go here and then do this thing” – feels like a video game. It might be fun to play through a game and achieve such objectives. But reading something like this is not very entertaining or involving.
About only one character moment emerges out of this collection of superpower displays and simple A-to-B plotting. While rushing off to their next goal, Sonic shares some banter with Tails and Silver. He reflects to himself about how much easier these things are with friends and how much fun he's having. (Maybe this mission being “fun” is why there's not much suspense in this issue.) I've noted in the past that Sonic works best when part of a team setting. While the IDW series has waffled back and forth on whether Sonic is a regular member of the Restoration, I'm glad to see Flynn outright admitting that the hedgehog is better served when surrounded by his allies.
I guess, if the Sonic half of this issue is devoted to uninvolving action, the emotional content here is devoted to the Diamond Cutters' subplot. While trapped inside this alternate dimension, the trio end up talking out their differences. Lanolin is feels like she's failed her friend, in the way she herself felt after her village was attacked all the way back in issue 2. Whisper expresses her still lingering pain over the death of the original Diamond Cutters, which she was reminded of when Tangle brought up that name. She then realizes that her friends have never given up on her, even when she's given up on herself. By the end of this conversation, the trio re-devote themselves to escaping their situation.
Ya know what this whole sequence feels like to me? A group therapy session. The same sort of mechanical writing that is evident in the A-plot is also clear here. Ian Flynn approaches the characters' emotional problems in the same sort of direct fashion that he does the action storyline, just having everyone bring up what's bothering them and then immediately resolve it with a few words. It doesn't feel very emotionally honest but, ya know what? I'll take it. Simply just because seeing Whisper get back together with Tangle, to finally put this schism between them aside, makes me happy. May our favorite furry lesbians never be torn asunder again.
What does end up elevating this moment further is that Tangle is, simply put, friggin' adorable. Thomas Rothlisberger clearly has a great time drawing the lemur and all the BIG EMOTIONS she likes to express. She grasps her hands towards the heavens and makes a goofy face when screeching about “this sci-fi whatever!” She springs up in the air on her tail while giving Lanolin a pep talk. She wraps herself in her tail and mumbles through it when Whisper expounds on her pain. After Whisper and Lanolin shake hands and agree to keep using the Diamond Cutters name, Tangle beams with utter joy. I just love this big goofball, you guys.
Rothlisberg's artwork is excellent all throughout, of course. It's not as detailed or dynamic as some of his past work. Which is not to disparage his action scenes, which are well organized if a little overly posed. (A panel of Silver standing in a psychic bubble with his arms out looks a bit too loose for my taste as well.) Yet the big cheesy grins, hyper-expressive faces, or silly expressions the characters wear throughout do a lot of heavy lifting here. I'd wager that Rothlisberger's artwork adds more emotional heft to this story than Flynn's script does.
Maybe it's just because I've gotten used to Evan Stanley's particular style of writing but I can't help but feel like Ian is phoning it in on this one. Thus far, “Urban Warfare” has felt largely uninspired with extremely ho-hum plotting. The last two issues have mostly been tedious plot set-up and action scenes so lacking in tension that they might as well be filler. Throwing a bunch of Sonic's friends together on a robot murder-fest feels like a desperate attempt to gain fan approval. This continues to be the case as the final page approaches and promises add yet another group of Sega-created cast members we haven't seen in a while. I'm really getting taken back to the “Hedgehog Havoc” arc here, another time when Flynn threw together a bunch of characters and had them fight it out simply because I guess he didn't have any better ideas that month.
If it wasn't for the interaction between Tangle, Whisper, and Lanolin, I would like this singular issue even less than I already do. The Diamond Cutters are about the only thing this particular arc has going for it so far. I guess there's still time to sort things out before the end. Will adding an actual antagonist to this story, as opposed to wave after wave of easily disposed of Badniks, improve things? Or will some actual thrills start to form as Sonic and his pals get closer to achieving their goals? I would like that though I'm not exactly excited based on these two issues. [5/10]
