Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[DabigRG]

I think it's also worth touching on any possible letdown with the most recent issue featuring both Silver and Dr. Starline.

• Silver stuck around specifically because he figured that the latest catastrophe to his future hasn't been dealt with just because Neo Metal Sonic was defeated and thus intends to find out the true source of the problem.
• Our brief look at what affecting his future, a metallic coating on both civilization and flora, ended up appearing very similar to Eggman's roboticizer-like virus experiment.
• Dr. Starline is a new relatively notable villain who orchestrated Eggman's return, claims to have made his career out of studying him, and is currently serving alongside the Doctor in his latest projects, in addition to wielding the Warp Topaz.
• The next issue will see Eggman officially deplore his experiment to infect Sonic, with some thinking Rouge, Tumble, or even Starline himself may have already been infected.

Having both in the same story after seeing what is very likely what will afflict Silver's future inherently calls to mind a major development and/or interaction to be had. And while Dr. Starline got a decent bit of limelight by taking on Sonic, some have noted that Silver wasn't really that integral to the issue.

 

Also, Metal Sonic, but who cares.

[Kuzu]

8 minutes ago, SBR2 said:

I'm just saying I find the book a joy. It feels like the Sonic I love. There's a good sense of adventure and humor to it. I was so burnt out on the garbage love triangles and stuff from Pre-Reboot Archie and this is continuing the stuff I was loving from Post-Reboot Archie. Stuff that actually feels like a Sonic story.

Sure the plots taking its time but the "there's not much" feels kinda inaccurate to me. We've had the Metal Virus getting it's start and Sonic coming to grips with the fact Eggman is actually back. It's not a particularly heavy story no but it's engaging enough IMHO.

You seem to be more concerned by what other people think. If you like it, then what I think shouldn't matter to you. 

Stop trying to justify yourself, if you like it you like it.

[Red Hot Jack]

Btw I'm rereading volume 2 I finally have it physical, and I forgot how season 1 was awesome, story really picks up in issues 5-8 and it does break the formula, Neo Metal Sonic is an awesome villain, Silver is an adorabile dork and Whisper is just badass. Plus obviously the moral vs lack of moral in issue 6 which was my favorite. But perhaps I'm biased as I loved Battle for Angel Island too, with its ups and downs.

That is how you break the repetitive storyline, so I definitely hope the story picks up in season 2 as well. But I don't see why I should worry. Another interesting thing is obviously we have Eggman back and he has been a delight so far, Starline feels wasted as a minion so I hope he goes solo soon, Ian knows how to make villains interesting... Plus this feels very interconnected to season 1, a lot of things were built up from there, like Rough and Tumble's conflict with Sonic, which is kind of lame but still counts, Silver's future and obviously the introduction of Starline. They really need to delve into these subplots more though.

[NikoS]

Well, after a break I finally caught up to the latest comic, the last time I wrote here i wasn't impressed with the comic, it was lacking in many departments IMO and it wasn't really giving me that feeling of need to read the next issue (I was at issue #09 for the record), and now at issue #14, things have really changed for the better, much to my surprise. The two final issues of the battle for Angel island were really action-packed, Master Overlord was a nice mid battle twist and it ended on a positive note. While the heroes were fighting, Eggman (Mr. Tinker) was being kidnapped by Rough and Tumble, both working for this still mysterious Dr. Starline, who was planning to revert Eggman's memory loss, for unknown reasons at the moment. On the next issues Eggman recovers his memory after seeing Metal Sonic, and Starline pledges alliance as an apprentice/would be sidekick, even giving the doctor all seven chaos emeralds, a self-proclaimed admirer of Eggman's work, he seems as loyal to the doctor as any of his machines, Starline also have the warp topaz, which grants him abilities to create portals, similar to Finitevus warp rings. Speaking of Finitevus, this character felt to me like a mix between Finitevus and Snively (maybe, depending on how his relationship with Eggman evolves) , and I really liked his presentation, his character, his teasing with Sonic and Silver, everything. Again, the new characters are still the high point of this new series for me, but now, closing the 14th issue, I'm more invested than I was when we were at the 9th, if we keep improving like this, I may start reading them on release day again, and I wish this day will come. About complaints, they are mostly the same, Too little worldbuilding IMO and lack of backstories, though I'm sure we'll get at least the latter down the road for sure, anyways, I'm happy with these improvements, and for the first time i can say I'm really looking forward to the next issue.

[Silvereyes]

I wanted to ask something. See with the Tangle and Whisper issue #0, is that comic just going to be entirely recycled pages, or will it contain any new material? I know that it is meant to contain a recap of Season 1 and a sneak preview of the upcoming miniseries, so in practice does that mean it is going to be half put together panels from issues #1-#12 and the other half the first few pages of Tangle and Whisper #1?

I'm asking because I'm not sure it is going to be available in the UK. Not that it matters that much, but I do want the own every IDW Sonic release, and I guess I'd feel better about not owning #0 if it has no new material.

[PublicEnemy1]

Something interesting from the Bumblekast is that not a lot of abilities will be contextualized, such as Magic Gloves, Black Wave, and even the itemboxes, simply because Ian doesn't want to explain them.

[Dash Speed]

On 3/3/2019 at 8:03 PM, Conquering Storm’s Servant said:

Except you’ve been describing Shadow as nothing like that.

Diablo just posted a image describing how ruthless Shadow is as a character in his in character basis.

On 3/3/2019 at 8:03 PM, Conquering Storm’s Servant said:

You’ve been making him sound far more similar and bloodthirsty to the likes of Venom or Carnage with a more hair-tigger temper trying to keep people in line than that. 

I never said Shadow would kill because he's a madman though, I said he'd kill because it's in character to take the risks heroes won't do to achieve goals.

On 3/3/2019 at 8:03 PM, Conquering Storm’s Servant said:

Far from it. Anti-heroes are my favorite alongside Anti-villians, with Shadow being among them.

But I like them for more than being living killing machines and one-man armies that you focus most of your appeal on.

 

Shadow has killed regardless if not brutally devastate his opponents as a result of his dark commitment in getting the job done. Your making I sound like I think Shadow is a total psycho, I just said he's solidly ruthless and somewhat a sociopath, and that's somewhat right, Shadow is complex but he's not a light hearted idealistic guy like Sonic.

 

23 hours ago, Skull Leader said:

He best part is when Dash Speed describes Shadow as a sociopath, word I seriously doubt he even understands, just like when he threw the term Mary-sue to suggest what Amy fans want to make her.

Sociopaths are broadly defined context depending on the character. And o said Shadow is semi sociopathic l.

23 hours ago, Skull Leader said:

Just to educate Dash Speed a little bit, a sociopath is someone with a mental disorder that manifests not just as being anti-social, but also manifest a lack of empathy and conscience about the consequences others suffer for one's actions.

Sociopaths can have a sense of empathy towards specific people, not all of them are heartless. Look at Harley Quinn and Deadpool.

23 hours ago, Skull Leader said:

Shadow is clearly not this because he had a friend he cared for deeply, and was devastated when she got killed. He was fueled by anger and a vengeful desire, as well as having his mind tampered with in order to carry Gerald's genocidal plans, however he realized hed had hit rock bottom and was betraying Maria's wish when Amy spoke a truth that hit him hard. Had he been this mindless killing machine, he would not had shed tears upon realizing what he was doing.

So "all" sociopaths aren't capable of sadness and total compassion then? Because that's exactly what Vegeta is build on. He'll Goku is more of a sociopath than Vegeta!

23 hours ago, Skull Leader said:

Shadow is a loner because he is still hurt by his loss, and keeps a distance because he knows that if he were to open up to accepting someone else into his life, he would be hurt again when they too die, to which you also have to consider that he will outlive everyone else. He's afraid to bond because he fears the sensation of loss.

That's not really a in cannon aspect that's elaborated in official profile material. Shadow may have experienced loss and feel sadness from it, but theres nothing that highlights his feelings about being afraid for his friend because he will live forever. He easily overcomes his burdens based on the fact he has a indomitable spirit to move forward and keep moving up in life.

23 hours ago, Skull Leader said:

Him taking out the threats quick and swiftly has nothing to do with a lust for violence. He simply prioritizes the innocent and will not have consideration for enemy troops because he is aware that they knew what they were getting into. He has a sense of justice that may be ruthless, but still built by morals. IMO, Shadow has a very soldier-like mentality and performs like a professional who tries his best to keep his emotions in check.

Shadow has shown a love for competitions as shown in the last boss against 06, the sonic free riders series and the sonic generations plot where he literally just wanta to fight sonic despite his friends being captured by time eater. You don't pay attention to the explicit proof of shadows actions and make up conjecture based on simple basis of a shadow as a hero, but Shadow despite being a hero is also a dark foil of sonic and plays the grim anti hero as the comic describes him. Shadow may like killing but he sure as he'll loves bragging about how he just overpowering his opponents, shown in forces, he takes out if not murders infinites squad.

23 hours ago, Skull Leader said:

Also lol at the idea of Amy becoming a threat when she is why Shadow realized his mistake. They don't interact much, but the few times they had in the games, Amy respected Shadow and had faith in him.

Shadow and Amy aren't friends, their allies and buisness acquaintances at best. Shadow would treat her like any other enemy he faces if she becomes an enemy. 

23 hours ago, Skull Leader said:

And even if Team Treasure Tango had them exchange blow in a story that was all about teams fighting for the sake of having fights, we see Amy having faith in Shadow doing the right thing long before Shadow does. I don't think they will ever be enemies because Amy's heart has always been in the right place, and Shadow is wise enough to know that he can't judge an entire world for the actions of a few bad apples.

Sure, remember, Shadow if he wanted to could have killed her and her team if he wished, they fought but Shadow didn't view them as enemies and had no reason to kill or destroy them like he did the mercenaries in forces or in the comics the weak black arm grunts.

 

17 hours ago, DabigRG said:

True. 

I think they wanted a Shadow at the bare root of what made his character and thus in addition to mostly dropping the back story, they also drop most of his moral complications so he could just be Sonic's Dark Rival to the max. 

Which is also essentially a villain, minus supposedly having some sort of code. 

 

 

 

 

 

Shadow even at his nicest, killed humanoids(robot masters) and other aliens or mobians because they were in his way. You're knowledge of Shadow is sorely lacking. I'm just defending Shadows capacity to make ruthless choices here because it's a staple of his character.

[DabigRG]

2 hours ago, PublicEnemy1 said:

Something interesting from the Bumblekast is that not a lot of abilities will be contextualized, such as Magic Gloves, Black Wave, and even the itemboxes, simply because Ian doesn't want to explain them.

...He's seriously putting the fucking Magic Gloves in here?

 

Mr. Flynn, I respect you, but this time--THIS TIME, I have to say, "What."

52 minutes ago, Dash Speed said:

 

Shadow even at his nicest, killed humanoids(robot masters) and other aliens or mobians because they were in his way. You're knowledge of Shadow is sorely lacking. I'm just defending Shadows capacity to make ruthless choices here because it's a staple of his character.

I was saying that they wanted Boom Shadow fighting Sonic and being borderline villainous because that's a superficial rendering of the original presentation/purpose of his character.

I know what Shadow's character is--he used to be my favorite nearly fifteen years ago. And I know that you seem to put the vast priority on an aspect and image of his character that SonicTeam wanted to mostly move him past for the most part since his own game(which is also where that was the most prevalent outside of an episode of the Metarex Saga and Mobius 30 Years Later).

 

Also, that first sentence technically applies to Sonic as well, just less overtly or full on.

[Foxthefox1000]

Can't wait to see Tails harness his inner kitsune to materialize a huge, white glove that smacks the crap out of his opposition.

[Skull Leader]

8 hours ago, PublicEnemy1 said:

Something interesting from the Bumblekast is that not a lot of abilities will be contextualized, such as Magic Gloves, Black Wave, and even the itemboxes, simply because Ian doesn't want to explain them.

Then don't explain them. Why can't they just roll with the fact that those things could be considered normal within the world of a videogame? Trying to explain those things within a realistic logic is just wandering in circles and making a fuzz over something that never needed to be an issue.

[Sonictrainer]

10 hours ago, Dash Speed said:

Diablo just posted a image describing how ruthless Shadow is as a character in his in character basis.

Who the what now?

10 hours ago, Dash Speed said:

I never said Shadow would kill because he's a madman though, I said he'd kill because it's in character to take the risks heroes won't do to achieve goals.

1. In Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow pretty much only goes on an adventure because evil Goku told him to.

2. Also, the characters Shadow "killed" weren't "killed" for no reason. There's a reason Shadow and Omega didn't just tear Metal Sonic's head off his body at the end of Heroes after he converted back to his base form.

3. The other "Heroes" helped him "kill" and didn't oppose him because they were on the same page

10 hours ago, Dash Speed said:

Shadow has shown a love for competitions as shown in the last boss against 06

That's a stretch.

10 hours ago, Dash Speed said:

the sonic generations plot where he literally just wanta to fight sonic despite his friends being captured by time eater.

Or the development team didn't think to come up with a good legit reason for Modern Sonic to fight Shadow, despite the fact Shadow didn't show up at the party until Time Eater was defeated.

It's not like it would have been hard to say he was tricked by the Eggmen or something.

 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I’ve got to say, I really feel like the lack of world building is killing the series. This idea of a metallic robotic virus is so cool, and I’m kind of bored after the set up from the previous issues, and I feel like apart of it is there is just no stakes. Bar the prospect of Sonic being infected, we’ve met little to no one who we really care about bar the main series cast. That results in this end of the world scenario falling short because there isn’t really a world we care about bar the simple stakes of Sonic being infected. I don’t even think we’ve really got to see any unique locales or anything, it’s just the same villages and rural areas over and over again.

Like, for all of Archie’s issues, with all of the time they spent world building, and establishing unique and interesting characters all over the world leading their own teams, it raised the stakes big time for Dark Gaia’s appearance at long last. This is a similar horrifying and potential world ending situation...and it just doesn’t feel like it whatsoever. As was said, it’s decent enough, the dialogue and art is as good as always, but it still just feels like the same old stuff again and again. Sonic teams up with friend, comes to blows with enemy of the week, Eggman or big bad plans something in the background.

[Meta77]

2 hours ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

I’ve got to say, I really feel like the lack of world building is killing the series. This idea of a metallic robotic virus is so cool, and I’m kind of bored after the set up from the previous issues, and I feel like apart of it is there is just no stakes. Bar the prospect of Sonic being infected, we’ve met little to no one who we really care about bar the main series cast. That results in this end of the world scenario falling short because there isn’t really a world we care about bar the simple stakes of Sonic being infected. I don’t even think we’ve really got to see any unique locales or anything, it’s just the same villages and rural areas over and over again.

Like, for all of Archie’s issues, with all of the time they spent world building, and establishing unique and interesting characters all over the world leading their own teams, it raised the stakes big time for Dark Gaia’s appearance at long last. This is a similar horrifying and potential world ending situation...and it just doesn’t feel like it whatsoever. As was said, it’s decent enough, the dialogue and art is as good as always, but it still just feels like the same old stuff again and again. Sonic teams up with friend, comes to blows with enemy of the week, Eggman or big bad plans something in the background.

It is issue 14. We still have a long way to go before the series really gets its ground. Compare this to where Archie sonic 14 was at this point or most comics (one i really like is gold digger) I am liking the more developed eggman. His aggression is amazing. I wish we had this eggman in the games. Such as when he slams starline against the glass chocking him or torturing the animals. He is a ego doctor for sure but his rage and strength are amazing.

[Kuzu]

4 minutes ago, Meta77 said:

It is issue 14. We still have a long way to go before the series really gets its ground. Compare this to where Archie sonic 14 was at this point or most comics (one i really like is gold digger) I am liking the more developed eggman. His aggression is amazing. I wish we had this eggman in the games. Such as when he slams starline against the glass chocking him or torturing the animals. He is a ego doctor for sure but his rage and strength are amazing.

This is not an excuse

 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

1 minute ago, Meta77 said:

It is issue 14. We still have a long way to go before the series really gets its ground. Compare this to where Archie sonic 14 was at this point or most comics (one i really like is gold digger) I am liking the more developed eggman. His aggression is amazing. I wish we had this eggman in the games. Such as when he slams starline against the glass chocking him or torturing the animals. He is a ego doctor for sure but his rage and strength are amazing.

Archie isn't a valid comparison because their direction and tone was completely different until around Metallic Madness at the Issue 30 mark. By the point you're mentioning, the Archie comics were still focused on being goofy slice of life stories with Robotnik doing silly things against the Freedom Fighters, like going on a treasure hunt against them. In fact, their Issue 14 was a story about Tails getting a giant head and becoming super smart iirc.

It doesn't matter if it's Issue 14 or not because the groundwork isn't being laid out to set up the world-building for later arcs. All of this time where Sonic is farting about and teaming up with main cast characters could be spent having him explore and establish new memorable areas and characters before going right into the next big Eggman plot. There's no one tied to the world at large to make it feel alive. We have the generic citizens of the town Eggman was in, and we have that one recurring background lamb character, and that's it. It was excusable when it was the very first arc tackling the aftermath of Forces, even if it isn't ideal, but now we're hopping right into the second major arc that Ian's confirmed will take up Year 2 of the series, and we're repeating the exact same mistakes as Year 1. No world-building, rushed development, formulaic stories, etc. It's getting pretty old, and there's only so much that good dialogue can do if you don't give a shit about the world itself. 

[Meta77]

3 minutes ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

This is not an excuse

 

Not an excuse but what exactly do you want from them. I am sure they are telling the story and setting up the world to the best they are able so early. Sega still has some hand on this and im sure they can not just go all nilly on it adding and going any and everywhere. Just like how they will not allow him to even touch infinite in any way.

[Razule]

10 minutes ago, Meta77 said:

It is issue 14. We still have a long way to go before the series really gets its ground. Compare this to where Archie sonic 14 was at this point or most comics (one i really like is gold digger) 

Then maybe this kind of plot could have been saved for after the world was developed some more? 

[Meta77]

Sure. I still feel like Sega has more a hand over the overall flow of the story for the time being.

[DabigRG]

4 hours ago, Sonictrainer said:

There's a reason Shadow and Omega didn't just tear Metal Sonic's head off his body at the end of Heroes after he converted back to his base form.

 

Because they forgot?

 

1 hour ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Archie isn't a valid comparison because their direction and tone was completely different until around Metallic Madness at the Issue 30 mark. By the point you're mentioning, the Archie comics were still focused on being goofy slice of life stories with Robotnik doing silly things against the Freedom Fighters, like going on a treasure hunt against them. In fact, their Issue 14 was a story about Tails getting a giant head and becoming super smart iirc.

He was talking about the New252.

 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

6 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

Because they forgot?

 

He was talking about the New252.

 

By Issue 14 of New252, we were up to Control, in which tons of the new canon had been shown off, including old and new characters. We also had the likes of Waves of Change which established a completely new species of the Sonic world, integrated them nicely, and used them to showcase ways for old abilities to be readded in, so no. Even by New252 standards, it had done tons more.

[Kellodrawsalot]

Judging by year 1, anyone has a preference for one of the artist? and anyone has one artist they woudnt mind not seeing return?

[MadmanRB]

Oh snap:

 

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2019/03/05/idw-media-holdings-investors-call-for-sale-of-company-in-open-letter/

[Arcade Racer CC14]

The thing with the New252 vs. Now is that Ian went so heavy into the world and lore-building as a way to make up for a long-established canon with years of history basically being overwritten thanks to Penders. He's probably taken a break from that in the IDW book to just tell some fun stories without needing to elaborate on how everything relates to everything else with new things coming out the woodwork like what happened with almost every issue of the Archie world tour.

I have no doubt that more world-building IS coming (probably when we start getting into some side stuff like the Tangle/Whisper mini), but I wouldn't be surprised if he's just recharging for now after all he created for the latter Archie issues was basically yanked out from under him.

[Dr. Detective]

I need a new issue to come out today or something. Just something to wash the taste of the news we just go about that other thing that's happening away. 

When the Metal Virus spreads, is this going to turn into the Robot Zombie Apocalypse? That seems to be the one thing that makes it more potent than regular roboticization. If it acts like a virus than touching someone can spread it around. Eggman needs to be careful. Sooner or later, a fishing rod might not be enough to stave that off.

[Kuzu]

5 hours ago, Meta77 said:

Not an excuse but what exactly do you want from them. I am sure they are telling the story and setting up the world to the best they are able so early. Sega still has some hand on this and im sure they can not just go all nilly on it adding and going any and everywhere. Just like how they will not allow him to even touch infinite in any way.

I want them to actually give me a reason to care about this conflict and the characters. If this the best they are able to do after a whole year, then I'm better off just reading something else or just playing the games. There's really nothing I care about going on right now, because we're still sticking to the same formula we've had since issue 1. "Sonic arrives in [insert generic area here], teams up with the character of the day, smash some robots while making quips, conflict is resolved with some background info on whatever the villain is up to" It's boring. 

This is not how you get readers invested in your world and conflict, unless you're younger than 13. If that's what the book is aiming for, fine and I won't knock anyone who is satisfied with that. But I prefer having much more incentive to read a serialized story if I'm going to invest my time and money into it, and if I wanted to just watch Sonic smash robots all day while making quips and nothing else, then I'm better off just sticking with the video game series. 

 

Archie was not perfect by any means and had numerous problems, but it was able to flex a lot more and build an established world and conflict that I was beginning to get somewhat invested in post-reboot. You're right, it probably is Sega just flexing on Ian and what he can do and I find that a shame if they are limiting him so much to tell the most generic stories possible. 

2 hours ago, Noise Canceler CC14 said:

The thing with the New252 vs. Now is that Ian went so heavy into the world and lore-building as a way to make up for a long-established canon with years of history basically being overwritten thanks to Penders. He's probably taken a break from that in the IDW book to just tell some fun stories without needing to elaborate on how everything relates to everything else with new things coming out the woodwork like what happened with almost every issue of the Archie world tour.

I have no doubt that more world-building IS coming (probably when we start getting into some side stuff like the Tangle/Whisper mini), but I wouldn't be surprised if he's just recharging for now after all he created for the latter Archie issues was basically yanked out from under him.

And that's fine, but its been almost a year and the first story arc is over with and we're still stick with the same format as the 1st year.