Although I’ve been on board with the book since day one, it’s extremely gratifying to see praise like this for it because I think it means that the book is really starting to come into its own for a lot of people. I hope that it’ll soon hold the same kind of position in communities like Retro that the Archie book did. Anyway, for those unaware, the first part of Scrapnik Island releases today, so I’ll probably add to this post later to share my thoughts on it.
New issue is out today. Cubot is a Hatsune Miku fan. That is all. Jokes aside, here are my thoughts on the new issue and Scrapnik Island #1 since I forgot to post them before: Spoiler: Scrapnik Island #1 First issue was pretty much setup really. Nice art, and some intrigue with the sunflower and some intrigue as to whether it’s Mecha Knuckles behind Mecha Sonic’s going rogue, but we need to see more clues. At any rate, it’s nice to see so much classic material brought back to the table, hopefully it opens up the door for the book to take further advantage of a confirmed single timeline. Also, I guess this makes the Forces Death Egg the Death Egg 3 or 4? Spoiler: Sonic #54 So this went down pretty much I predicted it would, with Kit assuming the worst of Sonic when he sees Surge is still alive. Surge abusing the Wisp powers is a treat and it was nice to see Sonic tap into them again to show her how it’s done. When will Whisper stop suffering though? Also, I feel like Kit’s finally starting to come into his own in terms of why Surge would keep him around. They’re both damage in their own ways but I’d argue Surge is a lot less stable and really needs the support in her emotionally compromised state, which Kit will give to her unconditionally. This is probably going to be what takes their bond from an artificial one coded into them by Starline to a genuine, fire-forged friendship between them, however twisted and dysfunctional that may be.
Spoiler Fourth, after the original Death Egg, Sonic the Fighters' Death Egg II and Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II's Death Egg Mk. II, Sonic Battle's Death Egg would be III. Technically it's the fifth one. Sonic Drift 2 also features a Death Egg, but let's assume that it's the original and not another one, which would make Sonic Forces' the sixth one. I really don't know why Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II had to make a Death Egg Mk. II instead of, I dunno, the Time Egg...
I feel like the answer has been said enough at this point: for the most part, the series didn’t develop with a view to tapestry of perfect continuity, leading to these snarls. Battle ignored Fighters (implicitly, at any rate) and Sonic 4 ignored them both. Honestly, I’ll give props to Forces for not sweating the details on this and making things even more of a headache. That is to say that the writers don’t need to commit to numbering each Death Egg (especially when doing so could cause even more confusion if they’re meticulous about taking even the obscure games into account) - we’re capable of counting them ourselves.
Except they numbered two, and used the same number instead of using a codeword to differentiate them. But I feel this is a topic for elsewhere, so let's leave it be.
Any expectations for Scrapnik Island #2 and the Tails' 30th Anniversary Special? They are both coming out on Wednesday.
#55 is out, fantastic issue for action. Spoiler: IDW #55 spoilers Nice to see the further development of Surge caring for Kit, not to mention her own deep seated and catastrophic insecurities. Eggman is brilliantly callous and shows that, even against a true speedster, he’s no pushover, even outside of his Egg Walker (which itself was used brilliantly). Meanwhile, seeing Sonic and Metal team up is just as neat as it was back in the Metal Virus saga, but now with the added twist of each party trying to screw the other over in the process of getting what they want. This whole run from Imposter Syndrome to now has been stellar and I’m really interested in seeing where Surge and Kit go from here.
Idle thought on the Tails 30th Anniversary Special: was this a Super Tails reference? The pose he's doing looks standard Super Form pose, and he being flanked by four Flickies...
Potentially, yes. We're so many layers deep that it can be hard to tell whether the more subtle references are really intentional. For what it's worth, it wasn't something that occurred to me while reading the issue.
Hammerstrom is honestly godlike and one of the best Sonic artists going, and I think Reggie Graham is a massive unsung hero within IDW, having done the bulk of colouring for the series and absolutely nailing it with every issue he's worked on.
I'd say the entire premise is- probably not a coincidence that Tails' anniversary is being celebrated by tying him to the one Sonic game focused on Flickies and the story develops with Tails commanding said flickies around.
Amusingly Sonic the Comic did something like that first, with the same setting: Tails can speak Flicky (or 'Tweet'), which results in he and Sonic being drawn to Robotnik's take over of Flickies' Island. I wonder if it's also a subtle nod to Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, when Tails tried to join a family of birds in a nest... ...what is it with Tails and birds? Seems to a recurring trend with him having some sort of thing with birds...
I mean “cute and plucky side character that can speak to animals” isn’t all that novel an idea. While I could buy this being a reference to Hyper Tails, I doubt StC served as inspiration (iirc, Ian hasn’t actually read through that book).
Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to suggest it as an inspiration, just amused Sonic the Comic did something similar with Tails and Flickies' Island, and pondering if the Sonic the Comic "able to speak bird" was a nod to Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, since it was using the same Robotnik design as that as well.
Sorry but I just NEED to gush. I got into IDW on the release of Scrapnik island 2 and I’ve gotta say wow. I am floored by the quality of these books.I’ve been reading the graphic novel reprints since back issues can be expensive and binging everything from the beginning to the end of metal virus was good. I will say it did feel a bit slow to start the metal virus though. Finally when I read the Tails one shot I got a bit of water in my eyes. This is the characterization I’ve missed in the series and it really is fantastic reading it all through. I’m very excited for what’s next in these comics and I’m very excited to pick up IDW collection 3 when that comes out.
I'm hoping that a lot more people will get into the IDW books as a result of Frontiers. It's with good reason that people have been campaigning for Flynn to write the games, though of course his peers are excellent as well.