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Sonic the Hedgehog IDW Comic Megathread

Discussion in 'General Sonic Discussion' started by Dark Sonic, Jan 22, 2018.

  1. Starduster

    Starduster

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    2023 annual justifies Silver staying in the present for now because he doesn’t feel like he can find a place in his newly-made good future post-Metal Virus because fighting to make that future is all he’s known. It’s a bit sad in a way but I reckon still less dour than having him fail to ever create that good future and being messed up because of it. Anyway, it’s a lovely little character piece and well worth picking up the annual for. Matter of fact, the 2023 annual is probably the strongest one yet.
     
  2. BlackHole

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    Ruling a Kingdom is a lot more than saving it when there's danger. They establish that she has to square away things first before she can take holidays, hence implied responsibilities.
     
  3. Deep Dive Devin

    Deep Dive Devin

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    It's a shame Rush established that merging Blaze and Sonic's worlds would destroy both, I would have just done that on purpose by now. No real benefit to keeping them separate, it's not like there's an established limit to Sonic's world as-is.
     
  4. Iggy for Short

    Iggy for Short

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    I'm sure if they really wanted to they could establish some kind of "this is why it almost broke reality the first time but now it's fine" justification.

    Maybe it turns out it's the Chaos and Sol Emeralds that don't like sharing a dimension for too long. The worlds are getting tangled together again, and if it can't be stopped, the Sol Emeralds need to go (which is justifiable: we've got at least 3 potentially Super hedgehogs but just 1 Burning cat). Get some sick Sonic & Friends vs Blaze fights until she comes around, and afterward she can figure out how to let go of one of her life's biggest responsibilities. :eng99:

    ...whoops, I think I almost started writing fanfic there.
     
  5. BlackHole

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    I think that one is them not wanting to have to deal with both the Chaos Emeralds and Sol Emeralds in one universe constantly.
     
  6. Deep Dive Devin

    Deep Dive Devin

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    If you can create an event that merges two universes it shouldn't be hard to contrive a similar (or the same) event to change the Sol emeralds. Not saying they'd do it, I think it's more that they're rooted in different concepts than the gemstones. Blaze basically just keeps them all in the same place these days anyway.
     
  7. Starduster

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    While I'd love to see Blaze more, the fact that she does have these restrictions is part of what gives her appearances weight. She doesn't just pop up like other characters do, so the times she is around are all the more valuable for that. Besides, I wouldn't want SEGA to effectively erase the things that make her unique for the sake of making it "easier" for her to appear, not to mention the Sol Dimension works quite well as a consistent setting with permanence in its events, unlike the "Chaos Dimension", which, as a product of necessity, changes to suit whatever setting the brand wants to work with at any given time. We've not seen much of Blaze's world but it feels so much more concrete to me than the way Sonic's world is presented within IDW. Just musings tho'.

    In terms of #63 itself, it was a fun little issue! I'm surprised by how quickly the Duo plot is moving along, but hopefully it goes somewhere interesting. The B story with Sonic and Blaze was definitely the highlight for me, though. I love quiet and introspective character pieces, and this one has a cosy slice-of-life quality to it. My singular complaint with it is that the presence of humans in the IDW book is dangled so close to us in this story that you can almost taste it. Sonic and Blaze run through Spagonia, yet there's not a person to be seen? I can't fault the writers or artists for it (and I'd confidently bet that humans were in drafts of the script or art before being veto'd by SEGA), but it's very frustrating and honestly makes the place look empty, making it feel more like a video game level and less like a real place, which exacerbates the very thing I just got done talking about and that I've always held at IDW Sonic's overriding flaw.

    Ah well, someday soon, I hope...
     
  8. Blaze's dimension being separated from Sonic's is literally the thing that makes her character interesting and standout, tossing that out just so she can show up more would just devalue her and just make her another part of Sonic's world.

    Because it's exactly what happened to Knuckles until recently when Sega decided his guardian role wasn't as important as making him part of Sonic's supporting cast.
     
    Last edited: Aug 19, 2023
  9. Sneasy

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    We should have more media in Blaze's dimension instead, actually
     
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  10. Vertette

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    As long as there's no sailing that'd be fine. When I remember it, it's basically like that gif of the dog sniffing cupcakes.
     
  11. BlackHole

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    Assuming IDW has depicted it accurately, we've seen a giant castle of the Sol Dimension.

    It would be amazing if that works as a central zone of an open world game set in the Sol Dimension.
     
  12. Snowbound

    Snowbound

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    Y’know it would be pretty awesome if the boost formula continued as a spin-off series staring Blaze that’s set in her dimension.

    Fwiw I also disliked the sailing gameplay in rush adventure
     
  13. TheCleanerDragon

    TheCleanerDragon

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    I read the latest issue, thought it was good.
    My reading of the 2022 Annual was that Silver isn't the past voluntarily. He's been sent back to the past, either because someone told him to or just felt called to go back, and now has no clue what he's supposed to do there since the future and the past both seem to be fine. That would explain why Silver in this issue worries about wasting his time in the past, he's expecting some crisis to come up that he will have to solve and wants to be ready for it, but also doesn't want to spend all his time in the past fretting about it.
     
  14. BlackHole

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    I wonder how long before people start drawing Blaze in that dress she was eyeing up in that reminiscing scene...

    EDIT: It's just occurred to me that it's the same dress she's wearing with Cream on the 2022 Annual cover. Continuity is on point, I like it.
     
    Last edited: Aug 20, 2023
  15. Starduster

    Starduster

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    Sonic #64 and The 900th Adventure dropped today.

    #64 runs with the same format as #63, with the "Duo" plot taking up half the book and Blaze's travels with Sonic running through the other half, though the two stories tie together this time. Personally, I prefer the Blaze stuff since it's once again a strong character piece, whereas the Duo plot hits a low point here.
    I get that there needs to be conflict between the Diamond Cutters to sell Mimic's subterfuge as a threat, but it feels so off that Lanolin is outright refusing to even consider Silver and Whisper's side of things, despite the fact both of them have been doing the hero gig a lot longer than she has and are trusted allies of Sonic and friends at this point. Surely that alone makes it worth trying to verify their allegations, even if she doesn't believe them?

    Anyway, the wrap-up with Sonic talking about Silver and Blaze, along with them heading to Soleanna suggests to me that nobody remembers any part of 06. Still, it's nice to see their history acknowledge in a subtly meta way and I hope we get to see whatever it is they're about to get up to.

    The 900th Adventure was a fun romp - a bit less involved than I was expecting and focused more on showcasing Sonic's supporting cast than telling a tightly wound plot with twists and turns, but I think it's great to have so many writers and artists come together like this and the book really is a treat to look at (except for pages 25-30 imho, apologies to the artists there). I especially love the diversity of locales presented here, with the OVA-esque ruined cityscape and the technicoloured desert that I can't help but refer to as Rock Candy Canyon being my personal highlights. Honestly, the only place where I find fault in the book is pages 25-30.

    I'm already not huge on the art, but what I really don't like is how Shadow's written, which is really all I need to say. He's showing up as Vegeta-lite once again, with his demand that Sonic let him sort things out being driven not by headstrong yet earnest belief that he can get the job done most efficiently, but by his egotistical superiority complex. The difference seems subtle to the point of negligence when I'm writing about it, but Shadow's dialogue amplifies it massively.

    So yeah, some fun books today, and we of course had Endless Summer last month (another book on the fluffier side imo), but I'm hoping that the upcoming issues of the main book and the Amy-Rose 30th Anniversary Special give me more to chew. The Tails special was good about this so I'm optimistic, and even then all I can say about this lighter stuff is that it's not personally what I love about Sonic comics.

    By the way @The KKM , was the desert in which Sonic met Knuckles during your segment based on any zone in particular? I was getting Mirage Saloon and Desert Dazzle vibes, but there wasn't enough specific there for me to conclude it's either of them.
     
  16. The KKM

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    IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog comic books
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  17. BlackHole

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    "Entrust the Warp Topaz to my superior hands willingly or have my superior hands take it by force."

    I rolled my eyes at that, I thought we were beyond this. Seriously, Shadow saying his hands are superior sounds like it's from a bad parody, yet here we are.
     
  18. Ura

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    I liked Shadow's brief appearance in this oneshot. I'm so used to hating how most of the cast is written nowadays, that I can't help but love to see ridiculousness being embraced. Shadow has been acting as an irrational grumpy imbecile for a while, might as well do it in a way that's funny
    upload_2023-9-17_8-59-41.png
     
  19. shilz

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    They were trying to be funny?
     
  20. Plorpus

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    Yeah, not a big fan of that line. Having the writers (and especially artists) change every 7 or so pages is fun, but you can definitely tell some of them “get” the current cast more than others. The story also needed to be simple enough that they were all on the same page with things but in the process ended up being a bit too simple for my tastes. While I enjoyed it for what it was — a celebration of the people behind the curtain — I think Sonic’s 900th Adventure is a book for those who appreciate the comics from a creative/artistic standpoint more than those who are mainly following it for the story.