Sonic the Hedgehog IDW Comic Megathread

Sonic doesn't get a lot of characters who are on the heroes' side but just...not very nice. I think you've obviously meant to understand Lanolin is in the wrong right now, but everything she's experienced up to this point has it make sense from her perspective. It really echoes a lot of the mad about women controversy surrounding Sally in the middle period of Archie, only I don't find Lanolin unbearable to watch in such a manner that it hurts the quality of the comic.​

 

Yeah like, that period of archie (The one where she slaps sonic), Sally often felt just completely unreasonable and barely even a character. She was often not feeling very... smart, or her decisions didnt feel like they made since either in context of the situations or just what we knew of her (barely held together, admittedly) character. Lanolin meanwhile, while she's obviously not the nicest character around, I think is a nice change of pace for one of our heroines and she hasn't made any irrational decisions: everything makes sense for the most part but her negative tendencies are blinding her to the mimic situation. They probably could have written some of it *better* but I dont have any fundamental issue with anything so far.

And maybe it wouldnt feel as bad if it wasnt for the four month hiatus

 

I like the idea of a character who is ostensibly on the Heroes' side, but doesn't really get along with them. Like yea, Shadow exists, but he's never around all that often. Lanolin fills an interesting niche in that regard.

I feel like the negative reactions to her have more to do with the fact that, to many people, she is still "just an OC" and more to the point, she's a recently established character. The audience are always going to side with the characters they've known longer and therefore, are much more emotionally attached to. Lanolin hasn't been around long enough to really earn her that goodwill, while also antagonizing the characters the audience care about more.

But she didn't really do anything wrong in this issue either, all she did was just tell Sonic, Tails, and Amy to get off the track so to not hurt people, even if it wasn't in a nice way, but I don't really care about that. Me personally, I feel like she doesn't have as much of an established dynamic with the cast. It's a problem she shares with the rest of the comic exclusive characters where they feel pretty segregated from the game characters.

For instance, remember how Silver used to admire Whisper? Those two haven't interacted a single time since while they paired off Whisper with Tangle. I feel like these interactions of Lanolin talking down to the game cast wouldn't be as bad if she had more of a rapport with Sonic and co.. but she doesn't.

 

That’s pretty much how I feel about it, being made a leader so quickly really gave her a massive ego boost and I won’t be surprised if she comes crashing down once the new antagonists reveal themselves, perhaps her attitude directly leading to the the reformations collapse, who knows. They could do something interesting and have a betrayal, having her go to the antagonists side! That would be cool, not often have we had a good guy go bad, usually it’s the other way around.

 

Well well well...always nice to see the IDW stuff getting love in the merch department. Someone raised the possibility of Mecha Sonic getting a figure and, while I haven't actually owned one of these in about a decade, I could see myself making an exception for him.

 

I like the new issue, the pacing is good, it feels like they're building up to something exciting and I like what they're doing with Surge and Lanolin. I can't say I expected what they did with either of them, but it's interesting and makes me curious where this is going next so mission accomplished?

 

I think the new issue's good. Surge & Kit getting their place in the sun is nice to see, though who knows how long that will last. This arc definitely has more excited than the previous one.

Hopefully, it just depends on if they can keep the ball rolling.

There's apparently a San Diego Comic Con exclusive cover for issue 70. It looks really frickin' cool, but I am no where near San Diego, so guess I'll have to do without.

 

Issue #71's out, really great stuff.

Spoiler: Issue #71

Surge is having a bit of an existential crisis. It seems that the public adoration is getting to her. Maybe she'll realize there's more to life than fighting the same battle with Sonic over and over again?

I thought it was interesting that the Babylon Rogues were the ones that take the most charitable reading of Sonic's actions as the phantom rider. Tangle and Whisper seem dismayed at what Sonic's done, but it's the Rogues of all people that are quick to rationalize his actions in a way that keeps him as the hero. That also makes them the first to straight-up oppose Clean Sweep. It's funny though, that they've concluded Clean Sweep is bad without knowing for sure why they are. I guess they'll shoot first and figure out the details later

Lanolin is just really not having a good time. This is like the second time in a row she's failed to catch the Phantom Rider, and she is not happy. It's even worse because ultimately the Phantom Rider is just a ploy to buy time for Amy and Tails, I'm sure she'll be thrilled to know that she got worked up over what was just a distraction.

I've really been liking how this arc is going, the writing's excellent, the art is basically flawless, honestly, it's a great feeling.

 

I love Surge, my favorite new addition to the franchise, buuut I am conflicted with their approach to her character.
I love her angry unapologetic punk seeking out retribution personality. Yet Ian Flynn intended her to be a villain, actively having bad motives seeking to cause harm, and not intending to change that, and Evan Stanley is having her get some praise and positive attention, and she admiring it, like this is what would "fix" her, make her be a better person.
And yeeaaaahhhh, I don't like it much, I would've much preferred the angry punk girl approach. Sonic's strong moral compass + Shadow's anger.

 

I don't care super strongly what exactly they do with her character, whether she stays a villain or not, I just like that they're doing something with her other than the exact same thing they've been doing for the past 2-3 years.

Even if she does change I would hope they keep the punkish-ness. I don't think a character switching sides means they need to totally compromise their personality and what makes them unique.

 

#71’s out on digital now.

Spoiler

Character work continues to be really strong in this arc, and I love the complex conflict that’s brewing as a result of each faction’s different perspective on the events.

The only problem I really have with this issue is that they should’ve cut Sonic’s reaction to the fake Phantom Rider (obviously Mimic) appearing. I was outright confused when it happened because I couldn’t tell what was going on due to there not being enough distinction between the real and the fake. However, once I saw Whisper explain what was going on, it became a bit of an “a-ha” reveal, so I think they should’ve not shown Sonic’s reaction so it could really be a twist.

I’m not worried about what they’re doing with Surge at the moment honestly. Giving her that taste of admiration is hopefully just a way of setting her for some hurt that’ll drive her even deeper into her issues. I’m not against her joining the heroes eventually, but I think there’s still plenty of stories that can be told with Surge as a villain before she sees the light, which would make that eventual change more impactful. I think it’s possible that Clutch implicated her and Kit as his accomplices when everything comes crashing down around him, and the crowd turning on them as a result drives them back to their old ways.

 

I don't think they'll get rid of Surge's rough around the edges personality just because she might be turning a leaf considering how much people love her punkness, and honestly I think Sonic could use a win for once. His morals get tested quite a bit in the series and it'd be nice if he actually got to redeem someone. He's done that before, just not in the comic outside of Mecha and that was a spin-off.

That said I don't expect Surge to immediately get into the role of a hero. I expect that finding out who the Phantom Rider really was will piss her off something fierce.

 

Spoiler

Doesn't she already know that Sonic is the Phantom Rider? She was there with Tangle, Whisper, and the Babylon Rogues when he was unmasked, so I'm not sure how she wouldn't know.

 

Oh right, you're right. Weird she barely responded to it.

 

Next issue possibly

 

Spoiler

Kit: Why didn't you do anything when we saw the Phantom Rider was Sonic?
Surge: Well ya see, there are only 20 pages in each of these issues, and we really didn't have the space for a whole 'nother action sequence.
Kit: Ohh... better luck next month?

 

Spoiler

in fairness, and upon rereading, *everyone* was processing what was happening once Sonic was unmasked, even Mimic. Keep in mind nobody knows that Eggman is involved yet, so there’s a whole load of questions about where Sonic got the Phantom Rider kit in the first place, let alone why he’s doing what he’s doing, given nobody but Team Sonic knows about the sabotage of the Ex-Gear, so this comes off as Sonic being a sore loser, which isn’t his MO. In this regard, it makes sense that the Rogues figured things out first, given that they’ve known him the longest of anyone there and are familiar with how Sonic would behave in this tournament.

Surge has a lot more on her mind too. When Kit asks her if she’s angry, he’s almost certainly talking about Sonic, but Surge is also dealing with the fact she’s enjoying the limelight outside of the original plan of ruining Sonic’s day. Clutch is meant to have ever thing under control in this tournament he’s organised, so what’s the dealing with Sonic coming in and playing dirty, evidently without having communicated with the other restoration members? Finally, Surge is just interrupted by the conductor’s daughter before she can really unpack everything she’s feeling. She froze in the moment and she’s not yet had an opportunity to fully voice her feelings after the fact.

Anyway, FUCK this little shitheel, I hate him so much haha

 

Mimic has one of the most annoying abilities an antagonist can have. He sucks in a fight, but the sheer psychological advantage his ability gives him is some bullshit.

 

Isn't this sort of a moot point? Perhaps I'm misconstruing your argument, but just because there's an observed timeframe, doesn't mean that there's a right time for a character to develop or change. I'm of the opinion that, while this is an interesting direction to take Surge's character, it can come across as force-fed. Not a ton of grace, no proper build up within the comic or time to develop like other comfortably constructed stories, just the "thing that needs to happen" that I happen to like but not necessarily see as being done well.

Surge must be a bit of a Pandora's Box down at IDW HQ. Her power is under lock and key, and writers can pry open the story-telling potential at any moment they want, though it really isn't safe to do so. As one of the most compelling characters to come out since 2017 (next to Tangle and Whisper), she strikes the line between herself and the stagnancy of other Sonic rivals with a personality and observation of the world that is refreshing and wholly unflattering to the series brand; due to her popularity, she has to be included just enough that she can make a cameo in a couple dubious mobile games with a warm though lighthearted celebration, but not enough that she actually has any major relevancy or contribution to any given story - The latter is highlighted by the fact that on the BumbleKast, Flynn has been on record saying that'd he'd rather not explore Surge's sole defining aspect of her, suggesting that her complexity [more suitable for an older audience] won't be majorly catered to and that if we want it to 'say something', we should find media more substantial elsewhere.
... I'm not able to find the particular episode at the moment, so my source is 'dude trust me'.

 

It's very much the common issue of all Sonic rivals. The complexity of them is a double edged sword; you either take them to their logical conclusions as characters and take the series in a very different direction, or they just stagnate in their roles.

And given Surge is... what, the 7th or so time they've done this character archetype? She doesn't have much shelf life.

It's sad because I think Surge is a good character, but these Sonic rivals always have a ceiling on what they can do, and the more they introduce, the more redundant they start becoming.

It's very much the same issue the recent version of The Flash had; they had three consecutive seasons where the villain was an evil speedster and they got less and less interesting as the series went on.