Sonic the Hedgehog IDW/Current Western Comic Megathread

Evan draws the characters with softer features, likely so that they can emote better with their face.

I don't mind personally compared to just Sonic rigidly keeping s constant scowl.

 

Before I start my post, I just want to reiterate that I do not think Evan Stanley is a bad artist. Her art is very competent and I would call it good. I'm just pointing out something that's always felt off to me.

For sure. That first issue post-Worlds Collide was definitely jarring. I do think some of it was an inker problem.

Yeah, I think so. I think it's just that Stanley's style clashes with my brain's view on Sonic so it looks off to me.

For sure. Archie had it's fair share of bad artists with the good and Stanley was in the good artist category.

 

Scrapnik Island #3 is out.

Spoiler

Lots of cool things going on in this issue. First of all, Mecha’s motivation for why he’s acting the way he is provided a lot of depth to him, and it’s nice to have it confirmed (maybe?) that Sigma truly does care for Scrapnik Island and all those on it (not to mention that Mecha Knuckles was being extreme in his duty rather than outright malicious). Also, the corridor scene is just superb in how it uses the mechanics of the Miles Electric as a translator to not only allow Mecha Sonic to exposit his thoughts and feelings, but to effectively establish his presence within that scene in an impactful way.

Tails vs Mecha Sonic is also quite nice. Tails is clearly intimidated by Mecha but isn’t going to back down. Things end pretty poorly for him but he went down putting up a fight, which I think a lot of people will appreciate.

Finally, the whole mind swap angle gives me HUGE Runaway Brain vibes and I won’t be surprised if Barnes reveals that short was the inspiration for this plot point.

Given what we’ve seen of Mecha Sonic and what Sigma has said about him, I hope Sonic’s able to get through to him (likely by invoking the sunflower that Mecha wants to plant someday). With that said, I don’t see Mecha coming out of this alive, and I suspect the final panel of the series will be his grave, marked by that same sunflower. In fact, I’m wondering whether Sigma and co. are also dead for keeps now.

 

This mini-series is firing on all cylinders.

 

Spoiler

I wonder, how does Mecha sound like? I mostly imagine him having a similar voice to "Wrecking Ball" from Overwatch. Does Mecha have emotional range in his voice?

Also just a nitpick here, i know Sigma is supposed to be caring and supportive figure, but i find his(?) actions a bit questionable. Like how he describes the Island in the fixing Mecha flashbacks


"In this island you are safe. In this island you are home..."

sounds more like overwriting and brainwashing someone's brain rather than offering a safe space, and how he talks about trying to rewrite Mecha's prgramming... yeah it comes off as a bit weird.

I realize that was not what the story trying to imply, but gotta be honest, it did soften the emotional impact the story is going for for me.

Still love Barnes' work tho/

 

Spoiler

I just read him with Sonic's voice. Roger does a pretty good job playing villains in other stuff so I would love it if SEGA gave him an opportunity to play a villain in Sonic.

 

Spoiler

I read Mecha Sonic with the voice of Angel Dax from the Doctor Who audio drama Wink (voiced by Clive Haywood).

On the ethics of rewriting code, I think Sigma just did the bare minimum to remove their lethal tendencies (with mixed results). If there’s an issue with Sigma rewriting code, then Eggman making forcing them to be weapons of destruction is even worse. Sigma’s giving the Scrapniks a second chance at life, free of Eggman’s will.

 

Spoiler

Not reading Mecha's voice from SMBZ is doing it wrong.

 

Spoiler

I mean Eggman is responsible for a lot of horrible things, so writing code for robots and making slaves for him that are somehow sentient while very messed up, it's par for the course. And also this has been done in the franchise before, like i don't know full details but i think Gemerl was reworked to be more friendly, so i guess it's not much of a big deal.

I still find it weird that it is seen in a positive light, that Sigma is kinda playing robot god and programming how robots should act in his little community he's building.

 

Spoiler

At no point is it stated that Sigma’s dictating how the Scrapniks should act. Heck, in the flashback showing Sigma introducing Mecha Sonic to the island, he explicitly tells him that he’ll “discover [his] new self” there. Mecha even develops a wish to see the washed up sunflower planted in real soil. On the other hand, when Mecha reverts to his evil ways, it’s specifically Eggman’s code resurfacing which dictates that he’s a weapon. Sigma seemingly has no direct control over the Scrapniks, but they respect him as their leader and follow him as a result of that. I fail to see how this is anything but positive.

 

Spoiler

I'm not saying that the story is trying to imply that Sigma is his authoritarian leader programming the people of this island how he sees fit, i think i fully understand that context and what this story is doing,a peaceful little island where these badniks can just exist without their original purpose defining them, a big rehabilitation center. this is just a nitpick i'm reading a bit into. I just think how this idea is presented is a bit weird.

If i had to present some way "better", i guess, dedicate more time to these robots overcoming their original programming, rather than a direct reworking. Sigma did, Gamma did, Omega did (in his own way) and even Metal (also in his own way). And Mecha's tragic reverting back to his violent tendencies would've been much more impactful.

But maybe that explains why this little detail exists, this is a short comic run telling already packed story and doesn't have much time diving deep into how this island works, so it's just "Sigma reprogrammed them so they can live peacefully". Sigma really isn't an awful figure, i don't think so, i just think this little detail works against what the story is trying to say.

 

Spoiler

Well, presented in that way, I don’t think it’s an unreasonable criticism, but I also think it’d be difficult to work in the way you describe, because all the examples of Eggman robots going rogue and involved extremely sophisticated models, and I think allowing the big standard badniks to do that takes away from the impact of such a phenomenon. I’d instead go for showing the starting point of the scrapnik civilisation, with the first few reconstructed badniks feeling aimless until one of them expresses a desire to get off the island, at which point Sigma is given the idea to work towards that goal, not to mention telling the story of Mecha Knuckles through a flashback rather than expiation, but I also don’t think these things can be elegantly woven into the existing story given the page constraints.

 

I knew Tails' weapon looked familiar.

Spoiler

It's a Menacer.

 

Issue #56 is here.

Spoiler

Perhaps a little underwhelming, but how else could this have ended? At the end of the day, it’s hard for me to be disappointed that the fight doesn’t end with some triumphant comeback for the heroes, since the whole point of this arc was to be a study of Surge and Kit and their relationships with either side of the Sonic/Eggman conflict. They’ve been hurt, but they’re willing to hurt others, so ultimately they’re not good people. There’s a case to be made that perhaps Kit is less culpable than Surge due to his hardcoded dependency upon her, but you can make a similar argument for Surge, whose damage doesn’t allow her to see a future for herself outside of Sonic’s shadow. Furthermore, Kit does end up providing his own perspective on the scenario outside of his link to Surge, where he (wrongly) sees both Sonic and Eggman as trying to change them to suit their own selfish desires (okay he’s probably right about Eggman actually). At any rate, the evil is defeated and the Wisps are free. I’m intrigued to see what’s about to happen with Tangle, Whisper and Lanolin, given the covers we’ve seen. Roll on the next arc!

 

Spoiler

It felt pretty underwhelming for sure. I would have preferred a story of her not becoming a good guy like Shadow or Knuckles. Rather I would've liked her becoming someone that won't ever befriend Sonic but moves on from being in his image. Maybe in the future I hope. Otherwise I loved the rest of this arc.

 

Spoiler

They haven’t become good guys, the book makes that absolutely explicit and, while I can understand the desire to see this characters grow beyond their in-universe inspirations, they ultimately need a core conceit that drives them to be at odds with not only Sonic and Tails but Eggman as well. I’m sure they’ll be expanded beyond that, but that raison d’être is pretty much necessary to ensure that Surge and Kit remain unique.

 

Spoiler

I don't have any problem with them remaining enemies, I prefer it honestly. But because their goals are so simple, you need to give them a new hook. Surge has lost to Sonic three times now, so now what? Characters like Surge work a lot better as henchmen than carrying a story on their own. Even Shadow was acting on behalf of someone else.]]

 

Spoiler

Hey, perhaps they'll take Shadow's role as the Vegeta-lites and SEGA will focus on them instead of Shadow, letting Flynn get Shadow back on track.

A person can dream...

 

Spoiler

They don't have the same clout as Shadow

 

Spoiler

This story is much more interesting if looked at through Surge and Kit's perspectives.
And not a story about pushing Sonic's ideology to its limit.
This is pretty much their story, and finally coming to terms with their past and where they stand, and it becomes a very sad story.
It even makes moments in this issue much more powerful. Surge finally having her closure and in a way, winning that fight. she pretty much almost killed Sonic here and no one really stopped her except she pushed it too hard.