Super Comics: Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) – #30

Sonic the Hedgehog (the comic book series) and all the images you see in this recap are owned by IDW and SEGA of America

We’re back with another issue of everyone’s favorite video game AND furry comic!  Sonic certainly covers a lot of bases, and yes I am aware I’m WAY behind here on these issues which hopefully won’t happen again, but considering my track record with these I’m guessing there’s ALREADY some special issue based on a mobile game or whatever that I’ve overlooked and need to catch up on.  ANYWAY!  With the Zombot arc over, does this get things off to a right start, or were the Zombots merely a symptom of some greater problem with the series that won’t be fixed just yet?  Let’s find out!!

The issue begins with everyone reeling over the climatic explosion in the sky that sucked away the Zombot virus as well as Sonic the Hedgehog.  This is all part and parcel with being an unflappable hero however, and the only way this could stick is if Sonic had a much more powerful son to take his place.  Knuckles knows what’s up at least, though everyone else is gonna need a bit of time to get on the same page.

Until Sonic decides to return from Planet Namek or whatever, we get an overview of the new status quo; now that the bad guys have been thwarted and Eggman’s biological weapon has been eradicated. Speaking of whom, what do they plan on doing with him?  Lock him in a cage?  Exile him to another dimension?  Oh no wait, he snuck off on some sort of plane and no one seems the least bit bothered to bring him back.  Seems like a MASSIVE OVERSIGHT on the part of The Restoration and its leader Amy, but to her credit her hands are pretty full with the OTHER threat that’s lingering around.  They manage to have Zavok under lock and key since all the protagonists are nearby to hold him down here on Angel Island, but the other Zeti have been restored and are free to cause whatever chaos they can get away with in the cities our heroes left them in.  I guess we are going to need something for our heroes to do until Sonic makes his valiant return, but I really wish they could have taken a breath, stopped for one issue, and then come up with something new.  It’s not just that these are villains we’ve already seen before, they’re villains we just saw a few issues ago get their butts kicked by our heroes who will no doubt do it again; especially now that they don’t have the chaos emeralds and don’t have a Zombot army to control.  HOPEFULLY they’ll be easy enough to round up, but you know how much this series likes to drag things out.

The issue does get better in the second half, starting with a scene of Rouge and Knuckles playfully antagonizing one another that sadly doesn’t go on nearly as long as it should but is still a lot of fun and feels like a genuine character moment instead of just moving the plot forward.  There’s also an action scene after that where GEMERL tries to stop Eggman’s escape, but it feels very awkwardly placed and is a bit hard to follow.  Now sure, you could argue that the events we see in this story are happening simultaneously and not linearly which would mean this scene would be mere minutes if not seconds after Eggman got on the ship earlier in the issue, but the book gives us no clue that this is the case and so it feels like GEMERL is going after him like an hour after he already escaped.  He’s stopped by Metal Sonic who tears right through where I can only assume his robo-heart is supposed to be, but it’s unclear what happened to him after that.  Is GEMERL dead?  Heck, was his corpse taken by Eggman?  It’s not clear and he’s never mentioned again despite the fact that he may or may not have died just now.  Shadow the Hedgehog goes after Metal Sonic as well, and while the action itself is a bit confusing involving a giant ball of some sort that comes out of nowhere, it’s clear that he’s defeated yet still alive which is WAY more than we just got for GEMERL.

So the question remains, what exactly happened to Sonic when he was up in the sky?  Well if you assumed that he blew up and there are hedgehog pieces scattered across the landscape, then you are WRONG and probably didn’t notice that this is a book for kids.  EASY ENOUGH MISTAKE THOUGH, considering we just had an extremely long and extremely bleak zombie arc, but in any case; we cut to the Castle of the Sol Empire in another dimension which is the home of Princess Blaze and presumably where she was while this whole “Zombot thing” was destroying… now that I think about it, have they OFFICIALLY called it Mobius yet?  Regardless of that, Blaze is looking out on the evening sky with its beautiful moon as night falls on her peaceful kingdom… when a hedgehog comes crashing to Earth not a hundred yards outside the castle gates.  Some may consider this an act of aggression on the part of a rival kingdom, but in this case it’s the Chaos Emeralds using their Convenience Powers to send Sonic somewhere that’s not TOO far from where a plot could show up.

And thus the issue ends with our hero stuck in another dimension and our other heroes doing a boss run now that they’ve cleared the campaign and have unlocked New Game Plus!

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I guess I’m still feeling a bit exhausted here as the story spent so long trying to wring emotional distress from its readers (the darn Zombot arc was compared to The Walking Dead of all things) that our victory lap being qualified with more redundant boss fights kind of sours what’s supposed to be a cathartic moment.  Maybe I’m the only one who wants them to stop punching things for a while and focus on anything else, but the very brief one page interaction between Rouge and Knuckles that has nothing to do with Eggman, Zombots, or Zeti is what I’m going to remember about this issue; certainly more than the confusing chase scene with Metal Sonic or everyone beating up Zavok again.  If nothing else though, it looks like Sonic is in line to getting something of a break or at least a different kind of challenge to face as what we’ve seen so far doesn’t indicate a giant monster or a maniacal scientist is right around the corner force him to GO FAST.  Sonic has earned the right to only GO FAST if he WANTS to GO FAST, and hopefully the writers are ready to give him a reason next time instead of forcing him to face yet another world ending crisis.