Tag: David Mariotte

Super Comics: Tangle & Whisper – #3

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

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Tangle & Whisper as well as 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 the GOOD Sonic series!  Okay, that’s a bit harsh as the main Sonic book has been fine if overly repetitive, but there’s zero doubt as to which one of these I look more forward to reading when they come out because in the scant few issues we’ve gotten so far, they’ve given these two a lot of characterization and pathos which I find WAY more interesting than yet another zombie drama.  With only two issues left to go (they REALLY need to make this a regular book once their done with the mini-series!), does this offshoot of the new era of Sonic Comics continue to impress?  Let’s find out!!

The issue begins with Whisper finally telling us about her TRAGIC BACKSTORY which involves her former mercenary group.  Those were the good ol’ days where committing war crimes was an activity best shared with friends!  Hey, they’re the one’s calling themselves mercenaries and remember that Mimic had that giant knife in the first issue!  These guys must have gotten up to some SERIOUS BUSINESS!

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“Have you heard of the Eggman Nuclear Weapon Program?”     “The what?”     “Exactly.  Billions of lives saved and only nine dead scientests.”     “Wait, WHAT!?”

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Super Comics: Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) – #21

~ Matt Vetrano ~ 1 Comment

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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 Resident Evil with Furries, and guess what!?  WE GET EVEN MORE ZOMBIES!!  Oh IDW, you spoil us with your endless issues of Sonic fighting Zombots over and over again!  Yeah, the formula has gotten real stale over these last six issues which may not SEEM like a lot, but that’s half a year of me having to read about INSERT CITY NAME HERE on the brink of  collapse while Sonic and INSERT CHARACTER HERE fight them off.  Will they mix it up for this issue and give us something different!?  Probably not, but let’s find out!!

The issue begins with a bit of a lurch admittedly as we’re following Tails this time instead of Sonic as he is heading to his lab in this gigantic city (how can he afford the rent here!?), and is flanked on both sides by Tangle & Whisper who are here for reasons; the most likely of which is promoting their mini-series which by the way I’m ALSO recapping on this website!  What, all of a sudden shameless self-promotion can’t be mutually beneficial!?

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“And you can be good at teamwork too by reading our book!  Visit your local comic book shop to learn more!”

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Super Comics: Tangle & Whisper – #2

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

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

Well now that we’ve got the rather meh Sonic book out of the way, let’s get back to the NEW series that is already quite promising!  As I’m sure you don’t need me to say once again, Whisper is perhaps the best thing the new Sonic book has going for it and so making this mini-series about something in her DARK AND MYSTERIOUS PAST sounds like a total slam dunk to me!  Do they keep up the momentum from the first issue and continue to outdo the ACTUAL Sonic book?  Let’s find out!!

The issue begins with Tangle & Whisper sneaking up on an abandoned Eggman facility because OF COURSE they’re at an abandoned Eggman facility.  I’m pretty sure there are more empty houses owned by Eggman than there are homeless furries in the streets which is yet another reason to eat the rich aside from how tasty someone named Eggman would inevitably be.  ANYWAY!  If you weren’t aware already (and for SOME REASON hadn’t read my recap of the first issue), these two are here to hunt down a mischievous knife wielding bad guy named Mimic who can count all the prime numbers from one to nine-thousand nine-hundred and seventy three.  No, I’m kidding; they can shapeshift and impersonate other people which makes something like an abandoned facility with lots of doors, hallways, and storerooms filed with empty boxes not the most ideal of hunting grounds for our heroes.  Despite the disadvantage however, Whisper has more than enough angst to say screw the danger and Tangle has more than enough pep in her step to assume she’s gonna come out of this the big dang hero!

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“I am vengeance!  I am the NIGHT!  I!  AM!  LEMUR WOMAN!!”     “Stop talking to yourself!  We’re trying to be inconspicuous!”     “STOP TELLING ME WHAT TO DO!!”

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Super Comics: Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) – #20

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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 Night of the Living Hedgehogs as our very much alive Sonic (I’m assuming Amy is alive as well) continues to face the unending hoard of Zombots that Eggman has unleashed upon the world!  The resistance is running out of resources, Sonic is running out of stamina, and I’m running out of interest for these continuous attacks that we’ve been reading about over and over again!  Can the writers give us just enough new ideas and interesting concepts to keep the momentum going, or will this story be so uninteresting that it’ll feel like it 28 days to read it?  Let’s find out!!

The issue begins right where the last one did with EVIL Shadow the Hedgehog holding Sonic by the throat and making menacing gestures to him which frankly is what I assume he does most days in the first place, but I guess THE ULTIMATE LIFE FORM is as susceptible to a robo-virus as the aliens in The War of the Worlds were to the common cold.  All that power, yet taken down by a lack of hand sanitizer.  WHEN WILL WE LEARN!?  Some other time perhaps because Sonic and Shadow are about to lock it up for what has to be the fiftieth BILLION time and it’s about as exciting as listening to Sonic go through his seven or eight catch phrases.

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“TOTALLY RADICAL!!  COWABUNGA!! EAT MY SHORTS!!  I CAN’T STOP!!  SEND HELP!!”

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Super Comics: Tangle & Whisper – #1

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

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Tangle & Whisper as well as 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 what is OFFICIALLY the first issue of the Tangle & Whisper mini-series!  No more sneak previews or spoilers being doled out by IDW; it’s time to get to the real story and what we’ve all been waiting for!  Both these characters have been the highlight of the renwed Sonic series (Whisper more so, at least in my opinion) and giving them their own shot at the spotlight was a brilliant move by IDW; especially since they are original for the series so building them up as much as possible will either entrench them as neigh inseparable from the franchise it spun off of.  Does the Sonic Comic team at IDW make a brilliant case for their OCs’ place in SEGA’s world?  Let’s find out!!

The issue begins… well exactly the way that Tangle & Whisper 0 started since that was the first four pages of this one.  To quickly recap, Tangle is bored in her home town now that the threat of Metal Sonic has been thwarted (I’m assuming this is either right before the Zombot-pocalyse or the town is far enough away that they haven’t heard about it yet) and is itching for some adventure to break up the monotony of day to day life.  Fortunately there’s a commotion outside where Tangle finds none other than Whisper the Sniper Wolf who is in the middle of the street firing her laser rifle at a scampering Sonic the Hedgehog!  Say WHAT!?

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“IT’S THE ONLY WAY TO STOP SONIC FORCES 2!”     “NOTHING can stop Sonic Forces 2!”     “WELL I HAVE TO TRY!!”

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Super Comics: Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) – #19

~ Matt Vetrano ~ 1 Comment

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

Welcome back to another issue of Sonic Adventure Z!  We haven’t quite gotten to climbing zombies yet, but give it time!  I’m sure Doctor Eggman is watching a whole stack of B movies for inspiration!  The invasion continues unabated despite Sonic’s best efforts and now the virus is spreading to SUNSET CITY which I’m sure was a very important place that we just never got around to mentioning before now, and he’s aided by his bestest buddies from Team Dark because I guess all the other buddies he’s saved are off doing something else.  Can Sonic stave off the zombie hoards as well as his own zombotic infection?  Will the exhaustion of putting the entire world on his shoulders day after day finally be too much for him?  Will he be forced to… GO SLOW!?  Let’s find out!!

In case it wasn’t clear already, the issue begins as many have already; with terrified furries running for their lives while Sonic and the secondary character team de jour running interference. In case you weren’t aware already, Team Dark consists of Batwoman (Rouge the Bat), Sonic The Try Hard (Shadow the Hedgehog), and ED-209 (E-123 Omega); which of those names are sillier I’ll leave you to decide.  Also, does anyone else miss when these three were ACTUALLY bad guys, or at the very least chaotic neutrals? I mean shouldn’t Rouge be out there planning some sort of heist or infiltrating Eggman’s secret base?  Instead she’s out here with a headset on directing the scared masses like an overly ambitious traffic cop, and I can’t be the only one feeling like that’s a waste of her talents, right?  At least Omega is getting into the swing of things a bit by chucking Zombots around and firing his lasers, but I guess to make it less horrifying they had to MAKE SURE TO TELL US that the bullets are minor annoyances to them rather than deadly.  What this tells me is that Omega is FAR less threatening than GEMERL, the latter of whom they had to stop from murdering people with HIS robot weaponry in the

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“And I can also see their parachutes! They’re OK.”

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Super Comics: Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) – #18

~ Matt Vetrano ~ 1 Comment

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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 The Spin Dashing Dead, and unlike Robert Kirkman’s book I’m PRETTY sure this issue won’t turn out to be the final one.  Amazing as it would be for everyone to turn into robot zombies and the story to just end, we still have SOME hope for a triumphant conclusion to all this despite the tragic loss of Charmington L Beesworth (also known as Charmy) last issue and Sonic’s progressively worsening sickness.  Seriously, is Sonic trying to fill the gap that Game of Thrones has left?  I’m not saying we’re there YET (we’d need a few more decapitations), but we’re certainly closer to it than at any other point in the franchise’s history!  Anyway, before I go into any more random tangents about series that have come to a close (I could make an Archie reference here but I shall resist the temptation), let’s focus on the issue at hand and the continued efforts of THE RESTORATION to contain the ROBO-VIRUS!  Can Sonic and crew rescue those caught in the midst of Eggman’s latest attack, including Cream the Rabbit!?  Let’s find out!!

Right off the bat, I want to point out that they gave us an ACTUAL map of the world we’ve seen so far as well as a running tally of who’s missing or zombified which actually helps a lot in making the world feel a lot more cohesive rather than a series of random cities plopped into the story whenever convenient.  I mean… that’s still KIND of what’s been going on, but at least they’re keeping track!

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Super Comics: Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) – #17

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

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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 Knuckles-less Chaotix!  Are we ever gonna get an explanation for that by the way?  Or the disappearance of Mighty the Armadillo?  Ah, it’s probably not important!  What IS important is that Eggman is finally putting his latest plan into motion with terrifying results; not just because of how effortlessly it transmits itself from host to host but, but also how much damage its surely causing to the fragile infrastructure that’s been built up since the last time Sonic stopped Eggman’s nefarious schemes.  Even if they do find a cure, will there be anything left of the old world to salvage?  What will The Chaotix do if the market for Private Investigators dries up!?  Charmy’s barely old enough for THIS job; let alone work in a factory or be trusted around a stove!  Well before we start speculating on the POST-apocalypse, we might as well see how it plays out live and jump right into the issue proper!!

The issue begins with everyone’s favorite third rate detective agency (a step above Aqua Teen Hunger Force but a step below Schmidt and Jenko in 21 Jump Street) getting an update from Amy about the Robo-virus, and then proceeding to do absolutely nothing about it!  I mean I guess I can kind of see the logic behind it as there’s no indication the disease has spread to their city yet, and they aren’t exactly the A-Team in the Sonic Universe.  They’re The Defenders to everyone Else’s Avengers.  You call them to rough up a mugger or fight a biker gang; not to single handedly reverse a Romero Apocalypse.  Sadly their ingenious decision to do nothing has one fatal flaw which is that the zom-pocalypse already reached Seaside City and the zombots are breaking down the Chaotix’s door which is bad news for everyone.  Now I want to be VERY clear about what happens next.  None of the Chaotix have seen a zombot up to this point or seem to know what they are capable of.  The door bursts open and a couple zombots come waltzing in.  Espio then proceeds to take a KUNAI, which if you didn’t know are very sharp, and throws it RIGHT AT THEIR HEAD!  The kunai bounces harmless off their metallic cranium, and Espio is shocked that it didn’t work.  In case there was any doubt as to what was supposed to happen, Espio threw a bladed weapon with the intent of burying it right between the eyes of an anthropomorphic animal; killing them instantly by hemorrhaging a vital organ like he’s in a John Wick movie.  Yes.  That just happened.

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“My lust for murder has yet to be satiated…”     “Well then learn to throw better, you wuss!!”

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Super Comics: Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) – #16

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

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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 already with even more Sonic the Hedgehog!  Apparently we just can’t get enough of the little blue bugger, what with his trailer dropping, the Annual last week, and now this issue that gets us back on track with the ongoing story of Eggman trying to take over the world!  All we need now is for SEGA to announce both a good Sonic game and a bad Sonic game for the ritual to be complete and usher in the apocalypse!  It’s in revelations I think.  That beast they talk about?  Actually a hedgehog!  ANYWAY! With the last issue ending on quite the interesting cliffhanger, can this issue capitalize on it and deliver a satisfying narrative for the good guys, or will this storyline falter; leaving the bad guys to continue being the highlight of the series?  Let’s find out!!

So remember at the end of the last issue where Sonic got infected with the Robo-virus and it was only a matter of time before he turned into a cybernetic killing machine?  Yeah, it’s all fine now!  Nothing to see here, just move along!

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“Despite all my rage, I’m still just a hedgehog in a cage!”     “He’s been saying that for three hours, and yet I don’t think it has anything to do with the virus.”

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Super Comics: Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) – Annual 2019 & Tangle and Whisper #0

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

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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 even MORE Sonic the Hedgehog, because I guess it wasn’t enough to get that terrible trailer; they had to release not one but TWO issues of the comic two days later!  Not only that but the one we’ll be looking at today is an Annual which is a series of short stories that is twice as long as a standard issue, and if that wasn’t enough there’s ANOTHER issue coming out next week!  That’s about four issues worth of comics in only two weeks which is great for most people out there, but now I’ve quadrupled my workload all at once!  If you have any tiny violins in your immediate vicinity I would recommend playing a sad song for me and my misfortunes.  ANYWAY!  Does the first Annual of the IDW series manage to knock it out of the park, or does the short story format (reminiscent of the early Sonic Archie comics) end up hampering their ability to tell decent stories?  Let’s find out!!

Our first story begins with what I can only assume is a preview of the Tangle/Whisper miniseries as the latter visits the former in her home town.  I can only ASSUME this is the same village as the one from issue 4, but they don’t bother to clarify this in the story itself, and I guess I COULD take this time to once again say how nice it’d be if they would establish some key locations to make the world feel real and to give some degree of stakes to Eggman’s rampant destruction, but I’m pretty sure I’ve already beaten that dead horse a few times already.  That, and they do a good job fleshing out the interplay between Tangle and Whisper so I guess I can’t complain too much when they’re at least giving me that.

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“If I open both of my eyes all of existence will cease to be, and you just inadvertently opened one of them.”     “Are you… are you serious?”     “No, I just don’t want you to hug me.”

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