Tag: Gigi Dutreix

Super Comics: Sonic Imposter Syndrome – #4

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

Sonic: Imposter Syndrome, 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

I’m probably sounding like a broken record, but IDW’s Sonic series is always better the further away it is from Sonic himself. The mainline series has had its ups and downs, but the mini-series have always been some of the best writing we’ve seen from IDW’s run with the characters, and that is still the case with Imposter Syndrome; especially after Issue 49 which just felt like a bridge to whatever Issue 50 is gonna be. Does the final issue put the cherry on top of an already great mini-series, or will this be an even direr warning that Issue 50 might be an overhyped disappointment? Let’s find out!!

We begin the issue with Starline, Surge, and Kitsunami standing on the literal precipice of their greatest victory. For Starline that is to invade the Egg-base below and take over his mentor’s empire and for the other two, it’s to stab Starline in the back as soon as he thinks he’s won. Things go quite well right out of the gate, though that’s not much of a surprise given Eggman’s penchant for aesthetics over functionality, and the trio dispatches a number of goofy-looking and overly complicated robot minions. A few gun turrets or some land mines might have been a better use of resources, but Eggman will be Eggman and it’s not like he has anything better to do with his time. Speaking of whom, Eggman is swiftly made aware of the attack on his home and is baffled that it’s not being perpetrated by someone on his already extensive enemies list.

“Somebody ring up Reverse-Flash, Zoom, and that guy with the freeze ray.”     “Sir, I keep telling you that the CW isn’t-”     “YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH AND DO AS YOU’RE TOLD!!”
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Super Comics: Sonic Imposter Syndrome – #2

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

Sonic: Imposter Syndrome 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 one of the many Sonic mini-series that IDW has put out since they started the main series! For the most part, they’ve proven to be fertile ground to test new ideas and get a tad bit daring with things that perhaps wouldn’t fly as well with the SEGA branded characters, and so far this series has proven to be no exception to that rule! After such a fantastic first issue, can they hope to follow it up with something just as good; or perhaps even better!? Let’s find out!!

The issue begins with the “final test” that Dr. Starline alluded to at the end of the last issue; the one that he had to use his Hypnotic Glove Powers to convince Surge and Kitsunami to go along with. Still, the not-so-good Doctor is perhaps overestimating his ability to control the situation as Surge has been difficult to control and this mission doesn’t exactly play to her strengths. The three are infiltrating an Eggman base to take it over with as little fuss as possible which means Starline is going to upload a bug in the mainframe that will somehow give him full control of the base while the other two take out the comms tower to prevent an alert from being sent to Eggman. Of course, having one of your facilities go offline seems about as suspicious as a blaring an alarm would be, but who even knows what Eggman pays attention to on a day-to-day basis? Heck, he’s probably still playing around with his VR headset from the last time we saw him! What this mini-series has done so well is to explore both Surge and Kitsunami as genuinely flawed characters that don’t feel limited by the brand. I can’t say exactly how stringent SEGA has been with the content of the IDW books, but it definitely feels like the original characters have much more room to emote and feel negative emotions which is far more compelling than Sonic’s usual TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL attitude. Surge is both sympathetic and despicable as her entire existence is just to be a tool for Starline but she lashes out at Kitsunami who is just as trapped as she is. It makes the journey more interesting if a character already has flaws that simply switching sides wouldn’t fix and at this point, it could easily go either way whether she and Kit will stay evil or eventually see the light.

“I’m the Vegeta in this situation and you’re, AT BEST, a Krillin. Do we understand each other!?”     “Actually I see myself as more of a Gohan-”     “WHAT WAS THAT!?”     “Nothing!”
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Super Comics: Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) – #46

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

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 more Sonic-less action as the girl’s trip story arc (for lack of a better term) is in full swing with tense social interactions, lots of unprocessed emotions, and a camping trip where no one remembered to bring a Nintendo Switch!  The last issue was somewhat of a disappointment for me as I’ve been waiting for something like this that focused on the characters and their relationships, but that IS technically what we’re doing here, it was mostly a miserable slog as no one was happy and Amy’s efforts went unappreciated.  Was it all necessary setup for an interesting story told over the next few issues, or is it going right back to Sonic Comic tropes after a brief dalliance with character growth?  Let’s find out!!

The issue begins where the last one left off; A RAGING INFERNO CREATING CHAOS, THREATENING LIVES, AND CREATING AN ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE!  Boy is it fun to escape from the real world for a minute by enjoying a story about fantasy creatures and robots that in NO WAY reflects the struggles we currently face!  Alright, that’s a bit of a stretch as I don’t think Eggman has tried to create a hole in the Ozone layer (at least not yet) and the previous issue DID say that the area was dry because of the after effects of the Zombot virus.  Not that an out of control virus causing wide spread systemic issues is in ANY WAY RELATABLE EITHER, but regardless of all that, Belle is still out there and has only just woken up to see half the forest in flames.  She herself would have been the victim of its wrath if not for the Badnik that she ran into (head first) at the end of the last issue who had protected all but her hand from burning to a crisp.  It appears to be one of those GOOD bad-guys, not unlike Belle herself, and the pair is eventually found by Tangle who’s on the hunt for the kid who wandered into the woods at the end of the last issue.

“Turns out I’m a cybernetic organism and this wood puppet shtick is just for show.” “Yeah… Remind me not to ask you to arm wrestle.”
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Super Comics: Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) – Annual 2020

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

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

Somehow this book came out like TWO MONTHS AGO and it just completely flew under my radar which probably says something unflattering about me as the release dates for these is something I actually TRY to keep an eye on. In any case, it’s better late than never and frankly it’s a good time to look at it as the first issue of the new story arc has just come out, and perhaps taking one last look back before moving forward will give us a bit of perspective… or more likely just reiterate how eager I was for the book to go in a new direction. In any case, let’s take a look!
First and foremost, this happy looking cover where everyone is celebrating and looking cheerful? LIES!! This is the annual celebrating the year of the Zombots, and like most of the issues we got during that time, this is filled with enough sorrow and hushed contemplation to make The Walking Dead dismissively roll its eyes. That said, at least it doesn’t mercilessly drag things out as each self-contained story in here is rather quick and there’s a decent amount of cleverness to go with the grim atmosphere. The first story is BIG’S BIG ADVENTURE which admittedly doesn’t SOUND like a harsh and dreadful romp, but take one look at that art style and tell me you’re not supposed to feel an icy chill in the pit of your stomach!

“It looks just like the winter of our Discontent!”
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Super Comics: Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) – Annual 2019 & Tangle and Whisper #0

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

STHIDWANNUAL19-0

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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