Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW Publishing) #50

You and I are the same in the way that we have our own styles that we won’t change.

Open Your Heart (Sonic Adventure)

Resulting from the fanbase’s overwhelming adoration of Archie Sonic’s Endgame arc, issue 50 is an important milestone for any given Sonic comic, and the IDW-published comic was clearly aware of this. With 10 different cover arts designed and a long lead-in using the Imposter Syndrome mini-series, the comic was hyping it hard. There was so much build up that I had my doubts it could still make good on it all, especially not in a single issue. Yet somehow this release was absolutely worth the wait.

It was pretty clear for a while now that this was just going to end up simply being a fanservice issue of Sonic, Tails and Eggman coming in to curbstomp the posers, and my word were they curbstomped. It was pure spectacle. Considering how much Surge and Kit got rocked by Metal Sonic it was known that they stood no chance, but there’s still something very satisfying about seeing Surge become the perspective character to run up against the unstoppable hero. That was Shadow’s original purpose too, actually. A character who, on paper, is just ‘Sonic but better’, yet actually ends up emphasizing Sonic’s overwhelming tenacity. It’s vindicating seeing Surge once more return to that. Sonic is seemingly insurmountable here, evoking the same kind of feelings as his beat-down of Robotnik in Archie Sonic #200.

Ian Flynn is always king for characterisation. His writing of Eggman is as vicious as ever, displaying an understanding that the character works best when he isn’t delegated to comic relief. He’s a deceiver and a warlord, ruthless and cruel. I loved all the silhouette panels which finally brought back some of that “mad doctor” energy that made Archie’s Robotnik such a terrifying antagonist.

The way he explores both the good and bad effects of Sonic’s my way or the highway sense of values always brings the best from the character. He’s someone who wants to believe in the good in people, even when he knows that they’re set in their ways. He has the maturity to seriously engage with Surge’s trauma, yet believes in himself enough to not be swayed by it. Sonic is a seasoned hero. A character traditionally not given an origin story. Even the plot of the original game had Sonic and Eggman’s rivalry as established fact, rather than being their first encounter. In many stories the villains are the ones with grandiose schemes, and the heroes searching for identity within the conflict. But that’s not the case in the Sonic franchise, since the protagonist’s confidence in himself instead sees the opposing forces like Shadow, Metal Sonic, Scourge or Surge crumbling before his ideals. He’s such a powerful character. Shadow and Surge have both urged Sonic to simply off Eggman at various points in the comic, but he doesn’t ever entertain the thought because he sees that to be the quick, easy way out. As he tells Scourge in Archie #196 – that would just make him a bully. It makes his relationship to Eggman especially fascinating too, since Starline has also urged the doctor to simply carpet-bomb Sonic. Yet both forces aren’t simply trying to subjugate the other, but to defeat them in moral combat. IDW Sonic’s depiction of their rivalry might be the best that it’s ever been.

I don’t have nearly enough to say which could sustain this piece, since I’m truthfully just making this a post so that I can commemorate my participation in this historical event for the franchise. But all in all – really good issue. The kind of issue that shows you why the community clamours for Ian Flynn. The kind of issue that illustrates why the comic series are where this franchise truly thrives. All characters were performing at their peak here, both in the flashy fight choreography and in the emotional nuance from which they stand their grounds.