IDW Sonic the Hedgehog Comics General Discussion

I saw the cover for issue 15 on comixology. Guess who shows up.

Did you guess Rough and Tumble? Because it's hecking Rough and Tumble again!

"Having finally come face-to-face with Dr. Starline, Sonic needs to learn more about this new threat. He and Amy investigate an old Eggman lair but find it less abandoned than they thought when Rough & Tumble return for revenge."

The following issue, 16, has Tangle in it.

Edited by lalalei2001 on Feb 9th 2019 at 9:15:42 AM

Ha oh god I just saw Ken Penders' twitter and he's so butthurt about IDW it's hilarious.

He's always been butthurt about the Sonic comics since he quit.

And the funniest part is, there are actually people who prefer him over Ian.

Especially since all he has is Sonic really, since his other works never lasted that long. Not to mention his magnum opus (Endgame) has been picked apart and shown to be not as great as people remember it.

And especially since Penders' kvetching is the reason Archie had to do a soft reboot and ultimately can their Sonic series, giving way to the IDW series that just starts shortly after Sonic Forces.

What’s he even whining about anyway, how it's going too slow or it's too generic? If so, he's one to talk. We haven't heard squat about that Lara-Su Chronicles BS in ages!

Son of a fan-created Sonic OC.

In some ways that's a good thing.

Edited by Soble on Feb 24th 2019 at 8:28:29 AM

@Targetmaster Joe

Yeah, a lot of the reason why there are a lot of restrictions on what IDW can and cannot do is due to his the crap he put in the Archie comics over the years.

Part of that is accurate, but another part is Sonic canon as a whole being a lot looser back then than it is now, with the American branch, European branch, Japanese branch, and Australian branch of Sega all having their own takes on Sonic, IE the cartoons, comics, and Sonic Live in Sydney. I forget where exactly I read this, it might have been on the old Sonic HQ page or their forums, but according to Ken and Karl Bollers the mandates had been present to some extent since they were working on the comics; they just didn't get heavily enforced until Sega strove for greater brand consistency, like they are today.

Edited by lalalei2001 on Feb 26th 2019 at 7:27:01 AM

It's not that I don't recognize a corporate entity will put brand recognition over creative storytelling any day, but putting so much restriction on a proven writer feels disrespectful, to say the least. Ian Flynn has shown that he can breathe life into this cast of recolored furries better than anyone, and if he can't be trusted to respect the brand and tell a unique story then why even bother with this comic in the first place? Because if you keep stifling Flynn's writing eventually the series is just going to run out of steam and people are going to stop buying it.

TLDR: It's a comic, not a commercial. The people reading Sonic comics are the people who already love Sonic, and they're coming to it to get something they can't get from the games, whatever that may be.

@Rodimus Minor

The people at Sega want Sonic to be a Mario like mascot, but the thing is he was created from day one to be the anti-Mario. They forget that Sonic and his world lend to worldbuilding and character building than Mario.

Being Anti Mario isn't really relevant anymore tho. The 90's are long gone.

The very first echidna besides Knuckles, Princess Alucion, originated in a series of French comics, Sonic Adventures.

I wonder if it's corporate mandate that nothing can be done with the history of the Echidnas. I've wanted to know more about them since Sonic Adventure.

Wouldn't surprise me, since the Echidnas were at the core of Ken Penders' temper-tantrum lawsuit.

Sonic the Hedgehog #14

Actually a pretty good issue. It's largely Sonic vs. Dr. Starline who shows himself as a confident, cool and collected villain that I'm hoping gets developed further, and Eggman's testing of his new virus was legit hilarious, which given what I said last issue should be contradictory but I think that's the strength of the character.

My issues with the comic remain the same as always but it seems like things are starting to improve.

I wonder why Starline hasn't been put under Ensemble Dark Horse already, especially since he's gotten pretty popular in the fandom.

Starline is also while still not an outright pragmatic villain, does ascribe to the school of Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?.

Edited by Envyus on Feb 27th 2019 at 9:29:09 AM

They were a bit like that in Archie, but here I feel like Sonic and Amy are pretty much written like Ladybug and Cat Noir. Ladybug, er, Sonic makes clear that he's not into Amy but he appears to be constantly flirting with her.

If Starline is a major character he can't be an ED, same with Tangle and Whisper. The background sheep who got fanart and a fan name is one since she is a very minor character.

I'm honestly a big fan of Amy not being Sonic's crazed stalker anymore but it's a huge bonus that she and Sonic have a playfully flirty relationship even if it can't go anywhere.

...are we sure that this Starline person isn't Eggman in disguise, or Metal Sonic?

I've not caught up since they beat Super Neo Metal Sonic.

Starline is a fan of Eggman who tried restoring him to sanity. He's also a platypus.

Edited by RodimusMinor on Feb 28th 2019 at 6:29:41 AM

Then you should have seen Starline.

Edited by Envyus on Feb 28th 2019 at 5:59:16 AM