[ANALYZING SONIC THE HEDGEHOG COMICS] Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 8 (IDW Comics)

 

Title: Sonic the Hedgehog

Issue: #8

Writer: Ian Flynn

Artist:  Evan Stanley

Series: IDW

Previously Reviewed: Issue 1 |  Issue 2 |  Issue 3 |  Issue 4 |  Issue 5 |  Issue 6  | Issue 7

Alright!  Now it's time to introduce some more new characters to this series!  So far, we've seen Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Tangle, Blaze, Shadow and Rogue!  Now, we are finally getting introduced to two new characters in this series, Silver and Whisper the Wolf!  Now, let's see what they are doing in this story.

This issue, which is called "Silent Support," starts off with Sonic fighting his way into Eggman's base to find out more information about Metal Sonic's next move.  But then, he suddenly meets up with Silver the Hedgehog (who hasn't been seen in the franchise until "Sonic Forces") and he tells Sonic that he has come back to Sonic's timeline, because even though they defeated Dr. Eggman during the events of "Sonic Forces," his future timeline is still messed up and he has come back to the past to fix things again.  So, both Sonic and Silver go through the base until they meet up with a mysterious being who has a Wisp powered weapon that she is able to take down robots with.  This being is named Whisper the Wolf and Silver has heard lots of stories about how she was able to take down armies of robots with her weapons.  Sonic and Silver then meet up with Whisper, who is so shy that she tried to run away from Sonic and Silver.  But once Eggman's robots started attacking them, Sonic, Silver and Whisper fight together to take down the robots and they finally uncovered some information about Metal Sonic's next step in his plans.

Oh my goodness!  I never would have thought that I would see Silver the Hedgehog show up in the comics again!  It's been awhile since I last saw Silver the Hedgehog and I'm glad to see him show up in the IDW series.  Silver the Hedgehog has always been an interesting character to me since his first appearance (in the ill-fated Sonic 06) and he was still intriguing, regardless of that game's reputation.  The fact that Silver came from the future in order to fix his timeline was a pretty interesting concept and I will admit that I was a bit surprised that Silver came back yet again because his timeline is still messed up, despite him helping Sonic and his friends fight Dr. Eggman.  It makes me wonder exactly what is causing Silver's timeline to mess up frequently throughout this series.  Anyway, I really do like Sonic and Silver's dynamic with each other as they still get along very well with each other, but there are times where Sonic gets slightly annoyed with Silver's naivety, while Silver is shown to be a happy go lucky guy who is easily impressed by things, especially by Whisper the Wolf.  I do like this more innocent side to Silver's personality as it makes his character pretty interesting and adorable at the same time. 

Now, let's talk about the newest character in the series, Whisper the Wolf.  After being introduced to Tangle the Lemur a few issues ago, I was excited to meet yet another new character for the IDW series and I have to say that Whisper the Wolf is quickly becoming one of my favorite IDW exclusive characters!  I just loved the fact that she has a shy personality and yet, she is able to go toe to toe with Eggman's robots using her Wisp powered weapons with ease and that really made her into such an interesting character!  I'm also curious to learn more about her backstory as she seems to carry a lot of emotional baggage and I would like to know exactly what happened to her years ago that made her into who she is.  Also, another thing that I loved about this issue was Evan Stanley's art!  Adam Bryce Thomas and Evan Stanley are my most favorite artists in this series and Evan Stanley's art here is just as detailed here as it was in the previous issues and I just loved the intriguing expressions she puts on the characters!

The only "slight" problem that I had with this issue was that I wanted to learn more about Whisper the Wolf herself as she seemed to show up out of nowhere in this issue.  I would like to know how she got the wisps in the first place and why she's not that talkative towards Sonic and Silver.  I'm assuming that something tragic happened to her in the past that made her into who she is in this issue.

Overall, I give this issue a rating of:

While I wished that they explored Whisper the Wolf's character a bit more, I really enjoyed this issue!  It was great seeing Silver the Hedgehog make a comeback in this series and I can't wait to read more of Whisper the Wolf in future issues!