[ANALYZING SONIC THE HEDGEHOG COMICS] Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 1 (IDW Comics)

 

Title: Sonic the Hedgehog

Issue: #1

Writer: Ian Flynn

Artist: Tracy Yardley

Series: IDW

So after the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comics were cancelled in 2017, it was unknown at that point on whether or not Sonic the Hedgehog will ever come back into the comics.  Well, it turns out that in 2018, SEGA announced that they will be partnering up with IDW Comics to make a brand-new Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series!  And what better way to celebrate this special occasion than to have the old writers who wrote for the Archie Comics make a comeback into the series?

I will admit that at first, I was a bit worried about this series because I grew up with the Archie Comics and I always enjoyed reading the Archie Comics, even if they had a couple of bad story lines here and there.  So, when I finally picked up the first issue of the IDW comics, I actually found myself enjoying this issue!  But, before I get into my thoughts about this issue, here's a brief summary of this issue.

The series takes place after the events of "Sonic Forces" (you know, that recent Sonic game that turned out to be not so good)?  Anyway, this issue basically showcases Sonic going around trying to help out the townspeople deal with the aftermath of the war in "Sonic Forces" and in this issue, we are introduced to Sonic's best friend, Tails the Fox (or Miles "Tails" Prower for all of you hardcore Sonic the Hedgehog fans) and together, they managed to take down the robots invading the town, while trying to solve the mystery about why Eggman's robots are going berserk, when Dr. Eggman himself is missing.

So, I will admit that when I heard that this series was going to take place after the events of "Sonic Forces," I was a bit surprised by this because I assumed that once this comic book series was rebooted, they were going to make an original story for the comics that's not too heavily tied to the games.  Also, at this point, "Sonic Forces" had developed a pretty bad reputation with the Sonic the Hedgehog fanbase and I thought that SEGA wasn't going to touch that game for a while.  But, after reading this issue, it made me glad that they actually wrote a story that took place after "Sonic Forces" and actually improved on a few issues that "Sonic Forces" didn't tackle properly.

One of the biggest issues that I had with "Sonic Forces" was that it felt like there was no urgency to the situation about Dr. Eggman finally taking over the world.  That's an event that never happened in the previous Sonic the Hedgehog games.  So, you would think that the characters would be more upset at that turn of events.  But here in the comics, Ian Flynn actually did a fantastic job at showing the audience about what the war did to the townspeople and how everyone is trying to deal with damage control from the war.  We see the townspeople still fighting off Dr. Eggman's robots, even after the war is over and it clearly shows that just because the war is over, doesn't mean that everything will go back to normal at the drop of a hat.  It was also nice seeing Sonic do his thing and try to help out the townspeople fight off the robots, because that's what he does.  He's a hero who likes helping out people in their time of need, while still having a snarky attitude towards his enemies.

Now, let's talk about the characters themselves or more specifically, Sonic and Tails.  It was great seeing Sonic and Tails fight together again since for years in the games, we barely get to see Tails fighting alongside Sonic since the games went for the whole "Sonic is the only playable character" direction.  Anyway, I always loved Sonic and Tails' friendship in the franchise and it was nice seeing them just chatting with each other again.  I also loved the fact that Ian Flynn made an attempt to address the issue of Tails' behavior in "Sonic Forces." 

So, you are probably asking "What?  What happened with Tails in Sonic Forces?"  Well, I'll tell you!

So, in "Sonic Forces," when Sonic was captured by Dr. Eggman and was imprisoned for months, this causes Tails to suffer a meltdown and he ended up going off by himself after Sonic's disappearance.  The biggest issue here is when Chaos comes towards Tails and Tails just cowers in front of Chaos.  The problem with this scene is that if you had played "Sonic Adventure," you'll know that Tails actually fought against Chaos before.  So, seeing Tails cower all of a sudden against Chaos just riled up the fandom really badly.

So, in order to fix this, Ian Flynn had Tails kind of address how he was worried about Sonic when he got captured and he's worried that he will lose himself again if something happened to Sonic.  But, the best part about this scene is that Sonic has this worried expression on his face and then, he immediately goes and comforts Tails and tells him that everything will be alright, just like a big brother would do for their little brother.  

Then afterwards, Sonic asks Tails if he would like to go with him and Tails notices that the village is still in danger and he decided to stay behind to help them.  This really shows how much Tails has grown as a character (once again) and this small scene actually fixed the major problem that happened to Tails in "Sonic Forces."  Tracy Yardley's artwork is as usual fantastic to look at.  I loved how he has the characters show a lot of expressions that range from happiness to sadness and it really makes this issue worth reading!

Now, if there was a problem that I had with this issue is that the world wasn't quite as well developed as I would have liked.  You see, for years SEGA had been pretty undecided on naming Sonic's world or even explaining to the viewers about how things work in Sonic's world and I think that it seeped into the comics as well (although, that had a lot to do with SEGA's mandates, which we will go into more much later on.  Oh, we so will go into it)...  Also, if you are not a fan of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise or you haven't played "Sonic Forces," then chances are you will be a bit confused about why this war even started in the first place and how did Dr. Eggman even managed to nearly take over the world in "Sonic Forces?"

But overall, I give this issue a rating of:

Even though I wished that the world was developed a bit more, so that new readers will understand Sonic's world a bit better, I found this issue to be a really fun read and I loved the way that it managed to fix a lot of controversial moments that happened in "Sonic Forces."  So far, it's a really great start to the reboot of the Sonic the Hedgehog comics and I definitely can't wait to tackle the next issue soon!