[ANALYZING SONIC THE HEDGEHOG COMICS] Sonic the Hedgehog: Issue 4 (IDW Comics)

 

Title: Sonic the Hedgehog

Issue: #4

Writer: Ian Flynn

Artist: Evan Stanley

Series: IDW

Previously Reviewed: Issue 1 |  Issue 2 |  Issue 3

So, after reading the first three issues and getting introduced to Sonic's core friends (Tails, Amy and Knuckles), I was curious about what other characters we will be introduced to in this series next.  Lo and behold, I didn't expect to be introduced to a new character and an old character in the same issue!  But before we go into my thoughts on this issue, here's a brief summary of this issue.

The issue begins like the previous three issues where Sonic heads to another village and discovers some badniks invading the town.  Once Sonic arrives at the town, he meets up with an energetic lemur named Tangle, who is busy taking down the badniks herself.  Sonic and Tangle immediately become friends and they continue fighting off the badniks, until a mysterious character drops in and it's none other than Blaze the Cat herself!  So, Sonic, Tangle and Blaze continue to fight against the badniks overtaking the city.

Now, I'm going to be honest here: I don't know much about Blaze the Cat as a character since I never played the "Sonic Rush" games where she was introduced and it's been a while since I last played "Sonic 06," where she did show up.  But, I loved the fact that this issue did reintroduce Blaze the Cat into the Sonic canon since she hadn't been used that much in the games as of late (which is a shame) and it was great seeing her fight alongside Sonic and Tangle.  I also liked the fact that Sonic is so familiar with Blaze as I loved the scene where he's like "Oh yeah!  HEY BLAZE!" even though Blaze is a princess of her dimension and yet, she's so close to Sonic at this point.  I especially loved Tangle's reaction to Blaze showing up as she's shown as being that new girl who's seeing two people who are well acquainted with each other interacting with each other and she's like, "Ummm...where do I fit in all this?"  But then, she becomes fast friends with Blaze like she becomes fast friends with Sonic.

Now, let's talk about the new character in this issue, Tangle herself.  OH MY GOODNESS!  I never thought that I would love a new character that was made exclusive for the comic books!  Ian Flynn did such a fantastic job at portraying Tangle's character as Tangle is shown as being highly energetic and friendly towards everyone she meets, and I love that aspect of her character.  Even though the other characters like Tails, Cream and Sonic himself are very friendly characters themselves, it's nice seeing another nice character join the cast.  And of course, I just love Tangle's overall design as she wears a cool looking sports outfit, and she has a unique ability where she uses her tail as a weapon.  Also, I just loved Evan Stanley's artwork for this issue!  I think Evan Stanley and Adam Bryce Thomas are my two most favorite artists for this series so far!  Evan Stanley does such a fantastic job at giving these characters such humorous yet energetic facial expressions and it's always such a treat looking at these hilarious facial expressions from these characters!

The only problem that I have with this issue is that I wished that they developed Blaze's character a bit more.  We don't know exactly where Blaze was during "Sonic Forces" and I would like to know where she was the whole time.  Also, as someone who is not that familiar with Blaze's character, I would have liked to learn more about Blaze's home world and how she met Sonic in the first place. Again, I never played the "Sonic Rush" games, so I'm a bit new to Blaze as a character.

Overall, I give this issue a rating of:

Even though I would have liked to learn more about Blaze's character, I had a lot of fun with this issue!  Tangle was such an awesome new addition to the cast and I can't wait to see more of her in future issues!  Looking forward to checking out the next issue soon!