Glitcher never smiles at a crocodile....

A few people on my stream last Sunday have brought my attention to the fact that the first two issues of IDW Sonic are out! This new series continues Sonic comics after Archie's run ended and a lot of readers have been eagerly anticipating this. Many fans believe that Archie Sonic got considerably worse after the reboot with shallow stories, rampant exposition and weak emotional impact. It's no surprise that the comics were doomed, so it was up to IDW to revitalize the series and bring Sonic comics back to their glory days. As promised, I would share my thoughts on its debut now that I've read it.

First we need to address the elephant in the room: The Freedom Fighters are gone. This was confirmed some time ago, which means our beloved SatAM characters are forever lost in official media. Now they only live on in webcomics and illustrations from devoted fans. (The word 'Mobius' appears to be tabboo too.) I mentioned that IDW Sonic would struggle to retain my interest without its most interesting characters, but I'm still willing to give it a fair shot and see if this comic can present a compelling story with its game cast. Let's review!



SYNOPSIS: In Sonic #1, a local town is under attack by badniks and it's up to Sonic to save the day! He blazes through the streets, taking out Egg Pawns like yesterday's garbage while wowing the townspeople. Only when Egg Hammers team up against him does he feel outmatched. Enter Tails who lends a helping hand, and together they combine their dash attacks to make short work of the robots. After the battle, they discuss the rise in badnik attacks while Eggman watches from behind the scenes.

In the second issue, another town is under attack and... *sigh*... you guessed it, Sonic does his thing again. This time, Amy makes her first appearance to organize defenses. She encourages Sonic to join the resistance only to be rebuffed by the loner hero. Amy crushes on Sonic.... Eggman watching..... yada yada yada The End.


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ARTWORK: Okay, let's start talking about the art in this new series. The first issue sees the familiar team of Tracey Yardley on pencils, Jim Amash on inks and Matt Herms on colours. Already it looks like an issue of Archie Sonic to familiar eyes. I can't fault much in the presentation from veterans of so many years. Page layouts are diverse, the action is dynamic and all the characters are on point. Yardley knows how to draw actions scenes with a generous amount of effects to give Sonic the kind of speed and bounce that feels right out of the games. A curious note is that dark blue is predominantly used in the gutter of this first issue instead of standard white.

The second issue is noteworthy as its illustrated by just one artist: Adam Bryce Thomas. A late addition to Archie Sonic, but he's already made his mark as a remarkable talent in the series who can tackle the kind of workload required of the job. I don't think I've ever seen an official Sonic comic where one artist did all the work for pencils, inks and colours. The result is that Sonic #2 has a very unique style that distinguishes it from previous issues. Adam's sketches have always been very energetic with character designs that evoke Sonic's Japanese roots more than his Western appearances. His inking is thinner than Jim Amash's (especially on backgrounds) and the colours are paler with stronger contrast. This makes the comic look more like a colourised manga. Personally, I like the style! The artwork in Sonic comics has become so homogenised in Archie's later years that it's nice to see someone come along to mix things up. In fact, I'm surprised Adam could digitally colour the comic at all, since his gallery's Sonic pages are all sketches and his Zelda comic is traditionally coloured. I hope we get more of his superlative artwork in future issues, but it can be exhausting having to illustrate a colour issue all on your tod. I can personally attest to that.

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STORY: Of course, the real lasting power of any comic is how absorbing the story is. The first issue is.... Oh. My. God. Look up the word 'generic' in the dictionary and you'll see a picture of IDW Sonic #1. This is a textbook example of the kind of mindless action sequence that Ian Flynn has become infamous for. Aside from a brief prologue featuring different final bosses, there isn't even a proper setup for this story. We never see town from the perspective of its denizens, watching in horror as their peaceful lives are shattered by a sudden robot attack. It would have helped set the scene before Sonic makes his heroic first appearance. Flynn made zero attempt to build suspense or reintroduce our heroes with any kind of flair. It's just "Hey, Sonic sees a town under attack! Fight, fight, fight, fight.... end teaser."

For an action comic, this is as bland as it gets. There's no pep or tension in this exposition bonanza. The issue makes a poor effort of personalizing the citizens to make readers feel the mortal danger they're in. They're just generic NPC's that need saving. If you want the badnik attack to feel like a serious threat, more focus needed to be given to the harm they cause sympathetic characters and less on Sonic just busting bots. And jokes.... what jokes? Only a couple of Mobians furries were geeking over Sonic, which wasn't even funny. The only time I laughed was the pathetic attempt at pathos with Tails looking emo over Sonic getting himself hurt. But since he came out of the fight without a scratch, this concern falls flat. Everything in this story failed! I've seen first-time fan comics with more imagination. This issue probably took all of ten minutes to write on the bus to work!

The second issue is really more of the same. Seriously, you could interchange the plots of the first two issues by just substituting Tails with Amy and I couldn't tell the difference. Does Ian Flynn have any imagination left? The only thing that comes close to an interesting plot point is when Amy mentions a 'resistance' to Sonic. Is this IDW Sonic's version of the Freedom Fighters? Sonic's in no hurry to find out because.... why? He prefers the solo act? Now this could have story potential in the way that Amy tries to teach Sonic the value of teamwork, sort of like how Luke Skywalker encouraged Han Solo to join the Rebellion. Buuuuut it loses its impact when Sonic jokes about signing up for the price of a chili dog. What exactly is keeping him on the lonely road? The comic doesn't even hint at a deeper motive for his lifestyle. How can I relate to a protagonist with so little conviction?

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OVERALL: IDW Sonic feels like post-SGW Archie all over again: Pretty to look at, but as shallow as a puddle. In fact, this new series is even less enthralling than Archie's reboot without the Freedom Fighters to join the fray. The comic has so little potential for deeper relationships with Sally gone and Amy being limited to her teenybopper behaviour. Heck, the only lasting pairing from Archie Sonic was Bunnie and Antoine's marriage, and now even that's been nixed. If the teaser at the end of Sonic #2 is any indication, we're going to see more running and fighting in the next issue with Knuckles instead of Amy, and I'm loathe to give my review on that. After what I've read over the last few years, this has to be said:

Ian Flynn SUCKS as a writer!

This series debut couldn't have been less original if it tried. Flynn had free reign to carve a bold new path for Sonic, but he expressed all the creativity of a parsnip. Remember that Archie Sonic lasted for hundreds of issues and amassed a dedicated fan base due to engrossing stories from Ken Penders, Karl Bollers and others. When the comics went downhill after the reboot, Flynn was tasked with writing a fresh approach to IDW Sonic that would revitalize reader interest. The result is the exact opposite. Nothing about this comic feels like it's an improvement over its predecessor, and I wouldn't vouch for its longevity if this is the kind of story it kicks off with. It's a shame, because I wanted IDW Sonic to be good not just for the franchise, but for me personally. If it was a success, it could have given me an incentive to reapply to IDW and be an official comic artist. But really, who wants to illustrate stories this bad? The only real plaudits go to its art team - especially Adam Bryce Thomas - for some pretty pages. But as a saying I like to use: "You can't polish dog shit." I guess we'll just see how the next two issues go.