Guest Post -James M's review of IDW Sonic Issue 25



Hey there, fans. After months of waiting, the time has come to look into IDW Sonic's first milestone issue and the beginning of Year 3 for the book which marks the craziest turning point in Sonic history as its almost the beginning of the end for the darkest Sonic story known as the Metal Virus history. Let us begin our summary and review of... IDW Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 25.

Recap:

So here's the story so far, Doctor Eggman regained his memories following his "traumatizing" defeat in Sonic Forces and attacked the world with his ultimate weapon known as the Metal Virus, which basically roboticizes people and turns them into zombie robots. As our heroes struggled to combat the threat, they suffered many losses as the world fell to the robot zombie plague. Sonic fell victim to the Metal Virus, but thanks to his speed, he didn't turn and has not yet become a Zombot. However, many of his best friends were not lucky.
Charmy Bee of the Chaotix became a casualty of the Metal Virus when he tried to help an infected bystander, then Cream's pet Chao Cheese and Chocola became Zombots, Shadow the Hedgehog was roboticized thanks to his arrogance and refusal to run, the list grew and grew as more became Zombots: Vector, Cream's mother Vanilla and, then, Tangle the Lemur, Whisper the Wolf's best friend. Just when it looked as though things couldn't get worse, Eggman learned that the Zombots apparently could not be controlled. As the mad doctor struggled to find a way to control them, his associate Doctor Starline took matters into his own hands and brought in the Deadly Six from Sonic Lost World, hoping to turn things around for the Zeti have the ability to control robots.
This brings us to today's issue...

Summary:

The issue begins with Knuckles on the Floating Island watching as a Restoration Shuttle arrives, soon coming face to face with Sonic, who almost resembles Metal Sonic thanks to the Metal Virus almost fully infecting him again. The hedgehog lands near the Master Emerald avoiding the grass so he can't mess up anything, even telling Knuckles that he doesn't want to touch his grass, prompting the Master Emerald's guardian to ask whats wrong with the grass before Sonic runs off, leaving Knuckles to ponder the answers.

Meanwhile, aboard the Faceship, Doctor Eggman is angry with Starline for bringing Zavok and his band of Zeti aboard, despite Starline attempting to explain everything, regardless, Eggman deploys Metal Sonic on the Zeti only for Zavok to use his powers to turn Sonic's robot doppelganger against his own creator. Dr Starline attempts to use the power of the Cacophonic Conch against the Zeti, which backfires. As the Zeti try to destroy Eggman and Starline, the villains escape (along with the mind-controlled Metal Sonic) through a portal created by Starline's Warp Topaz and they end up on the Floating Island, right in the same area where Sonic and friends are located.

The Deadly Six take control of the Faceship and steal the Chaos Emeralds before setting out to take control of the Zombots as they begin wrecking havok upon the world. Things just went south, didn't they? At least, the arc's kinda almost over and things will soon turn around.
Back on the Floating Island, Sonic and his friends put aside their differences with Eggman, who fires Starline, so they can work together to end the Zombot nightmare before the Metal Virus mutates to a point where the Zombots will disintegrate in a few hundred years, leading to the bad future that Silver saw after he went home following the events of the War To Take Back The Planet.



As all of this is going on, we discover where Rouge went after we last saw her during Year Two, she actually sneaked aboard the Faceship and plans on doing some stuff that will benefit the heroes. On the super big bad guys' front, the Deadly Six take control of the Zombots and begin wrecking havoc, even converting those who survived the Metal Virus outbreak into Zombots themselves. The issue ends on an ominous note as Zavok monologues about how soon they will have infected the whole planet and we see a panel showing the faceship in the background and the silhouettes of familiar Metal Virus victims marching through a forest. We can see Tangle, Shadow, Jewel the Beetle, Vanilla, Mayor Scruffy, Cheese and Chocola, Vector, Charmy and Big the Cat, who's just made his long-awaited debut into the comic.

Final Thoughts:
Wow, what a way to kick off Year 3, looks like Sonic and Eggman are calling a truce so they can figure out a way to end the Zombot threat once and for all. Who saw that one coming, the Deadly Six taking over and really wrecking havoc on the world, not to mention Big the Cat's debut? I almost didn't, but Big is a SEGA Sonic character and has to show up eventually, can't be ignored. Speaking of SEGA Sonic characters, I should've mentioned this in my review of issue 24, Espio mentioning that they should've dealt with Eggman back in Windmill Village while he was Mr. Tinker.
Judging by the expression on Espio's face, he was thinking of destroying him.
To quote Megabeatman the YouTuber (partially): Eggman's a game character and killing off SEGA characters is a no no. They're not gonna do what Archie did, get rid of Robotnik only to replace him with a Robotnik from an alternate universe.
The art in this issue is well done, Adam Bryce Thomas is spot on, love how he draws the characters in certain places, he can make the Deadly Six look intimidating and make characters like Amy and Rouge look good. The guy's art style is almost like Steve Butler's work for the most part, but both have their own different art styles that's well respected by Sonic fans and SEGA themselves.

I look forward to seeing where it all goes from here, the set up for the multi-part finale to the Metal Virus saga is in full swing and its time to end the threat for good, even kick the Deadly Six's butts once more. Ian Flynn is a phenomenal writer, who cares if people hate him, the guy knows how to write certain characters. Lets hope things go well for the good guys when they launch their final attack on the Zombots for the fate of the world, its time for everything to go north.
ONWARD TO VICTORY!

See you next time, people.
-JMM

2 comments:

  1. Let's hope the Sonic ZOMBOT characters get back to normal with a cure in the months to come - nice review too!

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