Guest Post -James M's review of IDW Sonic issue 33

 

Hello folks, at last, a new era for the Sonic comics has begun. Ian Flynn's tenure is over (for now) and Evan Stanley, a writer and fan just like him, has become the head writer for the book. So whats going to happen today and what adventures await us in the world of Sonic!

Where we last left off, our heroes had just gotten through the nightmare that was the Metal Virus saga and Sonic returned after ending up in the Sol Dimension and having amnesia. The gang defeated Eggman and the blue speedster ran off to his next big adventure, but of course, there is an important matter to deal with and thats how to fix good old E-123 Omega.

Time for a quick summary, my friends.

Summary Time:

The story starts off at Tails' house with Tails, Amy, Vanilla and Cream trying to fix Omega but its real tough since Omega is an Eggman robot and they don't have the parts they need. Then its suggested that they can get some at Chao Races, so off they go to a Chao Race. Meanwhile, Shadow follows a mysterious figure and he gets plenty of dialogue.

Cream enters Cheese in a Chao Race and Cheese narrowly winds the race, getting himself in a big championship. Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails go to White Park Zone from Sonic 4 so they can try getting parts for Omega as well and they're attacked by a mysterious figure.

Thoughts:

The story is quite good, Evan is a really good writer and a great artist. I do like that Amy, Rouge and Cream did change outfits out of their traditional outfits and into winter outfits. Fun fact, there is a SEGA mandate that states that the SEGA cast cannot change wardrobe, but Evan has found a way around the issue by having them wear outfits they wore in official material I.E artwork on the Sonic Channel. As for Shadow's portrayal in this, its alright, a bit better than Ian's especially since SEGA did restrict him and they don't seem to be restricting Evan a whole lot.

This issue gets a 9 out of 10. I think the Chao are real cute, I like these guys so much (even though I never did a Chao Garden segment in a Sonic game), I intend to include and use Chao and Chao Gardens in my Sonic fanfics. We all love the Chao don't we.

Anyways, gotta go. Lots on the mind!

-James M

Guest Post -James M's Review of Sonic Bad Guys Issue 1

 

Hey folks, after months of waiting, its time to dive into the dark side of the Sonic universe with a story focusing on Doctor Starline and a few rogues in the world of IDW Sonic with issue one of the miniseries SONIC THE HEDGEHOG BAD GUYS!

As you know, Doctor Starline is a comic exclusive character and a villain, he first debuted in issue 11 during year one around the same time as the Battle For Angel Island and he became Doctor Eggman's lackey after Eggman got his memories back. He stuck around during the Metal Virus arc and soon got booted out by the doctor after the Deadly Six hijacked the plot. So what's Starline up to?

We start off the story with Starline snooping around an Eggman base and trying to access the Eggnet, this doesn't go well since he gets locked out and attacked by Eggman's robots, prompting him to use a new power in his shoes to destroy the incoming Moto Bugs. He later returns to the Eggman base that he's set up shop in and struggles to come up with an idea on what to do, until he gets an idea.

Starline visits a prison, specifically, the prison where bad guys are being held. Its one of the most secure of all prison facilities on, well, Mobius. Yes, I'm gonna call Sonic's world Mobius because I like Mobius and I HATE SEGA'S MANDATE OF SONIC'S WORLD CANNOT BE CALLED MOBIUS! Anyways, after tricking the warden of the prison, Starline finds the first person he's looking for. The first person he finds is none other than our old friend Mimic from the Tangle & Whisper series.

Oh and by the way, not only are Rough & Tumble here, but Zavok's here too. Starline attempts to recruit them, but they're not interested. He does managed to persuade them and, so, the "Deadly Four" is born. Starline's allies begin their prison break out and chaos soon ensues with the guards trying to stop them only to get taken out either by brute force or by trickery.

Starline commends Zavok for being a visionary and as the issue ends, the former lackey of Eggman declares that with the warm up done, its time they get started with doing some real damage.

My thoughts on this?

So cool. Guess it doesn't hurt to be a bad guy sometimes in fiction, I love me some fictional bad guys even though I like good guys and being good is good. We've seen a few bad guy centric stories in Sonic before, Scrambled and Eggman's Dozen in Sonic Universe being prime examples of stories focusing on the bad guys of Sonic's world.

Lets wait and see what happens with the next few issues next time folks.

-James M