James M's review of IDW Sonic Scrapnik Island Issue 3 & 4

  












Greetings fans. Sorry I took so long, but I'm finally doing a review of the final two issues of the Scrapnik Island, which is very intense. So, what's the plot?

Simple. Mecha Sonic, whom Sonic tried to bond with while on the island of Scrapniks, went rogue after a battle with Mecha Knuckles and captured the blue hedgehog we know and love. His plan was to take over Sonic's body and use him to leave the island. Tails and the good Scrapniks caught on to what was happening and launched a rescue mission, which went south a little as Mecha Sonic took out the Scrapnik forces and sent Tails into a trash compactor. 

After that, he then initiated his plan to hijack Sonic's body with some scrapped Eggman mind tech, which then went wrong as the Scrapniks attacked (which also led to a Super Mario Bros Z/Dragon Ball reference as Mecha Sonic threatened to crush them). Sonic and Mecha battled, which led to them winding up in the Death Egg's trash incinerator. But unlike a certain two-part Sonic anime where Metal Sonic died, Sonic saved Mecha Sonic with help from Tails and the Scrapniks. As everyone breathed, we got an interesting moment where Mecha Sonic was happy. However, his attempt to take over Sonic's body led to their minds being linked and, as Mecha Sonic was feeling happiness, Sonic teared up.

That's right, SEGA finally let Sonic shed tears (for the first time in ages too, unless the movies count). And according to the story's writer, Daniel Barnes, SEGA gave his team all the freedom with the story and Daniel was able to fulfill his vision for Scrapnik Island. Back to the story, Sonic and Mecha Sonic part on good terms with Sonic and Tails flying off in the Tornado with Mecha staying behind on the island to look after the rest of the Scrapniks. 

For a Sonic miniseries revolving around sci-fi horror, this was great and seeing SEGA allow things such as the usage of Mecha Sonic, a Classic Sonic character, and Sonic shedding tears (even though they weren't his own) makes a fan happy, especially in a time where the Sonic brand is experiencing success after success following the release of the first Sonic movie. 

Sonic truly is back and SEGA is slightly easing up on their many restrictions, even though Sonic will always be their property and they'll have some guidelines in some shape or form. However, I'm getting off-topic. Daniel Barnes' writing was really nice and this isn't the first time a Sonic comic has tackled the idea of an island populated by scrapped Badniks, Archie Sonic did it first with the Island of Misfit Badniks and the usage of Mecha Sonic further solidifies the recent merging of Classic and Modern back into one with the Classic games being canon proper again. The art was real good too, helping to sell the eerie atmosphere and there were a lot of fun moments throughout the arc.

Also, fun fact, the story takes place between the Overpowered Arc and the Urban Warfare arc in the overall IDW Sonic timeline. Quite somethin, eh? I once again salute the IDW crew for their great efforts in delivering a quality Sonic the Hedgehog story worth reading and making fans happy. See you later, everyone, CVGW out!