Comic Review: Sonic the Hedgehog #7

Sonic the Hedgehog #7

IDW Publishing

Writer: Ian Flynn

Artist: Adam Bryce Thomas

At the end of issue #6, while our heroes confirmed that the former evil genius Dr. Eggman now lived as the kindhearted amnesiac Mr. Tinker, another Dr. Eggman was leading his fleet of badniks to carry out his latest and as-of-yet unknown plot. In this issue, this other Eggman was revealed to be another one of Sonic’s oldest foes: Metal Sonic!

Metal Sonic was once again upgraded to his Neo Metal Sonic form (last seen in Sonic Heroes) to act as Eggman’s final weapon against the Resistance during the events of Sonic Forces. Unfortunately for the mad scientist, Neo Metal Sonic’s upgrades weren’t completed in time and, as seen in Sonic Forces, Eggman lost again. Now, the mechanical hedgehog is determined to lead the Eggman Empire to global domination at all costs. However unlike in Sonic Heroes, where he attempted to usurp Eggman and control the badniks for himself, Eggman has reprogrammed the rebelliousness out of his system so now Neo Metal Sonic is using the guise of his master to “conquer the world for Eggman as Eggman,” at least until he can squeeze the location of his master out of our blue protagonist.

It’s interesting to see how IDW’s Sonic the Hedgehog follows a lot of the video game’s canon in its storytelling as opposed to the Archie run where most of the ideas and characters were inspired by the games but had their own canons to go by. For a long-time fan such as myself it’s a lot of fun to see callbacks to previous games likes Sonic Heroes and Sonic Mania, and really shows how much the creative team cares about the source material.

Flynn continues to deliver dialogue and scenes that feel straight out of a Sonic game, but in this issue, I did feel like some of the dialogue got a little bit too cheesy for my tastes. Still, I can’t deny that the cheesiness didn’t feel forced or out of character for anyone (I mean, it’s not like Sonic games were ever known for their witty writing), but I still would have liked something a bit smarter in some places.

Adam Bryce Thomas, who also did the art for issue #2, returns and I have to say I absolutely loved his work in this issue. In issue #2, while I did like his art the colors were more muted than the vibrant ones used by other artists (especially Sonic himself, who was almost a pastel blue) and the linework was softer. In this issue, the linework is crisp, the colors are bright, and the action scenes, in particular, are amazing to behold. The fight between Neo Metal Sonic and Sonic has a few really spectacular panels of action that might be some of the best in the series so far.

While I have been loving each issue in one way or another, Sonic the Hedgehog #7 really feels like we’re finally gearing up to the major conflict of the story arc. The implications of the last page of the issue especially set the stage for something big to happen, and I’m excited to see how our heroes will handle this new threat. If you’re a fan of the Sonic franchise and you’re not reading this comic yet, you’re only doing yourself a disservice. Considering all the flops Sonic has suffered in his gaming franchise over the last decade, Flynn manages to bring back the fun and excitement that made me fall in love with the blue blur in the first place