Let us continue our journey through the IDW Sonic the Hedgehog with Vol. 3, “The Battle for Angel Island”. This covers Sonic The Hedgehog #9-12, written by Ian Flynn and drawn by Tracy Yardley and Evan Stanley.
The last time we talked about Sonic, I like to think we had a long, thoughtful discussion about what to do with someone like Eggman who has blown up the moon but has no memory of it.
All of those deep questions are now irrelevant because a witch kidnapped him and gave him his memory back so he is evil again. Cool. Feels like a good use of my time to have written so many deep thoughts about this only for Ian Flynn to unravel that thread.
Whatever, it’s fine, I’m not mad, but there is no way I am going to talk about social issues in this one. I’m going to talk about something more important. Today, we’re going to talk about applying League of Legends strategies to this comic book about a fast, cyan mouse and his weird animal friends.
Now, here is everything I know about League of Legends, another game I refuse to play.
- It’s like a team thing
- Everyone has their own mission or like task to do
- Towers?
- Great SEO potential
Needless to say, I am very much the expert here and everything I say can be applied to the wide world of esports because both it and Sonic are video games.
We left our animal friends last as they realized that Neo Metal Sonic had distracted them so he could capture the Master Emerald on Angel Island. This would give him the power to take over the world because he has no real motivation except to do that. This is not something Knuckles or the resistance can abide, so they all jump into their helicarrier and plan their assault on Angel Island.
Amy Rose actually gets a nice spotlight here in theory as she leads the tactical planning for this mission. Her plan is not good at all, but dang it if Flynn isn’t trying to give her something to do, as their enemy is a tough nut to crack. The biggest issue is that Neo Metal Sonic can copy the superpowers of all these animals. He already has Sonic’s and Knuckles’ powers, so they are safe to go directly at him (Team 3). Blaze, a fire cat from another dimension, wants to use the Sol Emeralds (which haven’t been seen before) to go Super Saiyan and set Neo Metal Sonic on fire. However, to make sure he doesn’t copy her powers, they instead send Blaze on a solo mission to blow up all the planes and other flying badniks (Team 1).
These are good tactical plans, however there are 10 other characters in the Resistance between the Chaotix, Amy, Tails, Silver, Shadow, Rogue and newcomers Tangle and Whisper. Amy declares them Team 2 and just has them break things. As any MOBA player knows, you can’t just send your champions up the middle lane and hope for the best. You need to spread people out, play some defense, do anything except wildly throw bodies at your opponent. Still, it’s nice that Amy, as the member of the Sonic squad that seems to actually act like an adult sometimes, tires here.
The real problem is that IDW wants to have their cake and eat it, too. They want the massive cast that the Archie era of Sonic built over decades, but they want it now. They want to do that while tying closer to the video games, introducing cool new characters and giving fans who have been reading for years something new to chew on. In a way, this isn’t an uncommon problem in superhero comics. It’s the same issues that plague Brian Michael Bendis’ Legion of Superheroes and Peter Alan David’s X-Factor. The cast is too big, the story too unfocused and the fans too unsatisfied. Trying to give attention to everyone means you can’t do too much with anyone.
There’s also a weird adherence to video game logic when it comes to Metal Sonic that is both admirable and baffling. The character has already been powered up into his Neo Metal Sonic form, a bigger, spikier version. Channeling the power from the Master Emerald, he is able to transform into Super Neo Metal Sonic, which is the same thing but gold, I guess. However, when Shadow the Hedgehog, aka the Ultimate Lifeform, aka the angry, badass Sonic who says a cuss and shoots guns, busts into the fight and gets himself all copied by Super Neo Metal Sonic, the robot shows everyone this isn’t even his final form. He turns himself into a robot demon dragon covered in knives called the Master Overlord. It truly is a multistage boss fight, which isn’t necessarily fun to read, but kinda novel to see.
Beside the progressive boss battle, none of the other missions really face any conflict. Tangle and Whisper continue to be highlights, and the art team really has a blast giving them unique things to do. Unfortunately, the concept of a multipronged assault on Angel Island falters hard. The year’s worth of build-up for this whole saga doesn’t do much. In fact, the story ends with a big ol’ reset. Knuckles unceremoniously decides to disband the Resistance, and everyone goes their own way. The consequences of this arc are just a reversion to the generic Sonic status quo.
Maybe this is what was needed for this line. As long as it took, Flynn did reestablish the standard Sonic universe, give or take a Freedom Fighters. Eggman is back to his old habits, but now Sonic has some fun new allies to fight him with. There’s a lot of potential here, and hopefully we speed toward it soon.
Zachary Jenkins co-hosts the podcast Battle of the Atom and is the former editor-in-chief of ComicsXF. Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside all this.
