#annual2020

You know, I honestly kinda forgot that the Annual is coming out on the 8th (I guess in the back of my mind I was anticipating it to get delayed again), but it’s pretty much been cemented that it WILL come out on the eighth thanks to preview pages that just kinda popped up out of nowhere! We also got a list of all six stories’ titles and the people who are or have worked on them. We don’t have any info on the plots of what characters will be included in each one, but we can make some more theories based on the titles.

The only two stories we’ve been aware of since the Annual’s reveal are the Big story and the Metal Sonic story. Big’s Big Adventure is obviously the Big story (it’s also the one we have preview pages for if the name wasn’t proof enough), but it’s not completely clear which of these other stories is the Metal Sonic one. I’m willing to bet by the titles that it’s either Reflections or The Catalyst, and I can see The Catalyst being the more likely of the two because it evidentally has the most people working on it, which would explain why the story would be big enough for Metal Sonic to get his own cover.

As for the other stories, it’s pretty obvious that Eggman’s Day Off is probably about Eggman (or I guess it could be about what Starline and whoever else does while Eggman is away or something like that), and I’m willing to bet that Flock Together is a story about the Babylon Rogues (cuz you know, Birds of the Feather Flock Together, it makes sense). As for what Reflections COULD be apart from the Metal Sonic story, I’m not really sure, and I can say the same with The Catalyst. Darkest Hour I can see possibly being a story based around Rouge after Shadow gets the Metal Virus and Omega loses his body, but because of what happens in Issue 24 and the fact Evan Stanley is the sole person working on it, I could also see it being a story about Whisper dealing with Tangle getting the Metal Virus or possibly something with Mimic.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s move onto the preview pages for the first story, Big’s Big Adventure...

So it turns out Big was hanging out in the background of the first like six Issues the whole time! Kinda reminds me of his cameos in SA2 where he was also just kinda there in the background, completely unacknowledged by everyone else.

Oh, and Rough and Tumble are there. Yes, I know it’s just a flashback and they’re just silhouettes, but after 15 months, they’re in the comics in some capacity again :3

I’m delighted to announce that my work has been selected for the Creativepool Annual 2020 shortlist. My illustrations for Vital magazine accompanied a feature about the importance of wellbeing in the workplace.

While the competition is being judged by a panel, there is also a People’s Choice award - you can check out all the amazing entries here and if you like my work, your vote would be appreciated!

Alright, so it’s been a LONG time since I’ve covered a bunch of stuff in a single post like this, but I figured now would be a good time to, so I’m planning on talking about stuff like release dates, what might happen in Bad Guys and the Annual.

First off, release dates! Issue 28 is still slated to come out on June 24th as previously mentioned, but the Annual has now been delayed to July 8th. Issue 29 has also been set to come out on July 22nd and Issue 30 is set to come out August 5th. Bare in mind that all currently revealed release dates should be taken with a grain of salt as they are subject to change. 

Speaking of the Annual, I’ve mentioned that it’s going to have six stories and have posted it’s solicitations, but I’ve never actually discussed what each story will be about, have I? Well, we unfortunately don’t have a whole lot of info outside of the covers and the solicitations to work with, but I think we can piece together what some of the stories are going to be about. First off, we have exhibit A...

So judging by Big’s appearence on this cover and his appearence on the A cover, it’s safe to assume there’s going to be a story with Big. As for when it takes place? I’m not entirely sure. It COULD take place towards the beginning of the virus’ spread (the Faceship in the background kinda suggests this too), but the whole gimmick of this year’s Annual is that they’re stories that take place after the virus has already begun, so this could also take place closer to when Issues 21-23 happen (especially because Big was supoosedly present in the events of Issue 22). Actually, because we never saw what happened to Big at the end of Issue 22, it is technically possible that this story could take place afterward, and judging by the background of this cover, it might be possible for it to take place on Angel Island after the Faceship shows up.

Next up, we have exhibit B...

Metal Sonic! He’s here too! The fact that he also gets a cover all to himself suggests to me that he’s probably going to get a story. As for what it’ll be about? I have no clue.

As for the other four stories, we have next to no information of what they could be about or who they’d be centered around. The solicitation DOES mention that some of Sonic’s “worst foes” are going to be important, and I guess that could encapsulate Metal Sonic, but who else could be included? Considering the fact that Rough and Tumble have the Metal Virus and both them, Starline, and Mimic are all going to be the main cast of Sonic Bad Guys, I feel like they probably wouldn’t be included. If any of them were, I feel like Mimic would be the most likely candidate, like maybe we’d get a story explaining how he breaks out of prison during the virus outbreak (kinda like the Scourge Lockdown arc in Sonic Universe but with zombies :3) and that’ll lead into his inclusion in Bad Guys. I guess there’s also the Deadly Six, but... we already know what they’re up to. I guess they could make a mini story involving them that takes place in the time while they’re conquering the planet, but other than that, I don’t see what they’d be able to do with them.

As for which of Sonic’s good ol’ pals could have their own stories, I’m not really sure either since most of them are already present throughout the main story and wouldn’t have many opportunities to go and do their own stuff. I think a story with Whisper after Tangle gets infected would be pretty cool, and they could also probably get away with making a story about what happens with Silver while he’s away. Bare in mind Blaze has also been completely absent since Issue 12, so she’s probably off doing her own thing too and could get her own story (which could also be a good opportunity to bring in Marine). The Babylon Rogues also don’t show up until after everyone gets to Angel Island, so maybe there could be a story about what happens with them before they get there. 

I’m pretty much grasping for straws at this point, so I’ll just leave it at that. There are a lot of possible routes the other stories could go, but for now we’ll just have to wait and see.

Next up I want to talk about mini-series related things! Of course, we have Sonic Bad Guys, which will be focused on the bad boys and will probably happen closer to next year. But what’s going to happen in it? Here’s the synopsis for the plot that we already know...

“Sonic the Hedgehog: Bad Guys is a comic miniseries and a spin-off of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series published by IDW Publishing. This four-issue miniseries focuses on Dr. Starline in the aftermath of the Metal Virus Saga and what happens when the former assistant and devotee of Dr. Eggman sets up in one of the doctor's abandoned bases.”

So this series evidentally takes place after the Metal Virus arc ends in Issue 29, and it’ll explain where Starline went after getting thrown out by Eggman. Starline’s going to use one of Eggman’s old bases to probably get revenge or whatever, and he’s probably going to team up with Mimic, Rough and Tumble, and I guess Zavok if this cover is to be believed...

Going back to what I mentioned earlier about Mimic breaking ot of prison, it’s basically confirmed with his presence in this series that he did break out of prison at some point, and Rough and Tumble somehow get out of that mine and meet up with them after the virus ends. As for Zavok and the rest of the Deadly Six... I dunno. Since Starline was the one who brought them into all this, I don’t really see why they would be willing to team up. However, I guess they both want revenge on Eggman, so that’ll probably be why. I can also see Rough and Tumble wanting to get revenge on him too (hell, that’s the entire reason they’ve been after Sonic this whole time), but I don’t know about Mimic. I don’t think Mimic really wants revenge because the two actually seem to get along well enough and he didn’t get thrown out or sacrificed, so his inclusion in Starline’s plan is kinda a mystery. Maybe Starline bribes him to get him to work for him? Who knows.

A little part of me also wants to believe that this mini-series is where we’re finally going to learn about the origins of a lot of these characters too, but it’s unknown if that’ll actually be the case. For example, since Starline is the main focus of the story, it would be cool to see his backstory and how he ended up where he is get explained in detail. Also... I want to know how Tumble got his tail chopped off! Give it to me, IDW!

Well, that’s pretty much it for what I wanted to talk about with Sonic Bad Guys. However, there is one other thing that I’ve been thinking about lately, and that’s Tangle and Whisper. You may be wondering why, which makes sense, the series ended way back in December. However, remember back when it was revealed and IDW said that it COULD be continued past Issue 4 if there was enough demand for it? I really only bring this up because... Well, there are still so many questions regarding Whisper and the Diamond Cutters that will have yet to be answered, and I don’t think they would really be the focus of the main series anytime soon. I mean just look at the Diamond Cutters, each dead member and Mimic all still have a lot of mystery behind where they came from and how the team even formed, and Slinger especially was said to have some kind of secret backstory that no one but him knew about. There’s also that scene where Mimic turns into Vector in the last Issue, so maybe a continuation of the series could finally explain how Mimic is somehow connected to Team Chaotix. There’s also one either thing that’s been in the back of my mind that everyone seems to have forgotten...

These wolves from last year’s annual that are very clearly related to Whisper but they’ve never been acknowledged outside of this one story! Like, is it ever going to be revealed how exactly they’re related to Whisper and will it ever be explained if she used to live with them? If she did, how and why did she leave them and join the Diamond Cutters? I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS :(

Picking up where we left off, we have the fourth story, Eggman's Day Off! In this one, Starline accidentally stumbles into Eggman's Eggcave, a room in his base where he works on small projects in his downtime. A lot of said projects are actually figures he made of Sonic and the gang, and he also made robot versions of them too to roleplay what he wants to happen in the Metal Virus outbreak (which is funny because they're all just robots, not Zombots. Roboticization, anyone?). He also made one of these of Starline, which as you can imagine makes Starline a little worried to say the least. Anyway, this story's pretty good, and it actually makes me wonder if Eggman making small toys has anything to do with when he was Mr.Tinker. Probably not, but it's just food for thought.

Next up we have Flock Together, which I originally thought was going to be about the Babylon Rogues, but it's actually about Team Chaotix and a hoard of Flickies! Not long after Issue 17 happens, Vector and Espio are hanging out on a ship looking for Charmy. However, the ship gets attacked by a bunch of Zombot Flickies as well as Zombot Charmy (cuz you know, plot convenience). And so, Espio and Vector work together to put Charmy in a bubble thing to take back to base (although anyone who'd read Issue 22 while know that didn't turn out well for them). This story's okay, and actually getting to see how Vector and Espio got Charmy was pretty cool.

Finally we have the last story of this year's Annual, being The Catalyst! This story actually follows Jewel and one of the kids from last year's annual, and the two work together to help one of the other kids. They also accidentally bring the virus to Spiral Hill Village along with them. Welp. Anyway, this story's pretty good too, and I liked seeing characters like Jewel and the Sonic Fan Club kids come back for another story.

Okay, so the 2020 Annual came out today, and even though I don't have access to any scans of the comics yet and I also don't have access to my computer currently, I figured I may as well just write a post giving my overall opinions of it using my phone. Speaking of phones, I'm actually going to be talking about the Annual in two separate parts because my phone keyboard starts bugging out when I go too far down from the top of the post meaning it can't go on for as long as I want it to. Why? I don't know. Anyway, here are my opinions on each of the stories in the Annual...

(WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!)

First up, we have Big's Big Adventure, which is the one we got preview pages for. Basically, it's just about Big going around looking for Froggy whilst constantly being in the background of everything else that's been going on. At the end, it's revealed that after Issue 22 happens, Big somehow managed to get out of the Resistance/Restoration base and found Froggy. However, Froggy got infected with the Metal Virus, and the story ends with a surprisingly depressing shot of Big holding Zombot Froggy while he and everything around them slowly get infected. It's an okay mini-story, and I think my favorite thing about it is actually Jon Gray's art (especially in the parts with Rough and Tumble because good artist plus best boys equals nice :3)

Next up we have the second story, Darkest Hour. This one actually centers around two new characters, being a radio host named Nite the Owl and his night-hating assistant Don the Rooster. As for the plot, the two of them are busy hanging out at their radio station in Sunset City when they suddenly start getting calls from people talking about the Metal Virus spreading across the city. Nite wants to stay behind to possibly help in some way, but Don ain't havin none of that sh*t and starts getting ready to leave. However, before he does, Nite gets a call from Amy (I think?) who asks him to use his radio station as a way to tell people in Sunset City to go to the hotel being used as a safehouse, and both Nite and Don decide to stick around to help. Out of all the stories in this year's annual, I think this one is my favorite, mainly because I like both Nite and Don already and am interested to see more of them. One other thing I should probably mention is that Evan Stanley actually posted a shot of Nite a couple days ago as a teaser, and I considered bringing that up on here cuz no one else was covering it and I thought maybe he'd be a new character, but I never got around to it. Anyway, he did end up being a new character, so... maybe I should have done that.

Next up we have our third story, Reflections, and this one ended up being the one about Metal Sonic! However... I'm not gonna lie, this one was kinda disappointing to me. Don't get me wrong, it's an okay story with really good art, but like... Nothing happens in it? Like, it just has Metal Sonic walk into a room, dip his finger in Metal Virus goo, and have Starline immediately tell him to get out. Still good art though.