#ianflynn

Review: DC X SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #1

Writer: Ian Flynn Artist: Adam Bryce Thomas Colors: Matt Herms Letters: Becca Carey   Reviewed by: Joshua Raynor   Summary DC x Sonic the Hedgehog #1: It’s a crossover event unlike any other! The monstrous Darkseid crosses dimensions to invade the world of Sonic the Hedgehog, seeking the ultimate power. Sonic and his friends have faced everything from mad scientists to ancient spirits, but the forces of Apokolips may be too much for them. Thankfully, the full heroic might of the Justice League arrives to back them up! Don’t miss part one of this unique crossover event!   Positives What a fun start to what is bound to be an equally fun crossover miniseries. The issue starts off with a great "oh sh**" moment as Darkseid makes his way to Sonic's universe, and we see right away that Sonic, Amy, and Tales will be involved in this story as they come face-to-face with some Parademons. We eventually meet up with Knuckles, Shadow, and Silver, and all six of them get to each team up with a member of the Justice League who have followed Darkseid to this world to try and stop him. The team-ups fit perfectly together - Sonic and The Flash, Tails and Cyborg, Amy and Wonder Woman, Knuckles and Superman, Silver and Green Lantern, and Shadow and Batman. I'd never really thought about how perfectly these two teams fit together until reading this. This issues serves as a great intro to these team-ups, with writer Ian Flynn giving the reader the necessary solo time with each pairing to show just how great they fit together before everyone unites as one to figure out how to stop Darkseid and his legion of Parademons. I also can't forget that amazing Krakkl reference, and if you read this issue and don't know who Krakkl is, you absolutely must look them up. The art is so good in this, with the two teams having their own distinct style, while still fitting well together. The classic Sonic designs are always great to see. And while the colors pop, they aren't super distracting because of the expertly done shadow work.   Negatives My only real negative for this issue is that it's basically all setup, with the real action looming for the next issue. Which isn't a big deal, but it will probably work better when read as a collected edition.   Verdict Overall, this was a great start to what I'm hoping will be a fun, action-packed ride through the worlds of DC and Sonic the Hedgehog. I am really excited to see how these groups will work together to stop one of the Multiverse's biggest threats.   Score: 4/5

So at 100 Questions Bumblekast that happened recently, the main writer of Sonic IDW (and formerly main writer for Archie back when it you know, existed) answered a lot of questions about IDW, and there’s a lot to talk about with what he said. Although there were a LOT of things he said, I’m going to be bringing up the main points and discussing them a bit.

The first thing I’d like to point out is the fact that he once again brought up the fact that characters like Infinite, the Jackal Squad, Mighty and Ray, Team Hooligan, and Sticks are all off limits. What I find really interesting about this is the fact that even though he’s aware of the reasons why Infinite and Sticks aren’t allowed in IDW, Flynn doesn’t really know why Sega’s not allowing them to include the Classic characters of Mighty, Ray, and Team Hooligan. Now, I still think it’s probably because of the whole thing they’re dong where they’re keeping the Modern and Classic worlds seperate and Flynn appears to think the same way, but the fact that they aren’t really informing Flynn of the real reasons why seems rather odd to me. Whatever the reason, just give me Team Hooligan in IDW already, Sega Senpai :(

Next up, we have some miscelleneous side facts! For example, even though Tangle’s favorite food being Strawberries has been a well-known fact for a while now, we now know that Whisper’s favorite food is Poundcake! Also, can I just mention the fact that the world IDW takes place in apparently doesn’t have any form of currency? I’m not sure how that works, but it makes me want to live there even more because I could actually afford things :3

Finally, we have the main point I want to bring up, and it’s the fact that Flynn himself said that he pitched another mini-series idea about “other characters”. Now, this immediately raises about a MILLION questions, like who are these “other characters? Did we finally get that Rough and Tumble mini-series I’ve been wanting? Are they going to start that Sonic Universe-esque series they said they wanted to do? Why am I asking so many questions??? Bear in mind, the idea for the series is still in the process of being pitched, so whether or not it will actually come to be is still undetermined. If it actually is approved and the series will come out, I’d imagine that what it is will probably revealed either right before or right after the end of Tangle and Whisper, though that’s just my own speculation.

On the topic of Tangle and Whisper, I accidentally found a small bit of information (it’s actual source I’m not sure of) confirming that the Tangle and Whisper mini-series takes place between Issues 16 and 17 of the main series. This means that by that point, Sonic (and Rough and Tumble, can’t forget about them) already has the Metal Virus, but because it takes place before 17, that means it probably hasn’t spread very far yet and not everyone knows about it. This also tells us that the inclusion of Tangle and Whisper in Issue 21 takes place a bit after the end of the mini-series, so I wonder if we’ll notice anything in Issue 21 that alludes to the ending of Tangle and Whisper. 

(EDIT: Now, this little tidbit I’m writing right here doesn’t really connect to the whole Flynn Bumblekast thing, but I’ve been hearing some rumors lately about the Diamond Cutters in Tangle and Whisper. I’ve heard a couple of sources claiming that Evan Stanley revealed the species of the other three members of the Diamond Cutters on Twitter, and although I don’t use Twitter, I checked to see if this was actually true or not, and found her saying no such thing. Because of this, this information should be taken with a grain of salt, but it could also be the fact that I don’t know Twitter works, so maybe it was on someone else’s post or something (I’m sorry I’m not hip with the kids). As for their species, the rumor is that Cute Lion Boy is a Lion (he was the obvious one), Suave Cat Boy is an Ocelot, and Green Hoodie Girl is a Howler Monkey. I kind-of assumed that Suave Cat Boy was some sort of cat since he has a lot of similar design elements to Blaze, and I also assumed that Green Hoodie Girl was some sort of monkey, but the exact species of both was still unconfirmed. Like I said, this information might not be accurate, but there’s a chance it is.)