Title: Sonic The Hedgehog #3
Publisher: IDW
Writer: Ian Flynn
Artist: Jennifer Hernandez
Released: Apr. 18
Price: $3.99
“Sonic and Knuckles team up, and it’s just like old times—until two new villains show up.”
It’s been a long time since I jumped into the comic world of Sonic The Hedgehog. The last time I can remember being interested was when the crossover happened with Mega Man, and don’t get be started on the whole Ken Penders thing that nearly killed Sonic more than and terrible game could. But now a new series is here thanks to IDW and I’m all in.
The first thing that I love about Sonic The Hedgehog #3 is that it’s clearly geared towards kids. Maybe I just an old fuddy-duddy, but I think there needs to be more comic books that are geared toward children and not bitter 40 year-old men. There are times where I feel even the classic heroes from Marvel and DC are simply too much and I’d feel a little uncomfortable letting a small child read them.
Sonic The Hedgehog #3 is bright and colorful and the art by Jennifer Hernandez is incredibly well done inside the book. But the alternate cover from Tyson Hesse is what really sold me on picking this one up. Diving into the book brings back a wave of nostalgia as this feel more like the original Sonic games in style than anything modern. There isn’t anything mind-blowing in terms of the art, but everything is charming and kids, and kids at heart, will love it.
The only real nitpicks visual wise come from some weird choice with regards to Knuckles. He looks far too similar to Sonic, only in red, especially when in motion. There are also a couple of hiccups in the coloring. One panel in particular (see above) has Knuckles seemingly missing his nose because of the clashing of the characters black outline with a black background character. This is probably even worse if you go the digital route. It’s only a minor issue at best.
Story wise we get to see Sonic and Knuckles together again in action. I don’t know what went down in anything prior to this series, but even if you are new to the Sonic comic world this is a fine jumping on point. I had issues with books this week starting with issue one and requiring a lot from the reader in terms of homework coming, but Sonic The Hedgehog #3 thankfully doesn’t have that problem.
In fact, if you really enjoy Sonic The Hedgehog this book might be a great place to start as Sonic and Knuckles are the most popular characters withing the series. We aren’t dealing with any heady topics and all we get is Sonic and Knuckles teaming up to save a city that is under the control of two new enemies to the series, but it works. Or at least I assume they are new as I’ve never seen them before in any outside media.
The action is a lot of fun and it’s always nice to see the powers of our heroes in action while saving the day. But the real fun is in the new villains that are introduced in Rough and Tumble. One of them is a skunk and the other is, well, some other animal that I can’t really figure out. Still, their designs are fantastic and they put up a good fight against our heroes.
The action is fast and engaging and the writing is fun during all of these battle segments in the book. But what really struck me, more than I anticipated, was the ending the book left us on. There is a much deeper plot at play here and would fit fine into a much deeper book. I never intended to keep up with the series, but the ending has me wondering what is going to happen next and who this new mystery villain that is now in charge of the remnants of Robotnik’s army is.
We also get a tease for the return of another semi-classic Sonic character that will be joining the adventure. Sonic The Hedgehog #3 is doing some nice world and character building and I only hope the book doesn’t fall into classic Sonic tropes too soon. That concern aside, Sonic The Hedgehog #3 is the perfect book for fans of Sonic, old and new alike.
“IDW is doing some really nice things with this new series that fans are sure to love”
Final Score:
3/5
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