REVIEW: Sonic The Hedgehog Issue #40

New Talent Same Style

Ian Flynn has tagged in long-time artist Evan Stanley to take over in the story department, and the transition is pretty stemless. Normally when a book changes writers, there’s a jarring period while the series finds its funk; however, that isn’t the case here. This book feels like a natural progression of the universe spawned by Sonic Forces and expanded upon by Ian Flynn.

Stanley keeps Sonic cocky, his friends fun, and his foes both fickle and fierce. In addition to writing the story, Stanley also heads up the art with Adam Bryce Thomas to bring Sonic The Hedgehog Issue #40 to life. We open up on our heroes Sonic, Tails & Amy doing battle with a trio of elemental vipers on the deck of a reality-warping tower constructed by Eggman. The action is serviceable and solid, with a standout moment of Sonic getting dizzy after spin dashing through one of the metallic snakes. It made me chuckle at the notion of Sonic’s signature attack being just head-butting the enemy really hard.

The Complexities Of Creation

During a previous arc, Robotnik lost his memory and took on the docile persona of the jovial Mr Tinker. During his stint as a harmless toymaker, he created an assistant named Belle The Tinkerer, who gets quite a bit of development in this issue. While the heroes are busy fighting the mechanical terrors, Belle has a heart-to-heart with her creator, who has since been restored to his evil ways. Feeling some pride in his past creations, he decides to humor Belle. Eggman explains his plan to construct a reality-warping maze to defeat Sonic in addition to a simulation that allows exploring the best way to raid towns and settlements.

Belle’s wooden heart starts breaking when she discovers what an awful man her creator turned out to be, giving some depth to the goofy timber robot. Belle as a character didn’t grow on me until this point. Stanley’s script manages to bring some much-needed likeability to an otherwise unlikeable character.

Average Action

Sonic, Tails, and Amy battling robots channeling the forces of wind, water, and fire; isn’t exactly the most thrilling action this series has seen. The action sequence in this issue is strictly middle of the road, with the emotional scene with Belle and Eggman holding the story together like emotional glue. While the characters are on model and the occasional panel has stunning shading and composition, overall, the presentation is weak. Lots of panels are filled with negative space and questionable palette choices. The colors used on the backgrounds wash out the cast making the iconic images of the SEGA cast less impactful than usual, resulting in a very sterile and lifeless look.

“A decent building block for the next major part of the story with a lackluster presentation.”

SCORE: 2.5/5 Stars

Writer: Evan Stanley
Artists: Evan Stanley, Adam Bryce Thomas
Publisher: IDW Publishing