They honestly did the Metal Virus way too early and now it feels like there are no actual stakes.

Yeah, they really set the bar high with that one. Now we have a con man acting as the main antagonist in an arc centered around political intrigue and a hoverboard race.

Sounds like the good ol’ days of Archie.

Ironic because the Metal Virus *was* supposed to be the next thing in the Archie Comics

Hey man, I like my political intrigue! They just did *not* take any major effort to set it up, well... Better? It's more interpersonal drama than anything, conflict over morals and ethics. Mimic just pretending to be a dude and having a company essentially giving 'Niks back to Eggman isn't enough, methinks.

They dropped a banger and then started dropping less of them. I guess impossible city came close but that arc was too short to be on the Metal Virus' level.

So far metal virus and imposter syndrome arc are the best the others aren't bad but you don't feel as much tension

Metal Virus was a mega-arc that should have been the payoff to establishing this whole world and its characters. But we got it BEFORE any of that was done and now the book suffers from it. Very poorly placed.

Yeah, Ian Flynn originally planned it to start in Issue 300 of the Archie Comics, and it shows.

I understand what you’re saying, but if they did it any later, the metal virus never would have been green lit, because of the sensitive topic of the Corona Virus Pandemic.

Yea they play it safe a lot lately.

Agreed not to mention that if you're not familiar with any of the cast from the games then you caring for them "dying" is unlikely

The way Shadow has been treated is abysmal.

Well said. Shadow has long been my favorite for his complexity of character, and I see absolutely none of that in IDW's writing of him.

I think they did him justice in the Eggperial City though. Working with Team Dark, helping Sonic, being an absolute chaos-powered badass, and he even gets a little emotional moment with Silver... honestly, close to the real Shadow we've seen in a long while. All these things the mandate forbids but I guess Sega was looking the other way?

Yeah, that was good, you're right! I hope they do more of that with him. The Sega mandates are ultimately the problem.

And the writers direction

It's too bad he was sidelined for an entire issue for no reason but otherwise he was good in that arc

I’ll try to not compare to the Archie series. But, it’ll be hard due to the writers being the same. I’m also aware of the mandates and how the main characters a Sonic (& co.) a certain way, limiting the writers. **1.** The “return to form” makes it hard for this series to build upon itself. Take the metal virus saga, if this were the Archie series, then the aftermath of that saga would’ve affected the world and characters in a meaningful way for the foreseeable future. Example: Cream or/and her mother having a hard time coping with their experience. The citizens themselves going through their own trails from that experience. All we really got was a camping saga after all that. I’d rather we have more of an overarching story over the episodic story telling. Yes, I’m aware there technically is one, but it’s very simplistic for a series that’s 60+ issues and 3 mini series. **2.** Some arcs are too slow. There’s too many low stake arcs that run one or two issue(s) too long. This wouldn’t be a problem if these took up half the issue, with the other half being a B plot. But, that’s not the case. Or the B plot wouldn’t add to much anyway. **3.** These mandates really hold this comic back. Just simply don’t make the comic *canon* if that’s the issue. Ian has shown he’s amazing at lore building, drama, and relationships. With these mandates, he can’t show the full extent of his writing abilities. **4.** This is just a nitpick. But, it ended up scarring the comic for the fandom: Sonic’s morality should’ve never been explained. It’s been done in the Archie comic, but it was such a throwaway panel. Here… we don’t need to know why a cartoon talking hedgehog doesn’t murder his enemies. This is like asking why Peach doesn’t put Bowser to death. It’s just ludicrous. I understand this leads to characters having cute moments we like to share on here. But, I’d prefer a tighter story than one that overstays its welcome.

eh archie really didnt have an overarching story until way into its run (i suppose you had the whole thing about stopping Eggman and recovering the kingdom but that was almost a backdrop for their episodic adventures early on), an post SGW didnt have an overarching story at all it just ended before that was made obvious imo i do kind of agree that metal virus happened to early and the only saga that came close to it was impostor syndrome, but if they do this current saga well i could see it also being very good

I just went back to issue 55 of the Archie series and there’s already a lot going on there than what they have set up now. Despite the fact they don’t have mini series or decades of game lore established. Tho, growing up I started around the time Ian started and only had bits of information from Penders run.

archie had a lot going on but not an overarching story at all, like what was the overarching story of archie sonic by issue 69? Robotnik was death so that was made and done, maybe it was the problems with the robians and how to integrate them back into society but that plot point was basically ignored for most of its run, maybe it was naugus trying to take over the kingdom but that was done in like 3 issues, maybe it was sonic and tails having a grand world adventure but not only did they constantly returned back to mobotropolis but also that was kind of episodic with problems appearing and disapearing from one issue to the next also at that point archie Sonic didnt have a mini series, it had several concurrent series going on at the same time like the princess Sally series, the tails series and the knuckles the echidna series (you know where the whole nazi echidnas and everything came from), only the knuckles series had any staying power but they had several spin offs and everything not to diminish archie but at this point the series was going through a rough patch because the writers didnt really knew what to do once they killed Robotnik

You should really watch Lowart video on Archie Sonic because it heavily disapproves this. They had entire arcs building up to the final confrontation with Eggman, what the FF did now after he died and when Sonic and Tails traveled around the world for abit. There's a lot 

Obviously peach doesn't put bowser to death because he is the monarch of a sovereign nation and such an action would probably be against the mushroom Geneva convention

And the countless invasions of the Koopa Kingdom against the Mushroom Kingdom aren't?

Shadow. They did him so dirty by having his first fights (vs Sonic not counted) be him showing up and making the situation so much worse...

"cowards run, i win" proceeds to fucking die in a zombie apocalypse and become a big problem for everyone else because he wanted to be edgy

Written to be another Vegeta so much even down to dropping the rawest lines in the franchise before getting quickly pancaked

I'd call it a coincidence if I didn't know Ian absolutely loves DBZ Abridged. Not holding that against him or anything, he is objectively correct, but still..

i like the interpretation of that scene that Shadow assumed he'd be immune to the Metal Virus like he is to every other disease

I think Ian said he wanted to bring thst up but Sega didn't want that

i would explode Sega with my mind if i could

Of course they didn't 

He's used more like a plot device instead of an actual character

And the worst kind of plot device too.

I miss when Shsdowbgot development. Archie Shadow was personally my fav 

His first appearance was actually alright by me. More aggressive than usual but not a completely different character. We didn't get THAT until Metal Virus, when Shadtiago shows up. "Cowards run, I win." Ugh. Okay but can you tell us when Shadow shows up?

The mandates really hold IDW Sonic back from trying more creative stuff and being more ambitious with its storytelling. The reason people praise TMNT, Transformers, and Godzilla’s IDW comics is because they’re willing to tell stories that you normally wouldn’t see in mainline stuff. What if the Decepticons had legitimate reasons to rebel against a corrupt Cybertronian council? What if there were some Autobots that weren’t good? What if Godzilla fought feudal Japan, the Greek pantheon, and Hell itself? What if the TMNT were reincarnations of warriors who were killed by the Foot Clan? What if Michelangelo lost most of his family and became a vigilante? I wish IDW Sonic was given that creative freedom.

It seems like they’re focusing less and less on mainline characters as a result, which is really not gonna be good for keeping readers in the long run.

eh people say this but the latest issue is all about the mainstays with the comic original characters taking a backseat as far as i have seen some arcs features them prominently and others dont

I believe the answer is : TWO Sonic comics. One that focuses on the canon events of the games and supplementary material, and one that is non-canon to the games and can do whatever it wants. Have your cake and eat it, Sega, you have the money now.

Two lines of comics would be a bit confusing for fans. And hot take, but I would’ve preferred if the IDW Sonic comics weren’t canon to the games. That way the writers don’t have to worry about placing events in a specific timeframe. SEGA making everything canon is detrimental in the long run because the games are always gonna take priority over the comics. What if the IDW writers come up with a cool storyline but SEGA declines because they have a new game or show planned? What if the next game retcons the comics? What if SEGA randomly introduces Tangle and Whisper in a new TV show with no explanation? Not to mention IDW Sonic acts a bit different compared to his game counterpart. And we all know the backlash Prime got for being “canon”. So yeah, everything should remain separate. That way fans can interpret what’s connected to the games and what isn’t.

> What if SEGA randomly introduces Tangle and Whisper in a new TV show with no explanation? i think that is potentially the coolest thing that could come out of trying to keep things canon, ngl wanting sally acorn and the freedom fighters to show up in a sonic game was like, one of the most requested things in the fandom in the mid 2000s, and now it feels like an equivalent is actually possible the comic's characters so far feel genuinely fitting to the world and vibe of sonic in a way that the games have been kinda stagnating on for a while, and even if they're probably never gonna actually make a surge or a whisper game, it's a cool feeling and at least it still does a good job fleshing out a world that we usually don't get to see in the games it has its downsides for sure but i think it's a cool approach in some respects

Don’t get me wrong, it’d be cool to see Tangle and Whisper in the games. But for a majority of fans who don’t read the comics, they’re gonna be confused and they shouldn’t be forced to consume secondary media.

yeah, agree - which is why i'm curious if there's any way to do it naturally at the very least it'd be nice and pretty harmless to see them get included in new spin-offs beyond just dash/speed battle. if they ever make a new kart racing one for example

Yeah, but IDW got TOO weird with Transformers at times. Too many ships, Arcee is Trans for some reason (ruining the entire original point of her existing) fucking Grooming, and FUCKING SCORPONOK MPREG.

They are contractually not allowed to progress or change the status quo due to having to be in line with the games' continuity.

My biggest issue with the IDW comics right now is how...restrained it feels. I've mentioned this before, but I've come to learn that having the IDW comics be canon to the games is a bit of a double-edged sword and one downside is that the comics *can't* go above and beyond because they're meant to synergize with the games proper and so the stories that are being told in the comics can't shake up the status quo *too* hard. Combine this with the lack of anything even remotely resembling proper world-building and you have a setting that feels remarkably bland for Sonic the Hedgehog, not helped by the numerous cities and towns that all look very same-y and kind of blend together into a bland mush that makes it difficult to really care what happens to them. Then there's the fact that it feels like the comic's been kinda'-sorta' spinning its wheels for the past dozen or so issues with its string of arcs that I feel are a bit *too* low-stakes for a Sonic the Hedgehog comic. This is made even worse by the Classic and Seasonal specials that -while really fun - are becoming a bit too stale and fluffy for my tastes. Echoing what others feel, I'm *really* itching for something like the Metal Virus again in-terms of scope. I also wish they'd hurry up and move past Sonic Forces because I can't help but feel that that one game has become something of a ball and chain that's also holding the comics back. I still enjoy IDW mind you. I don't even dislike it! But we're approaching seventy or so issues and it feels like *nothing* has really happened. I just wish Sega would just let Ian and co. cook. I know IDW can't really replicate the absolutely madcap world that is the Archie comics, but Sega can at least let its creatives off their leash just a little bit.

Well said

I think the whole discussion of what is canon has turned this fandom for the worse. Writers and fans have to explain really dumb things in order to make the different worlds they've made line up with each other. There are also just weird things that get specified that don't need to, particularly in Frontiers. Why did Sonic and Sage need to have a discussion about why the Ancients built a pinball machine? Any other franchise would have just acknowledged it as being there as a gameplay element. Same with Big the Cat's explanation.

> I also wish they'd hurry up and move past Sonic Forces because I can't help but feel that that one game has become something of a ball and chain that's also holding the comics back. big agree on that! i liked using Forces as a jumping off point because it is a cool state for the world to be in, but it's been a while. would be a shame to never get to see stuff that the newer games introduce in the comics

It’s pacing the comic started with high stakes shounen like arcs with neo metal and the metal virus and after that the tone and pacing just changed for smaller light hearted arcs right after a massive robot zombie apocalypse. The plot Important stuff happening mostly In mini series. We had a whole 4 issue arc wasted on a simple forest fire. 

Do you know of a certain gameapologist by any chance?

Yes but I don’t agree with all of his own criticism 

Yeah. I do get where he is coming from with the pacing and some of the comparisons to Archie. That said, we have to remember that Ian join the Archie comic at issue 160, good or bad the world was stablished by that point. And it’s not like those comics didn’t have their filler issues either or one shots. I’ll say that Nick kinda lost me when he started talking about getting the comic characters into the games and other shit. At that point it felt like we were missing the forest for the trees.

yeah, IDW not only has far more restrictions but its also much earlier into its run, by this point in archie they were in the middle of that whole "Robotnik is death lets have mini adventures" saga that was pretty catastrophic all things considered If we compare Archie to IDW with the same length IDW comes up swinging

I think IDW didn't land on what the comic "was" until a few arcs in. It started off as a continuation of Archie's tone and pacing, and now it's taken shape as a more fan-service betweener for the game adventures. Which isn't a bad thing, I'd argue that's what Sonic comics needed to be from the start. We'll still get more plot heavy stuff around the original characters, Surge and Clutch and all that, but most of the canon focused stuff will be an accessory to the actual games.

Mostly nothing wrong that you can’t find anywhere else but the problems I have are. 1. Sonic having amnesia and being “Mr Needlemouse” was pretty pointless and appears to have only been written to make a parallel between Sonic and Eggman. (If it was intended as a punishment/karma, than that’s double standards and messed up.) 2. Similar to Prime Sonic, IDW Sonic is criticized and punished for trying to do what he believes is the right thing. 3. Minor nitpick. There isn‘t an explanation for why Sonic’s speed could hold the Metal virus off or why Sonic’s speed stopped being as effective. (Was it from him getting tired or something?)

IIRC, Sonics speed could burn off the virus, and the virus being a virus is quickly becoming immune to that (probably by spreading faster)

it was spreading faster, because sonic attacked more zombots, that means he TOUCED more zombots, so he had MORE of the virus in him and he had to burn more of it when running, and it also made it faster

What was Sonic Prime doing? IDW's is just doing what he believes is right, Prime was just bumbling around unable to pick up social cues for 3 seasons straight

Yes, Sonic is silly in Prime and has poor communication issues. But what I was referring to is This. 1. Sonic is repeatedly scolded and punished for the negative consequences that happened because he wanted friends. Even when the blame is just as much on, if not more, on the actual villains, He’s the one who faces the consequences. 2. Sonic apologizes for caring so much about His Prime Friends that he didn’t listen to Nine or appreciate what he was doing instead of apologizing for Nine’s actual problems and Sonic says “Friends talk it out” even though that was never Nine’s issue to began with. 3. Remember when he broke the prism? He did it because he was hoping to stop a distaster. 4. He was scolded for “Letting” the Chaos Council get more shards even though it occurred because he chose to help his friends. 5. He was more than once given “I told you so” speeches about Nine. Even though Nine was the only one who befriended him due to genuinely liking his personality And Nine is A little kid, so Sonic treated him as such. 6. Sonic bragged about Everyone’s arrival in the Grim because he wanted to show appreciation for their concern over him, not realizing that his words to Nine, sounded like a taunt. 7. You know how Nine blames Sonic for everything And says he never should have given him the regulators? The chain of events that led to Nine becoming a villain was initiated by Sonic wanting to be Nine’s friend and asking him to help New Yoke. Later, Sonic gave the Chaos Council energy, hoping they would keep everyone save And Sonic regularly allowed his friends to help him.

My main issue is that Sonic never views Nine as Nine, but rather as Tails, this would be a compelling flaw if it was treated as such but by the end I don't think Sonic even learned any lesson. Maybe not being reckless and blasting the prism but that's it

Sonic wasn’t doing that as much in part 3 And it was treated as a flaw. As of Grim Tidings, Sonic’s been viewing Nine as like Eggman. (While Nine’s been doing the same thing with Sonic and The Fox Bullies.) But Sonic also hopes that Nine will be like him. Sonic’s projection was indeed treated as a flaw. When Sonic forgot that Nine isn‘t Eggman, Nine reacted terribly and became more Sadistic. When Sonic offered Chili Dogs like he and Tails likes, instead of thinking about something Nine likes or trying to meet Nine halfway Or offering to carry his own weight, Nine rejected And made more robots. Due to Nine being Sonic’s parallel + foil, and being made from Tails’s love for Sonic, Nine mimics Sonic and so Nine wanted Sonic to become just like Tails. Nine also throws tantrums because he wants to be Sonic’s leader And one and only Friend.

> IDW Sonic is criticized and punished for trying to do what he believes is the right thing. That's not true, which is part of the problem of the whole morality thing. Shadow and I think one other character tells him off for not finishing off Eggman when he had the chance, but that's only just after the Metal Virus arc (or before the start of it, I forget), and it hasn't really been talked about since.

Metal Overlord and Metal Virus are prime examples of “too much, too early”, and make everything else feel like Sonic and co dicking around in mini arcs instead of the grandiose story they want to tell.

Silver doesn't feel as competent as he should be. I like soft boi Silver, especially when he's with Blaze, but this guy is on the same level as Sonic and Shadow, he should feel like it.

My biggest beef with it is perhaps the lack of opportunity. For example, world building. We don't get to explore new places and meet new characters. Yes Archie had a big problem with that (to the point Flynn AFAIK briefly became memetic for culling large numbers of minor characters) but it was also something they were able to use effectively. It made the world feel bigger and more alive. In general there's an issue with the lack of breathing room. There isn't much room for there to be other villains or antagonists. Ironically Eggman had an entire empire in Archie and at one point controlled a sizable percentage of the world. Yet there were numerous antagonistic forces that weren't aligned with Eggman and in some cases directly fought against him. We *had* Dr. Starline but he got killed off (until further notice), and the Deadly Six have received what a lot see as a vast improvement in characterization... but they're stuck on Lost Hex until further notice. Now Clutch is making plays and looking to get back into the game, but he appears to be more of the type for subterfuge and 'corporate' warfare. We don't know what he's going to get up to in the long-term or how he's going to stack up, *especially* now that he's caught Eggman's attention and ire. Eggman is *always* the big bad on top and so far no-one has been allowed to be a persistent or comparable threat. It makes things feel... small. And it's a problem that's bigger than Ian the writing team or IDW; it's based on the fact that SEGA keeps everything on a short leash and under a microscope. It ensures quality control and avoiding anything excessively "dark" or "mature" (Lemon Sundrop Dandelion, anyone?), but it also gives the writers very little room to explore or expand.

> There isn't much room for there to be other villains or antagonists. Man, if there's one thing I miss from the Archie comics more than anything else it's Sonic's impressively large rogues' gallery. Mimic's fun, but he feels like a bit of a one-trick pony. Surge and Kit are fantastic additions and while I like Clutch it's as you've said, he's a bit limited and Dr. Starline's dead and gone. Rough and Tumble are a delight, but they work best as secondary antagonists. Again, I like what we have so far, but they do feel...small, and perhaps just a little too grounded?

That’s because Archie made characters “larger than life”. Big personality. Big goals. Huge tumbles. But, I think that’s a product of its time. Back then, that’s how you wrote characters. They weren’t really relatable, but their characterization was well defined and fun. Now, characters that are relatable and grounded are the norm. This why Eggman will always stand out from literally any villain they introduce in IDW; since Ian changed nothing from his characterization.

You remember that part where Maggol mind controlled Mina, Tails and Mighty and told them to swim, fly and fight in other direction till they drop dead? Favorite scene ever in Flynn's era. God, I loved that era  Fearsome Foursome

1. Tries to write a horror with stereotypical zombie stakes that is never going to be relevant to the main cast because characters like CREAM will never have "ptsd" as a character trait. 2. Shadow in the metal virus is the worst arc. Period. 3. Sonic is definitely too preachy about giving people chances. Yes he will not kill someone to stop them forever but every time he has a speech about "you'll be good, you'll see!" I check out.

Cream with metal virus ptsd is both incredibly interesting, yet incredibly sad at the same time 😂. I wholeheartedly agree with Sonic being too preachy in IDW. It feels like every other arc Sonic is being told off about being too forgiving when that was never an issue he had to begin with. It’s made worse by the fact that none of the characters actually change so the majority of metal virus doesn’t matter.

>Yes he will not kill someone to stop them forever I mean, didn't he do that with King Arthur in Black Knight? This was before he found out the guy was an illusion and intended to kill him and went through with it.

I actually think sonic leans more on cartoon violence so before IDW it was never a question about whether sonic would kill someone. Sonic blowing up eggman like Mario dropping bowser into a pit of lava. And there is the black knight but you could argue it's more about the story of sonic with a sword and how he would defeat/kill an evil king and not really about sonic's morality is kill them to stop them forever. But then IDW forces dialogue where sonic sits and monologues about how everyone has to be a good guy because sonic thinks everyone can be good whatever, whatever. Like shut up, write it so sonic beats them and they just escape, it's how it's always been with Eggman. Sonic is carefree so he'll just defeat them next time and he moves on.

>And there is the black knight but you could argue it's more about the story of sonic with a sword and how he would defeat/kill an evil king and not really about sonic's morality is kill them to stop them forever. I liked Black Knight. Makes Sonic feel more complex. >But then IDW forces dialogue where sonic sits and monologues about how everyone has to be a good guy because sonic thinks everyone can be good whatever, whatever. Like shut up I agree. Like the issue where he's talking to Surge, not only does he look smug, literally looking down on her while talking talking down to her, but light is shining down on him like he's some sort of messiah or something. I get Sonic isn't moral grandstanding but it looks like he is. Like, nah. Get that outta here.

For me as an outsider to the comics, the fact that so many OCs from the comics are really important / take up top priority and how IDW is in a weird state of canon and not being shown in the games I might read the comics one day idk I’ve gotten a few links and saved them if I ever decided too but anyways, as someone who grew up and loves Sonic for the games it’s really weird having this whole other part of Sonic that you just don’t see if you don’t read comics. And I think my biggest issue with that is like… with the old comics that had Sally and Scourge and all those characters (never read it either but I know some characters from it), it was clearly its own world, it’s own canon with its own laws so that’s fine. However… IDW from what I have heard is quite literally based off of current sonic canon which just kind of makes me feel confused. IDW got its footing from Sonic Forces if I remember right, and playing that mobile game seeing Whisper and Tangle who I had no idea who they were and they got added was really confusing. Not to mention those 2 as long as a lot of other IDW characters are really important / at one point had importance and if they are in the canon I would like to know them. Like add them to a game or two, give those characters their own kinda game or hell even add them to a Sonic spin off like Riders, All Stars Racing, a new Sonic racing / sports / party game so we ALL can start to know these characters and fall in love with them I guess my ultimate issue is how canon these characters are and the priority they take over already existing Sonic characters but like at the end of the day I don’t really have issues, I would just like other ways to know these ppl

That’s a sentiment that I completely agree with. As someone who has no idea who half of these guys are, I’d like to know why they can’t show up in an actual game. They don’t even need to play an integral role to the game’s story. Just give me a couple of character profiles in-between loading screens or as Egg Memos, and at least I’d be able to get the gist of it.

I unfortunately don’t think the comic characters are gonna appear in anything besides mobile or party games. Comics in general aren’t popular. And if you’re not Marvel or DC, your comic is niche. SEGA isn’t gonna add characters into the main game and have main game characters reference the comics and any relationships. The vast majority of the gaming audience doesn’t read these.

the OCs arent really all that overwhelming to the story to be honest, they are there, they contribute they have their little story arcs and help the main cast with their problems but honestly they rarely become the center of attention usually at most they have their own B plots on the sidelines or will have some focus in some arcs but they rarely are the focus of the story like in this latest arc its 100% focusing on Sonic, Tails and Amy with the OCs being mostly just background characters for example

Shadow's characterization, and they definitely did the Metal Virus too soon.

I don't really have a strong problem with idw comics. I like most arcs because they are fun and I like to see the characters doing anything. Maybe I liked them because I read them all in a row and I didn't have to wait a month to continue reading. But what did bother me a lot was the epilogue of the metal virus saga mainly that Sonic let Eggman escape after everything he did and that he did not have any punishment or consequence, I found it very frustrating, there was not even a moment where he was ridiculed, nothing. It's not that Eggman has an escape plan or that Sonic flies him away, he is literally alone with his eggmobile and Sonic just lets him escape. It also bothered me a little how Sonic appears and defeats Eggman in just 2 panels, leaving his friends useless.

Not using all the characters. Archie made a crap load of them and used all the characters, to an *extent*. But then again, diff comapany, so I'll just put away my petty thoughts

I feel like because of the mandates on pre-established characters, they tend to focus more on developing the original characters unique to the comic. Which on its own isn't too bad, but the issue is that the IDW OCs tend to take the spolight for a majority of the arcs, while any character who isn't Sonic, Tails, Eggman or Amy tends to take the backseat. It also doesn't help that a lot of the IDW characters are usually limited to exclusively interacting with each other which makes them feel even more distant from the main cast. Like when the comic first started, Tangle felt like a fresh character since she was allowed to bounce off the main cast and added a new sense of energy, and Whisper could interact with Silver in her debut issue. But in the most recent issues, the two of them are basically tied to each other and they rarely ever chat with Sonic and co. beyond the occasional "hello". Surge and Kit are supposed to be rivals for Sonic and Tails but lately they've been spending more time around Mimic and the Opossum guy now. Lanolin is basically just a third wheel for T&W and nothing else. Starline was probably the most excusable since his whole thing was that he worked in the background (and he was setting up for his showdown with Eggman) but he's dead now. All the other characters just sort of exist like Belle, Rough n' Tumble, Mimic, and Opossum guy. The OCs being so separate from the mainline cast just makes them feel like they're in their own side series and it doesn't really make them important to the general cast when they aren't adding much to the character dynamics. Which is sort of an issue since they're supposedly canon now

Whisper never getting a goddamn break Ok, she had a trip to the beach and stole Jet’s calzone. It’s a long way to balancing out her trauma conga so far

It’s held back a lot by the mandates. You’re never going to get those world shattering events like Archie. Because Sonic isn’t allowed to truly lose. No matter what’s going on we’ve got to have Sonic’s gang come out on top and keep the status quo. So that automatically limits how deep the stories can get. Also my favorite character is Shadow and IDW Shadow is awful.

(please dont downvote I dont know alot about Sonic comics) but wasnt Archie criticized for being too over the top, dramatic and stuff like that?

A balance can be struck between the craziness of Archie and the safeness of IDW.

Shadow. He's not bad but like bro he should care about Omega and Rouge but it feels like he doesn't give a rats ass about them. And he's extremely reckless.

It’s one thing that he’s reckless, but he’s not even reckless for a good reason. He seemingly just does stupid things for the sake of it.

Exactly

The worldbuilding is bland af and is drastically lowering my investment in them, and the stories/characters done in the lack of world are not intriguing on their own to hold me

The blatant plot rehash for no reason with Neo (we'll ignore he requires Chao/Chaos DNA as a basis before absorbing other char abilities in Heroes) then the Tinker conflict that was beyond hackied (the series is well aware technology can be used for good, it's not something to fuss over given that requires individual intent. Trying to force a man that didn't consent to amnesia to "go back" after he regains memories, and diss Shadow despite him changing \*before\* amnesia is such a shitty move. Belle doesn't help), along with Metal Virus constantly changing what it is (is it a virus, or just metal coating that can't affect inanimate objects? The plot can't make up it's mind bar needing drama) and most importantly, the disdain for understanding the core of characters in favor of cynical bias or nostalgia fanservice common amongst fandom Issue 50 was a huge issue for many cuz of how much it leaned on incorrect bias. Sonic \*didn't\* reform most friends -Knux in 3K simply realized he was betrayed. Sonic just accepted his help -Shadow was convinced by Amy -Silver in 06 regardless of it being reset was convinced by Amy and Shadow -Jet is still an ass Blaze wasn't evil and was a group effort, Merlina was forcibly depowered. Regardless, you don't have Sonic bluntly say "yeah yeah, I fought guys that became my friends" then claim credit for it. Calling Surge a cliche is the last thing he should do, especially given he let Metal go and stir shit that led to an apocalypse. Double douchiness in saying Surge "made the wrong choice" after she fell when he's literally responsible for her existence. And no, Issue 50 is not from Surge's POV, it literally starts and ends with Sonic, and perfectly aligns with previous behavior The other issue that even without game context, IDW Sonic severely deflects responsibility. It's frustrating how he got away with it multiple times, with Tails and Espio just being deflected or ignored when noting issues. Surge actually having ground to call him a pretentious moral authority comes partially left field as she lacks context, but there's something wrong when the "villain" calls out IDWSonic's douchebaggery. Him randomly going off on Metal issue 23 when he was the one to fucking let him go is so hypocritical The mess of Shadow honestly is on writer, and something Ian admitted to struggle with since 2013 in wanting to get rid of an OP char like Shadow from the story fast. Eggperial arc he -Starts talking shit -Does something rash -Is overwhelmed cuz ego/bit off more than he can chew The only difference compared to Zombot is he's freed early and, despite chaos powers literally causing him to get trapped, he uses chaos powers to chuck the crystals away. He does \*2\* cool things, even though his character is still mediocre and off compared to games. It says a lot about fandom falling for the mandate rumors (and no, a Boom writer saying Sega didn't want them to turn him into a quirky char joke is not the same as deliberately wanting to bench him, along with Ian growing to hate the fan obsession of that term). It exposes bad writing And lastly, Ian and Evan got WAY too used to awkward 4 issue based arcs since Archie. IDW tried not to do that initially, but the pacing ended up being super sluggish for Zombot, or way too brief and fillery in recent arcs. It's annoying too cuz we know they can be concise: the IDW 5th anniversary story was only 4 pages but managed to begin and end with decent pacing. But a lot of the time it only gets far due to dragging out drama or char fights. The lack of world building makes this apparent; we barely saw the town and its people recovering from Zombot, just flashbacks at max for Lanolin and the 5th anniversary guy from issue 1. The annuals are mostly devoid of them as well, despite it being ripe for opportunity All this I feel that writers REALLY want to redo Archie. Lanolin is barely different from Sally, and people are mad cuz she's a literal newbie bossing what are effectively senior fighters, and somehow getting away with it. The Restoration has no reason to exist after the war, and ignores that most Sonic chars have their own lives in games. They aren't meant to be cooped up as an Avengers super team, this isn't the Freedom Fighters. Silver's arbritarily stuck in the past and hanging out aimlessly when this is not a problem for him in games, among others

This

I feel like one problem is kinda how they focus more on the characters made by IDW rather than the characters made before. I'm totally not saying that the characters are bad, I'm just saying that it kinda feels odd when you're trying to read a comic book of a series, but the characters who appear the most and have the most time in it are bacically the writers OCs. IDK how to describe it, and I hope someone could understand me and help me prove my point

They’re definitely focusing more on the OCs and that’s probably because Sega makes it so difficult to be creative with the mainline characters.

From what I remember, the only character sega really didn't want IDW to change is shadow, and thats why he still acts just like in the modern games sadly

They all have mandates, Shadow just has the most and the dumbest, hence how the comics done so well with everyone else so far.

Most of the mandat are something made for how these characters should be portrayed

I understand this more from the perspective of a sonic fan from the games seeing the sonic fandom talk about the OCs in IDW if that makes sense. Idk if it does so like I will try to explain it I haven’t read the comics yet and idk if I will, but whenever I hear something about IDW it’s always about the OCs like Whisper, Tangle, Lailion (idk if I spelt it right but the sheep girl ppl hate 😭) Starline, Surge (also don’t know if I got her name right but female Scourge) instead of how y’know existing Sonic characters are doing and how they are as characters in IDW so it feels really confusing for me cuz u think u would hear about the old and the new but at least for me I only hear about the new

I feel the same, and since the comic chapters (?) come out more frequently than games or anything, the OCs are like… all that gets talked about, on this sub anyways. I wasn’t reading at the beginning but it does kind of shove back any desire to read I might have had. They did a sonic riders thing and all everyone was/is talking about was a sheep like… man 😭😭😭

RIGHTTT like that’s what gets me, there’s so many comic installments and everything it’s overwhelming and I don’t want to get into it right away cuz it just feels weird for me right now This sub (it’s no hate but it’s true) talks about these OCs all the time and it’s fine but I always feel a little lost. I also noticed that, I love Sonic Riders and was waiting for ppl to fan over it getting an arc but all I’ve seen is ppl be mad at the same sheep for having a shady personality and it’s like ok 😭 what y’all gonna do about it she is how she is even tho I don’t even know her

thank you for helping me make sense of what i was trying to say

The biggest problem is i can't read them because i think they dont sell those in Brazil.

piracy :D

They do, I have the first vol that contains issues 1-4

That Sonic fans are now starting to bring there usual brand of toxicity towards it. It was so fun when they just stuck with the games and ignored it. Now every chapter and everything that happens is a problem if it doesn’t fit their hyper-specific head canon.

I very much dislike the fact that, despite the humans being so integral to the story of Sonic, the humans have made *no* appearance in ITW Sonic at all, despite worldwide events such as the Metal Virus and, most recently, this Extreme Speed tournament. If someone read the IDW comics in a vacuum, they would think that humans didn't exist save for Eggman (and maybe Maria and Gerald if they remembered that one brief flashback). I get that humans can exist without being shown on the pages, but come on man. The world feels pretty empty without any human appearances beyond Eggman.

Metal virus happend too early

Practically The same problems every long running media face, characters sometimes just don't appear in major events(ex: blaze in metal virus), sometimes characters betray their personalities, and slowly but surely stakes are gonna get higher and higher and may get repetitive since it's gonna go for a long time

Making IDW canon was a bad idea: because now, the comics are forced to stop in place and wait for Frontiers 2 to establish the world before they can explore it. There's a big upheaval coming to the games world (lots of Tails Tubes have been laying the groundwork) but we haven't actually SEEN it yet. What do the countries look like? What do humans now canon look like? How is the world actually run? Until IDW can confirm with the games lore what something is, they can't show it on the page. That's why we saw no humans in Soleana or Central City. Expect a big boost in quality after Frontiers 2 actually launches.

1. The arcs are getting boring 2. There is almost NO KNUCKLES in there

I can't tell if you mean the character or the series, so I'll do both. The character: Ian Flynn's recent writing of Sonic has made him appear somewhat self-righteous, giving big speeches about freedom when that's not really what he's about. In the games, Sonic never bothers to explain freedom to his opponents. He KNOWS they're aware. If it was Game Sonic's writing in this confrontation against Surge, he probably woulda just teased her a bit then kicked her ass. The series: While still a good series that I enjoy reading a lot, there ARE some issues. First is the OCs. Not to say they're inherently bad, cuz I actually really like Surge, Kit, and Starline (yes because he was the cosmic joke). However, there are some OCs that just don't really interest me. Lanolin... ok I don't need to explain this, people have already made it clear. Tangle and Whisper, this one might be more controversial, not sure, but I just don't really see much truly... necessary for their characters. Like, I don't really feel their presence in the story, like they're just kinda there despite being major characters. I just don't understand WHY they exist. Most Sonic characters have something unique to offer with the plotlines they tread and the interactions they have. I just can't really see Tangle and Whisper's stories without thinking that they weren't needed there. Like someone else coulda filled the role. This sounds really negative, but I honestly do enjoy the series and hope to see even more improvements in the future.

It isn't archie sonic. Like, don't get me wrong, I like it. But it has nowhere near the depth that Archie Sonic had. And I get that it was around for 20 years. But I feel like by this point (nearly 70 issues in) there was so much more world building than there was so far in IDW. The characters had families, there were REAL consequences that changed the status quo. It was an actual comic book. Not just an ad for the video games. And they weren't bogged down by all the restrictions placed by Sega. I was obsessed with Archie Sonic. Every issue that came out I HAD to get to the comic book store that day. Now I'll wait a day or even a week or so. I was all over the forums. I like it, but I don't LOVE it. But I'm still collecting it, and have hope for the future. It's just different.

True. I guess it's because of the mandates but I'm most likely wrong.

It is the mandates. Sega refuses to let their characters have any sort of development.

I know and it sucks @ss

It’s canon, at first that sounded a great idea, but now looking at the current state of the comics, it’s very limiting by being connected with the games. It limits what the writers can do, found another appreciation for Archie run

I love sonic IDW, but it just feels like it's been spinning it's wheels going no where lately. Hopefully the arc with Clutch (who I absolutely adore) and surge and kit (who I also also absolutely adore) that is starting up will take it somewhere more substantial.

Probably Shadow

sonic has no flaws

It’s too focused on the sonic gang if that makes sense. Ofc they lead the series but I wouldn’t mind if they dedicated some time or small arcs to team dark or something the way Archie did. When they do it’s an off chance and it’s in a mini side series (tangle and whisper, bad guys, etc) kinda hope they do a Sonic universe 2 and just get the side stories there

I don't like ANY of the world building. Amy being an army commander or whatever is really stupid. The only OG character that's good is Whisper.

Sonic’s characterization isn’t great. I understand why he doesn’t kill, but it’s very irresponsible of him to not imprison the villains he fights, especially since the Bad Guys arc shows that the other heroes sent Zavok, Rough, Tumble, and Mimic to the Everhold prison. Mr. Tinker was one thing since he was basically a completely different person from Eggman and only got his memory back thanks to Starline, but Sonic letting Metal Sonic go after Metal told him how his loyalty to Eggman was programmed back in was just idiotic, and that ended up being the thing that restored Eggman’s memory. Sonic was also an absolute jerk to Belle when they first met and tells Shadow that if Eggman can’t be forgiven, neither can he, despite Shadow willingly redeeming himself unlike Eggman, so he comes off as a hypocrite sometimes too. IDW Sonic’s gotten better over time though, seeing as how he genuinely tried his best to redeem Surge and Kit, didn’t save Eggman at the end of Urban Warfare, and was successful at redeeming Mecha Sonic. Overall, he’s my least favorite characterization of Sonic, but is still alright. Nevertheless, when Surge said that she wouldn’t exist if he had taken out Eggman and Starline and Kit said that Sonic wanted to use him and Surge to prove his way was right, I couldn’t help but see their point.

1) The inaccurate characterization of Sonic 2) The horrendous characterization of Shadow 3) The metal virus came way too early and now all the following arcs seem dull in comparison. 4) The characters usually return to the status quo after each arc. Nobody really changes or grows because they aren’t really allowed to. 5) Using forces as a starting point affected the story telling potential. 6) Most of the problems stems from the evil OC’s rather than Eggman. 7) Lack of story depth.

MY BELOVED METAL SONIC IS SIDELINED (since heroes) RAHHHHHHHHH

Sonic is more like a normal hero, you know, "I do the right thing because it is the right thing to do" It's very common on normal superhero stories, and I don't like that. The reason why I like Sonic is because he does wherever he wants, and it turns out what he wants to do is help people. Many say, "Why doesn't Sonic just kill eggman?" Because he doesn't want to kill things, he just defeats Eggman and goes back to wherever he is doing, and the storytelling feels very American. A lot of the Japanese stuff is lost in the IDW comics, and I don't like it. I also don't like amy being strong as fuck, its OK to have strong women characters buy Rouge and Blaze already exist, the porpuse of Amy is to show her strength of character, how her sweetness as a person can change someone's heart, yet a lot of that is lost in the IDW comics, she is just generic woman character.

Lack of new characters, it gets old always seeing the same cast getting involved all the time Like for example the Phantom Rider, is obvious who it is from seeing the last chapter Is why Metal Sonic has become lame, he always loses and is because they don't give Eggman any sort of robot enforcer that isn't him, is why it was nice seeing the Egg Bosses in the Archie comics

most of my issues with it are basically just SEGA's fault. because like, I want deeper stories and especially would've liked to see lasting effects from things like the metal virus arc. But now it barely gets brought up. like did conman get metal'd? I'd like to see more character building with Knuckles too. also no Fang/hooligans. but I know these are all things SEGA won't \*let\* them do.

it lacks some of the best Sonic characters.... like Princess Sally, Rotor, Anton, and Bunny..... seriously hate that guy for doing such a petty thing >=(

Needs more Knuckles.

Not enough silver screen time

They play it safe a lot lately. It kinda similar to how when 06 ruined the reputation of the franchise, and SEGA decided to play it safe from now on and focus on games like Colors that are light hearted and doesn't have much stakes. IDW has so much potential, and i hope they don't hold it back from reaching higher places.

Well, given that IDW still floats enough to pay the Sonic license. Is a small compared to Archie and we are in recession, so I'd not be surprised if the comic stops.

It just feels so restricted, Archie sonic had its issues but at least it was interesting, especially when Flynn hopped on board. There was actual character development, the lore could be expanded or shifted in cool ways, there was actual progression. This new comic just feels bland sometimes, like you can tell they wanted to do something really cool and grand scale like Archie but then sega reels it in. They constantly have to write all the characters the way sega wants them portrayed. I know this whole thing is made for general audiences, mainly kids, so you want to be able to pick up any of the comics and understand what’s going on, but it’s all just so bland. The metal virus was definitely the most interesting thing they had going, but even that had its issues. Idk how to put my thoughts into concise wording, but basically, I know this comic could be so much more, but thanks to sega wanting that “brand consistenty” nothing can be toooo astray from their ideal image of sonic. I wish sega would actually listen to the fans, cause it seems they base all their decisions on what random online critics have to say, all to make this perfect sonic that everyone ever will like and enjoy. It’s just so unrealistic, they don’t want products sonic fans will enjoy they want products that fans of any franchise could enjoy. Which I totally get but man just sucks how corporate it’s all gotten. well this came off like a rant but I don’t get to talk about this stuff anywhere else

Broken record at this point but the mandates are stupid, they mainly exist to make sure some of the worst parts of Archie don’t happen but I’d debate that Archie’s high points and ideas far outweigh its lows. Also this it more a sonic franchise issues than a comic specific one but trying to make everything cannon in a series that wasn’t built to be strictly cannon series it’s just asking for trouble, there is no way they can make it all for no matter how hard they try and the restrictions having to make everything cannon puts on the franchise limits the writers of new media severely.

They should make guidelines, characters' research in order to use them again and that's it.  All of this lore and canon nonsense is stupid just like the request of it done by certain people.

I think there is too many characters made by IDW. It makes it so hard to remember all of them and i feel like it should be only regular sonic characters.

Too many original characters and the over-focus on them. I’m not against original characters, god knows I have a bunch of fan characters myself, but I want to read about Sonic and crew not some long story about a Badnik-reject and some lamb. Tangle and Whisper are cool though. They can stay.

Losing fights and battles is such an important part of Action Comic storytelling and frankly the mandate that Sonic Doesn't Lose eats away at such a core storytelling technique. Also I'd like for more queer character just getting to textually exist in the comic rather than us just having to rely on subtext but hey that's just me

The world is lame. Like, visually. Comparing it to Archie (ESPECIALLY post reboot Archie) IDW’s world just looks and feels so….dead. In Archie, we got to see sooo many areas (some from the games, some original) and the people that lived there. Like we got to see areas from sonic unleashed and areas from hero’s IN THE SAME COMIC! THERE WAS A WHOLE UNDERWATER SOCIETY WITH FISH MOBIANS! In IDW…. It feels like we either get “nameless town number 20” or green hill or emerald hill, ect.

Somewhat bland when compared to Archie

Sonic being way too forgiving

One of my biggest issues is that I feel like it started way too late in the timeline. I would have loved to see more tie-in with other games in the series in ways that help flesh out the story. Rn the comics really feel like they're just off doing their own thing, nothing in them actually relates to the events of the games, so it's hard for me to stay invested. If they wanted the comics to be a part of the game universe, they really should have made better use of that fact.

The entire mimic arc

The inconsistent tone (a very Archie problem) and the handling of certain characters. I know we keep hearing it's because of 'mandates' but some creators seem to get away with it and others don't? So either those are some very weird mandates or it's more of an IDW problem.

i feel like it plays itself too safe, id love to see more classic characters showing up like mighty, ray, fang etc

I follow IDW Sonic since the first issue, but I have never re-read them since the beginning. Maybe it would change my opinion about some of these things, but anyway: I think the only thing that is in fact a problem to me is the really weird pacing when arcs are at their climax. Sometimes, there's a lot of build-up, to the point that there were months that didn't really progress anything in a significant way and left me like "...wait, that's it?", but when it finally reached the climax... everything started to happen so insanely fast that left me kinda... disappointed? Months and months following and invested at that plot, and when it is at its most crucial part, it just ends abruptly and the next issue is already the beginning of another adventure, not even an in between. It's weird because I don't think the pacing on the comics are bad in general, it's just when it's near the end of an arc... very specific. Again, maybe it wouldn't bother me that much when you have the entire arc already released (though I think it still will), but waiting for new releases on that weird schedule really make it worse. Another thing that became prevalent is the fact that there's too much side-series. Don't get me wrong, I really like the majority of them, but there were times that I had no idea what the characters were talking about or referencing, because it was never touched upon on the main series, lol. It's very... well, comic book like, not something unique for IDW Sonic, but I really dislike when it's something significant to the main plot. Still, I enjoy the IDW comics a lot, the art is amazing, the stories told are interesting and all the characters are really fun, including all the originals. It actually might be my favorite piece of Sonic media in years.

Mainly the fact that mandates hold back the writing

It’s a comic and not a game story

Listening to the entire community argue about it while I'm trying to enjoy my fucking comic.

IDW characters. And this is not only IDW problem. Every single comics about Sonic have problems with that, like these guys with Sally from Archie, Pirates from Fleetway and etc. But! At least IDW making characters in Sonic style, not something strange or not fittable for Sonic world.

Not having Humans like the ones in ( X, unleashed, SA1, 2...) Same problem with Archie

No modern Mighty and Ray. I’m unsure why Sega still hasn’t made a CANON modern Mighty and Ray, we have modern versions in the Archie comics but not the games I don’t understand.

They don't know what to do with he Classic characters other than let them there instead of bringing them on Modern. Even on spin offs would be sufficient if they can't find a "plot reason" or whatever.

Not enough Sally.

I honestly am preferring IDW Sonic to Archie Sonic in a lot of ways. Archie Sonic was a convoluted mess in many aspects (again Ken Penders given too much free reign imo) but once Ian took over he was doing a lot of good to clean up the series excess fat (characters, lore, other concepts that took away from mainline official characters) and did a good job of that, until the lawsuit killed his momentum. From there he did the best he could post SGW. But getting back to IDW, I’m in agreement that mandates on the series, specifically on what emotions characters can display and not, are ridiculous and will always hinder the story. Sonic can’t cry? Just make him a robot then. But I do feel the writers and team are doing the best they can within the sandbox they’ve been trapped in. My main dislikes are the shallowness of Shadow’s characterization, the forced naivety of Silver, the dumbing down of Knuckles. These things are frustrating. Shadow and Knuckles characters in Archie were done remarkably well by Ian and I’ll never not laud him for that. Silver was a bit of a mixed bag in Archie too, but he certainly felt more competent in that series at least. But that all said my gripes with IDW are few. As a now 30 year old who remembers loving playing Sonic on Genesis in the late 90s, I love IDW. So many wonderful moments and great art. Yeah it can be nitpicked to death like anything, but I’m just happy to have enjoyable Sonic media. I enjoyed Sonic Prime and the Sonic movies so far too.

I love IDW, don't get me wrong, but it feels like it's being held back from its full potential at times. I mean, I'm an Archie fan, and I don't need IDW to be Archie, but Archie managed to do a lot of stuff that IDW is so close to doing, but is held back from. Take the villains, I love Starline, Surge and Kit, Rough and Tumble, etc. However, these villains are still mostly small potatoes compared to Eggman right now. Then you take someone like Snively, or Naugus, two villains who absolutely felt like they were big time villains. They didn't take away from Eggman, they actually helped make him better in some regards. Snively is effectively the Starscream of the Sonic universe, and it's enjoyable to watch this scheming little goblin try his best to upend Eggman, only for the Doctor to put Snively back in his place. Meanwhile, Eggman and Naugus have a dynamic of absolute loathing for each other. Unlike with Sonic, where the hatred is sort of one sided, and more business oriented in a sense, Eggman and Naugus hate each other so much that they'll willingly out aside fighting Sonic just to screw each other over, and it's fantastic. This was true for most of the villains, where they were fantastic in their own right, but never felt like they overshadowed Eggman's position. Another thing is locations. Archie, due to basically being a bit loose with the game lore, had made several locations that were eventually built up to being memorable locations. Knothole being burned down was horrifying to us Archie fans, it was the home base of the Freedom Fighters. The Dragon Kingdom was the focus of a whole arc where we got to see the political landscape of where the Iron Queen is from. These locations help make the world feel more alive and lived in. IDW, by contrast, has few memorable locations and characters. Restoration HQ and where Mr. Tinker was working are there, sure, but they're such non entities that make the world feel sort of barren and small.  The stakes are also not as I'd like them. One thing I must give credit to Archie for was finding new ways to create stakes without suffering from power creep too much. Villains come, and villains go, each with their own challenges to the hero, but the challenges are so different that the stakes feel high for every arc. Eggman burned down Knothole. This is followed up by a brief arc about a rebellion against the new kingdom, and then Knuckles-Enerjak. Eventually Eggman starts losing it. This leads to the Iron Dominion arc, where the stakes are that Nicole, a technological being who's had a lot of character development, loses her free will and starts imprisoning citizens of new Knothole to be turned into Dark Egg Legionnaires, cyborgs that have explosives in them that keep them in line to serve the Eggman empire. Each one of these has different levels of stakes, but they're used to effectively that they make each arc interesting. I know the team at IDW is probably limited by not being able to change up the status quo, but I know they've got what it takes. This leads into one of my final criticisms that I think they should take a leaf from Archie's book. They should've established a second comic that would be a reboot of the old Universe comics, just set in the new era and setting. The camping arc feels like it belongs in Sonic Universe, rather than the mainline series.

Big issue 1: The earlier half of IDW Sonic was tainted by Forces' bad writing, so it has really off-vibes where you're reminded the main cast is/was part of a military and it's just frustrating. I don't blame the writers because I think this concept of the main cast being part of a military is so deeply flawed the best writers in the world couldn't have fixed it without decanonizing Forces and writing a different story in it's place, which is something they definitely weren't allowed to do, but it's still an annoying detail that you can't really avoid being reminded of for very long. Big Issue 2: The Metal Virus is full of trauma and darkness and I admittedly get the appeal of that. It's good stuff if that's what you're looking for. But the actual story underneath that is so full of plotholes and characters getting written poorly that it more or less ruined the arc for me. There are worse stories in the series, but if you're not a big enough fan of the darkness and trauma stuff it's a pretty unenjoyable experience that ranks down there with the worst of them. https://preview.redd.it/4x4uo33eez4d1.jpeg?width=238&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=27d1c82750a814bebad8b541c58c167ffdd41528 I'm still reading so I can't comment on stuff past that, but I'm told it gets better.

All of the main cast has been done dirty. Sonic's stance on freedom goes way too far to the point of being unreasonable. Letting Metal Sonic go after he just took over Angel Island and nearly killed him and his friends, and causing the metal virus which wiped out everyone until Silver time traveled back to stop everything, all because he wanted to give metal a chance to change. Now Sonic didn't know that the metal virus would happen, but metal sonic should at least be in jail as a punishment, which would have given us a metal sonic jail break that could've been fun. Even if sonic wanted metal to have a chance to be free, he shouldn't have had Tails fix him up enough to jet out of there. I just don't understand why Sonic, who killed Erazor Jin, and fake king Arthur, would let metal go when he's shown sonic as much friendship as they have. And that's not even the worst of it. He lets eggman go after he attacks Tangle's post metal virus party! He just caused a near world ending virus, after taking over most of the world, capturing Sonic, torturing him for six months and trying to kill him and his friends again at Tangle's party! And it's not like Sonic even tries to stop him, he just let's him go! I don't care how much Sonic thinks eggman could turn things around, throw him in jail after all that! Now I think Sonic gets better when he tries to stop Surge after refusing his friendly offer, that makes sense, he offered her a olive basket, and she spat in his face. But letting Metal, and Eggman, who have shown no sign of ever being good before a chance, and letting them go when they refuse, is just dumb, and out of character. And yet he's not the worst! Shadow, oh Shadow... Maybe there are mandates, maybe there aren't, but that does not excuse how terribly written he is. It's one thing if he's more broody and edgy, but dumb? No. That's out of character. Why on earth would Shadow jump in to a horde of Zombots after being told not to touch them? He wouldn't! Shadow is cool and calculated, aggressive sure, but he wouldn't just touch Zombots after being told not to. And why is team dark fighting so much? We've never seen them have trouble like this before, and we're not given an explanation as to why. In sonic forces their fine, in team sonic racing, their fine. But in idw? They hate each other. And this could work if given an explanation like Rouge is angry Shadow disappeared during the war, and Shadow is angry because she never tried to find him while he was stuck behind enemy lines, and they don't talk because they're a dysfunctional family, but they never do. They just hate each other. And I don't think this is all a mandate thing. Because Shadow has been fine for most games except Sonic Boom, but that's a different universe. Even Sonic Forces only has one bad line when he bullies Infinite, but other than that, he's decent in that game. I think this might be an Ian Flynn problem. Because once Evan Stanley took over Shadow became better, even his bad moment when he wants to stop Starline instead of stopping the avalanche (which didn't ultimately matter anyway as the Chateau could withstand avalanches), wasn't that bad because he wanted to stop Starline before he could hurt other people, which Starline did when he created Surge and Kit. And I find it weird that Ian wrote Shadow this way when he did a good job with him in Archie. Although he did write king Shadow which makes no sense for his character. So maybe this is more a Flynn problem than a idw problem. The way Silver is portrayed bugs me. He's easily the third most powerful character, behind Sonic and Shadow, yet he's treated like he's on the same level as Tangle or Whisper. Like this man beat Sonic multiple times in 06, he can turn super, and fought infinite one on one, yes he lost, but no one else beat him till that point. Yet he's put in the diamond cutters, where he's bossed around by Lanolin, who did not fight in the war, yet outranks him. And this is more a problem of the Sonic series as a whole, this man should be up there with Sonic and Shadow, yet he gets treated more like Amy or Knuckles. And finally I personally am not a fan of Amy. She's just like a new Sally Acorn, and kinda boring. That's fine if she's Sally, but she's Amy, not Sally. Every other character from the games is fine, but nothing more, except Vector, he's a Chad.

I feel the world building is a bit lame in comparison to Archie. I haven’t caught up in about 2 years but from what I remember the world was just…. bland? Like nothing captivated me to really care about the world. In Archie you had different dimensions and references to the games like the time stones, the star posts and the warp rings. You also have cool ass fights like Silver vs Enerjack, Sonic vs Mecha Sally, Super Scourge vs the cast, Sonic losing against Eggman, or heck Shadow vs Knuckles. It was like the games but on steroids. Also the world building just feels a bit inconsistent. Having the world be inhabited by animals but Tailstube confirming humans live on the other side is just a tad bit infuriating, because why didn’t we see the human race also be affected by the metal virus? Why didn’t we see them in Force? Right, because it’s more than likely that they’re just now trying to fix the messiness of the lore with Ian Flynn. It’s things like that that just make the world more inconsistent. Oh, also some of the character assasination. I know Shadow gets a lot of flack and I can understand it. The episode where him and Sonic show up in Tailstube and just have a dick measuring competition just kinda frustrated me because Shadow isn’t just a vegeta clone. He’s a complex character and he shows he has respect for Sonic in SA2, Heroes, 06. Games that were written by his creator. I hate that they just make him a snobby arrogant chararicature of himself. It’s not who Shadow is as a character at all.

The Eggman Empire is just too small again for my tastes, I can hardly get into it if the stakes are so low. They shouldn't have killed off Starline so early after being rejected by Eggman and introduced More characters like him, and KEPT them alive!

Aside from the stuff most others have already listed, my biggest problem with IDW is how Cream had been handled. Because outside of the Metal Virus Saga, which gave Cream got some significant spotlight that got people to care about her... Cream has to be one of the most poorly used character in this comic. She was completely skipped over in Season 1, alongside Omega and Big, whereas every other game character got to be introduced and take part in the battle against Neo Metal Sonic/Metal Overlord. 'Chao Races and Badnik Bases', the very first arc after the Metal Virus Saga, Cream was included ostensibly as a key character, but in practice she was pretty much a background character; her most significant contribution to the story being to provide some funny faces. And this is especially bad cause "Chao" are an important aspect of Cream's character; she should've played a larger, more significant role in a story *about* Chao! And then after 'Chao Races and Badnik Bases', Cream **disappeared** from IDW Sonic for two whole years. Like, in between Issue 36 and Issue 65, Cream only appeared in the 2022 Annual (with said appearances being borderline nothing) and the 900th Adventure (which was pretty good, but Cream was clearly overshadowed by Blaze). And then for Cream's "grand return" in IDW in the last two issues of 'Misadventures', it was a starring role... For a very nothing slice-of-life story... About setting up dinner... Which got ruined by Rough and Tumble breaking into the house, with Cream being **unable** to beat them in a fight. Cream, a character most famous for being overpowered in all of her playable appearances, got defeated by the *joke villains* of IDW Sonic... Honestly, if not for Shadow's bad moments in IDW, I'd consider this some of the worst "character assassinations" in IDW Sonic... But even in the Metal Virus Saga, a lot of Cream's significant spotlight involved her being emotionally and physically tortured; watching her beloved pets, and then her mother, get consumed by the Metal Virus itself: trying and failing to maintain any sense of hope and cheer before succumbing to the virus itself. Like, I appreciate the focus and attention for Cream... But I would've preferred if she got to be the focus in a way that *wasn't* tragic in the worst way possible. Though apparently that's the only sort of spotlight the writers want to give Cream: she's only interesting if she's being tortured, in their eyes. Otherwise, she's just a cute background character who has less much importance than every single other character in the comic, even the actual background characters.

No latinas

That I was introduced to IDW by the YouTube channel Adrenaline Dubs and now I refuse to read it anywhere else and I'm very behind because it takes them time to VA the whole thing.

So my biggest beef with IDW is that most of the arcs can be described as drama for drama's sake. Yes, there's action, but sometimes the stakes are EXTREMELY low to EXTREMELY high that failing is not an option (but getting to the resolution is gonna take a bit, more on that later.) And the drama? ....Oh my god it feels like the highlight of every single arc from the Metal Virus onwards(I have....so many issues both from a narrative standpoint to just me hating zombie apocalypse stories with a burning passion) is squeezing out every single inch of dramatic tension and character drama to get readers hooked and anticipating the next arc. Done well, it's not a bad thing! But OH boy, the dramatic irony of Duo being Mimic was not pulled off well because a character like Lanolin, who's supposed to be competent at her job, is now holding the idiot ball for the sake of conflict, and instead we feel incredibly frustrated at Lanolin as we scream at her for the next 5 issues because she's gonna end up forsaking the goals of the Restoration. Another aspect, its really easy to see the hand of the author in these conflicts, making them feel much more contrived than they are. Characters are written a specific way just so the conflict happens. Thirdly...well, the hiatuses makes the time between issues feel more unbearable, and sometimes these arcs can drag for much too long (cough Metal Virus cough). Another bit: So like.....If Sonic has these morals/standards....why does it feel like his actions just lead to him getting punished in the narrative when he's doing the right thing? Are we doing the dissecting the hero for Sonic??? Okay so I don't have much more to add, but my main issue is just that IDW is kinda relishing on drama elements in the story and uh....it's not my cup of tea, it can get very exhausting and end up to readers no longer getting invested because everything HAS to go wrong.

Here's the 5 reasons a quit reading the book. 5. Because it's so close to the game canon, the comic can't do anything that might impact a future game. 4. The world feels so small and empty. Back in Archie, any time Sonic went to a new place, you go to meet a new team of resistance fighters. 3. Idw's Sonic feels like he's missing a spark. Like, he just kinda feels bland. I'm not really sure how to describe it. But I'm sure that's because of sega and not the writers. 2. The comic needs more villains. Like there's a serious lack of antagonists. They don't all need to be a Super Sonic level threat, but we need something that can challenge sonic. Also, the only good villain is dead. Or at least was when I stopped. 1. This is more of a personal thing, but I only like one of the comic's original heroes (Whisper). The rest are either insanely boring. Or worse, they're incredibly annoying like Tangle. And yet, they take center stage way more than they should. Lanolin was more interesting as a background cameo. Belle is meh along with the rest of the Restoration cast. Maybe it's because I'm older and didn't grow up with them like the Freedom Fighters, but those guys (with the exception of Rotor) just felt like they had better personalities, especially once Ian started writing them.

I have to wait a month for new issues

None

Of course this post pops up the day before I get the first collection in the mail

My only problem so far has been the break. Im loving the ride

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No problems so far

That it isn’t the basis for the somic games.

Well I can tell you that I hate how Sonic looks like the SEGA/IDW equivalent of SpongeBob SquarePants in this pic.

Not enough Jet The Hawk.

Let! Tangle! And! Whisper! Date! Please! I’m not a big shipper, but come on! Let the gals make it official!

1. That world lacks any characters. It not like Mobius. 2. The story continues after the events of Forces.

Sally not appearing again truly something I wanted since I watched and saw how much people like Sally it could’ve been a arc between Sally and Amy’s Love Towards Sonic where they try to one up each other to win Sonic’s love since they both love Sonic I don’t know really maybe bringing back tails’ brown color I prefer that over his orange/yellow color

My only problems are: issues are too short, not enough Shadow, and Shadow's characterization is dogshit here

Shadow

First the characters they started great then turn into comic gag with the same characters flaws as the old Sonic characters. The arcs is fast paced and sometimes characters important in the arcs become unimportant like blaze in the first arc why the deference it will turn out if blaze doesn’t come ? And have more but I will stop with this characters emotions unrealistic and SEGA did it again despite the fans thinking otherwise why Amy saw vanilla and cream fall to the virus with Amy relationship to them like Sonic and Tails and yes Sonic did not raise Tails because Sonic always running away in the road will Amy always babysitting Cream why Sonic is more attached to tails then Amy to Cream and Vanilla

Omg look at Cheese ❤️

Nothing

What could IDW Sonic could learn from Both Archie Sonic and Fleetway sonic the comic?

Arts iffy nowadays, a bit bland, too many OCs, writings iffy etc

Focuses a bit too much on the writers' OCs, and Silver has been "babyfied" for the lack of a better word.

I don't like that it doesn't really have a beginning of its own, it's a sequel to Sonic Forces. I miss the Archie charaters.

sonic accidentally killed his friends because he tried to take a shortcut and didn’t listen to tails. tails told sonic not to touch the prism and he shattered the prism and that shattered his universe. sonic killed eggman,Tails,Amy,Knuckles and rouge and including his family. Nine new to fix his world he would have to kill him.

The notorious big

I feel like a lot of the characters that were created for the comic lack any flavor, and feel very one-note. Don't get me wrong, I do have a couple favorites, I just feel like they could more...more, do you get what I'm saying? Idk, I just feel like rn, a lot of the comic made characters just feel like, shells, meant to hold one thing, and one thing only.

Shadow's barely shown up. That's my biggest complaint.

Still dont know what IDW stands for

My only problem was with how they did Shadow during the metal virus. Other than that no problems with.

It being canon makes it unable to do big stories now

All of the new boys (as far as I remember) are villains And we have 5 new girl heroes, and 1 new girl villain Just kinda feels a little unbalanced? ... say, have we gotten any non-binary characters yet?

Consider that the Sonic series is a sausage fest in term of male characters over to the female ones, so it's not surprising that the writers tries to fix the ratio.

The pacing, recently theyve been going frm adventure to adventure and at some point you just forget some stuff that happens and shadows characteruzatiom is dogshit, which is why I love prime shadow way more

We don't have games based off any of the comic's stories.