Luke Owen reviews Sonic Universe #50…
“Forged in Fire”: Celebrate 50 issues of Sonic Universe and 20 years of Sonic the Hedgehog comics with this double-sized anniversary spectacular! Metal Sonic has been one of Dr. Eggman’s deadliest creations. But what happens when the fastest robot around has to track down… itself? It’s a clash of metallic titans as Metal Sonic is sent to take down his original model – now known as the Secret Freedom Fighter Shard! All this plus a special bonus presentation of the very first race between Sonic and Metal Sonic!
Since the release of Sonic CD back in 1993, Metal Sonic (or Mecha Sonic/Metallix if you prefer) has been one of the coolest villains to come from the Sonic cannon. He is essentially the Mechagodzilla of the Sonic-verse – the evil metallic version of the hero which makes him the perfect antagonist. With that in mind, you’ve got to wonder why the games have never really taken advantage of this and just left him to second-string games or cameos? Luckily, we have the comic book world of Ian Flynn’s Sonic Universe, which establishes him once again as the badass he should be in a really fun comic.
The original Metal Sonic is now known as Shard, a good robot who is working with the Secret Freedom Fighters but is yet to be trusted (due to him trying to kill several members of them over the years). But Dr. Eggman isn’t done with his metallic experiment and still feels that it can work. So he builds yet another Mecha Sonic, only this time he removes the free-will part of his circuits which means he will only ever obey Eggman. On top of that, he’s also installed all of Metal Sonic’s previous defeats into his memory to make sure that he doesn’t fall for the same loses as previous incarnations. This new Metal Sonic is now unstoppable and his first target – Shard.
The focus of the issue is between Shard and the new Mecha Sonic and the exchanges between the two are really good with some great fan service. Shard has that slightly annoying edge as he now has the same “teenage” attitude of Sonic which did at times leave me routing for his upgrade. But there is some good characterisation with him as the former bad guy trying to make good in conversations with Nicole as well as Sonic’s monologue in the middle of the book. All of this builds up to a pretty great fight sequence that I do wish was given more time, but is very enjoyable none the less.
What I really like about the Sonic Universe series is that Flynn never takes the subject matter too seriously and in this day and age where everything has to be “edgy”, it’s nice to see someone taking a child’s hero and treating him like one. Don’t get me wrong, the comic is not played for laughs and it does have a serious edge, but it’s not dark and dingy either. To couple with that, Tracy Yardley, Jim Amash and Jack Morelli’s artwork is bright, colourful, fun while keeping it serious and faithful. This isn’t a half-arsed comic with every image clear and beautiful to look at. I would say that on the whole they use to many ‘see previous issue’ text boxes (there seem to be one or two a page at times) but if you’re a regular reader to the series then you won’t find it much bother. The final moments of the comic are actually kind of touching.
Sonic Universe #50 is a whole lot of fun and it will make you feel nostalgic for your Sega CD and the best Sonic game in the franchise (in my humble opinion). If Sonic history is your bag, it also comes with a bonus issue of Sonic The Hedgehog #25 from June 1995 which will make you feel nostalgic for the games and the Saturday morning TV show. While this has all been fun, next month things get ultra-nerdy as the Sonic The Hedgehog and Mega Man crossover begins…
