DC x Sonic #1 – Ian Flynn, Writer; Adam Bryce Thomas, Artist; Matt Herms, Colorist
Ray – 8.5/10
Ray: Sonic the Hedgehog is having a big resurgence now, with a series of movies casting him and his friends as young alien warriors in the human world. It’s so popular that the comic book version, a much more complex tale with Sonic as the leader of a small army of alien critters, might be surprising. That long-running IDW series is the basis for this crossover, which finds Darkseid invading Angel Island seeking to destroy the Master Emerald – which might just have the power to neutralize the anti-life effect. Joining Sonic are his gadgeteer little bro Tails, stoic warrior Knuckles, excitable pink warrior Amy Rose, gritty antihero Shadow, and psychic future hero Silver. They hold their own against the forces of Apokalips for a while, but are clearly outmatched – until the Justice League shows up, immediately leading Sonic to kick off a race with Flash to determine who’s the fastest.
One thing I like about this is the way each of the Sonic heroes is paired with a JL member. Flash and Sonic have a friendly rivalry, Knuckles is quietly impressed by Superman’s controlled strength, Tails and Cyborg quickly bond over tech fandom, Amy spends the entire issue fangirling over Diana, Silver and John Stewart talk energy creations and psychic powers, and Shadow and Batman have a surprisingly emotional conversation about who they lost and how it drives them to fight for others. No surprise, these two are the highlight in their few scenes. The issue has to do quite a bit of exposition to fuse the two concepts, and with twelve main characters not counting the villains, it has a lot of heavy lifting to do. But despite that, I wound up having a good deal of fun with it. Ian Flynn clearly knows the Sonic characters well, and he seems to have a good deal of love for the DCU as well.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit <a href=”https://geekdad.com/category/columns/dc-this-week/“>DC This Week</a>.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
