Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 27
IDW Publishing
Story: Ian Flynn
Art: Evan Stanley, Adam Bryce Thomas
Colours: Matt Herms, Bracardi Curry
“All or Nothing,” Part 2. The remaining heroes of the Restoration have split-up to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds and hopefully save their world. Will Tails, Amy, Gemerl, and Cream be able to get the Emeralds, or will the Restoration’s last desperate plan fall to ruin?
The covers are strong again this issue. I got the green-tinted Lamar Wells and Reggie Graham, which features a nice combo of two of the battles currently taking place. My only real issue with it is that it does provide a spoiler for something that happens in the issue. I am loving that all the non-exclusive covers are included in the back of the issues though, as it makes it nice and easy to see some of the other excellent work being carried out.
The art situation is quite interesting, I thought. The issue covers two battles, and while the colourists work on both battles, Evan and Adam actually have a focal battle. Evan covers Cream and Gemerl vs. Zeena, and Adam has Tails and Amy against Zomom.
As has been the case from the beginning, the artwork is remarkably consistent in quality. You can tell when the main artists switch if you look though. Both Evan and Adam draw facial expressions slightly differently. It’s close enough to fit together within the context of a single issue though, and both are excellent.
The story itself is a dark one this week. Of course, the heroes are prevailing, but there are losses on both sides. Not only do the good guys essentially leave the villains in some rather cruel positions, but we also suffer another loss to the Metal Virus. And this is spoiler territory, but as per the cover art, it’s Cream. That really shocked me. She was instrumental in gathering one of the chaos emeralds, and she and Gemerl have a really sweet dynamic, so this was fitting, I think.
Ian did a great job overall with this one though. While each battle only got half an issue, they had a nice sense of urgency to them and felt about right for who was involved. The action, honestly, was really cool. Everyone felt very in character too, which made Cream’s predicament all the more heartbreaking.
Overall, I really enjoyed this issue. The fights felt fleshed out, and we’re kinda left with a feeling that anybody could be zombified at this point. Spoiling the twist with Cream on the cover was a shame, but that doesn’t knock this down too much. I give it a solid 4.5 out of 5.
Matt Doyle Media 