Sonic The Hedgehog Issue 29 [Comic Review]

• Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 29
• IDW Publishing
• Story: Ian Flynn
• Art: Adam Bryce Thomas
• Colours: Matt Herms

“All or Nothing,” Part Four! This is it! Sonic and the remaining members of the Restoration team-up for their final fight against the ultra powerful Deadly Six. Not only do they have to take on Zavok, but a legion of zombots as well! The thrilling final battle of the Metal Virus Saga!

And so, the Metal Virus Arc comes to an end. Starting with the aesthetics of the issue, the covers are all pretty nice again. My personal favourite is Cover B by Priscilla Tramontano, which depicts Sonic, Silver and Metal Sonic battling Zavok.

As far as the interiors go, this is another strong outing for the team. The nature of the story means Adam gets plenty of opportunities to show off with facial expressions, and he takes full advantage of that. From the wonderful mix of reactions from the remaining heroes in the first panel to the aftermath of the battle, it’s all wonderfully done. Best of all, these aren’t stock expressions, each character feels very different. Throw in some action poses with clear movement, and we’re onto a winner.

The story itself was a fitting end to what has been a really cool arc. There are things that you could pinpoint as weaknesses, depending on your viewpoint. Being a single-issue fight, it only takes half the issue to deal with the powered-up Zavok, for example. And Tails’ reactions during the fight may not please some fans. But, it should be noted that the way the fight is written works; it has some ups and downs, the stakes feel high, and the inevitable victory feels deserved. And as to Tails, he’s supposed to be a child, so really, the way he acts here makes sense.

The final pages gave us a nice glimpse at people recovering and some nice moments of people reuniting. These ranged from heartfelt (Cream and Vanilla) to cute (Tangle and Whisper) to funny (Knuckles, Shadow and Rouge). Finally, we got a twist ending that sets up the universe going forward. I won’t spoil it for you, but it does make things interesting for the next couple of issues.

Overall, I thought this was an excellent finale to the darkest arc we’ve seen in IDW’s Sonic universe. It was a hard-fought victory with an ending that gave us some uplifting moments and an interesting twist. I give this one 5 out of 5.