Pay-off. As Sonic the Hedgehog winds down for this year, the Neo Metal Sonic arc that’s been developing comes to a head. Sonic and company work together to battle a Master Emerald-empowered Neo Metal Sonic that’s now in the form of a massive robotic dragon. Meanwhile, a large land mass is falling down towards the planet. It’s like an early Marvel movie climax, delivering a sense of paying off ten issues of character dynamic.
With the set-up done, it’s Sonic, Shadow and Knuckles leading the head-on fight against the transformed Neo Metal Sonic and Tails and Amy lead the back-up assault. Characters get their moments to shine, but the over-crowded nature of the characters means that everyone feels like they’re contributing to the inevitable victory they get. So whilst a lot of surplus characters get a panel to shine, it admittedly feels as if everyone was needed to stop what was an epic fight.
The art is great, and it really does convey the pacing and the action of what’s happening. The expressions make sense and it feels as if there’s life in some of the panels that allows you read more into them. It’s something that this series so far has been pretty good at since it’s first issue, and sometimes it’s easy to forget that. It is mainly Sonic looking quite cocky most of the time, but it’s still very well done. But bonus points for the big smile Knuckles has as he pushes the Master Emerald back to its rightful place.
There’s not much depth in the story here, but it’s the second half of an extended action sequence that began last issue, and it works. The overall story development continues with the intriguing issue in regards to Dr. Eggman. With the introduction of Dr. Starline, we get the tease that we’ll finally be seeing Eggman in his old ways. The tease works, as we’ve not fully seen what this iteration of Eggman is going to be like yet; it bodes well for the comic’s technique of building up tension over the fact we’ve not seen him.
A good close to the arc that’s been building the past few issues; the series is settling in now. Bring on the Eggman!
Sonic the Hedgehog #11 is now available from IDW Publishing.