Alright, I guess it’s time for my unsolicited thoughts on DC X Sonic the Hedgehog issue #2. I haven’t been putting this off; I just haven’t had the time. But now that I’ve read it, let’s dive right in. Note that this review contains spoilers.
Keep in mind, I grew up as a big Sonic fan, latching onto the character long before I even knew who Batman was. As a lifetime Sonic fan, though, I also have strong opinions, so I’ll be calling balls and strikes as I see them.
Starting off, we have a decent cover of Darkseid holding a chaos emerald and Sonic and the Flash…running or something? It’s a little chaotic.
Then, on the first page, our very first panel is Darkseid quoting Sonic Adventure 2 from an unfortunate overhead perspective. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice, dynamic shot, but Darkseid should never be shown from above. He’s a universe-sized threat, and every camera angle should communicate that.
Unfortunately, this trivialization of any sense of threat seems to be a tendency for this limited series. Maybe it’s because Ian Flynn’s trying to squeeze so many plot points into only five issues, but the threat and the world don’t have much time to breathe.
Of course, the Flash tells-not-shows Sonic that Darkseid is in fact a threat. They attack him together, but he swats them off like bugs, firing his eye laser things at them, and even with their speed, they only escape by directing the lasers at each other.
Now, this is a good moment. We’re showing how powerful Darkseid is, but he still kind of comes off as nothing more than a powerful villain. Turn the page, and we get more of that asinine nonsense of Sonic and the Flash trivializing everything that just happened by arguing about who’s faster.
And don’t get me started. The Flash is faster, hands down. What’s this even about? Sonic doesn’t actually move at sonic speed. If he did, his games wouldn’t be playable. He’s just fast. That’s where his nickname comes from—fastest thing alive, even, but he doesn’t have the speed force.
Now, perhaps this silliness is the result of Sega not wanting their guy to look weak when compared to another franchise, but I’m not buying it. The better story would’ve been sonic being surprised how fast the Flash is and the Flash being surprised how effective Sonic is even if their speed isn’t on the same level.
Then, they could introduce Sonic to the speed force later on in the series, let him rock it, and by the end, let him realize he doesn’t need it. He has his friends and the chaos emeralds when things get tough. There you go. You listening, Sega? That’s how you tell a Sonic/Flash story.
Ahem, moving on. Darkseid complains to his minion that the chaos emeralds are hard to find, and I like the bit about that being due to their chaotic nature. Sega, not wanting to hem themselves in, tend not to even give basic explanations for how things work in Sonic’s world, but this is one they shouldn’t shy away from.
It was only recently that they finally committed to the fact that the Sonic from the older games is just a younger version of the current Sonic. They still won’t commit to the property’s signature ring collectables as actually existing in-universe, which is silly. Their existence has just as obvious an explanation as the chaos emeralds, and if you want me to spell it out for you Sega, I’m available.
Back to the story, Tails rigs his Wii U gamepad to find the chaos emeralds, and our heroes pair up to find them. Just ignore the irritating banter between Sonic and the Flash about who’s faster. It was for charity, Sonic. Go raise a chao or something.
Each pair fights one of Darkseid’s underlings in, what, only two pages?! Dang, not saying I’d want this but each fight could’ve easily been a full spin-off issue. Heck giving any of them but Shadow and Batman more than a single panel would’ve been nice.
I guess the Flash and Sonic are both outdone by the breakneck speed of this lightning-fast plot. Good thing, too. If it took even the slightest break to dwell on what’s happening, it could feel like it actually had some weight.
The fight between Batman, Sonic and Steppenwolf is better. Still just over a single page, but setting the fight in the Radical Highway stage was appropriate even if the stage is a bit overused for being where Shadow first appeared in the franchise. It fits in this case, though. Dark, city vibes, red accents on Sonic’s version of Golden Gate Bridge.
Heck, even Steppenwolf with his dark suit with red accents—and bad attitude—pair with Shadow’s looks and batman’s vibe. Well done, Mr. Flynn. It’s like a baby and a baby had another baby, except all three babies are emo badasses…or something. The fight should’ve been longer, but it was nice, visually and thematically, at least.
Batman and Shadow beat Steppenwolf but are interrupted by an earthquake, caused by Darkseid using the single chaos emerald he found. As he says, imagine what he could do with all seven! Our heroes decide they need to take the fight to him before it happens, and Dr. Eggman (Robotnik, for you classic fans) offers to give them a lift on his Egg Carrier from Sonic Adventure. There’s no profit to be made in the destruction of the world and stuff.
The team fights their way to Darkseidon his face-ship. Dang, I guess he and Eggman have something in common. I mean, imagine a literal face-off between the mustached Death Egg and whatever Darkseid’s spaceship is called. Wonder woman restrains Darkseid with her lasso, but Batman warns Shadow he’s not to be trifled with.
Shadow scoffs, using chaos control to freeze time, but while everything else freezes, Darkseid does not. Because Darkseid is. Here, we finally feel the weight of his presence, though I feel the art undersells it a little. Great art! But it could use framing that draws out this moment and exaggerated camera angles that give it more weight.
Heck, “Darkseid IS,” could’ve been put in enormous, creepy letters an a full-age spread depicting Darkseid breaking free. The fight thankfully goes on for a few pages. The heroes are struggling to fight back, and Darkseid’s dimensional-hopping face-thing starts going haywire, threatening to tear Sonic’s world apart.
As reality crumbles, the Justice League decides to hold Darkseid back while a boom tube from Cyborg and a bubble from Green Lantern force the echidna, fox, and three hedgehogs across universes. Landing them in the Watchtower with Mister Terrific to greet them. They need to returnnand help the Justice League, Amy says, but no, Mister Terriffic’s reply rings cold.
Sonic’s world is gone. There’s nothing to return to.
Conclusion: To be honest, in covering this issue, I’ve learned to appreciate it more than I did on my initial read. Granted, I enjoyed it the first time, bit it didn’t have much room to breathe.
When you sit back and think about what happened in the story, though, it’s kind of epic for the crossover it is. What Ian squeezed out of this is amaging.
That being said, if Sega and DC had given this story more time, more issues, more development between the bigger story points, we could’ve had something even better. Or maybe Ian could’ve told a bit of a smaller, more personal story. Ground the characters and make things matter, you know?
Ian like to go big, though, and it’s hard to blame him. The issue was fun despite all my nitpicks, and though I was going to score it 7/10 after my first read, further reflection puts it at an 8/10 for me. Keep in mind, my scoring skews high, and your mileage may vary based on your attachment (or lack thereof) with both the Sonic the Hedgehog and DC properties.
That being said, there’s no arguing this series is performing at a higher quality than one might expect for a video game crossover, and that’s no doubt thanks, at least in part, to the obvious love the creative team put into it. This is a fun second issue, and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next.
Sonichron 