#idw sonic 74

[therummesoccupied]

IDW'S SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, ISSUE #74 - THOUGHTS

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Oh yeah, I have a review to do.

So, here we are - the penultimate issue of the Phantom Riders arc, which itself might be the climax of the ongoing Clean Sweepstakes saga, we'll see.

This issue does everything you'd expect the second-to-last issue of a major arc to do. Builds the stakes, heightens the drama, and sets everything up for a climactic showdown, and it opens up by paying off a showdown of its own, set up last issue.

Here we get Amy, Tails, Belle, Don, and the Chaotix vs. Clutch and his henchmen - with Rough and Tumble being amongst them. Last time, I mentioned that I expected this fight to go fairly quickly in the heroes' favor, wondering what it was Clutch had up FDWJFGBDhis sleeve, and it turns out...

A. I was right!

B. Nothing!

Yeah, outside of the quick hostage situation, the heroes are quickly able to fend of Clutch and co. long enough for Charmy to escape the vault carrying a data drive full of Clean Sweep's dirty deeds. Pursued by Clutch, he immediately rushes it to the bridge, resulting in this really great scene where Clutch struggles tirelessly to stop Nite from releasing the incriminating information to the public, but at every turn, the random, nameless Restoration workers throw themselves in his way - throw themselves into danger - to slow him down, even if it's just a couple seconds.

It really hammers in just how genuinely cool the Restoration is. These people are volunteers. We have no idea if they're being paid or not, but the fact of the matter is that nobody is requiring them to be here. And yet, when the chips are down, these regular folks spring into action because they believe in the Restoration and its cause, not because of how lucrative its partnership with Clean Sweep can be.

I also love Clutch's expressions throughout this issue. Over the course of this whole saga, Clutch has prided himself on being a smooth operator, remaining collected and confident as he pulls strings from the shadows. Yet, every now and again, we've seen little hints of a hidden temper within him. Hints that, when his plans don't go smoothly, he nearly falls apart. Here, we finally get to see that in full force, with Clutch absolutely melting down when all of the chips he so perfectly arranged seem to turn against him. I really like seeing him descend into petty rage.

Nite and the Restoration volunteers aren't the only ones getting badass moments here, though. Jewel herself gets a bit of spotlight when Clutch tries to take control of the shuttle and its weapons system, using her own authorization to activate the shuttle's self-destruct sequence.

Clutch, of course, doesn't take this sitting down, his tantrum coming to a head as he sets the shuttle on a crash course with the city below before wrecking the controls the prevent the course from being altered. It's kind of insane that the stakes to this story got so high when there's no tyrannical empire, no ancient gods, no sentient weapons of mass destruction. Just a crude businessman about to commit a massive war crime that will result in countless casualties.

The drama does not stop outside the shuttle though, as, in the midst of Sonic's face-off with the Diamond Cutters, Duo arrives and spills a not-insignificant can of beans:

They've been playing an interesting game with the Diamond Cutters here, with Lanolin doggedly pursuing the Phantom Rider while Tangle and Whisper know it's Sonic, and keep quiet because they assume he's acting for the greater good in some way - all the while Mimic, incognito as Duo, works to drive a wedge between them. Tensions have been rising between the DC for some time now, and it seems like they may finally come to a head here. I'm fascinated to imagine what will happen as a result of this. How will this affect Lanolin's view of herself as a leader, knowing that her own teammates didn't trust her enough to tell her about this? How will she react when she learns that Sonic's stunts as the Phantom Rider were all pulled off with the help of Dr. Eggman? What's going to happen when they all learn who Duo really is? This plot line specifically has got me really excited.

Of course, all the while, Sonic himself sees the imminent danger approaching and rushes off to handle it without a second thought, without a single care what conclusions the Diamond Cutters come to regarding his recent antics.

This arc has really done a great job at nailing down that irreverent aspect of Sonic's character. He doesn't care what laws he broke or what the consequences are. He only cares what he feels is right, and acts upon that instinct one hundred percent of the time. Radical free-agent, Sonic the Hedgehog.

We also get a neat little bit of tension between Duo and Surge as well.

This is really cool since Mimic, now faced with Surge and Kit as enemies, has to reckon with the fact that they are they only two people in the world besides Clutch who know his true identity, and the extreme danger they present to him. As he rushes with the Diamond Cutters toward the Shuttle, and the inevitable confrontation with Clutch, it's likely that his cover isn't going to last too much longer, so I'm really excited to see how this all shakes out.

And that's where Issue 74 leaves us - right in the throes of a do-or-die scenario. These past couple arcs have really been peak IDW Sonic, and this issue did a phenomenal job of bringing everything to a boiling point.

Hammerstrom was a perfect choice for this one, as his expressions really sold the drama at play here, and Froese's lines and Graham's colors consistently compliment his work perfectly. Stanley continues to be at the top of her game, and I can't wait to see how she pays all this buildup off in the next issue.

Before that, however, we have a Knuckles Anniversary Special to look forward to here in about... 20 minutes, so I'mma go read that and see what my thoughts are.

Til then, thanks for reading, and I'll catch you for the next review!

[unorthodoxchronicles]

Ngl dr lanolin needs someone to slurp her shit stupid style for 24 hours nonstop after the kinda day shes had like can you imagine being thst fucking tired.

[demilypyro]

Sorry

[silvers-starrway]

He has me in his clutches!!!!

[sonichedgeblog]

IDW's 'Sonic The Hedgehog' #74 is out today with 3 covers - which are you picking up? Support us on Patreon

[420-what-you-smokin]

She was just feeling a bit silly

[twipsai]

The Phantom Rider, Sonic's "hero" status, and Sonic's love for his friends: a poorly put-together analysis

so, ive seen a non-zero amount of people say that Sonic taking on the alter ego of the Phantom Rider is out of character for him, and my knee-jerk reaction was to disagree (though, im biased, because i adore the Phantom Rider). but then i thought about the why of it all -- why does it not feel out of character for Sonic to disguise himself to cause chaos?

full post and me over-analyzing a blue hedgehog under the cut

part 1: Sonic will break the rules

well, first of all, Sonic doesnt really care too much about being a hero. he helps people because he wants to, not because its expected of him. weve all seen those satbk cutscenes reposted to hell and back, so let me be the millionth to do so

when Merlina tells Sonic that, upon taking Caliburn, he would become the villain in everyones eyes, he shrugs it off. and even later, when Gawain tries to talk him down from battling Merlina, Sonic dismisses the idea that hes doing this out of some kind of chivalry or duty, that he fights because he wants to.

there are many other instances of Sonic not really caring about rules or social conventions, and gladly breaking them if it means he can save people (dude literally runs from cops in sa2), but its never directly stated as explicitly as it is in satbk.

so, Sonic doesnt care about being a hero, and doesnt care about being a villain in other peoples eyes if he knows hes doing whats right. youd think with this facet of his character, him actively disguising himself as the Phantom Rider would be antithetical to this point, right? if he doesnt care about being seen as a villain, then he shouldnt have to mask his identity. its a fair conclusion to come to, but it also ignores what i think is one of Sonic's core personality traits;

part 2: Sonic loves his friends a lot

its strange to me that not a lot of people bring this up, because he does! from "and Amy... take care of yourself," to "I'll have you smiling by the end of this," Sonic just genuinely loves his friends to death, and doesnt want to sabotage them.

if he runs out there to cause chaos during the clean sweepstakes, completely unmasked? everyone who knows a single thing about Sonic will start to assume bad things about the Restoration. just because Sonic has good intentions doesnt mean hes above the rules, and acting like he is can put people he cares about (namely Jewel and the Diamond Cutters) at the mercy of public opinion.

he cant act like hes above the rules, especially when hes directly associated with the Restoration (even if hes not a part of it) during the clean sweepstakes.

(id also like to point out that here, Sonic doesnt even consider it a bad thing to be completely and utterly chaotic and disruptive at first; Tails has to remind him its a bad idea)

and understandably so! we see how everyone reacts to seeing Sonic as the Phantom Rider, especially Tangle -- its a tough pill to swallow, especially without all the context involved. to an outsider, it looks like Sonic is just trying to sabotage the clean sweepstakes because hes being a sore loser (or, really, any other number of malicious reasons)

but, really, i think that the point im trying to make is summed up best by Amy and Sally (even though its in Archie)

thats just not how they do things. they dont want to cause necessary chaos or danger just for the hell of it, and they certainly dont want to associate the Restoration with that sorta thing -- people look to the Restoration for hope, and while Sonic is associated with it during the clean sweepstakes, his hands are a bit tied. itd be a total dick move for him to basically throw his friends (and especially Jewel) under the bus like that, and he knows it.

Sonic may not care about his reputation in other peoples eyes, but he cares greatly about how his actions affect his friends.

part 3: the conclusion

its easy to assume that, based on how lax Sonic is with rules and social conventions, him disguising himself just to cause a distraction for Amy and Tails to get attention off of them would be out of character. but, based on the circumstances, i think that it makes enough sense given the context for him to take the route that he does.

sorry if this analysis is a little all over the place, im sorta scatter brained right now but i wanted to get my thoughts out about this cuz its been on my mind

[maskedkitsune]

Sonic and Lanolin by Thomas Rothlisberger

[oldfaneworld]

I would like to prefix all of this with saying that I don't know how hard it is to be a professional writer of any kind, or have any understanding on how things work behind closed door and what's cut and what's not. But i would like to thank all the writers and artists that gave us the Sonic idw comics because i really love it!

After getting my hands on Sonic issue 74 when I was at lunch yesterday and reading it once I got home I loved 90% of it. I do have a few issues with 74. The first problem I had with it was near the end of 73 for the Diamond Cutters’ part we were left on a cliffhanger with Tangle falling to her “doom” and there's just not a real resolution to that. We just time skip to all the important characters on one of the translucent tracks almost as if the fight didn't happen. Tangle is fine, we don't know how she gets saved or if someone saved her or if she just woke up mid fall and got her bearings under her. We just don't know and that feels like a broken promise to the readers. 

My biggest problem I have with 74 is that near the end of the Diamond Cutter’s part in 73 in the middle of the fight Lanolin is told by Tangle that Sonic is the Phantom Rider and she sees this with everyone else in the crowd. So why are we retreading this as if she doesn't already know or seen it herself? I know we need an excuse for Mimic but everything he says could have just been inferred by Lanolin if we were allowed in her head. 

Why not take out most of the scenes with Mimic talking and give us more scenes to show how hurt Lanolin is as she rides after Sonic and up to the falling ship without saying a word to the others or Whisper reacting to just how betrayed Lanolin looks. Knowing very well that betrayal and going behind someone's back is the very cause of the original Diamond Cutters death.

I see what they were going for but I just feel like it misses the mark a little bit or just doesn't have enough room to breath. 

I just wanna add this, I love the second page, the focus on the Diamond Cutters, especially the panel of the Diamond Cutters racing behind Sonic with the city in the background. 

I know many people dislike Lanolin and say that this arc is designed to make her look bad, I honestly just don't see it. At the beginning of the arc in 69 i can see why people don't like her, she’s a bitch, i however find that funny though. Though heading forward after that I just don't see it, in 70 she’s just reacting to the Phantom Rider knocking someone off their board with no guarantee of someone saving them. Especially seeing as Sonic told himself that he wasn't going to save them because it would affect what he was doing. He was just lucky that the Diamond Cutters were as close as they were to save that racer. Later in 70 when Lanolin goes too far and plays a major hand in destroying a large part of the track she immediately regrets her actions. Just like with Sonic she’s lucky that the rest of her team is as close as they are and everyone is saved.

The biggest thing that I don't understand about the Lanolin hate, is when people say she doesn't change or isn’t learning from her actions. even though Heading forward from 70 we see a few things happening and change one she becomes more frustrated and reserved after her major fuck up, in 71 and in 73 when she see’s the Phantom Rider both the real one and the fake one (even though she doesn't know he’s a fake) in those respected comic issues she doesn't immediately attack, she tries talking to the riders/demand them to stop. She doesn't want to risk more lives than she already has (which tells me she’s learned) because she does that, it leaves her open to the fake to attack her and take her out of the race. While in 73 it leaves her open to being stopped by Kit. On top of all that when the Phantom Rider appears she makes sure her team surrounds him instead of trying to go 1v1 like in 70 which shows she’s changing her approach. 

A big thing that bothers me about all of this is at the end of 71 when Lanolin is in her room giving the boxing bag a one two combo. It feels like people are ignoring that Duo is even in the room and that he is the one talking shit about the other half of the Diamond Cutters. Tangle just happens to be on the other side of the doorway listening in. I know people are saying that Tangle is afraid of Lanolin and you can make that argument with how Whisper puts herself between the two (in 74) but I don't think so. I think Tangle is letting her empathy get the better of her and I don't think she knows how to really handle someone who is frustrated. (especially someone who is frustrated with themselves, at least that's my thought for Lanolin.) Tangle has shown to be a very empathetic person, she knows how to handle a person who is angry at an outside force, someone who’s crushed under their own emotions. She’s able to pull people back from dark places but someone who’s frustrated who’s not willing to speak about what's making them mad I don't think she knows how to handle that and I think that's what we're seeing. With how Tangle tiptoes around Lanolin about if she should or shouldn't tell her about Sonic seeing the state she’s in.

with how 73 and how 74 started and went for the Diamond Cutters, Lanolin doesn't look at them with any suspicion at all. (if i'm wrong please show me/send me the panels) I don't think she put any real weight on any of the words Duo said to her in 71. In the same way it seems she didn't put any weight on Silver’s or Whisper’s words about Duo because of how they targeted him at the end of the Misadventure arc.

A few things I have seen that have become brainworms for me is someone saying that what Sonic is doing is equivalent to a prank, which is wild to me. Seeing when Sonic is playing the Phantom Rider role he is unintentionally putting normal people's lives at risk. Another thing I've seen that I somewhat agree with is that I don't think that Sonic cares what the public think of him. I do however think he does care about how his friends feel and how they are affected by what he does. So I think that's why he is so nonchalant about letting Lanolin throw the book at him after everything in the ship is dealt with, seeing as he can see just how much what he did hurt her. He may have been annoyed with her in 69 but that doesn't just get rid of all the good will the two had with each other at the end of the Urban warfare arc. 

So this has been all my thoughts I've had in the past day about issue 74 and a few other things I've seen. So if you read all this thank you so much and thank you for your time. Hopefully I don't sound like a whiny little bitch.

[number-one-shadisper-shipper]

Sonic IDW issue 74 is out!

I really loved the last panel so I redrew it!

[rabbithaver]

the Phantom Rider arc is shaping up to be my absolute favorite in the entire series. this is literally everything i have ever wanted from a story in IDW Sonic

Evan Stanley your mind is so fucking powerful thank you for giving us this absolute banger

[kingmaxstatic]

Spoilers for issue 74

I know everyone is talking about how Lanolin is still justified, of course i agree.

But I want to talk about the fact this is the THIRD TIME Rough and Tumble have been straight up back stabbed.

These dudes CANNOT CATCH A FUCKING BREAK.

[wirelessw]

Lanolin continues to be right about everything and to have never done anything wrong in her life

[aureumdraconeus]

Within the confines of Lanolin's room in Restoration HQ, there was nothing but silence. A tense, dull silence that seemed to almost permeate every fiber of the room around her. After everything that had happened, after all the efforts she had done to try and be a better leader...

"I trust Sonic..."

Those words echoed in her mind, her own teammates had been hiding the identity of the Phantom Rider. Not even Jewel had told her, everyone just seemed so content to keep her in the dark, and for what? Because they were afraid of what she'd do? Because their boy in blue couldn't handle some scrutiny?

Her heart began to beat faster, sweat starting to trickle down the sides of her face as she could feel her breath quicken. Why was anything she did never enough? She had adapted, she had learned, and yet every single time it was more lying, more secrets, more of everything that seemed to put her on the back foot.

Why can't you do anything right?

You should have just stayed home.

Not good enough.

Not good enough.

YOU'LL NEVER BE GOOD ENOUGH.

Before she had even realised it, the room she was in had been torn to shreds. Papers torn, walls dented, posters of the Restoration ripped from their place. Her knuckles were bloodied and her eyes seeing nothing but red as tears began to slowly flow down her face.

Such a racket would surely attract noise...the question was whether anyone would be willing to face a woman who is on the brink.

[spiritsonic]

Sonic the Hedgehog #74 is out now-- The Phantom Rider Arc's almost over and things are really moving!

Find it on IDW's app, Google Books, or at your local comic book store!

Writer: Evan Stanley (me!)

Retail Incentive Cover: Nathalie Fourdraine

Penciler: Aaron Hammerstrom

Inker: Matt Froese

Colorist: Reggie Graham

Editors: Thea Cheuk and Bixie Mathieu

[ankle-beez]

shoutout to the mvp of idw sonic 74