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Sonic Universe Volume 1 The Shadow Saga Review

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It’s finally time for another Sonic review! Sonic Universe has been pretty fun so far. I dare say that the Sonic Saga Series still has the edge, but this spinoff is a great way for the side characters to shine. As you can see from the title, Shadow is the main character! That’s pretty great since he’s easily one of the greatest Sonic characters out there! This collection contains 4 stories.

The first comic deals with Shadow’s battle against Metal Sonic. He has followed him to another dimension and Shadow’s mission is to get the Chaos Emerald and report back to base. Unfortunately, Metal Sonic doesn’t want to come in quietly so Shadow’s in for a fight! Luckily, Blaze and Marine happen to be passing by and they join the fray. Will their combined might be enough to stop Metal Sonic or will the flaming fighter turn against Shadow!?

Shadow’s next mission sees him team up with Sonic and Rouge to prevent a missile from being fired. There’s not much to say about this comic’s main plot since it’s pretty straight forward. What makes it more interesting is that we also get some flashbacks to the Adventure 2 Battle days where Sonic and Shadow fought to the bitter end. As expected, Shadow had the edge in the flashback. Still, stopping this missile is going to take every bit of their strength!

This next adventure is one that I’m a little more familiar with. Scans of the Shadow vs Omega fight could be found everywhere back in the day. It’s fun to finally get to see the comic in action. G.U.N. orders Shadow to find Gamma and recruit him to the cause. Unfortunately, Eggman has also sent out Omega to finish Gamma off for good. Shadow’s in a race against time and this new robot might prove to be more than he can handle! Shadow’s ultimate fight begins here!

Finally, the collection ends with another mission for Shadow. He is to go to the special zone to get another Chaos Emerald. Unfortunately for the Ultimate Life Form, Feist now rules the land. He has unlimited power at his disposal and he refuses to hand over the emerald unless the heroes play along with his games. Luckily, Shadow is not alone and his teammates, Rouge and Omega, arrive to help out. Can the three of them overcome this cosmic panda?

Shadow gets a lot of screentime, but that could also be dangerous for the writers. He is really cool as the dark rival to Sonic, but as a main character, they would need to make sure that he doesn’t become too cheerful and heroic. Luckily, this portrayal of him was a lot better than the ones that we’ve been seeing recently. He’s still in a pretty sad mood throughout the collection because he keeps failing his missions and letting allies be destroyed. It’s decently understandable though so it could definitely be worse.

Aside from that, this is the Shadow that we grew up with. He’s always ready for combat and he’s acknowledged as the Ultimate Life Form. We get to see him go up against Metal Sonic, Sonic, Omega, and more. He definitely looked a little weak in the first comic, which was a little dicey, but he looked better as the issues went on. He could and should have been a lot stronger, but I just have to assume that they’ll continue to work on this. After all…he actually couldn’t defeat Omega? I’ll admit that the scene did not make any sense, but they had to force the plot through somehow. Shadow doesn’t make as many wisecracks as Sonic and he’s definitely more serious, but Shadow is a very good main character. He can hold his own comic much more than any of the other Sonic characters. (Aside from Sonic)

Rouge is a part of Shadow’s team the entire time, but she only gets her screentime in the second and fourth comics. She’s a pretty solid fighter, but she doesn’t have a whole lot to do here since the enemies are either cosmic or unliving. She does give her assistance to the hedgehogs against the missile and it comes in handy. She’s a pretty good character in these issues and she likes to take a lot of shots at Shadow. It’s too easy to pass up I suppose. She also had a team up with Sonic in the flashback, which was an interesting interpretation of the Adventure 2 Battle storyline.

Sonic’s role in this collection is very small. He only appears for one of the issues, but he looks pretty cool. He ends up saving Shadow and he talks big right from the start. In the flashback to Adventure 2 Battle, Sonic was pretty reasonable and called off the fight until they could save Rouge. In the present, he saved Shadow from making another heroic sacrifice for the team. Any way you slice it, Sonic’s a pretty cool character. He’s great as a main character and he also does well as an assist.

Omega is a bit of a mixed bag. He definitely looks better than he did in Treasure Team Tango, but I’m still not a huge fan. He talks tough and he has a bunch of explosives, but he’s really just another robot. He does undergo a personality shift during the issues due to a big event that happened to him. He makes for a strong ally to have at your side, but I dare say that Gamma was a little cooler in this collection. Omega will need to prove himself and show the world that he has what it takes. He’s supposedly on Shadow’s level in terms of power…we shall see. At least he loves to fight! (Always a good sign)

Gamma is pretty cool in this volume. I can’t say that I was ever a huge fan of the guy, but you can’t doubt his power. He’s a good robot at heart and it was nice to see him defect from Eggman’s organization in Sonic DX. He made the hero call and it’s pretty rare for one of Eggman’s robots to do this. His storyline is actually pretty tragic in the collection and it definitely gets Shadow down for a while. Gamma’s portrayal in this collection was rock solid and I can safely say that I gained a little respect for him. I would have gained more, but I didn’t like how he basically gave up in the end. You should always keep on fighting to the last breath no matter what the obstacle is. I would have liked to have seen him join shadow’s crew.

Metal Sonic doesn’t get a huge role in this collection and I have to say that he wasn’t very likable. He’s basically just following Eggman’s orders and he doesn’t have any free will of his own. Shadow tries to reason with him, but Metal Sonic just won’t hear it. The collection has a nice index of all previous Metal Sonic versions in the back, which was fun to see. Technically, this one is typically my favorite Metal Sonic since he’s the one that I grew up with. I hope that he sees the error of following Eggman soon so that he can try to crush the world on his own. He made quick work out of Shadow so we know that he definitely has the power to do this. I hope we see him again soon.

Blaze’s abilities are definitely fun to watch. There aren’t many elemental fighters in the Sonic multiverse. That being said, she’s a little out of her league against Metal Sonic. She was nice enough to give Shadow the Chaos Emerald though and she’s definitely a reasonable person. I’d say that she’s another solid supporting character. Marine is also there, but she really gets no respect from the heroes. Shadow is pretty mean to her the whole time and Blaze can’t even defend her. Marine is all heart and she’s just enthusiastic, but she appears to be misunderstood at the moment. She definitely got their hopes up since she was talking so big. It never pays to boast…

Feist may be one of the stronger Sonic villains out there, but I can’t really take him all that seriously. It could be that he looks like a Panda, but he’s also just very generic as an opponent. He likes to mess with the heroes and I guess I can see why. That being said, he’s just not interesting. Cosmic abilities aren’t fun to look at unless they throw in some magic or energy. Feist will need to have an actual fight for me to recognize him as an intense villain.

Well, this was definitely another fun batch of Sonic comics. They were all very good issues and it’s why this collection managed to nab the elusive 8. Giving Shadow the lead role was a wise move on Archie’s part as he needed some more screentime. The collection also has a lot more action than normal with each issue providing us with some exciting moments. This is easily the best Sonic Universe yet and it’ll be tough to top. That being said, I know that a recent arc in the series saw Shadow become the main character again…so anything’s possible.

The Sonic Universe series is all about mini arcs so there aren’t any subplots that are left unexplored. The stories all tie up together through Shadow’s subplot and how he eventually learns to trust the others and remember that he’s a part of the team. The plot may not be very deep, but that’s never been a problem for Archie. Just seeing all of the fan favorite characters get together to brawl and have some friendly banter is great. The comics are very similar to the Mega Man ones and that makes sense since they share some staff. (A crossover also happened recently)

The art is pretty solid as expected. Everything is pretty streamlined and the fight scenes are easy on the eyes. This is probably the first time that we’ve gotten a fight scene as intense as the Metal Sonic vs Shadow battle. At least, power wise anyway. Gamma vs Omega is also pretty interesting and Shadow gets a nice piece of the action. The art holds up pretty well for all of these scenes. The cover art makes it look like Adventure 2 Battle, which is a great tough. The artist definitely remembers the greatest Sonic game out there!

Overall, this was a great Sonic Universe collection! The action was fun in each of the comics and the art was dynamite. Just about all of the characters were likable and I thoroughly enjoyed the homages to Adventure 2 Battle. That’s definitely how you get the fans interested in the plot. It’s cool to note that this is the first Sonic Universe collection so it is definitely a memorable pack. Starting off with Shadow adventures is the way to go. I highly recommend this comic to all Sonic fans and to anyone who wants a fun comic. It’s not very complex and anyone can get into it. You can expect another Sonic review in the neat future.

Overall 8/10

Sonic Saga Series Volume 3 Eggman Empire Review

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The Sonic Saga Series continues in this installment. After the big fight with Anonymous, the series had a lot of options as to what the next story should be about. There are many subplots still going, but this one decides to focus on Eggman. He unleashes his new scheme and it may be the most devastating one yet!

The collection begins with Sonic and friends saving the Chao Garden from Eggman or they at least manage to save the Chaos. They bring the Chaos home and have a blast with them. Everything is going well as Antoine and Bunny finally decide to become partners and the heroes have not enjoyed such a time of peace in a long while. Unfortunately, Espio goes missing and then Eggman appears. This time, he plans to finish off the heroes once and for all! The peace has abruptly ended and Sonic will have to fight Eggman with everything on the line!

There is also a short backup comic featuring Blaze as she searches for the legendary blue hedgehog. She has to fight through some minions in order to do this, but she proves to be no match for the Swatbots. Eventually, she wakes up and is face to face with Sonic. She’s going to fight her way out of this, but can she really defeat such a legend? It’s going to take everything that she has!

The backup is pretty light and the tone is what you would expect from your average Sonic comic. The main saga is surprisingly dark (for a Sonic comic) and the situation feels a lot more dire than the last few events. Espio may have been assassinated and then Eggman begins to vaporize Sonic’s friends. All of them are destroyed except for Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, and Tails. (Coincidence eh?) Now, everyone dying would be going a little too far so I’m sure that you sense a plot twist around the corner. Naturally I won’t say what it is, but there is a twist involved.

That being said, it still feels serious for the heroes. The comic plays out like The Death of Superman in that the first comics build tension as we get to briefly see Espio between comics as he finds out Eggman’s secret plan, but he is then caught. Then we see the shadow slowly creeping towards Mobius, but the heroes are completely unaware of the danger. It’s pretty nerve wrecking stuff and it doesn’t help that Sonic is still sad about not being able to save Tommy or Sir Connery. What if he simply isn’t fast enough to save his friends?

Sonic is the main star of course and he still has to do all of the heavy lifting for the heroes. He’s still having some mild romance drama and he’s not as chipper as usual because the tensions are finally getting to him. He couldn’t save his friends last time and he’s starting to be at odds with Tails. He still tries to act happy and without a care, but it’s an act that the other characters see through with ease. Sonic still takes command of the situation when danger strikes and he definitely gives the fight his all. You can’t help but feel bad for him after his big defeat against Eggman. It’s definitely a low moment for our hero, but he finally begins to look like himself after the heroes come up with a new plan. It’s good to see a serious side of Sonic, but I’ll always prefer his classic attitude. He’ll use his speed to solve all problems.

I don’t really get the drama between Tails and Sonic. It seems to mostly be on Tails’ end and he may be jealous of Sonic’s methods or the whole Fiona situation. Either way, it seems a little petty and he shouldn’t forget all of the times that Sonic saved him. He also calls Sonic out on not saving some of the friends who died, which is a very low move. I can’t say that I liked Tails in this volume and I have my doubts about the next one based on the cover. Still, maybe Sonic will start it that time and I’ll be on Tails’ side. I was definitely with Sonic in this one though. He’s the only one who ever really fights Eggman so why should that change?

Eggman has finally unveiled his master plan this time. He gives us a lot of plot twists about how he could take Sonic and the others out at any time and how the rest of the planet already knew this and that’s why nobody tried to warn the heroes. He does manage to take on all of the heroes with only two robots when he has a legion with hundreds of others. Technically, he probably could eradicate most of the heroes with ease, but Sonic and Shadow would likely survive. The thing is, most villains could beat their heroes if they truly went all out and Eggman is no exception. The main problem is that he always causes his own demise. It’s just something that villains have to do or else the series would be over.

That being said, Eggman still does a good job in this volume. His fight against Sonic is pretty big and it’s a very monumental win for him. He completely defeated Sonic and eradicated any hope for success. His biggest mistake was assuming that Sonic would become depressed and not go after him. I really don’t know why he ever thought that. Still, he’s not done yet and the next volume will be very action packed. I wonder how far Eggman will go to destroy the heroes. He’s definitely being portrayed as a serious threat right now and we’ll see if that sticks.

Espio’s subplot is what starts the whole thing off. He is a professional, but he really seems to have too much pride as he keeps on challenging dangerous missions on his own. It doesn’t pay off since Eggman’s plan is so diabolical that Espio can’t help but gasp and let the world know that he’s there. Eggman arrives and what follows is a really emotional moment where we realize that this could be the end of one of the cooler Sonic characters. (Playing as him in Sonic Heroes back in the day was cool) The fact that Espio gasped from shock was a little unbelievable though. I guess they had to give some excuse as to how the villains would find Espio, but they should have just had a robot that could see through invisibility.

Snively helps Eggman out during the big plan as he gets to pilot one of the big mechs. He makes short work out of Sonic’s friends while Eggman handles Sonic. He’s definitely come a long way as he started out as a villain, became a hero, then became a villain again. Eggman’s building skills are still good since Snively’s robot is very durable. He’s mostly just Eggman’s assistant who still doesn’t get any respect. Snively doesn’t get a whole lot of personality during this event.

Blaze appears in the backup comic and she’s all right, but losing against the Swatbots was definitely not very impressive. At least she put up a good fight against Sonic, but I couldn’t forget her first battle. Her test for Sonic was pretty extreme, but I suppose that it’s the shonen way of doing things. She’s a decent character and I look forward to seeing her actually team up with Sonic since we haven’t seen that yet.

As always, I enjoyed the art for these comics. It’s pretty colorful, but also dynamic enough to help the fight scenes get going. It still reminds me of DC’s comics and that’s always a good thing. The backup’s art is very different and it’s less detailed to give it a retro feeling. It’s a decently good piece of artwork considering the attempt, but I’d prefer if they just drew it as usual. (Now, if the comic is actually very old, then that mild complaint is moot)

Overall, this was a very good arc. It isn’t even over yet as the heroes are barely surviving and Eggman is now launching the rest of his armada. This may be Mobius’ darkest hour and I’m expecting Sonic to call for backup from Shadow or something. They definitely need some more support at this point since Eggman’s robot has proven to be too powerful for Sonic. That fight was pretty great though and one of the best ones in this series. I highly recommend this volume and it contains everything that you could want in a Sonic comic. It’s pretty deep, the fights are good, and the storyline is great. You could jump onto the series with this one since Eggman is the main villain and he finally makes a move. The art and writing is as good as always and this is really a complete comic. Better make your move fast because I plan on reviewing the next and final (for now) part soon. We shall see if Eggman’s Empire holds true or crumbles.

Overall 8/10

Sonic Saga Series Volume 1 Darkest Storm Review

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It’s time for another Sonic review and this time he’s finally back to being the main character! This is the first volume of the Sonic Saga Series and I can definitely say that it’s off to a solid start. A lot of plot lines are being introduced the cast is very large. This definitely gets me hyped for a new Sonic video game or TV show, but the comics will have to fill that void for now.

The plot is all over the place here as many plot points are quickly formed. The main plot deals with the fact that Ixis Naugus and Mammoth Mogul have both escaped from their confinements and Eggman has hatched a brand new scheme. A new villain who is currently sticking to the shadows as Anonymous has started to talk about how he will be the greatest threat that our heroes have ever faced. The Destructix is back to face off with the heroes as well as Scourge. Sonic will have to deal with all of these threats and protect his friends at the same time.

There is also an issue about Knuckles and the Chaotix group as they have to Renfield. They don’t know what his current plan is so they will have to tread very carefully if they want to achieve success. There is also a small comic about Sonic as he keeps reliving the same day over and over again for some reason. He’ll have to find a way out of the cycle before it drives him mad!

Sonic is back and he’s definitely as fast as ever! It was nice to see him speed right through the battles and his big challenge to Ixis Naugus and Master Mogul was pretty intense. Sonic definitely doesn’t beat around the bush and if he wants to do something, then he does it! Sonic looks more impressive than the other heroes and while he didn’t get to see a whole lot of action just yet; Sonic will definitely be making some waves. In all of the fight scenes that Sonic does partake in, he tends to come out as the victor. Whether it’s Scourge or Ixis Naugus, Sonic never backs down from a fight.

After his big roles in the last two Sonic collections, Tails doesn’t really accomplish all that much in this one. He is taken hostage by one of the villains and Sonic is forced to relinquish one of the travel rings as a result. It’s not a huge tragedy, but you can bet that Sonic would have taken them down otherwise. I will assume that Tails was too shocked when the villains took out the gun to retaliate because his speed should be sufficient to get away. I will expect Tails to look more like his current self in future issues.

Eggman is finally back as one of the big villains in this collection. He may seem rather weak compared to some of the other villains in the collection, but one should definitely not underestimate his cunning genius. Eggman has some pretty big plans at his disposal and they’re pretty good so far. We don” know the full scope of them at the moment, but these “grapes” seem to pack a lot of power and are very potent. Sonic will need to bring his A game with him to stop his plans once and for all.

I have seen Mammoth Mogul a whole lot in the last few collections. He is supposed to be one of the strongest Sonic characters of all time, but I can’t say that he is terribly impressive. His spells and elemental attacks are definitely impressive, but I’d say Sonic’s speed over that any day. Mogul definitely has a high opinion of himself and I do respect the fact that he never backs down from a fight. He makes for a decent villain.

Ixis Naugus is one of the most popular enemies from the Archieverse and he is definitely supposed to be tough. Unfortunately, he is a little out of his depth in this collection because he went up against Mammoth Mogul. Naugus has powerful spells of his own, but none of them are potent enough to overcome Mogul. He can still last a while and make it a close fight at the very least. I didn’t care for Ixis Naugus here, but he definitely has time to improve.

Snively was having a good ole time helping out the heroes when Eggman pays him a visit and he has to choose between working for Eggman and staying with the heroes. Let’s just say that he made the choice that I was expecting him to make. I can’t say that he’s ever been a really likable villain, but he was pretty intense in the original Sonic TV show at times. He just isn’t that much of a threat at the moment since Sonic and his friends have grown to be so powerful.

Knuckles is one of the major players in the Sonic universe so it’s always good to see him around. There is some drama between him and his father, which is very similar to Thor and Odin’s debate throughout the Marvel comics. Knuckles wants to stay and protect the Earth alongside his friends instead of leaving. Both options had their pros and cons so it definitely wasn’t a win-win situation. Knuckles looks decent in his comic at the end, but definitely not great as he was defeated rather easily. It’s all right because he took out a lot of enemies during the other comics, but I’m expecting him to pull his weight when the going gets tough.

Rouge joins the cast as she gets interrogated by the Chaotic before helping them out on a mission to gain their trust. It’s debatable as to how much this plan actually works since all of them seem very skeptical about trusting her. They do have good reasons since you can never be too sure with a government agent. Rouge definitely hasn’t lost her hand to hand training as she makes short work of Julie Su and proves why she is the better character/fighter at the moment.

Renfield Rodent is a villain who gets involved towards the end of the comic in what feels like a filler arc/issue. He can’t fight and he has to rely on technology and gimmicks to win his battles. Luckily Sonic isn’t around so Renfield only has to deal with Knuckles and the Chaotic. However, even this may prove to be too much for the rodent and he’ll have to gracefully accept defeat. He wasn’t a bad villain, but he was definitely as generic as they come.

Fiona is one of Sonic’s new pals and it’s definitely hard to trust her since there can be a lot of drama in the Sonic universe. I’m not a fan of her at the moment and she seems to be included for drama purposes. I’m afraid that real character development will defeat drama every time. As far as I can tell, she isn’t even much of a fighter. That’s no good….

Julie Su is one of the supporting characters as she’s on Knuckles’ group of fighters. Unfortunately, she’s not a great character at the moment and she’s busy picking fights with Rouge. At least Julie Su can fight and that’s always a plus in this universe or really any franchise. Hopefully she gets a solid fight in the next volume.

Scourge gets a small appearance in this volume, but it’s pretty epic for the most part. His banter with Sonic is always fun and he’s definitely a skilled fighter. His mild flirting is a little sad and drops him down the character ranks. Hopefully he will remember to put more focus on fighting next time instead of getting distracted. Sonic had the upper hand in their fight so Scourge is going to need his power up.

Sir Connery is one of the heroes and I have to say that I couldn’t really take him seriously. He’s powerful to be sure, but he just seems out of place here. He has a lot of power, but no real speed to back it up. Leaving the fighting to Sonic sounds like a good idea at this point. Maybe he will be around for the next volume.

Mecha Robotnik is a character that I’m not familiar with, but he was a good villain. He’s not the strongest robot that we’ve seen in the Sonic comics, but he can definitely hold his own when the going gets tough. He didn’t last too long, but I’d be open to seeing him appear in the video games and getting some action. Robots always have the potential for epicness.

Anonymous is a pretty big villain, but we haven’t seen what he can do just yet. So far he seems to be watching from the shadows as he manipulates the other heroes and villains to fight for him. He sounds like a really powerful villain, but I’m not going to get my hopes up too high just in case. Either way, he’s a pretty good villain so far and it’ll be interesting to see where he goes from here.

The Destructix are a group of small time villains who trouble the heroes from time to time. None of them are really that interesting and I was surprised to see them giving the heroes a tough time. (Until Sonic and Knuckles showed up) Tails was getting defeated by the speed member and then Sonic arrived with a timely spin dash. Having the blue blur back is certainly great for the heroes. I don’t mind if the Destructix appear again, but I hope that they’ll get more character or a nice power up.

Once again, the art is very good for these Sonic issues. The action scenes are well done and every scene is very colorful. There aren’t any big inconsistencies for the characters and the backgrounds were drawn nicely as well. Archie has definitely found a format that works for their Sonic comics and I definitely hope that they don’t decide to change it anytime soon.

Overall, This collection was a very good way to start off the Sonic Saga Series. The backup issues with Knuckles teaming up with the Chaotix and Sonic having to escape the cycle were pretty fun. That being said, the real action was at the beginning when the all out war between the Freedom Fighters, Ixis Naugus, and Mammoth Mogul occurred. That was pretty epic and I hope for more big battle scenes like that one. Sonic continues to have a pretty happy atmosphere while allowing for some serious battle plots to make the whole thing very exciting. I highly recommend checking out this volume as it’s Sonic The Hedgehog at his best. The cover for the next comic has Super Shadow on it so you can consider my interest to be piqued.

Overall 8/10

Sonic Universe Volume 5 The Tails Adventure Review

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Tails is definitely on a roll as this Sonic collection brings another arc where he is the main protagonist. It’s good to read this one after Sonic Select Volume 8 since you will get the references a lot quicker. It’s always a little sad to see that Sonic won’t be around, but the supporting characters do need their time to shine and this is easily one of Tails’ best appearances in the Sonic comics. His adventure is pretty solid and a fun read.

The comic starts off with Tails driving Antoine and Bunnie over to a deserted island so that they can hang out while he goes over to his workshop to have fun tinkering. Things are going smoothly until they are attacked by the Battle Armada with Bunnie and Antoine being kidnapped. Bunnie decides to pretend that she is with the villains while Tails gets his second wind and decides to take the villains down for the count. The heroes are certainly outnumbered, but Tails has learned a lot from watching Sonic fight and he’s finally ready to step into the main character role.

Tails is at least 100% better than he was in the Select comic and he was already cool there. This time, Tails plays the part of the seasoned veteran and he’s easily the best fighter from the three main characters. He gets to show off his super speed a lot more in this comic and he is able to keep up with Speedy. His plans are more well thought out and he takes control of the situation. Now he can even take on a big mech without any backup whatsoever. The heroes have given him a chance to prove himself and Tails did just that.

Antoine isn’t a bad supporting character and he’s a good actor, but he can still show glimpses of his former self. Reminding Tails of the good ole days may not be the best way to motivate him. Antoine has to rely on hand to hand combat for the majority of the collection since he didn’t bring his sword along for the ride. That being said, he still does pretty well and he manages to take out a lot of fighters. Once again, Archie has improved him a lot since the original Sonic days.

I’ve always thought that Bunnie was a solid supporting character and she’s always been a fighter. That doesn’t change in this collection and her barrier comes in handy against most of the fighters. It’s definitely not something that should be spammed and Bunnie finds this out the hard way, but it certainly helps to get them out of some sticky situations. I would have preferred for her to take a more direct role in defeating the enemies as opposed to playing along with their plan, but either way she got the job done.

Speedy is the best villain of the collection, but his design is definitely very similar to other characters like Jet and Bean. I dare say that he is stronger than Bean and possibly a match for Jet. His speed is pretty impressive and he’s around as fast as Tails. He seems like a nice guy even if his loyalty is in the wrong place. His no nonsense attitude helps the reader to take him seriously despite the colorful character design. It would definitely be good to see him appear more in the future and maybe he could be Tails’ big speed rival like Metal Sonic/Shadow is to Sonic.

The Battle Kukkku is the main villain of the comic, but I will admit that it’s hard not to mix him up with the Doctor. Both of them don’t have a whole lot of character development and they weren’t as interesting as Speedy. The Battle Kukku isn’t the most intelligent villain and he is definitely susceptible to enemy mind games and traps. The worst part is that he can’t really fight and we already have Eggman for noncombatant enemies.

One of the gimmicks for the Doctor is that nobody can pronounce his name the right way. The problem is that this results in the reader forgetting what his name is as well. I could look it up, but he’s relatively minor anyway so it’s not a really big deal. He can build robots and he’s fairly smart so he can be a threat, but definitely a mild one at best.

Archie never disappoints with the art in the Sonic comics. It fits perfectly for the fight scenes as you can really see the speed at which Tails and Speedy were fighting. Everyone looks good and the detail is nicely done. There aren’t too many details for the characters, but certainly enough so that everyone looks in character. There aren’t many comics that have consistently great art like the Sonic series.

Overall, This was another great Sonic comic to read. It’s the first volume that I’ve checked out of Sonic Universe, but I already like the concept. Getting to see the supporting characters in action is a nice twist and Tails can always use a few more comics. The villains were pretty unimaginative for the most part, but I did like Speedy. A few villains make a guest star cameo at the end of the collection, but they aren’t the coolest characters around so it’s only all right. It does set up more plot lines for the future which is always a good thing and it would be interesting to see this leader take on Speedy. We’ll see who really is the fastest! I highly recommend this comic to all Sonic fans and all comic readers. It has a nice blend of action and humor and I can’t really say that it has any negatives. It’s just a really fun comic to blast through. The only thing holding it back from an 8 is that it needed a few more fights or big characters like Sonic and Shadow. The collection is very short, but that’s not so much of a negative as it just could have been a positive with more issues. Enjoy the Adventure!

Overall 7/10