Sonic the Hedgehog: Winter Jam (Family Comic Friday)

When you're not expecting anything holiday related and there's little bits of pieces of yule tide charm sprinkled throughout the story, in my opinion, it's considered a Christmas Miracle!

When Dr. Eggman's latest plan to destroy Sonic and friends results in the villain becoming obsessed with reality TV, his android henchmen Cubot and Orbot decide to take matters into their own han-, er, claws. By kidnapping Sonic, Tails and his pals from their sunny digs at Green Hill, the robots place them into a frosty arena for the Winter Jam games. With the promise of a Chaos Emerald for the winner, 4 teams are made, competing in events such as holiday decorating and snowball fighting to some rather disastrous effects. Oh the things robot lackeys will go to in order to get their boss back into fighting shape.

Other than the original 1980s Sonic the Hedgehog video game, my knowledge on the franchise is rather small. Sure, I've read a couple of Free Comic Book Day offerings and a Halloween special since then. Due to my passing knowledge on the subject, I don't know enough to really enjoy them. I felt a tiny bit better on this book thanks to recognizing Tails and Dr. Eggman. But that was about it. Still enough, there was a goodly amount of things in this book to enjoy. 

It helped that writer Isamin Omar Ata wrote this story in a way that you don't have to know a ton about the world of Sonic the Hedgehog to enjoy this book. As long as you know that Dr. Eggman has a passion for making things rough for Sonic and pals, you should be fine. Though I'd really like to know more about some of those supporting characters like Froggy, Big the Cat and others. That being said, this book could make a good introductory offering into the world of Sonic the Hedgehog without having to spend a ton of cash on a video game to find out if the youngster in your life is a fan or not. $4.99 is a wiser investment and it promotes reading!

This Winter special was rather wacky instead of violent. I've seen Looney Tunes more dangerous than this book. I know from some of those past issues about Sonic that there can be a lot of fighting, usually involving robots and bombs. Well, there's plenty of robots in this book but no explosives. A flamethrower used for non-violent acts doesn't count, does it?

I had to re-read a couple of sections to make sure I understood the full story. But I pretty much understood the overall plot. A cold weather read that will delight readers aged 8-13; both for fans of the video game and the uninitiated. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Classic Toys from a Madman's Youth: Advent 2019 Day 8

If you have been keeping track of this year's advent, then you'll know that I don't have very good luck picking great toys for my Christmas wish lists. Today's featured toy is proof that I tend to put my support behind the wrong franchises as we look at the Sega Master System.

In 1986-87, my uncle got married. With the new aunt came a couple of new cousins. At this time, I became introduced to the Nintendo. My cousins had one and I played it some. I also had a friend in my neighborhood name Alex who had a Nintendo. Again, I would play Zelda and Super Mario Bros. But I just wasn't impressed with it. 

So in 1988, when it came time to make my Christmas wish list, I decided to ask for a completely different gaming system. One of which I had no prior experience with. But I wanted to be different from everyone else. So I asked Santa for a Sega!

When Christmas 1988 rolled around, I got my Sega. I was thrilled. I got several games and compared to the Nintendo- the graphics were amazing. But Sega's games had some serious bugs. 

For example, the game I looked forward to the most was Ghostbusters. The game stated with a map in which you had to drive the Ecto-1 through a map of New York to bust a ghost. However, I never could get past the map! My dad tried! My mom tried! We even bought a magazine that offered tips! We just never could get past that stupid map!

And then were the numerous times that you'd get near the end of an important level and the damn game would freeze. Or the entire gaming platform would reset itself. There were some major glitches in the first Sega systems. 

By 1990. the Sega Master System was defeated by the Nintendo Entertainment System. The Sega company stopped making new games in exchange for the much improved Sega Genesis. But by that point, I had moved on to the NES- which was now considerably cheaper than the Genesis system. 

This sort of process would be the first of many interactions with new technology as I am the guy who waits until prices drop steeply before I jump on board. What can I say? I've got bad instincts with this stuff and I'm old school. 

So for today's Advent, I wanted to present you with just how bad the Ghostbusters video game was. If you remember the horror that was Atari's E.T. video game, you'll experience flashbacks here. The video is about 20 minutes long but I wouldn't blame you for giving up on this after about the 90 second mark.

Enjoy!

Sonic the Hedgehog: Tangle and Whisper #1 (Family Comic Friday)

A villain is on the loose in Spiral Hill Village. He looks like Sonic the Hedgehog. He sounds like Sonic. But believe us, it’s not everyone’s favorite blue speedster! Join the original characters Tangle the Lemur and Whisper the Wolf as they team-up to stop this impostor hedgehog in IDW Publishing’s new miniseries Tangle and Whisper in this week’s Family Comic Friday.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Tangle and Whisper #1Written by Ian Flynn
Art by Evan Stanley
Published by IDW Publishing
Pages: 26
Retail: $3.99

Sonic the Hedgehog’s buddy Tangle is a rambunctious sort of fellow. He’s really out of sorts than usual because he’s so bored! Looking for some adventure, Tangle dreams of being a hero like Sonic. But he’s kinda afraid to do it all by himself.

The boredom seems to have passed for Tangle when he discovers his friend, Whisper the Wolf targeting poor Sonic with her laser blaster. But it turns out that there’s more than meets the eye to this caper when Whisper reveals that the character she’s been hunting isn’t Sonic the Hedgehog but a shape-shifting villain!

It looks like Tangle is going to finally get his adventure without having to do it all alone. If only Tangle can get Whisper to agree to let the hyperactive lemur to be her partner!

If you are a regular player of the number of Sonic the Hedgehog video games that have been produced over the past 30 years, then you are probably wondering just who are Tangle and Whisper?! Both characters are original to the Sonic comics created by IDW Publishing. Fan favs, readers have been asking IDW’s editors for more adventures starting the duo and those fans have gotten their wish with this book.

Ian Flynn has been writing the adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog ever since issue #160 from way back when Archie Comics had the rights to the franchise. So just about nobody out there has a better sense of the scoop of Sonic and friends to pen this tale than him. (It also helps that Flynn created the characters of Tangle and Whisper!)

The idea of a villain impersonating Sonic isn’t really a new idea. But the fact that this ‘mimic’ can pose as anyone makes for an exciting twist. However, I did feel that some of the dialogue was stunted. More than one character speaks a sort of broken English. Not being the world’s expert on Sonic the Hedgehog, I didn’t know if this was meant to be for so many characters. But it made for a slightly difficult read for me.

The artwork of Evan Stanley was very good. Another veteran at the Sonic books, his pencils are way more polished that some of the artwork of those very early Archie Sonic books. I wish that Stanley had did the art for all of the covers because a couple of those variants are just so chaotic looking. They’re such a jumble of characters that it looks like our heroic lemur and wolf got their tails tangled together.

Tangle and Whisper #1 is a follow-up to April’s Tangle and Whisper #0. That book is a sort of origin story intro. While it provides a good introduction to these two new characters, you don’t have to had read that issue to be able to follow the action in this first issue.

If the young reader in your life already plays the Sonic video games, then you shouldn’t have any objections to the adventures and dangers inside this issue. Some parents may take issue with Whisper’s use of a laser rifle when combating the baddie. Also, the villain uses a knife to make a threat to some of the characters in this issue.

Sonic has fans of all ages. But adults should not have to worry about the dialogue, while not verbally correct; it wasn’t dirty and there’s no scenes of a suggestive nature.

Tangle and Whisper #1 sets up an interesting story with promise. Compared to most ‘team-ups’ this one had a good pace to it in the opening act. I hope the variant covers and the dialogue gets better though.

Tangle and Whisper #1 debuted on July 31st, 2019 and is available in print and digital formats.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.