DC x Sonic The Hedgehog #3 review

Our beloved DC x Sonic crossover continues this month in issue 3! Over halfway into the story now, and we finally get to see what we were promised: Sonic characters standing in for DC heroes. With the Justice League all but lost to the multiverse, Team Sonic decide to pick up the slack in any way they can. How will they fare? Let’s run headfirst into this issue and find out!

If you can’t take the heat…

Woo! This really is everything I wanted in this crossover. I was worried that revealing Darkseid to be the main antagonist so early on in the story would mean that we wouldn’t get to see any interactions with any of the other villains. Luckily, this issue not only calms those worries but wipes them from the face of the earth. When the initial concept designs for this crossover were released, I was a little underwhelmed and confused about the choices. The art felt a little bland and didn’t particularly inspire any hope in me. Knuckles as Superman felt like an odd choice as well, but seeing how all of the hedgehogs took to their League counterpart roles, I’m sold on all of them.

The book in itself is basically a montage. We get a small exposition dump from Mr. Terrific, telling us that they can’t find the League. Hearing this, Sonic and co decide that they should try their very best to fill in for them. Then a scissor reel of each member of the team fighting the “archenemy” of the team member that they’re filling in for. This type of story lends itself to feeling very repetitive because it fundamentally boils down to: hero fights villain. They win? They figure something out. Go to a different hero. The cycle repeats. However, other than its well-managed pacing, there are two things at play which really help this book out. Those being the art and the humour.

Get out of the kitchen

Like I’ve said, the first bits of art released for this crossover looked quite bland. Ian Flynn has single-handedly sold me on every single one of these designs. Be it by showing Amy smacking Grodd with a hammer, Shadow kicking the Joker right across the face, or even by showing Sonic absolutely decimating the Reverse Flash, the art in this book just feels so fluid and expressive. The impact of punches and kicks feels very over-the-top heavy, people are hitting cool poses for the sake of it and showing off absolutely ridiculous facial expressions wherever they can. It’s my favourite bits flashy stylishness from both the Sonic games and comic books, and they work superbly. Speaking of wacky facial expressions, as illustrated by the image of Sinestro seen below, this brings me to my next point. This book is funny.

If I haven’t got my point across yet, there’s a lot in this book that follows the rule of cool in a way that feels very warranted. As well as being cool, it gets its fair share of jokes in. Knuckle’s meeting with Lex Luthor springs to mind. Lex calls SuperKnuckles over to see if he wants to team up. The echidna turns him down, and Luthor brings out a piece of Kryptonite to see if it will harm him. Knuckles picks it up, thanks him for the Chaos Emerald and leaves. Only to fly back in a second later, having realised what had happened. Not as funny when I describe it I know, which is why I’d recommend reading this book and seeing for yourself!

Recommended If

• You’re a fan of Sonic who’d like to get into DC. This is quite a good place to familiarise yourself.
• A chuckle is something that might be needed right about now
• 4 words: Sonic Vs Reverse Flash

Overall

This is what I wanted from this crossover, and it has delivered in spades. The story isn’t overly complicated, the art complements it really well, and you know what, yes, it is cool to see Shadow the Hedgehog in a Batman outfit beating up the Joker. Sometimes that’s all you need to make a comic enjoyable.

Score: 8/10

Disclaimer: DC Comics provided Batman News with a copy of this comic for the purpose of this review.