Luke Owen reviews issue 249 of Sonic The Hedgehog…
The crossover mega-event reaches its half-way point! On the eve of Sonic the Hedgehog’s landmark 250th issue, Sonic, Tails, Mega Man and Proto Man are confronted by Drs. Eggman and Wily and the eight Roboticized Masters! Why do they look so familiar to Sonic? Do our heroes even stand a chance?!
The Worlds Collide series goes from strength to strength in another great and entertaining issue of Sonic The Hedgehog #249. I wish I could pinpoint exactly what makes this series so great, but I can’t quite work it out. It’s just…. just really fun.
With Sonic, Tails, Mega Man and Proto Man surrounded by the Roboticized Masters, it’s an all-out brawl as Dr Eggman and Dr Wily finalise their plans with the Chaos Emeralds. Proto Man leads half of the team off to another area of the Wily Egg Zone while Sonic, Tails and Mega Man face down the trio of Vector Man, Espio Man and Charmy Man – the former Chatoix.
Sonic The Hedgehog #249 excels at what it does best, giving us high octane action sequences with enough humour in them to remind us not to take this too seriously. Throughout the fight we get little quips, jokes, in-jokes and references to both franchises that will simply leave you grinning from ear to ear. I would argue that the ‘villain speech’ from Eggman and Wily was perhaps a touch too far, but they have a bit of dialogue towards the end that is so tongue-in-cheek that all was forgiven.
Speaking of those two, the dynamic between the pair has easily been one of the highlights of the series, but here it’s turned to eleven and is all the more glorious for it. Despite my enjoyment of the Sonic/Mega Man pairing, I could easily read comics of these two falsely praising each other all day long.
I think Ian Flynn has also made the smart choice in splitting up the good guys in order to create a sub-story. Just following Sonic and Mega Man heading towards the ‘Final Level’ could have been a bit tiresome as the story goes on, but now we can follow two separate camps heading for the same goal. It will keep the comic fresh and therefore engaging.
If you can’t tell, I am still in love with this Worlds Collide series and Sonic the Hedgehog #249 is just another example of great it can be. Fantastic art, brilliant writing and exciting action. What more do you want from a comic book?
Luke Owen is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors and the host of the Month in Review show for Flickering Myth’s Podcast Network. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.
