It’s The Zombot Apocalypse! Sonic The Hedgehog #18 Reviewed
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
Dr. Eggman and Dr. Starline’s Zombot virus continues to spread across the land, and Eggman is directing it specifically to target Sonic the Hedgehog’s friends. Currently, the Zombots are attacking the small village in which Cream and Vanilla live. Sonic scours the village looking for Cream while fighting off Zombots and staving off his own infection. Meanwhile, Cream sends out Gemerl the reformed robot to help fight the Zombots too. Also, Starline is beginning to lose faith in Dr. Eggman.
Sonic the Hedgehog #18 finds Sonic fighting a horde of animals-turned-mind-controlled-robot being directed by Eggman and Starline to spread their infection all over the world. These “Zombots” infect Sonic every time he makes contact, but he can burn through it by going on a run.
It’s a surprisingly intense story given the child-oriented nature of the comic, though it never strays out of the realm of being child-friendly. It manages to adapt a zombie virus-type story for a kid audience, and it does so in a fairly smart manner.
It even flirts with some more complex themes, such as Starline discovering how self-destructive Eggman really is (Robotnik, whatever), and Cream trying to teach empathy and compassion to Gemerl.
I’m not an especially big fan of the Sonic franchise, so I didn’t really have my heart set on this being a good comic. I checked out the first couple of issues of this series when it came out and wasn’t impressed–though it wasn’t aiming for my demographic either.
Tracy Yardley’s artwork is a good fit for Sonic and friends. It’s an action-oriented and expressive style that makes use of the cartoonish design of the world and its characters. Leonardo Ito’s color work is vibrant and popping, injecting another ration of energy into the already-lively visuals.
Sonic the Hedgehog #18 is a surprisingly smart and high-octane installment of the child-geared comic book series. It tackles some mature themes and does so in an action-filled adventure for Sonic and his friends. This one gets a recommendation for child readers and Sonic-devotees. Feel free to check it out.
Sonic the Hedgehog #18 comes to us from writer Ian Flynn, artist Tracy Yardley, color artist Leonardo Ito, letterer Shawn Lee, cover artist Jonathan Gray with Reggie Graham, and variant cover artists Diana Skelly and Nathalie Fourdraine.
Final Score: 8/10