Sonic the Hedgehog #85: Sibling Rivalry

I absolutely love the dynamic between Belle and Sage so far. The two’s dynamic was rich with story potential, two of Eggman’s daughters, created at very different times in his life. The Mr Tinker persona showed the heroes the potential of a good Eggman, all the ingenuity and none of the plans of world-domination, with Eggmanland being a much more pure and innocent dream. Mr Tinker created the perfect hero in Belle, someone kind, talented and ready to work with others. Sage, as Sonic stated last issue, in many ways was a happy accident. Sage personifies that shred of kindness left in Eggman, that he can value life, but I suppose, only if it exists to serve him! Sage’s loyalty is something I will hope to see tested, and potentially will push Eggman to do better too, and Sonic seems to feel the same way.

Belle’s kindness and Sage’s pragmatism are put at odds when faced with all the missing badnik parts. Belle sees before her a butcher’s shop of mutilated machines, whereas Sage calmly clarifies that the robots were never even brought online. Sage’s melancholy expression seems to indicate that she does indeed feel some sort of empathy for the Badniks here. Another interesting piece of characterisation here is Sage dehumanising Belle, saying she is part of Eggman’s “stuff”– ergo his belongings and should show fealty to him. Sage takes a lot of pride in her loyalty to Eggman, in fact it defines her character. Eggman shows compassion to seldom few of his creations, and has a penchant for abandoning failures. I hope Sage isn’t treated that way, but it is hard to trust the Doctor on any level.

Of course we mustn’t forget about Eggman’s first “son” either, Metal is here, and seemingly has a robotic Starro the Conqueror attached to his face, blocking Belle from being able to communicate with him. The only way to stop Metal Sonic from attacking is to work together– classic, forcing two characters at odds to pool their abilities in order to solve a problem, a surefire way to get them to see a little more eye-to-eye. The real Sonic has found himself trapped in a spooky corridor, on the other side of a coffin, faced with a strange green echo of himself. Who or what this could be is hard to say for now, and the issue seems to move on from it pretty quickly once Belle and Sage’s explosion frees Sonic from his containment.

I’ve been enjoying this storyline so far. Eggman is almost always the driver for the plot within these comics, and his relationship with his creations is something I love to see explored. The dynamic between him and Dr Starline, and the differences in their philosophies, was one of the highlights of the entire book. The art of Min Ho Kim is fantastic as always, with lots of depth without sticking too strictly to model sheets, keeping it nice and expressive. Especially in the subtle emotions of Belle and Sage. Despite what many say, I’m a big fan of Ian Flynn and have been for years, so it’s nice to have him back on the book after a little while with Evan Stanley going solo on the “The Stage is Set” arc, which was a really compassionate look at a character with dissociative identity disorder for kids, with a fun circus theme. I hope Stanley returns to interiors soon, as I love her artwork.