IDW Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 12

IDW Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 12 is the twelfth issue in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series published by IDW Publishing.

Official solicitation

 * "The Battle for Angel Island," Part Four. The thrilling conclusion to the Battle of Angel Island saga! As Sonic and his friends work to restore Angel Island, two questions remain: is Neo Metal Sonic truly defeated, and what other trouble is brewing?


 * The cap on IDW's first year of Sonic the Hedgehog adventures-and the lead-in to year two!
 * An old foe returns...

The Cost of the Battle for Angel Island

 * Written by: Ian Flynn
 * Art by: Evan Stanley (p. 1-9, 18-20) & Tracy Yardley (p. 10-17)
 * Colors by: Matt Herms
 * Letters by: Shawn Lee
 * Assistant Editor: Megan Brown
 * Editor: David Mariotte
 * Published by: Greg Goldstein
 * Special thanks to: Anoulay Tsai, Mai Kiyotaki, Aaron Webber, Michael Cisneros, Sandra Jo, and everyone at Sega for their invaluable assistance

Synopsis
Sonic and Tails have Metal Sonic chained up in a laboratory. Tails confirms to Sonic that Metal Sonic's basic abilities were restored after his disconnection with the Master Emerald. Tails tells him that he has finished the necessary repairs for the robot, prompting Sonic to ask for Metal Sonic to be turned back online. Tails asks Sonic if he is confident in his decision, which the hedgehog confirms. Tails thus turns Metal Sonic back online. When Metal Sonic sees Sonic he immediately breaks out of his chains and lunges at him. However, the weakened Metal Sonic only falls into Sonic's arms instead, which the latter expected to happen. Sonic tells Metal Sonic that the battle between them is over as Dr. Eggman has been reformed and the robot does not owe him anything. Sonic requests for Metal Sonic to give peace a chance and call a truce between them, saying that they do not even need to see each other again so long as Metal Sonic does no harm. Instead, the stubborn Metal Sonic swipes at Sonic's extended hand and takes off. Tails asks Sonic if they should go after Metal Sonic to which the Sonic says no as the robot was given the choice to live how he wants to and they have to honor that decision. Tails adds that they do not need to worry about Eggman repairing or weaponizing him either.

Meanwhile at the Final Egg, Dr. Starline vents his frustrations to Rough and Tumble. After three sessions with Starline, Eggman has begun gravitating towards his previous inventions but not his previous personality. Rough angrily reminds Starline that after he had broken them out of jail, the doctor had promised them that if they brought him Eggman then the latter would make the skunk brothers weapons to use for revenge against Sonic. Starline assures Rough and Tumble that Eggman will be restored and will make their weapons after. The doctor suggests that Eggman may need an emotional trigger. Cubot overhears this and tries to get Eggman to threaten to dismantle him and Orbot. Following his lead, Orbot suggests to Eggman to review eldritch creatures he may want resurrect and lose control over. "Mr. Tinker" instead hugs Cubot tightly, wondering what kind of person would program him with emotions and prey upon them. As he declares he will take care of Cubot, the latter wonders if he gave actually gave a threat while Orbot wonders if they even want Eggman's old personality to return. Nearby, the group hear a screeching noise coming towards them. Out of the corridor, it is revealed to be Metal Sonic.

When Eggman sees Metal Sonic, he rushes to his side worried about his condition and tells him that he will repair him. However, he suddenly recalls memories of himself in the past with Metal Sonic, preparing him for battle and repairing him. Eggman then snaps out of his "Mr. Tinker" persona and begins to demand his location, the identities of the others in the building and choice of fashion. While Orbot is somewhat disappointed, Starline is very pleased and introduces himself as a deep admirer of Eggman's work. Eggman orders Metal Sonic to get on a table so that he can fix him while he sends Orbot and Cubot off to get him a change of clothes. Starline relays the fact that Eggman lost his memory after his last battle with Sonic and the Resistance and wound up in a remote mountain village. Starline had located the doctor with his own methods and had his associates, Rough and Tumble, rescue him, who Eggman immediately finds annoying. However, hearing that they hate Sonic, Eggman offers to make destructive devices to use against the hedgehog for the skunk brothers, much to their pleasure.

Starline explains that to restore Eggman to his normal self he administered neuro-stimilants and aggressive hypnotherapy. Other than that, he got Eggman to the Final Egg with the power of the Warp Topaz, a gemstone he has spent his career researching. The Warp Stone can warp space to create gateways to other places, provided it has a power source. As Eggman finds no interest in it, Starline instead presents all seven Chaos Emeralds to the doctor, which delights him. This has Eggman decide to accept Starline as his new lackey.

Meanwhile on Angel Island, Sonic checks in with Knuckles, telling him that everything looks intact on the island. Sonic also tells him that Tails said he could get the Egg Fleet battleship he crashed into Master Overlord running again. Sonic asks Knuckles if he is coming back to Resistance HQ to which the Echidna refuses due to his duty to guard the Master Emerald. As Sonic figured Knuckles would give such a response, he offers to be called whenever the echidna got lonely. However, Knuckles predicts Sonic will only cause trouble and drag him into it in no time. Sonic then asks if Knuckles will lead the Resistance remotely. Seeing as the War was over and Metal Sonic was defeated, Knuckles decides to disband the Resistance. With this, Sonic says goodbye to Knuckles and takes off.

At the Egg Fleet battleship, Sonic meets up with Amy, who was taking inventory of what was left on the ship. She had found plenty of raw materials to help with reconstruction efforts, something she knew would only bore Knuckles. Sonic then embarrassingly lets Amy know that Knuckles disbanded the Resistance, much to her annoyance. The Chaotix then arrive, looking to be paid. Much to Amy's confusion, Vector explains that they located Eggman, found out the identity behind his impersonator and helped bring him down, which Espio believed deserved a substantial reward. Sonic decides to leave Amy to deal with the detectives, while she wonders if being a part of the Resistance meant anything to them.

Sonic meets up with Tangle and Whisper, asking them if they are ready to go home. While Tangle believes she is ready, she has found so much excitement over the past few days and does not think she can return to her old life. Sonic then asks Whisper if she made any friends on the trip, where Tangle chimes in and says she is fun to be around, quickly asking her to repeat a joke to Sonic. However, the shy Whisper only puts her mask scope back on. Confused, Tangle asks what it was that she said while Sonic tells her to just give the wolf some space.

Sonic finds Blaze and Silver conversing and tells them that they are about to leave, though they can return to their respective homes whenever they want. Blaze agreed, saying she must go home and return the Sol Emeralds, though not before seeing everyone else off. Silver however decides to stay as he feels as though the real threat has not presented itself yet. Sonic tells Silver not to make the situation sound so dire as he sees it as an opportunity to hang out more. Silver takes a liking to Sonic's optimism, which Blaze reminds him that he always does. Sonic then takes off to check on more people.

Sonic finds Rouge relaxing in an Eggman beach chair she refused to let go to waste. As Sonic wonders if Eggman ever went outside, Rouge tells him that the doctor used to have a meticulous cardio regimen. Sonic asks if Rouge is returning to her spying when they return home. Rouge replies saying she is open to anything but is enjoying the her "tropical getaway", as well as her view of the Master Emerald. Sonic then assumes Shadow already left, which Rouge confirms. Sonic leaves Rouge asking her to say "thanks" to him as he believes she will see him again before he does. Rouge agrees to pass on the message should she get the chance.

Sonic meets up with Tails in the captains room, with the fox cub ready to take off. As the battleship moves away from the island, Knuckles watches satisfyingly from his shrine. Sonic congratulates Tails on fixing the battleship so quickly, while the latter still finds the doctor's technology weird and asks to be thanked if they land safely. Sonic disregards this as they have handled worse and have always come out on top anyway. Sonic then gives a thumbs up to his pal supporting another adventure, which Tails returns.

Elsewhere at the Final Egg, Eggman and Starline have found that the biodata that Neo Metal Sonic copied from Sonic and Shadow was corrupted after their battle. Though Neo was very close in his goal, Eggman decides not to reconstruct but to move on with a new plan. The doctor places Starline in charge of distracting Sonic while he tests and prepares. Starline is thrilled with the task, knowing exactly how to lure the hedgehog into an ambush. Eggman moves on and finds Rough complaining on how he and Tumble are supposed to use the weapons Eggman specified in the blueprints he gave them. An annoyed Eggman takes the blueprints and swaps them to the other, allowing the skunk brothers to make more sense of them and become excited to use them.

Orbot lets Eggman know that he called up the schematics on file that he requested, leaving Cubot to ask if he wanted to unleash "that" on the world. Looking at spider-like contraption, Eggman confirms his decision without hesitation, planning to make the world suffer after the indignity he was made to suffer himself.

Appearances
Characters:
 * Badniks
 * Moto Bug
 * Blaze the Cat
 * Chaotix
 * Charmy Bee
 * Espio the Chameleon
 * Vector the Crocodile
 * Cubot
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Dr. Starline
 * Jackal Squad
 * Resistance
 * Amy Rose
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Metal Sonic
 * Neo Metal Sonic
 * Master Overlord
 * Orbot
 * Rouge the Bat
 * Rough
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Silver the Hedgehog
 * Tangle the Lemur
 * Tumble
 * Whisper the Wolf

Locations:
 * Angel Island
 * Blaze's world
 * Final Egg
 * Resistance HQ
 * Silver's future

Items:
 * Chaos Emeralds
 * Master Emerald
 * Sol Emeralds
 * Warp Topaz

Vehicles:
 * Egg Fleet

Misc.:
 * The War

Continuity

 * Metal Sonic is brought online after being shut down following his defeat in Sonic the Hedgehog #11, "The Battle for Angel Island Part 3".
 * Sonic and Tails mention Dr. Eggman's inability to continue his evil acts which was first discovered in Sonic the Hedgehog #5, "The Fate of Dr. Eggman Part 1".
 * Dr. Starline still has Dr. Eggman held down in the Final Egg and has been performing electrotherapy on him since Sonic the Hedgehog #11, "The Battle for Angel Island Part 3".
 * Dr. Starline is revealed to have been the one who broke Rough and Tumble out of jail since they were imprisoned in Sonic the Hedgehog #3, "Fallout Part 3".
 * Rough and Tumble want to have revenge on Sonic after he and Knuckles the Echidna beat them in Sonic the Hedgehog #3, "Fallout Part 3".
 * Dr. Eggman's memories have been restored after he was revealed to have lost them in Sonic the Hedgehog #5, "The Fate of Dr. Eggman Part 1".
 * Silver recalls how his time might still be messed up, as surmised in Sonic the Hedgehog #8, "Silent Support".
 * Rouge recalls Shadow leaving early from Sonic the Hedgehog #11, "The Battle for Angel Island Part 3".

Trvia

 * Orbot suggesting that Dr. Eggman could want to review over eldritch creatures he may want to resurrect and lose control over later is a reference to creatures like Chaos in Sonic Adventure and Dark Gaia in Sonic Unleashed.
 * Tumble can be seen with making a circle shape with his left hand, which is a nod to the.
 * Evan Stanley stated that one of her favorite panels to draw in this issue was on page six, where the in the second memory Eggman is repairing Metal Sonic. She also mentioned that it contained one of her favorite lines from Ian Flynn.
 * Eggman mentioning that he had had his fill with "strange new magic stones" when introduced to the Warp Topaz is a reference to his game counterpart's discovery of the Phantom Ruby in Sonic Forces.
 * Sonic saying that Silver can return to the future "however he does it" is a reference to the fact that it is never explained how Silver manages to time travel in the Sonic series other than Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).
 * Rouge mentioning that Shadow is gone, "never to look back again" may be a reference to the song "Never Turn Back" from the Shadow the Hedgehog video game.
 * When Eggman decides to move on with a new plan, he says "It's time for a change of pace". This is reference to the Egg Dragoon boss from Sonic Generations. In this boss battle, Eggman says "Time for a change of pace!" everytime he switches to a new attack mode.

Other features

 * Previously: Previously is a summary of previous issues' key story moments. It features a page of relevant panels from the previous issue.
 * Roll Call: Roll Call acts as a quick reference guide to new readers about the characters. This issue provides data files on Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Shadow, Tangle, Rouge, Blaze, Espio, Vector, Charmy, Whisper and Silver.
 * Sonic Letters Squad: Sonic Letters Squad is a section where the comic staff can post fan artwork and fan letters that have been sent in to them. This edition has the fan letters omitted in favor of an interview with Evan Stanley.
 * Team Sonic Racing One-shot - Free Digital Ashcan

Quotes

 * Sonic: As I was saying: take it easy. Tails fixed up the worst of the damage, but you're in no shape to fight. We're compassionate, not stupid.


 * Dr. Eggman: What kind of monster would program you with emotions and then prey upon them?! No, I'll take good care of you!
 * Cubot: I'm confused. Is that a threat? It didn't sound menacing this time.
 * Orbot: Are we sure we want the old boss back?


 * Dr. Eggman: How dare that Sonic damage you! He wouldn't recognize a piece of art if it punched him in the face! You did punch him in the face, right?


 * Vector: The case of the missing Eggman is over! We found out what happened to the doctor, who was impersonating him, and helped bring down the perp! Case closed!
 * Espio: Our reward should be substantial.
 * Charmy: We're gonna get fancy take-out!

Trivia

 * This issue was initially planned for released on 19 December 2018 but was delayed to 9 January 2019 due to a change in the release schedule for the series. It was later delayed again to 16 January 2019 due to a "unavoidable processing mix-up".
 * Cover B is laid out as concept artwork of Dr. Starline.
 * The name icon for Dr. Starline that appears on cover B is drawn in the same style as the one used for Sonic's name on his [[media:SA1 M d1.png|promotional artwork]] for Sonic Adventure.
 * It was previously used for Starline in Sonic the Hedgehog #11.