IDW Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 3

IDW Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 3 is the third issue in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series published by IDW Publishing.

Official solicitation

 * Sonic and Knuckles team up, and it’s just like old times—until two new villains show up. With a group of villagers under attack, will even the combined forces of these two heroes be enough to take down Rough and Tumble???

Synopsis
Having arrived at the next town, Sonic watches from a distance as Knuckles takes down a Death Egg Robot sentinel, noting humorously that he is too late for the fun. Running up to Knuckles, Sonic is greeted by the red echidna, who asks what brings him here. Sonic promptly explains that he has come to help him after Amy told him what he was up to. Sonic then inquiries Knuckles on why he, as the commander of the Resistance, is away from the Resistance HQ. Knuckles explains that while being commander was interesting while they fought to save the world, the position was now all about things like inventory and scheduling now that they are focusing on rebuilding the world, things that Knuckles, who is now feel ready to go back to Angel Island and get on with some treasure hunting, has no patience with. Sonic replies that he can relate, as Amy tried to enlist him for the Resistance full time, something which Knuckles finds ridiculous.
 * Written by: Ian Flynn
 * Art by: Jennifer Hernandez
 * Colored by: Heather Breckel
 * Letters by: Corey Breen
 * Edited by: Joe Hughes & David Mariotte
 * Published by: Greg Goldstein

Sonic proceeds to ask what is going on inside the town Knuckles just saved. Knuckles explains it is a hub for distributing Wispons, but because its shipments suddenly stopped, he went to check on it. Knuckles then tells the person in charge of the town's gate to let him inside, explaining who he is and that he has taken care of the Badniks. However, the gatekeeper informs him that he has been ordered to not open the gates to anyone. When the gatekeeper refuses to say who gave him that order however, Sonic and Knuckles decide to climb over the wall, much to the gatekeeper's shock. On the other side of the town walls however, the townspeople get spooked upon seeing them. As the townspeople hide in fear, Knuckles wonders if the recent aggressive Badnik attacks is what has the townspeople on edge, but Sonic thinks it is something else. The gatekeeper then arrives and silently tells Sonic and Knuckles that they should not have come, prompting Sonic to reply that they can fix whatever the problem is. The gatekeeper thinks they cannot however, noting that "they" have all the town's Wispons and Wisps, which means they are unstoppable now. While Knuckles is confused, Sonic remarks that he and Knuckles can handle themselves, before asking for the full story.

Summiting, the gatekeeper explains that just before the war between the Eggman Empire and the Resistance ended, two ferocious mercenaries showed and saved the town by driving Eggman's forces away. These mercenaries said that they were going to improve the town's defenses, but instead, they took the town's arsenal and kept the residents prisoners within their town. Having nothing to fight back with, and with Badniks stalking outside the town walls, the residents were left with no choice but to follow the mercenaries' orders. With Sonic and Knuckles deciding to pick a fight with the mercenaries, the duo head towards the supply depot-turned-fortress after hearing from the gatekeeper that they can find the mercenaries there.

Arriving in the depot, Sonic and Knuckles locate the Wisps, who have been stacked in their Deployment Pods. Knuckles then recalls how Tails gave the Resistance the ciphers for the Wisps' language before he went solo so the Resistance could ask the Wisp for their help in fighting Dr. Eggman, which they happily volunteered for, even choosing to wait in Deployment Pods for when the Resistance's troops could enter different areas. Seeing the Wisps horded like this however, saddens Knuckles. As Sonic then promises to free the Wisps soon, Knuckles hear the mercenaries laugh nearby. Behind the craters, the two heroes see two anthropomorphic skunks who has the villagers serve as their slaves for their entertainment and pleasure. Noticeably ticked off, Knuckles gets ready to fight, but Sonic has them take it slow so the villagers can have a chance to escape the line of fire first. Sonic thus promptly calls out the two skunks and introduces himself and Knuckles to them before giving them a proposal: either they come quietly to face justice for their crimes, or they are "gonna get loud". As the villagers leave the room, the skunks themselves are reasonably angry about Sonic and Knuckles having intruded upon their territory. Seeing how Sonic introduced himself and Knuckles, the skunks return the favor by introducing themselves as Rough and Tumble in a very flashy manner. While Sonic finds the duo ridiculously laughable, Knuckles notice how dangerous they are by their coordination.

The two duos proceed to fight. While Rough and Tumble put up a decent fight (with Tumble using Sonic as a basketball and Rough unleashing his Stink Bomber on Knuckles), they are ultimately outclassed by Sonic and Knuckles. As such, the two mercenaries start to pick up Wispons. Seeing the trouble they are in, Knuckles tries telling Sonic to get a Wispon of his own. Sonic, however, recalling his time with Yacker, gets a better idea. Sonic thus begins calling out to the Wisps, reminding them of everything they have done for each other, like when Sonic saved thier planet from Eggman, and when the Wisps themselves helped him on the Lost Hex and the Resistance during the war after they chose to stay on Sonic's world. Praising the Wisps for their bravery and strength, Sonic tells them that despite their passive ways, they should not let Rough and Tumble boss them around, because they need them to bully everyone. Seeing the truth in Sonic's words, the Wisps in Rough and Tumble's Wispons leave them, rendering their weapons inert. More angry Wisps them appear, with Rough and Tumble trying in vain to get their Wisps back into their Wispons. Adding insult to injury by imitating their introduction from before (which Rough takes very personally), Sonic and Knuckles take out Rough and Tumble.

Outside, Sonic and Knuckles bring the apprehended skunks outside for the cheering villagers to see. As the gatekeeper appears to thank Sonic for all his help, a Yellow Wisp suddenly appears and starts taking gibberish. As the gatekeeper and Sonic wonder about what it says, the Yellow Wisp flies into the gatekeeper's Drill Wispon, making Sonic realize what it said: it and the other Wisps are planning to stick around and help the townspeople defend their home. Getting teary-eyed, the gatekeeper thanks the Wisp. Meanwhile, as Rough and Tumble are being taken away to get locked up, the two skunks arrogantly swear that they will be out soon enough and get their revenge on Sonic and Knuckles. Knuckles, however, promptly shuts them up with a silent threat.

Knuckles proceeds to subtly thank Sonic for his help, with Sonic accepting it on his own terms. Knuckles then hopes things are going to settle down now as he is really starting to miss Angel Island. Sonic himself remarks that he could use a vacation, but he knows that they first have to stop Eggman's runaway Badniks. Before he can hit the road however, Sonic encourages the town and the Wisps to celebrate. Unbeknownst to everyone however, a Flapper is watching them from afar, with an unseen figure in an Eggman-themed base watching its video feedback. Seeing that Knuckles is away from home, they realize Angel Island and the Master Emerald[ are unguarded, which they see will speed up their plans considerably...

Appearances
Characters:
 * Badniks
 * Egg Pawn (multiple)
 * Flapper
 * Super Badnik
 * Death Egg Robot sentinel
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Hooligans
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Resistance
 * Amy Rose
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Rough
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Tumble
 * Wisp
 * Blue Wisp (multiple)
 * Green Wisp (multiple)
 * Indigo Wisp (multiple)
 * Ivory Wisp (multiple)
 * Pink Wisp (multiple)
 * Red Wisp (multiple)
 * Violet Wisp (multiple)
 * White Wisp (multiple)
 * Yacker
 * Yellow Wisp (multiple)

Locations:
 * Angel Island
 * Lost Hex
 * Planet Wisp
 * Resistance HQ

Items:
 * Deployment Pod
 * Master Emerald
 * Wispon
 * Asteroid Wispon (multiple)
 * Burst Wispon (multiple)
 * Drill Wispon (multiple)
 * Hover Wispon (multiple)
 * Lightning Wispon (multiple)

Misc.:
 * Eggman Empire
 * Stink Bomber

Continuity

 * Sonic goes to check up on Knuckles, as per Amy's request back in Sonic the Hedgehog #2, "Fallout Part 2".
 * Sonic mentions that Amy tried to re-enlist him for the Resistance. This occurred in Sonic the Hedgehog #2, "Fallout Part 2".

Trivia

 * Jennifer Hernandez accidentally drew the Sonic Forces designs for the Egg Pawns in this issue as it had been previously stated by Ian Flynn that they did not have access to these designs.
 * Despite this, they are colored with the regular Egg Pawn colors.
 * Several of Jennifer Hernandez's Sonic fan characters are drawn in this issue.

Other features

 * Sonic Letters Squad
 * Yokai Watch - Free Digital Aschan

Quotes

 * Sonic: Oh, shoot.! For once I'm too late. Looks like Knuckles hogged all the fun!


 * Gatekeeper: ...Just before the war ended, a couple of mercenaries showed up. They were ferocious. They drove back Eggman's forces and saved the town. They said they were going to improve our defenses... ...but what they really did was take our arsenal and took us prisoner within out own town! Now we have to do everything they say. We have no way to fight back. And we can't escape with all the robots stalking outside the wall!
 * Sonic: Well then. I think we need to take our complains straight to the management, eh, Knux?
 * Knuckles: Absolutely.


 * Tumble: You lookin' to scrap?
 * Rough: Then get ready to crumble!
 * Tumble: Brace yourself for--
 * Rough and Tumble: -ROUGH & TUMBLE!
 * Sonic: ...Oh no. I was not prepared for this.
 * Knuckles: Careful, Sonic. They're highly coordinated.
 * Sonic: Knuckles ...you're the salt of the earth.


 * Sonic: I know fighting isn't your thing, but you've proven you're all powerful and brave! Don't let these jerks boss you around! They need you to buddy everyone. But you don't need them!


 * Knuckles: The tables have turned.
 * Sonic: They've certainly bumbled.
 * Sonic and Knuckles: It's butt-kick time for ROUGH AND TUMBLE!
 * Tumble: No no no!
 * Rough: That's our thing! You can't do our thing!


 * Unseen figure: So... Knuckles is still playing hero on the surface. That means Angel Island is unguarded. The Master Emerald is prone. That will accelerate my plans considerably...

Trivia

 * Cover A for this issue is the third of four connecting covers.