IDW Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 10

IDW Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 10 is the tenth issue in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series published by IDW Publishing.

Official solicitation

 * "The Battle for Angel Island," Part 2. As Amy and Tails lead the Resistance fighters to free Angel Island from the Egg Fleet, Blaze must face an army all by herself. Meanwhile, Sonic and Knuckles find themselves face-to-face with a Super-powerful enemy. Will they be able to beat their foe, or will they just get beat?

The Battle for Angel Island Part 2

 * Written by: Ian Flynn
 * Art by: Tracy Yardley & Evan Stanley
 * 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
The story begins inside Neo Metal Sonic's stronghold on Angel Island. Having just finished powering up with the Master Emerald beneath his throne, Super Neo Metal Sonic taunts Sonic and Knuckles. While Sonic is confident that he can defeat Super Neo as soon as he discovers how to, Knuckles, on the other hand, exhibits more frustration at the situation and says that Super Neo Metal Sonic is cheating due to having all these physical advantages. Super Neo Metal Sonic thus launches an energy bolt at Sonic and Knuckles, who dodge it. Sonic promptly instructs Knuckles to secure the Master Emerald so that Super Neo Metal Sonic cannot draw power from it while he keeps the robot busy. Knuckles thinks that his plan is crazy, believing Super Neo will just crush Sonic. Just as Sonic replies that the robot has to catch him before he can do that, Super Neo catches both Sonic and Knuckles off-guard and beats them up before electrocuting them with energy. All dazed, Knuckles asks Sonic sarcastically that he thought the hedgehog was going to distract their foe. Smiling, Sonic assures Knuckles that he is just warming up, although he silently hopes that his allies are doing much better that they are at the moment.

Outside, team two manages to fight effectively against the Badnik horde but Tails soon notes that they were not making much headway. Tails forms a plan and requests for Amy to cover him. With this, Amy calls out to the rest of the team to provide Tails with backup and quickly checks Blaze's status. Blaze is still fighting her side of the shoreline on Angel Island as Burning Blaze and recalls that though Neo Metal Sonic's forces cannot harm her, they can slow her down. In addition to this, she can only maintain her form as Burning Blaze for so long. With this, Burning Blaze dodges oncoming blasts from the Egg Fleet and flies up high, charging a powerful fireball. She then sends said fireball straight down, destroying most of the left wing on the island. As the wing plummets downward, Burning Blaze flies down to Angel Island and reverts to her normal form feeling accomplished and tired.

Elsewhere, Dr. Eggman is singing a song while playing a guitar as children are enjoying themselves at his "Eggman Land" theme park. He is soon visited by Rough and Tumble, who swiftly kidnap him but not before Rough mentions that the "doc" said that Eggman might be a little "off".

Back on Angel Island, Silver is assisting Tails in helping keep a gang of Egg Pawns away from him as the fox cub takes control of one of the Egg Fleet's ships. Once he manages to get the ship airborne, he begins to shoot down the second wing of the island. This recklessly catches his teammates off guard, prompting Tangle to playfully yell at Tails to watch where he's flying. As they all manage to fly and get lifts to safety, Rouge also mentions to Amy that she would have preferred a heads-up before Tails carried out his plan, but Amy defends him as Tails was practically raised by Sonic, who is not known for his patience anyway. As Rouge flies Amy to safety on the ship Tails had taken control of, she states that she will chew out Shadow for going off on his own and abandoning Amy's plan. However, she deduces that he would seek out the strongest threat around on the island, which is obviously Neo Metal Sonic. Amy then eases up, believing Sonic and Knuckles could do with some back-up.

Back inside Neo's stronghold, Sonic is doing his best to dodge and counter Super Neo Metal Sonic's attacks while Knuckles attempts to reach the Master Emerald again. However, Super Neo Metal Sonic immediately blocks him and hits him backward. He looks down on the fallen Sonic and Knuckles, finding disappointment in them as he never had to unleash his final form. Just as he says this however, he is interrupted by Shadow who drives a Chaos Spear through his torso. This forces Super Neo back to his previous form and Shadow manages to force him back right onto his throne. Before Shadow can proceed, Sonic stops him and reminds Shadow that Neo can copy his biodata. Shadow does recall this but believes it would not be enough for Neo to transform. Sonic still mentions that with Shadow's power, he would become even stronger, to which Shadow thinks Sonic is just scared of. An impatient Knuckles tries to get to the Master Emerald a third time, but stops as Neo begins to emit energy. Neo reminds Shadow that Eggman had directly upgraded his current form, removing his former limitation. To achieve his full power, all he needed was Sonic and Shadow's biodata in addition to the power of the Master Emerald itself.

As Neo grows in power, Knuckles and Shadow persist in attacking him, despite the shield Neo had formed around himself. Sonic quickly notices that Neo's stronghold is folding in on itself towards Neo and requests to Knuckles and Shadow that they retreat hastily. The trio look on as Neo's shield grows bigger, now leaving Knuckles' shrine in its former state. The ground soon begins to rumble and Knuckles notes that the Master Emerald has been cut off from Angel Island―without its power, the island would fall. As a thunderstorm occurs, Neo grows into a form more monstrous than the last―dubbing it Master Overlord―and demands that Sonic bows before him.

Appearances
Characters:
 * Badniks
 * Egg Pawn (multiple)
 * Spina (multiple)
 * Blaze the Cat
 * Burning Blaze
 * Chaotix
 * Charmy Bee
 * Espio the Chameleon
 * Vector the Crocodile
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Metal Sonic
 * Neo Metal Sonic
 * Super Neo Metal Sonic
 * Master Overlord
 * Resistance
 * Amy Rose
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Rough
 * Silver the Hedgehog
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Tangle the Lemur
 * Team Dark
 * Rouge the Bat
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Tumble
 * Whisper the Wolf

Locations:
 * Angel Island

Items:
 * Egg Spear
 * Master Emerald

Vehicles:
 * Egg Fleet

Misc.:
 * Chaos Spear
 * Spin Attack

Continuity

 * Neo Metal Sonic is still in his Super State, a form which he achieved in Sonic the Hedgehog #9, "The Battle for Angel Island Part 1".

Trivia

 * The lyrics for the song Dr. Eggman's sings in this issue are a parody of some of the lyrics in the song "E.G.G.M.A.N." from Sonic Adventure.
 * Master Overlord calling Sonic his "loathsome copy" is exactly what Metal Overlord calls Super Sonic in Sonic Heroes before their final battle.

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, Silver and Neo Metal Sonic.
 * 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.
 * Underwhere - Free Digital Ashcan

Quotes

 * Super Neo Metal Sonic: Well? You came here to stop me, didn't you? Step right up.
 * Sonic: I'm gonna kick the smugness right outta you, Metal! As soon as I figure out how...
 * Knuckles: An upgraded Metal Sonic and he's "Super" too? That's cheating!


 * Eggman: (Singing) Just follow your dreams wherever you go! You're perfect in every way! I love to construct and make things that go! There is no obstacle that stands in my way!


 * Sonic: Wait! He'll copy your biodata!
 * Shadow: So? It wouldn't be enough for him to transform.
 * Sonic: He'd still get your powers and become that much stronger!
 * Shadow: Tch. Afraid?
 * Knuckles: Move so I can get to the Master Emerald!

Trivia

 * This issue's release date was originally set for 24 October 2018, but was delayed to 31 October 2018, the original release date for the Team Sonic Racing comic book.
 * The RI cover pays homage to the opening title screen for Sonic & Knuckles.