IDW Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 61 is the sixty-first issue in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series published by IDW Publishing.
Official solicitation[]
- This is it! The end! (Of the arc, that is.) Everyone is focused on the central command tower: if that goes down, the city will fall. But are three teams enough to stop something it seems even Dr. Eggman can’t control?[1]
Featured stories[]
Urban Warfare, Part 5[]
Synopsis[]
Sonic and his friends corner Dr. Eggman inside his tower as the latter gloats about his creations being more than enough to handle them. Sonic charges at Eggman to deliver a punch but gets caught in the same trap as Diamond Cutters, after which Eggman sends Metal Sonic to attack Tails and Amy. Tangle attempts to intervene but her arm simply phases through Metal Sonic's body. However, when she tries to grab him again, she makes contact, although Eggman quickly grabs her. Before Tangle can punch Eggman with her tail, he holds her at gunpoint, saying her desperation is showing and she should not have sided with Sonic and the others. Much to Eggman and Tangle's shock, Lanolin and Whisper then appear, now free from the trap, and introduce themselves to the doctor as the Diamond Cutters, with Whisper using her Variable Wispon's Cube Mode to knock Eggman and Metal Sonic back. Meanwhile, Silver tries to help Shadow, who is struggling to control the power of the crystals that are growing in excess, but Silver is able to encourage Shadow to fight back, leading to him being freed and gaining control.
Back at the tower, Tails deduces that due to the shutdown of Eggperial City’s computer systems, the Diamond Cutters are now back in normal space. Tangle cries and is comforted by Whisper as she is overwhelmed with emotion that they are back. Eggman once again sends Metal Sonic to attack, but he is suddenly stopped by Sonic, who kicks Metal Sonic out of the tower after being freed from the same trap. The Diamond Cutters leave and Sonic crushes the gun Eggman was using, telling the doctor he has taken things too far and that he knows what is going to happen next. Sonic, Tails, and Amy jump out of the tower and look for a place to land, only for a massive crystal pillar to rise up nearby due to Shadow's efforts. Eggman, unwilling to give up, tries to destroy them with his mobile base, with Metal Sonic hijacking a Turtloid to give chase and attack Sonic once again.
Witnessing this from below, Rouge, Blaze, and Omega prepare to help out, with the latter two distracting Metal Sonic long enough for Sonic to kick him away into their line of fire while Rouge carries him to safety. Eggman continues firing on the crystal pillar, but Shadow uses Chaos Control to move all the fake Emeralds around the fort's legs and demobilize Eggman's fortress. With the doctor now stuck, Sonic, with help from Blaze, Amy, Tangle, and Whisper, finally destroys Eggman's base. However, as stated by Shadow, this sets off a chain reaction that will eventually cause the fake Emeralds to explode and destroy the entire city along with them. As such, he tells Silver to go protect the others. Just before the Emeralds explode on Sonic, Tangle, and Whisper, Shadow performs another Chaos Control that sends all the Emeralds into the sky, to parts unknown.
Later, the group celebrates their victory with a picnic, where Tails and Belle discuss the repairs that were made to Whisper's Variable Wispon. Amy and Jewel then arrive with a cake they prepared, with Amy suddenly noticing that Rouge, during the invasion, stole an Echidna artifact. She tells Rouge that it belongs on Angel Island and that she should return it. Rouge makes an excuse not to, so Amy says she will return it to Knuckles herself. Amy then asks where Sonic is, to which Tails answers that he has already left, much to her frustration as Sonic leaps off a ramp to another adventure.
Appearances[]
Characters:
- Amy Rose
- Badnik Horde
- Blaze the Cat
- Cubot
- Dr. Eggman
- Knuckles the Echidna (mentioned)
- Metal Sonic
- Miles "Tails" Prower
- Orbot
- Restoration
- Silver the Hedgehog
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Team Dark
Races and species:
- Black Arms
- Echidna (mentioned)
- Human
- Wisps
Locations:
Items:
- Air Shoes
- Egg Goggles
- Giant Fake Chaos Emeralds
- Golden Bell
- Gold Statue (first appearance)
- Limiter Ring
- Piko Piko Hammer
- Sonic's shoes
- Spatial-Displacement Trap
- Variable Wispon
Misc.:
- Blue Cube
- Chaos Control
- Croquette Bomber
- Green Hover
- Homing Attack
- Magenta Rhythm
- Omega Machine Gun
- Orange Rocket
- Propeller Flying
- Psychokinesis
Continuity[]
- Whisper and Lanolin escape the Spatial-Displacement Trap after being trapped in it in Sonic the Hedgehog #59, "Urban Warfare, Part 3".
- Shadow breaks out of the fake Chaos Emeralds holding him after tapping into them in Sonic the Hedgehog #59, "Urban Warfare, Part 3".
Trivia[]
The typo itself.
- Silver and Shadow make a reference to Silver's infamous line "It's no use!" from Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).
- In a panel on the top right of page 15, the background of Tangle and Whisper holding hands bears a striking resemblance to the lesbian pride flag.
- On page 6, Silver says "I'm not giving up that that easily," with the repeated word likely being a typo.
Other features[]
- Story so far: "Story so far" is a summary of the current plotline for the comic.
- Roll Call: Roll Call acts as a quick reference guide to new readers about the characters. This issue provides data files on Sonic, Tangle, Whisper, Lanolin, Amy, Tails, Silver, Blaze, Shadow, Rouge, Omega and Dr. Eggman.
- 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. The other pages showcase raw artwork of the variant covers for the issue.
- Creator Corner: Creator Corner features an interview with a staff member. In this issue, Shawn Lee is featured.
Quotes[]
- Dr. Eggman: You made a serious mistake siding with these idiots.
- Lanolin: I Believe you met our namesake, the Diamond Cutters. We serve as a small, specialized strike team that assesses danger and offers aid in extreme conditions. But mostly, we intend...
- Whisper: ...to be a problem.
- Shadow: There's so much energy building. It's...like a noise, in my head...I'm fine. Go. Your effort...is of no use.
- Silver: No use? NO USE? I'm not giving up that easily, and neither are you! You're the ultimate life-form, aren't you? Are you going to let an overgrown rock tell you what to do?!
- Sonic: Sorry, dude, but you've gotta learn...when to quit!
- Amy: Wait, where's Sonic?
- Tails: Oh, he ran off. You know how he is.
Trivia[]
- This issue was originally set for release on 31 May 2023 before being delayed to 7 June.
- The floating monitors seen on cover B are modeled after Hint Boxes.
- According to Miles Arq, cover B was inspired by Dr. Eggman's escape sequence from Silver Sonic v2.0 in Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog #98.[4]
Gallery[]
Cover artwork[]
| Gallery |
|---|
 Cover A colors. Art by Mauro Fonseca.  Cover B thumbnails. Art by Miles Arq.  Cover B inks. Art by Miles Arq.  Cover B color variations. Art by Miles Arq.  Cover B colors. Art by Miles Arq.  Cover RI colors. Art by Nathalie Fourdraine. |
Early covers[]
| Gallery |
|---|
Preview pages[]
| Gallery |
|---|
 Credits page  Page one  Page two  Page three  Page four  Page five |
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Sonic the Hedgehog #61 Cover A (Fonseca). Penguin Random House (17 February 2023). Retrieved on 17 February 2023.
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #61 Variant B (Arq). Penguin Random House (17 February 2023). Retrieved on 17 February 2023.
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #61 Variant RI (10) (Fourdraine). Penguin Random House (17 February 2023). Retrieved on 17 February 2023.
- ↑ ＡＲＱ on Twitter. Twitter. ＡＲＱ (21 March 2023). Retrieved on 21 March 2023.
