DC x Sonic the Hedgehog: Metal Legion #4 // Review
Eggman has defeated the Legion of Doom. That’s the good news. The bad news is that he’s created soulless robotic analogs of them that will do his bidding and mercilessly attack the heroes. Freed of internal tensions and individual ambitions, the combined might and power of the villains is all being orchestrated by one man in DC x Sonic the Hedgehog: Metal Legion #4. Writer Ian Flynn continues a fun crossover between the two universes with art by Adam Bryce Thomas. Color comes to the page courtesy of Matt Herms. The overall premise might lack a great deal of depth, but the basic mechanics of a heroes-versus-villains team-up remains reasonably entertaining for another issue.
What’s worse: Eggman has perfected a version of Lex Luthor’s powered armor that is superior to the original. Even Clark and Wonder Woman are having problems with it. Typically an amplified cartoonish super-villain wouldn’t be a problem for either one of them, but this is still only a few pages into the fourth issue of the series and there’s quite a bit more conflict that needs to happen before everything can be resolved. And anyway...Eggman was the sole dominant villain on his home world. He’s been forced to be much more formidable than any one villain in the D.C. Universe.
At least...that’s how Flynn explains it. And actually...as weird and convoluted as everything is, Flynn’s script feels surprisingly consistent internally. It’s a HUGE ensemble that Flynn is working with...one that fuses a whole bunch of heroes and a whole bunch of villains with a whole bunch of powers. Some characters get a closer look than others. Wonder Woman hits this issue with particular strength as she’s instrumental in the central battle at the heart of the issue. That doesn’t often happen in a bigger crossover like this. There are a few other departures from the expected which make the fourth issue in the series a lot of fun.
Thomas’ manga-inspired art has an appealing effect on the DC Universe and related characters. It’s fun to see the DC hero/Sonic mash-ups of different characters. Lots of cuteness going on there even if the action is often to weird and rubbery to be as effective as it might otherwise be. There might occasionally be a weird stretch or a bizarre pose here and there, but for the most part, Thomas’ work is sharp. Herms’ colors deliver the bright explosiveness of the action to the page while adding cleverly to the light, shadow and depth of Thomas’ more appealingly stylish work on the issue.
Flynn also has some fun with often overlooked aspects of the DC Universe. There are some glib exchanges regarding the tensile strength of Wonder Woman’s lasso, the reason why Catwoman is attracted to Batman and quite a few other bits that end-up being fun. The contrast between magic and science also gets a bit of a fun glance in a moment where Bruce questions the physics of something that happened on the previous page. It’s another issue that’s cool enough to be aware of itself.
