DC x Sonic the Hedgehog: The Metal Legion #2 loves it when a plan comes together. The entire issue is a countdown to a single moment and you’re waiting to see who breaks first, the heroes or the villains. Picking up directly from last month’s fun-as-heck return to stands, the tone reminds joyful while raising the stakes and the danger pretty significantly, relative to the first issue.
What’s maybe most striking is how much time this sophomore issue spends with its villains. The fragile alliance between the Legion of Doom and Dr. Eggman is immediately put to the test because of their clashing personalities. Turns out nobody from the DC Universe likes Dr. Eggman which, honestly, made me like him so much more. Watching Eggman ingratiate himself into the DC Universe of villains is like watching a truly great wrestling heel command a crowd with boos and shouts.
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While the heroes are neat little mirrors of each other, Dr. Eggman and Lex are funhouse mirrors, with similar goals yet wildly different means of reaching them. This is probably where the book succeeds the most, in defining the differences between the two characters who are so different, they may as well be the same. At the very least, it’s really interesting to see Dr. Eggman inject himself into the story more than he was in the previous DC x Sonic the Hedgehog miniseries.
Not the only two villains allowed to have fun this issue, Catwoman and Rouge also get an extended scene together where they get to revel in being the only two smart enough to play both sides to make sure they end up on the winning one.
As previously stated, the entire issue is a countdown and it plays out in mostly fun ways. The first third of the book is a lot of mustache twirling and back-patting from the villains, the middle third is the villains getting into position and and the final third is the heroes and villains clashing. It’s simplistic but manages to be endearing the whole time.
DC
It’s fun seeing villains be cartoonishly evil as opposed to maniacal. There’s no real ideological battle here besides “they’re good, we’re bad, we must defeat them” and it’s genuinely refreshing to see something so black and white but still handled relatively seriously.
Because we spend so much time with the villains, we barely get to see any real interplay between the heroes. It’s a sacrifice that ultimately I think is worth it, but it is admittedly a slight bummer to not see more from the two groups of heroes hang out together.
If there’s one real criticism about the book, it’s that not a lot happens. It really is just scheming and waiting, all in service for the final page reveal of whether or not the plan worked. In that regard it kind of feels like empty calories but again, the Eggman/Luthor/Legion of Doom stuff is so much fun that it really does carry most of the weight of the issue and make it feel like something new and interesting.
DC
While not as bombastically fun as its debut last month, DC x Sonic the Hedgehog: The Metal Legion #2 manages to find new ways to endear itself to readers, mostly by making the villains the star this time around. With fun interplay between Lex and Dr. Eggman, as well as Catwoman and Rouge, it’s easy to forget that not very much happens. That’s not a real problem though because the characterization is so well done and the final page reveal is intriguing enough to carry the book.
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