Worlds Unite Weekly Reviews, Part 2: Sonic Boom #8

by Mighty No. X

Welcome to the second week of “Worlds Unite Weekly” reviews, your source for Worlds Unite reviews every Friday. As always, I am Mighty No. X. I’m in the middle of college finals right now, so I apologize in advance for this being a little less comprehensive than I would like.

If I had more time, I’d give a little more background on Sonic Boom, since that universe features heavily in this issue. Essentially, the Sonic Boom universe is a lighter and more humorous take on the “real” Sonic universe. Versions of Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles fight against the nefarious Dr. Eggman just like in the main Sonic book, but the tone is much lighter; Eggman never poses a particularly perilous threat. Even though Eggman arises with some new threat each episode, at least in the Boom TV show Sonic and Eggman have a rather friendly relationship at times.

The Boom heroes are joined by the only original character of significance, Sticks the (Jungle) Badger, a deranged jungle survivalist continually convinced that everything and everyone is a conspiracy out to get her. Given that this is a comedy, 75% percent of the time she turns out to be right. Boom has introduced a few additional original characters in the background, such as the incompetent yet pretentious Fastidious Beaver and omnipresent celebrity Comedy Chimp.

Like any other day in the Boom universe, “Boom Eggman” has challenged Sonic and co. with some new robot, and just like any other day the five friends succeed in destroying it. Unlike most days, however, Sticks is flung into the jungle away from the others, and witnesses X, Zero, and Axl arriving through a portal. Some action has taken place off-screen (as depicted in one of the Battle Books). It seems like the three Reploids succeeded in meeting Silver, and using his aid tried to reach the regular Sonic universe and locate Sigma. Unfortunately for them, they end up in the Boom universe instead.

Although Sticks is initially afraid of X and the others, X assures her of his good intent; in typical Sticks fashion, she claims she foretold his arrival during a dream after having too many s’mores. Conscripting Fastidious Beaver and Comedy Chimp for the cause, Sticks volunteers herself to hop dimensions with the others.

The look on Zero’s face is priceless.

Thankfully for the group, Sticks suspects that Boom Eggman has some kind of dimensional transporter that they can use. Although the group encounters Boom Orbot and Cubot, they succumb the instant Zero pulls out his Saber.

The action then cuts to the “regular” Dr. Eggman, Dr. Wily, and Sigma. Eggman and Wily survive an inspection by Sigma as they prepare to enslave the captured Mega Man and Sonic, but it’s clear they have something up their sleeve. As the two work side by side, it turns out Wily truly has no recollection of the events of Worlds Collide.

Seeing an opportunity, Eggman tells him the tale of Collide with a few modifications; most importantly, claiming that Eggman never tried to kill Light and that Wily’s rival was lying. Even though Wily surely remembers how badly his faith in Ra Moon turned out for him, he accepts Eggman’s story as true and dedicates himself to working with Eggman.

As in Collide, the two devise a scheme for Sonic and Mega Man to cross paths, but this time their goal is a little more complicated. They want the two heroes to save each other when they meet each other, blame the transformations on Sigma, and engage Sigma while giving Eggman and Wily time to use Sigma’s “unity engines” for themselves. They wait until Sigma checks in again to corrupt the heroes, which they do in rather spectacular form.

Back in Mega Man’s world, Light is wondering as to his son’s whereabouts when a news report about a deadly new enemy attack in town begins to play; the good doctor quickly mobilizes his Robot Masters to fight the incoming threat, Sonic Man.

In Sonic’s world, Princess Sally receives a desperate message from her father alerting her to the sinister presence preparing to siege their castle — M’egga Man, who is most certainly not Three Laws compliant.

And on this note, the issue ends.

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My first thought when I heard that Sonic Boom would be included in the crossover was “why would a very young Boom fan care about the crossover?” It doesn’t surprise me, then, that this issue felt like a much more backstory-heavy installment than part one — between X’s self-introduction to Sticks and Dr. Eggman’s summary of the events of Worlds Collide¸ this issue would have been great to hand out at Free Comic Book Day. There’s nothing wrong with this — I liked the way X’s arrival in the Boom world was handled. It’s just that it felt as if much of what should have been in the first issue was kept back until here, for the purpose of educating Boom readers.

Writer Ian Flynn does a much better job writing and utilizing Sticks than do the show writers; he’s willing to make her a little crazier and funnier than her show counterpart, and I’m glad to see he’s still good at writing her here. Maybe it’s just that she doesn’t have the grating voice given to her in the show, but she’s much more bearable in the comics. I think the comic Sticks will work, even though it pains me to see X and Sticks given equal billing. 

The biggest concern I have at this point is Dr. Wily. He is the one who created the virus that would ultimately gave birth to Sigma as the dictatorial villain; as it stands, Wily spends much more time reacting to others as a foil to Eggman, rather than actually getting any exposition with Sigma.

I’m also a little irritated with the “Battle Books” that depict certain events not shown in the main story, such as X and co. meeting Silver. Given that dedicated readers are already buying 12 issues, it’s frustrating to make certain narrative explanation require even more. It also makes me worry just how large-scale the last few issues of Worlds Unite will be. Will the battles we witness be coherent, or will we only see fragments of many battles, with the promise of closure upon purchase of the Battle Books?

Given the massive number of universes and characters Flynn is handling, though, I have to say I’m pleased with the way that Worlds Unite is unfolding so far.

Easter Egg Watch (very far from comprehensive; I’m sure there are plenty more.  Last time, I pointed out a few Easter eggs that I was wrong about, so I’m only pointing those I know are real this time.):

• The robot policemen who are attacked by Sonic Man are versions of Fake Man from Mega Man 9.
• Chest appears as the newscaster reporting on the event.
• Wily finding a Chaos Emerald in Worlds Collide #1 is now attributed to Eggman’s meddling with time and space in Sonic Generations. It is thus implied that the Genesis Wave retconned not only the Sonic universe after the crossover but also before, if that makes any sense.
• Sonic Man shoots out rings as weapons that restrain the recipient. Of course, rings play a prominent role in the Sonic universe.
• In an interview given last week, Flynn stated that the X we see comes after Mega Man X7 but before Mega Man X8. This may explain why Vile appears again, so as to bridge the gap between Vile Mk. 2 in X3 and Vile V in X8. 

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Mighty No. X is a member of The Mega Man Network’s User Content Submission System, and the views expressed here reflect the views of the authors alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Mega Man Network.