IDW Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 30 is the thirtieth issue in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series published by IDW Publishing.

Official solicitation[]

The Metal Virus Saga is over, but that doesn't mean things are back to normal. As the world begins picking up the pieces, who will be missing? What villains will escape? And who will go back on their word?^[2]

Featured stories[]

Cured[]

• Story: Ian Flynn
• Art: Priscilla Tramontano
• Colors: Heather Breckel
• Letters: Shawn Lee
• Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer
• Editor: David Mariotte
• Special thanks to: Mai Kiyotaki, Aaron Webber, Michael Cisneros, Sandra Jo, and everyone at Sega for their invaluable assistance

Synopsis[]

Super Silver announces to Super Sonic that the entirety of the Metal Virus was gone; this prompts Super Sonic to ditch the Warp Topaz in the Super Warp Portal. However, a large explosion occurs that thrusts Silver back onto Angel Island. As Silver is checked up on by Amy, Tails and Knuckles, he explains that it was over; he and Sonic managed to pull away every bit of Metal Virus and destroy it. However, he notes that Dr. Starline was correct on the Warp Topaz not being able to handle all that power. Silver explains that Sonic tried to ditch the Topaz in the Super Warp Portal but resulted in him being nowhere to be found. Knuckles remarks that Sonic was just being dramatic and would soon return in his super form, smug with triumph. As they wait, Amy asks Tails if there was any way to search for Sonic, with Tails stating that the hedgehog was at the center of Chaos Emerald-fueled Warp Topaz distortions, meaning he would not know where to look first.

Dr. Eggman quietly sneaks away from the others, knowing very well that Sonic would somehow make a return anyway. Seeing their concern for Sonic's disappearance as a distraction, Eggman plans to make his tactical retreat using non-essential parts from the Rescue Shuttle he repurposed that were not used for the Multi-Portal Generator. On the ground below Angel Island as the others celebrate freedom, Cream mentions to Vanilla that she did not see Sonic return to the island. Vanilla says that it was a very bright flash and they probably did not see him. She turns to Gemerl and tries asking him to look for Sonic, though notes that he has had a busy day. However, Gemerl puts up his guard, confusing Vanilla. Cream looks ahead and sees Zavok charging toward them as he tries to take control of Gemerl. Cream tells her mother to look out and stands in front of her as the Zeti approaches; she berates him, saying that all his "mean friends" were beaten, meaning that the bad times were over and he should go home. Zavok turns to her and simply tells her "No."

Zavok explains that he refuses to suffer humiliation from Sonic again and he will never accept defeat. As he has lost the Metal Virus and the power of his Chaos Emerald, he declares that he will tear the world asunder with his bare hands. Cream claims that Sonic will come back to stop him, to which the Zeti states that she will not be present when he returns. When he asks Cream for her last words, the young rabbit calls on Cheese. The Chao flies down and directly hits Zavok on the head. Angrily recovering from the hit, Zavok is then wrapped and tossed around with Tangle's tail. The Zeti brushes her off, only to see Silver descending while carrying the Chaotix. Espio and Vector grab hold of Zavok's body while Charmy headbutts him. Zavok throws the reptiles off of him and is hit in the shoulder by Whisper with her Variable Wispon in Cube Mode. Finally, Silver steps in and uses his psychokinesis on Zavok to hold him down, with the latter declaring to have his revenge on everyone.

As Knuckles continues to angrily wait for Sonic, Amy falls to her knees, relieved that the crisis is over. Unfortunately, Tails tries to call her attention to another situation. Amy tiredly pleads with the fox cub, stating that they just prevented the end of the world and Sonic may be lost to them, and says that she does not know how much more she can take. Tails agrees but nonetheless explains that Zavok was just one of the six Deadly Six members, meaning there were still five others out there. In Riverside, Zazz chases after civilians on his Moon Mech. He quickly becomes bored when he realizes that he does not know what to tear up after crushing the innocents or where to go. Frustrated with having to think so much, Zazz decides to leave the town to find Zavok and receive new orders. In Sunset City, Zeena scares off the civilians. She is now angered by the fact that they no longer listened to her and that she had to do her own fighting as well. Thinking that Zavok's plan failed, Zeena decides to leave but as she takes off, she tells the citizens of Sunset City that they will all suffer for her indignity.

In Orchardville, the villagers are cautiously looking for Zor and for a person named Glen. As Zor hides behind a tree, he gleefully thinks to himself how their friend will not be moving any time soon. The Zeti then thinks to himself that he should not be enjoying himself like this but his desperation and loneliness combined with being surrounded by fear and hatred and himself slinking in the shadows was something he found just as enjoyable as terrorizing the world with Zombots. In Vista View, the villagers are putting heavy objects on Zomom, who is still trapped underneath the town's gate, so that he does not move. The Zeti manages to push the gate up off of him, freeing himself. Looking at the grooves made in his stomach, Zomom acknowledges himself looking like a waffle and demands that the villagers bring him waffles. In Winterburg, as the villagers cheer over their freedom, Master Zik swiftly removes himself from the premises and thinks of them as buffoons for celebrating. As he retreats from the area, Master Zik believes that such jubilation would only be their downfall but notes that he should find Zavok so that they could plot their counter-offensive. He also painfully admits to himself that the Babylon Rogues earned their victory.

Storm hugs his teammates close and cheers for how they ended up not getting infected. Jet gets annoyed and asks to be put back down and Wave asks if he is okay. Jet smugly tells her that she was wasting a worry and says that he is fine. Noting that the situation was too close, Wave asks where Master Zik was so that she could "turn that prune into juice". Jet replies, saying that if he knew what was good for him, he would already be on the run. Wave then commends Jet on sticking with her and Storm to the bitter end, saying that it was brave and noble of him. Jet is slightly startled by this, only to perk up and boast about himself as the Legendary Wind Master; the "bravest", "noblest", "bestest" leader of all time. Hearing this, Wave believes that the moment is ruined but Storm happily cheers Jet on.

Back on Angel Island, Amy says that once she gets back to Restoration HQ, she has to worry about the rest of the Deadly Six as well. Tails suggests that Amy takes a break from it and asks why she even took the job in the first place. She replies explaining that somebody decided to dissolve the Resistance on a whim. Knowing that the conversation was about him, Knuckles chimes in saying that the war was over and his place was on the island, adding that she could have said no. Amy asks if she should have left all those people to rebuild on their own, leaving Knuckles to scoff at her wanting to help everyone everywhere. He then asks when the refugees would be moved off of his island due to the Zombot situation being done with. Tails tells him that this would occur as soon as he repaired the shuttle. However, with the shuttle nowhere to be found, Amy asks where it was. Big points out the shuttle beginning to fly away from the island. Amy begins to ask who was flying the shuttle, only for Tails to realize that it was Eggman and they had forgotten about him. Knuckles states that it was just one headache after another with his allies and decides to go find one more.

At the altar, Knuckles finds Rouge still laying down on the Master Emerald. He tells her that Eggman had escaped and asks why she was not watching him like she was tasked to; Rouge instead spins the question on him since he was guardian of Angel Island. As Eggman was not on the island, he was no longer his problem and requests that the bat leaves the Master Emerald alone. Rouge pleads for five more minutes but the echidna refuses, stating that he has tolerated her this long since she helped save the world. After he tells her not to force him to throw her off of the island, Rouge runs her finger past Knuckles' locks and calls him stubborn. However, she complies and says her goodbye to him. Knuckles is slightly stunned by this but only for a short period of time; after he looks to the sky, he still waits on Sonic.

Gemerl sifts through the rubble of the Faceship as he could detect an Eggnet signal. He finds the source, which is both Orbot and Cubot; when Orbot informs Eggman of this, the doctor states that retrieval is on the way. From behind, Metal Sonic breaks through Gemerl's chest with his hand, effectively deactivating him. Cream sees this and screams, alerting Tangle and Whisper. Whisper tries shooting at Metal Sonic with her Variable Wispon, only for him to activate his Black Shield to block the attacks. He drops Gemerl's body, catches Orbot and Cubot, and then begins to fly away. Charmy determinedly tries to fly after Metal Sonic, only for Vector to grab him and hold him back, not wanting a repeat of last time. He asks Silver to grab Metal instead, only for the hedgehog to state that he had his hands full with Zavok. Silver asks Shadow if he could help out, only to see that the hedgehog had already taken off after him.

On the shuttle, Cubot tells Eggman that it was good to see him in good health, only for the doctor to tell him there was no need to suck up to him as crashing the Faceship was a necessary evil. Orbot says that they already found him a consolation prize, revealing the head of Omega that was left on the ship. Omega, still determined to destroy every Eggman robot, requests that Orbot uses his head to bludgeon Cubot and then himself. Orbot then asks why he had to carry him. Eggman takes glee in being reuinited with the wayward final model in his E-100 Series and states that he knew how to use him to crush Sonic's friends. Eggman states that as Sonic was missing, he needed to take advantage of his time. The shuttle gets an alert and Eggman turns to Metal Sonic, telling him that Shadow was closing in on them and he should slow him down so that he could reach a secure escape altitude.

Shadow starts ascending a cliff at which the shuttle lands on, only to be elbowed by Metal Sonic and is pushed back down. The two struggle with each other, prompting Shadow to deliver a strike with the fire from his Air Shoes. Metal Sonic is slightly burned by this but still charges at Shadow. The hedgehog does the same and hits the robot with a Spin Attack. Metal Sonic locks in on Shadow approaching him again and counters his Spin Attacks with his own Spin Attacks. Shadow attempts one more Spin Attack against Metal Sonic, only for the robot to charge up and use the Ring Spark Field to create a burst of energy and push Shadow back down. Metal flies back to the shuttle and it begins to take off. Shadow angrily tries to catch up to the ship but fails to reach it in time. He is left angrily glaring at the ship flying away with a trembling clenched fist.

In Blaze's world, the princess looks out of a balcony at the Imperial Palace. Gardon approaches with the evening security report, only to reveal that there was nothing to report and all was peaceful. Blaze is happy with this news and states that it may be his report for many nights to come. Suddenly, a crash land occurs outside much to Blaze and Gardon's surprise. As the two run outside, Gardon warns Blaze of potential danger, only for her to state that if it threatened her in her own home, she would show it who is "dangerous". At the small crater of the crash site, Blaze and Gardon find none other than a passed out Sonic.

Appearances[]

Characters:

• Babylon Rogues
  • Jet the Hawk
  • Storm the Albatross
  • Wave the Swallow
• Big the Cat
• Blaze the Cat
• Chaotix
  • Charmy Bee
  • Espio the Chameleon
  • Vector the Crocodile
• Cheese
• Cream the Rabbit
• Cubot
• Deadly Six
  • Master Zik
  • Zavok
  • Zazz
  • Zeena
  • Zomom
  • Zor
• Dr. Eggman
• Dr. Starline (mentioned)
• E-100 Series (mentioned)
• Elder Scruffy
• Froggy
• Gardon (first appearance)
• Gemerl
• Glen (mentioned)
• Knuckles the Echidna
• Metal Sonic
• Miles "Tails" Prower
• Orbot
• Resistance (mentioned)
• Restoration (mentioned)
  • Amy Rose
• Silver the Hedgehog
  • Super Silver
• Sonic the Hedgehog
  • Super Sonic
• Tangle the Lemur
• Team Dark
  • E-123 Omega
  • Rouge the Bat
  • Shadow the Hedgehog
• Vanilla the Rabbit
• Whisper the Wolf

Races and species:

• Black Arms
• Chao
• Echidna
• Flicky
• Human
• Zeti
• Zombot (mentioned)

Locations:

• Multiverse
  • Blaze's dimension (first appearance)
    • Blaze's world (first appearance)
      • Imperial Palace (first appearance)
  • Moon
  • Sonic's universe
    • Sonic's world
      • Angel Island
        • Altar of Emerald
      • Orchardville
      • Restoration HQ (mentioned)
      • Riverside
      • Sunset City
      • Vista View
      • Winterburg

Items:

• Air Shoes
• Chaos Emeralds (mentioned)
• Concealers
• Egg Goggles
• Master Emerald
• Limiter Ring
• Metal Virus (mentioned)
• Moon Mech
• Multi-Portal Generator (mentioned)
• Sonic's shoes
• Warp Topaz
• Wispon
  • Variable Wispon

Vehicles:

• Battleship
• Faceship (mentioned)

Misc.:

• Black Shield
• Blue Cube
• Boost
• Chao Attack (first appearance)
• Eggman War (mentioned)
• Eggnet
• Psychokinesis
  • Levitate
• Ring Spark Field
• Sol Empire (first appearance)
• Spin Attack
• Super State

Continuity[]

• As previously recapped from the previous issue (albeit with different dialogue and actions), Super Sonic and Super Silver managed to revert the effects of the Metal Virus, restoring everyone in the process, and destroy it. After Super Sonic tried to get rid of the Warp Topaz through the Super Warp Portal, he vanished.
• Dr. Eggman and Tails both recall creating the Multi-Portal Generator using the Rescue Shuttle's spare parts, which occured in Sonic the Hedgehog #26, "All or Nothing, Part 1".
• Cream is reunited with Vanilla after they were both forced to separate in Sonic the Hedgehog #22, "The Last Minute, Part 2".
• Gemerl's receiver is still destroyed as a result of the events of Sonic the Hedgehog #27, "All or Nothing, Part 2".
• Zavok has reverted back to his normal size, first seen in the previous issue.
• Cream states that all of the Deadly Six were defeated, an event that occurred over Sonic the Hedgehog #27-#28.
• Zavok mentions that he lost control of the Metal Virus and his Zombot hordes, which he began to take control of in Sonic the Hedgehog #25, "A Sudden Shift".
• Cream is reunited with Cheese after they were both forced to separate in Sonic the Hedgehog #18, "Victims".
• Zazz, Zeena, Zor, Zomom and Master Zik are still found to be in Riverside, Sunset City, Orchardville, Vista View and Winterburg, respectively as first seen in Sonic the Hedgehog #25, "A Sudden Shift". Additionally, Zomom is still trapped underneath the Vista View gate which occurred in Sonic the Hedgehog #27, "All or Nothing, Part 2".
• Zazz, Zeena, Zor, Zomom and Master Zik begin roaming around on Sonic's world. This would continue for several issues.
• The Babylon Rogues are still in Winterburg from when they first arrived in Sonic the Hedgehog #26, "All or Nothing, Part 1".
• Wave's sunglasses are still broken as a result of the events in Sonic the Hedgehog #26, "All or Nothing, Part 1".
  • The sunglasses appeared to be fine in the Sonic the Hedgehog #28, "All or Nothing, Part 3" but this was likely due to the fact that it was not the same artist who worked on either issue.
• Wave recalls Jet staying behind with her and Storm to help fend off against the Zombots, which occurred in Sonic the Hedgehog #28, "All or Nothing, Part 3".
• Amy recalls Knuckles dissolving the Resistance in Sonic the Hedgehog #12, "The Cost of the Battle for Angel Island".
• Knuckles recalls the few remaining refugees that were brought to Angel Island in Sonic the Hedgehog #25, "A Sudden Shift".
• Rouge is still found lounging on the Master Emerald, which she first started doing in the previous issue.
• Orbot and Cubot were still among the wreckage of the Faceship and Eggman recalls its destruction, from Sonic the Hedgehog #28, "All or Nothing, Part 3".
• Vector stops Charmy from charging headfirst at Metal Sonic, not wanting a repeat of the events of Sonic the Hedgehog #17, "Plague".
• Blaze is seen to be back in her world, which she mentioned she would return to in Sonic the Hedgehog #12, "The Cost of the Battle for Angel Island".

Trivia[]

• Zavok states that he will not suffer humiliation from Sonic again, referencing the events of Sonic Lost World.
• In the second panel of page three, Vanilla is drawn without her sleeves.
• In the third panel on page ten, Storm is drawn without his sclera.
• In the fourth panel on page sixteen, Knuckles is drawn without his left arm.

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, Tails, Amy, Cream, Silver, Knuckles, Gemerl, Shadow, Metal Sonic, Dr. Eggman and the Deadly Six.
• 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. For this issue, only fan artwork is showcased. The other pages showcase raw artwork of each of the variant covers for the issue.
• Canto - Free Digital Ashcan

Quotes[]

Knuckles: Darn it, Sonic! You're making me look bad! Knock it off and come back!

Zazz: Argh! I've never had to think this much before! It's killin' my killer mood!

Zomom: Aww... I look like a waffle. Hey, wait! Bring me WAFFLES!

Jet: I mean--yeah, duh, of course I stuck around! I'm the Legendary Wind Master! The bravest, noblest, bestest leader of all time!

Wave: Aaaand the moment is ruined.

Storm: You sure are, boss! You sure are!

Omega: Destroy all Eggman robots! Red drone! Use me to bludgeon the yellow drone and then yourself!

Orbot: Why do I have to hold him?!

Trivia[]

• This issue marks the first time an issue was slated to come out within the same month as the previous issue in the initial solicits. However, both issues were delayed for over two months due to the coronavirus pandemic, with this issue's release being rescheduled from 27 May 2020 to 5 August 2020. It was later rescheduled again to 12 August 2020 before being pushed back to 19 August 2020.
• Adam Bryce Thomas' fan character, Lanolin, can be seen in the initial inks for cover A of the issue. She was later edited out.
• On cover B, Orbot's pose with him holding Omega's head is similar to the scene with the famous quote "Alas, poor Yorick," from William Shakespeare's Hamlet.
  • This is likely a reference to Orbot's pose with Cubot's head in Sonic Lost World, also parodying Hamlet.
• Cover RI is the second piece of the two-part panoramic connecting cover artwork by Nathalie Fourdraine.
• The second page of the Sonic Letters Squad mistakenly states that next month part one of "Cured" will be released, as it was already released with this issue.

Gallery[]

Cover artwork[]

Gallery
Cover A inks. Art by Adam Bryce Thomas. Cover A colors. Art by Adam Bryce Thomas. Cover B colors. Art by Diana Skelly. Cover RI colors. Art by Nathalie Fourdraine.

Early covers[]

Interior artwork[]

Preview pages[]

Gallery
Credits page Page one Page two Page three Page four Page five

References[]

External links[]

• IDW Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 30 at IDW Sonic Hub Wiki, the IDW Sonic wiki.