I try not to interact much with "fandom". That is, I avoid communities that form around select pieces of media. One reason for this is that some communities can be very deviant, depending on how niche the subject is, sprung up independently of the subject's purview. The main reason, however, is the never-satisfied hunger for "more content"; nothing is ever enough and each new morsel, no matter how empty and worthless, is given an absurd level of flattery. The corporate phrase "turn brands into religions" is never more clear than seeing a movie fan giddy at the seventh cash-in sequel.

Fandom is a very significant force in the western world. Such a thing exists elsewhere as well, such as the otaku in Japan, but many artists see it only as a side-effect of pursuing their own work. The same could be said here for a good majority of our history, but entertainment has become far more than just a business. Hollywood set the precedence for entertainment as an industry, meant not for artistic pursuit or showcase of talent but rather to appeal to a market and influence public opinion. The late 2010s were when this attitude began to draw ire from the mainstream, and it has persisted into the 2020s. People call it "woke", and that's a whole different conversation, but in its wake the "influence public opinion" approach has left a bundle of works that do garner general praise. Unfortunately that is the "appeal to a market" approach, the rise of strong fanservice media.

Fanservice can mean a lot of things, but here I will define it as "meant primarily to please fans of an entertainment franchise". Fanservice media is generally not about telling a story or creating a aesthetically pleasing work, but rather to offer fandom what it wants. This is usually in the form of references to beloved stories, using nostalgia from the "best hits" as a tool to elevate what is currently being sold. These stories are void of substance and are meant to be consumed once, making the producers money, and they fall apart after subsequent viewings and scrutiny that comes once the excitement wears off (see public opinion of Spider-Man: No Way Home).

Comic books have been in a rough spot as of late. The 2010s also saw them stagnate as the social messaging they wanted to champion clashed with the worldviews of the main audience, and they've fallen in popularity. It's not like demand isn't there -- manga is selling better than ever -- it's that no one wants to read what the writers are selling. Because of this they've had to market themselves through fanservice, referencing old stories and encouraging the loathsome "powerscaling" that comic book fans are so ought to do.

And so we get the first issue of DC X Sonic the Hedgehog, written by Ian Flynn and released in March of 2025. Sonic and DC have both been chugging along in the comics world for awhile now, but this crossover has sparked a frenzy of interest. And I would say that it is completely unwarranted, because already this comic is empty and dull with all the trappings of fanservice to gain popularity.

This comic is absolutely loaded with fanservice. Ian Flynn has been writing Sonic the Hedgehog comics for about two decades now, and he is determined to make a reference whenever possible. Every other line the Sonic cast says is either a reference to a previous game or is just out of character. They're smoothed over to make them crossover-friendly, and the constant references are an illusion to make them seem like the characters that everyone loves. Given how squeaky-clean the Justice League is in this story tells me something similar is up with them, but who knows what DC has been doing with them these days.

There's a page that drives this point home. There's the obligatory "cast meet cast" where everyone meets and are properly introduced. Everyone gets along and want to team up to defeat the big bad -- it's Darkseid, for the record -- when Shadow decides he doesn't care and excuses himself. But Batman follows and just point-blank asks him who he lost, prompting them both to bring up their backstories and connect over that. Batman quickly convinces Shadow to come back into the group, and everyone's together to work on foiling Darkseid's plans.

There is so much you can do with this connection. Loss is the underlying theme behind Shadow and Batman and what they do, even if they have to some extent grown out of it (or at least Shadow has, Batman will probably never get over his parents). Any competent writer would have incorporated that theme into this crossover's story, giving them something to even unconsciously connect to and act along with. But no, Flynn turns this incredible opportunity for storytelling into a spelled-out reason for these two to stick around in the crossover. It's dull, it's unimaginative, and it's sheer wastefulness. It make a killer fandom article, though.

The whole comic is like this. Tails and Cyborg connect over technology, Knuckles and Superman connect over being the last of their kind. Then there's Amy and Wonder Woman who connect because they're girls... and Silver and Green Lantern because they can move things with their mind... It's all so superficial! This is why I decided to write this review now rather than wait for more issues to come out, because all of the potential these characters have is just squandered in the very first issue. In true comic book fashion no one is a character, they're all attributes and stat blocks that can click together in the most shallow and boring way. Fans are okay with it though because Sonic and Flash get to race each other around and boy has the internet spent decades debating which of these two is faster and who would win in a fight. I bet they will fight at some point in this comic, and it's gonna suck.

While we're comparing these artificial connections between DC Comics and Sonic the Hedgehog, I want to take advantage of this opportunity to address a common misconception about Sonic that, with this comic, will only be exacerbated in the future. Sonic the Hedgehog is not a superhero franchise.

But of course it is! It's about characters who move at superhuman speeds, have superhuman strength and incredible destructive abilities, and use those powers for good. They even have Doctor Robotnik as the evil supervillain they have to defeat with all of his minions. Surely this makes them superheroes!

This misconception is why people ask questions like "why doesn't Sonic just kill Eggman?" or why doesn't he form an Avengers-style team with his friends (something the comics have toyed with). It is funny how this same logic isn't applied to Mario, since Sonic was made with him partially in mind, but it goes deeper than that, because Sonic and his friends are not stat blocks and alignments. Sonic is not a hero, he says so himself; he does what feels good to him and he steps in when he feels like it. He isn't guided by his conscience or some moral obligation to do the right thing, he does what comes natural and good things follow. He was always more metaphor than character, a statement about environmentalism that then grew to embody the natural world in general. His speed is not from some freak accident like a comic-book speedster, it's all natural and a characteristic of his archetype being free as the wind itself. All of the Sonic characters are designed in a similar way, and to make them any less than that is extremely reductive. Which, in the case of this comic, it definitely is.

That is what makes this comic fall apart. Sonic could work in a story alongside more modern superheroes, but he is not one nor is his franchise built to sustain that kind of model. Not understanding that Sonic is about his themes and not his powers will always make crossovers such as this all the more hollow and not worth remembering. Fanservice media is inferior to true story in the same way. A message and a statement will always stick around longer than a cool move, and for as long as fanservice stories are made nothing will last. Until comics realize this they are doomed to stagnation.