Burning hot with power, Blaze the Cat has lost control of her mind to the conniving Blackwood the Ermine, who commands her to hunt and battle Silver the Hedgehog. Now, Silver and his new companion Dapple must race through the ever-changing hallways of the Castle Colossus to stop Blackwood, save Blaze, and free the townspeople trapped as servants!
With the very ground they step on working against them, can our heroes save the day this time? This spooky arc on the Road to #100 closes with a dramatic issue focused on fan favorites Silver and Blaze!
IDW Sonic the Hedgehog #91 Official Solicitation
Blackwood has spent two issues insisting he is the perfect host while giving Blaze and Silver increasingly good reasons to never visit his castle again. In Sonic the Hedgehog #91, the castle itself finally drops the act.
Evan Stanley brings the three-part storyline to its conclusion with an issue that wastes absolutely no time getting into the action. Blackwood’s plans have escalated well beyond suspicious hospitality, Blaze is caught under his control, and Silver has to find a way to stop him without hurting his friend. Fortunately, he has Dapple the Doe on his side, although the enormous mechanical monstrosity tearing through the landscape is making their job considerably more difficult.
If issue #90 was about letting the mystery simmer, #91 is what happens when somebody finally turns up the heat.
And Blackwood really has been asking for it.
The biggest difference between this chapter and its predecessor is the pacing. Stanley has traded Blackwood’s elaborate conversations and theatrical tours for almost uninterrupted action, with Silver attempting to navigate the chaos while his opponent insists on making everything as unnecessarily dramatic as possible.
Blackwood remains wonderfully insufferable. His enormous ego, obsession with nobility and complete inability to comprehend why anyone might object to his ambitions were among the most entertaining parts of the previous issue, and that personality survives the transition into a considerably more dangerous confrontation.
There is something quite funny about somebody maintaining the manners of a distinguished gentleman while causing this much destruction.
But the story also loses a little of what made him interesting in the first place.
Back in #90, Blackwood’s hospitality made him genuinely unsettling. He could be charming, ridiculous or threatening, sometimes within the same conversation, and it was difficult to tell exactly how much of his behavior was calculated. Here, with his intentions out in the open, he becomes a more conventional Sonic villain. Still entertaining, certainly, but not quite as fascinating as the character who kept everybody guessing throughout the previous chapter.
Fortunately, Silver is more than capable of carrying the action.
One of the things I particularly enjoy about Stanley’s portrayal of Silver is that his optimism never comes at the expense of his determination. He can be trusting, sometimes excessively so, but when somebody threatens his friends, there is no hesitation about what he needs to do.
That becomes particularly important with Blaze. Silver cannot simply treat the situation like another battle against one of Eggman’s robots. He knows his friend is still there, and the story gets some welcome tension from the fact that stopping Blackwood and protecting Blaze are not necessarily the same problem.
His psychokinesis also gives Adam Bryce Thomas plenty of opportunities to get creative with the action.
Thomas is an excellent fit for an issue built around this much movement. Where Alex Forrest gave the previous chapter its expressive character acting and theatrical atmosphere, Thomas brings a more explosive energy to the finale.
The sheer scale of the Castle Colossus is impressive, but the most enjoyable panels are often the ones where Silver’s movements cut through the surrounding chaos. His psychic abilities allow him to move in ways that would be impossible for most characters, and Thomas takes full advantage of that freedom.
There are some particularly striking compositions involving enormous pieces of machinery, flying debris and characters being thrown across the page. Leonardo Ito de Oliveira’s colours help distinguish the action, with Silver’s pale cyan effects contrasting against Blaze’s fire and the warmer tones of Blackwood’s machinery.
Ed Dukeshire’s lettering also has plenty of work to do here. Explosions, collisions and mechanical destruction regularly fill the panels with enormous sound effects, giving the action a suitably ridiculous sense of scale without making the dialogue impossible to follow.
The result is a comic that looks fantastic in motion.
Occasionally, though, there is almost too much happening. The mechanical detail can make some of the busier panels take an extra moment to decipher, particularly when multiple characters, effects and moving parts occupy the same space. It is rarely a serious problem, but there are moments where the spectacle briefly gets ahead of the storytelling.
And while Silver receives some excellent material, Blaze does feel slightly shortchanged.
She was one of the strongest parts of #90, particularly in the way she attempted to maintain her royal composure while becoming increasingly suspicious of Blackwood. This time, her circumstances naturally place much of the immediate focus elsewhere.
That works for the danger Stanley has established, but it also means one half of the story’s central partnership spends less time making her own decisions. Blaze remains important to the conflict, and her connection with Silver continues to give the story its emotional foundation. I just would have liked a little more room for the character herself in the final chapter of an adventure built around the two of them.
Thankfully, Dapple helps fill that gap.
Dapple could easily have been little more than a helpful castle servant introduced to guide Silver through unfamiliar territory. Instead, Stanley gives her a personal stake in what is happening, making her increasingly important as the story develops.
Her nervousness and occasional awkwardness are endearing, but there is more to her than simply being the timid member of the group. The castle’s history and the people affected by Blackwood’s decisions have a direct bearing on her motivations, and watching her find the courage to act is one of the issue’s more satisfying elements.
She also makes a particularly good partner for Silver. His instinct is to charge toward a problem because somebody needs help, while Dapple understands considerably more about the consequences of what Blackwood is doing. Their different perspectives give the adventure some needed personality between its increasingly enormous action sequences.
It is a shame that the story doesn’t have a little more room to explore those ideas.
That is ultimately my biggest complaint with #91.
The issue has a great deal to resolve, and Stanley is trying to balance a final confrontation, the castle’s history, Dapple’s personal story, Blackwood’s motivations and Blaze and Silver’s relationship within a fairly small number of pages.
Most of these elements receive worthwhile attention, but the constant movement means some of the explanations and emotional developments arrive while the action is already racing toward its conclusion.
There is a particularly noticeable contrast with #90, which occasionally slowed itself down with too much exposition. This chapter goes in almost the opposite direction, packing so much into its finale that a few moments deserve considerably more breathing room than they receive.
A slightly longer conclusion, or perhaps a more even distribution of the story’s revelations across the three issues, might have helped.
Still, there is plenty to enjoy about how Stanley brings this particular adventure together. The story remembers the importance of its supporting characters, the central friendship remains convincing, and Blackwood’s increasingly outrageous ambitions provide Thomas with some of the most spectacular action artwork of the arc.
The conclusion also leaves the wider Road to #100 with questions worth following, without making this particular chapter feel like nothing more than preparation for the next storyline.
As a complete three-part adventure, the Blackwood Castle arc has been an enjoyable change of pace for IDW Sonic. It gives Blaze and Silver a chance to headline something distinct from the usual Eggman-related trouble, introduces some entertaining new personalities and explores a wonderfully eccentric corner of Sonic’s world.
I still think #90 had the stronger balance of character comedy and mystery, but #91 certainly knows how to deliver a spectacle.
And after everything that has happened inside those walls, I suspect neither Blaze nor Silver will be accepting another invitation to stay at a castle anytime soon.
An energetic and visually impressive conclusion to Blaze and Silver’s Blackwood Castle adventure. Adam Bryce Thomas delivers spectacular action, Dapple becomes an unexpectedly strong supporting character, and Blackwood remains entertainingly insufferable. The crowded pacing and reduced focus on Blaze prevent the finale from reaching the heights of the previous chapter, but this is still a satisfying end to the arc.
Sonic the Hedgehog #91 releases on October 28, 2026. The issue is written by Evan Stanley, with artwork by Adam Bryce Thomas, colours by Leonardo Ito de Oliveira, and lettering by Ed Dukeshire. Reviewed from an uncorrected advance copy provided for review purposes.
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