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| Sonic the Comic | |
|---|---|
 Cover of issue #125, art byRichard Elson | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Egmont (originallyFleetway) Sega Europe |
| Schedule | Fortnightly |
| Format | Finished |
| Publication date | 29 May 1993–9 January 2002 |
| No. of issues | 223 total (184 original, 39 reprints) |
| Main character | Sonic the Hedgehog |
| Creative team | |
| Written by | Nigel Kitching,Lew Stringer et al. |
| Artist(s) | Richard Elson,Mick McMahon et al. |
Sonic the Comic (STC) was a British children's comic published byFleetway Editions between 1993 and 2002. It was the UK'sSega comic, featuring stories about its mascotSonic the Hedgehog and related characters, as well as comic strips based on other Sega video games, along with news, reviews, and tips for games released for Sega systems.
The original price forSonic the Comic was 95 pence, but it incrementally increased over the comic's lifespan, until the price had reached£1.50 by the final issue. The comic generally contained four comic strip stories, each usually following different storylines and being written and drawn by different writers and artists. The first was always a seven-page story about Sonic himself (except for #148 which began with the Tails strip), and in the earliest issues, the remaining three would involve a differentSega game character (see list below). Later, the Sega backup strips were supplanted by stories focusing on supporting Sonic characters such asTails,Knuckles,Amy and theChaotix. The anthology "Sonic's World" featured a variety of events in the STC world not covered by the main character strips.
The different strips could at times contrast heavily with each other, with different strips aimed at different age groups or with a different balance between comedy and drama: the humour-basedDecap Attack strip could appear alongside the darker and more violentStreets of Rage strip. Lew Stringer has stated that the majority of readers were aged between five and ten and many strips were written with this in mind: "That doesn't mean that older readers can't appreciate the stories and artwork of course but it's worth bearing in mind that if the stories sometimes seem juvenile, it's because they are. Having said that, it doesn't mean we can be sloppy because we're 'just' writing for kids".[1]
Aside from the comic strips, for its first few years STC regularly featured content related to Sega videogaming. Fitting in with the Sonic convention of callinglevels "Zones", these sections were given such titles as the "Q-Zone" (which featured videogame tips andcheats), the "News Zone" and the "Review Zone". Readers' artwork was printed in the "Graphic Zone", and letters were featured in "Speedlines".
The mascot of the comic was a robot named Megadroid, composed of parts of aSega Genesis/Mega Drive. Megadroid was the persona used by the editors ofSonic the Comic to answer letters and provide story recaps and general magazine news (much likeTharg in2000AD, and in fact created by former ThargRichard Burton). He acted as a liaison between the readers (whom he called "boomers," deriving from the term "sonic boom") and the "humes who think they're in charge".
Megadroid had two one-off strips; the first (#41) was a tour of the STC offices for the Christmas issue, and a second (#83) in which he ran away from the STC offices to aseaside town only to return from his harrowing experience to attend to the needs of the boomers.
Megadroid was dropped from the comic in 1998, and with him the "Speedlines" letter page vanished. Speedlines returned in 2000, though it was no longer a regular feature and instead of Megadroid, the letters were supposedly answered by Sonic himself (actually editorAndy Diggle and laterSteve MacManus).
The bulk of the work in the comic was written by eitherNigel Kitching orLew Stringer, while art was provided byRichard Elson, Nigel Dobbyn, Carl Flint,Woodrow Phoenix, Roberto Corona,Mike McMahon, Kitching himself and many others. The first editor wasRichard Burton.
Several of the comic's contributors have found success elsewhere in comics.Mark Millar, who wrote the firstStreets of Rage storyline and some Sonic strips, has since written major titles forDC andMarvel Comics such asWanted andCivil War; editorAndy Diggle has since become a comics writer; andRoad to Perdition illustratorRichard Rayner contributed toDecap Attack scripts.
The demise ofSTC began when budget cuts at the comic led to the number of pages being cut from 36 to 32 beginning with issue 95 in 1997 and as a result, the loss of the news, game review and game tips sections (though the slow phasing out of these sections had already been ongoing since early 1995). Despite being one of Fleetway's biggest selling comics in 1998, from issue 133, published that July, one strip an issue was given over to reprints to save money as part of Fleetway's policy of five-year reader cycles (issue 133 was published shortly after the comic's fifth birthday). Later in the year, the mascot Megadroid was removed, along with the "Speedlines" letters page. Two further strips were replaced by reprints in issues 155 and 157, leaving just the mainSonic strip and the cover as the only new material in each issue. With the lack of new supporting character strips, Nigel Kitching was asked to share the main strip with Lew Stringer, causing the plans for the "Shanazar" story arc to be heavily altered.[2]
During this time, the main strip's stories came under the "Time Zone" banner, mostly being set on Shanazar and then later involving dimensional portals leading to other dimensions and Earth's history (identical to the previous Amy and Tekno stories) due to editorial preference. Neither Mobius nor any of the main characters bar Sonic and Amy featured, and the lack of ancillary strips meant no other stories could be told. Following issue 157, Lew Stringer replaced Nigel Kitching as the comic's sole writer.
AfterAndy Diggle became the comic's editor, Stringer's run concluded with an apocalyptic final storyline, and Kitching returned with issue 175 for a ten-part adaptation of the videogameSonic Adventure. From issue 185, the comic became fully reprint, aside from new covers drawn byRichard Elson. This happened at short notice – even Kitching was not aware that issue 184 would be his last until he requested an extension for the ten-issue storyline he was in the middle of writing, having apparently already made plans for future stories that would follow it. He revealed the cancellation to fans on the unofficial STCYahoo! Groups mailing list on 19 April 2000, a little over two months before the last issue was published and only a few weeks after he himself had been made aware of the fact. As a result, the final story ended with a handful of loose ends from earlier stories left untied.
Fully reprint issues continued to be published until issue 223, which reprinted the four-part storyline "The Evil Empire" and featured an article by Nigel Kitching about his time working on the comic, an abridged version of whichwas posted to the STC Mailing List.
A new Sonic magazine published by Egmont Story Works began publication in 2024. Due to licensing restrictions, issues ofSonic the Comic are no longer considered "on brand" and therefore cannot be reprinted.[3]
The mainlineSonic the Hedgehog series lifts its lore and some characters from the western lore bible, which was used in a promotional comic for the originalSonic the Hedghog game and the UKStay Sonic guide.[4] Revealed in issue 8'sThe Origin of Sonic, Sonic was a brown hedgehog who originally worked with professor Ovi Kintober, and became blue by running fast enough to break the sound barrier. Ovi planned to use the Chaos Emeralds to rid the planet Mobius of all evil, but an accident involving the emeralds and a rotten egg transformed him intoIvo Robotnik. After traveling to the Special Zone, Sonic and his friends are warped 6 months into the future, and have to take down Robotnik's control over the world.
In addition to established characters such as Sonic,Tails, and Amy, unique members of the series' incarnation of the Freedom Fighters include a computer AI version of Kintober, as well as Johnny Lightfoot, a rabbit who wields a stafflike weapon, Porker Lewis, the Fighters' technology expert, Shortfuse the Cybernik, a squirrel encased in a powerful super-badnik suit, and Tekno the Canary, a scientific genius who betrayed Robotnik. Robotnik himself gains an ally in Grimer, the series' equivalent to Snively from theSonic the Hedgehog series and the Archie ComicsSonic the Hedgehog series. Robotnik later encases himself inside an egg, transforming again to be more in line with his design fromAdventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.Knuckles the Echidna debuts in adaptations ofSonic 3 andSonic & Knuckles, where he protects the Master Emeralds on Angel Island (known in the comic as the Floating Island), and reluctantly teams up with the sky pirate Captain Plunder. Knuckles gets stranded on Mobius with a treasure chest containing documents about the island, and goes on adventures around the world in his travels home.
Metal Sonic, known as Metallix in the story, became the series' second major recurring villain after Eggman. Debuting in the Sonic CD adaptionThe Sonic Terminator, he captures Amy on Little Planet (known as the Miracle Planet in the comic), forcing Sonic to rescue her. Metallix returns in a loose adaptation ofKnuckles' Chaotix, where a hivemind of Metallix robots calling themselves the Brotherhood of Metallix have taken over Robotnik's former base in the Special Zone, and in the storyThe Return of Chaotix, where they take over both Little Planet and Mobius by preventing the creation of Robotnik, revealing that it was actually Grimer who created the Metallix. The Chaotix themselves reside in and protect the Special Zone.
One element ofSonic the Comic that was distinct from other Sonic fiction was its depiction of Sonic's powered-up form,Super Sonic who would be nicknamed "Fleetway Super Sonic" by the fandom. Inspired by his difficulty to control in the games, Super Sonic is reimagined as a more literal being of chaos, transforming in times of stress or exposure to the Chaos Emeralds. Super Sonic was separated from Sonic and both were trapped in the Special Zone for some time. In the series' 100th issue, Super Sonic launches an electromagnetic pulse after escaping the Special Zone and loses his power, which destroys all of Robotnik's badniks and technology, ending his reign as the ruler of Mobius. Super Sonic is later befriended by the magician Ebony and psychic Pyjamas, who try to keep him out of sight out of fear that his powers would reactivate.
While the Freedom Fighters went on their own adventures, Robotnik and Grimer set up base inFlickies' Island and start producing Badniks again. When Sonic and Tails head to the island, Robotnik is revealed to have allied with the Drakon Empire, an intergalactic race that brought the Chaos Emeralds to Earth, and plan to take them back. Alliances, betrayals and double-crosses culminates in Robotnik absorbing the energy of the Emeralds and temporarily obtaining godlike powers, before being drained of them and shrinking into a subatomic size.
A series of dimension-hopping adventures by Amy and Tekno resulted in Mobius being briefly invaded by Earth's military, after which Sonic pursued Grimer and Nack the Weasel in their quest to recover Robotnik. Trapped in the subatomic world of Shanazar, Sonic, and later Amy, adventured across the planets various zones. A more sadistic Robotnik, in his quest to take over once more, uses Grimer and Nack's dimensional technology to enlarge and fuse Shanazar with Mobius. Robotnik also enters a partnership with the plastic alien hivemind the Plax, planning to drain the energy of Mobius and Earth in order to take down Sonic. Shortfuse destroys the machine by wiring the machine to himself to undo the damage, destroying his Cybernik armor in return.
The comic's final story would be a loose adaptation ofSonic Adventure. In one final plan to defeat Sonic, Grimer unleashes the fear-inducing Chaos on the Freedom Fighters, which manages to kill Johnny Lightfoot. Chaos attacks the Floating Island, causing Knuckles to jettison the Emeralds around the world before it could absorb all of them. Sonic is brought to the past by Tikal and Pachamac, learning that the Echidnas started a war between Mobius and the Drakon by stealing the Chaos Emeralds, and that Chaos was a Drakon Prosecutor mutated by the Chaos Emeralds. Robotnik's plan to destroy all the heroes was thwarted by Super Sonic, dying from a lack of Chaos Energy. Super Sonic absorbs Chaos' energy, reverting to a Drakon, and Ebony uses her magic to fuse Sonic and Super Sonic back together, ensuring the latter can't surface again.
The mainprotagonist of the series. Deviating from other portrayals in games and media, he is presented as a flawed hero, often acting self-centered, arrogant and rude towards his friends, such as nicknaming Tails "pixel-brain". Despite this, Sonic stills cares about his friends and all those around him; helping and protecting people from evildoers like Robotnik. When Sonic is required to do some undercover work, he adopts the persona of "Bob Beaky", a heavily wrapped up bird.
Tails is Sonic's best friend and sidekick. This depiction of him does not the genius intellect of his game counterpart, instead emphasizing his role as a sidekick who looks up to Sonic despite being teased. In his solo strips, he is revealed to have been born to the Enchanter Kings in the magical Nameless Zone, where he writes back to his family about his adventures and places himself in the hero role. This causes him to be called onto for threats that he is often unequipped for. Later stories also feature the recurring theme of Tails having to solve problems and fight villains without the help of Sonic.
Knuckles is the guardian of the Master Emerald, which gives the Chaos Emeralds their power as well as the secret to the Floating Island's levitation powers. Following the adaptation of Sonic Adventure, Knuckles is also in possession of one of the Chaos Emeralds. In this media depiction, Knuckles is not too fond of Sonic's character, and is notably less gullible than his video game counterpart.
Amy first appeared in a two-part story where she was arrested by Dr. Robotnik's Badniks for the criminal offense of association with Sonic, as she had been lying about being his girlfriend. While Sonic saved her, she became a member of the Freedom Fighters due to being considered a fugitive.
Amy's character swiftly matured as the comic went on and became one of the most valuable members of the Freedom Fighters, especially due to her expert marksmanship with hercrossbow (as opposed to wielding the Piko Piko Hammer), which she created herself. The notion of a love interest in Sonic was, for the most part, underplayed and one of the comic's writers, Nigel Kitching, revealed he saw it partly as Amy just trying to annoy Sonic.[5] Several times, Sonic would be left exasperated by either civilians assuming the two were dating, which Amy would play along with or her playing up the crush. Because of this, when trapped on the Miracle Planet with her, he faked being lost for two days.[6]
She appeared often in strips, with a few solo stories byLew Stringer where she saved the day without the others noticing. She constantly showed self-righteousness, pragmatism and quick thinking: in the story "Plasma" in #78, she both worked out how to defeat the villain and let Sonic believe he had as she knew that, as a symbol of hope for Mobius, "it's important that they think it'shim who saves the day!". She also took a second-in-command role, taking full control when Sonic was absent or transformed into Super Sonic. When Sonic was lost in the Special Zone, she led the Freedom Fighters[7] until he returned in #100. At a later part of the comic's life, Amy would be mostly written by Lew Stringer as a straightforward adventurer and had a long series of back-up strips teamed up with her best friendTekno. A later story would also delve in Amy's backstory, revealing she was an ordinary hedgehog whose quills turned pink in a fight with Robotnik.
Nigel Kitching originally planned for Amy to be more of an irritant for Sonic, influenced by 1930s and 40s "Hollywood screwball comedies" likeIt's a Wonderful World, but while still being a capable fighter. However, Deborah Tate wanted the character to be of a role model for girls, as she was the only female regular character at the time, and dictated that she be more sensible and mature.[8]
TheChaotix characters – Vector, Mighty, Espio, and Charmy – were written intoSonic the Comic as protectors of the Special Zone. They reside in New Tek City, populated by characters parodying variousMarvel superheroes, and took in Sonic when he got trapped in the Special Zone. The team is shown to be somewhat dysfunctional, with member Charmy Bee being frequently characterized as annoying.
When STC started out, three of the four strips in each issue originated from games other than Sonic. After a while, they were gradually replaced by Sonic spin-offs.
Of these, "Pirate STC" and the "Megadroid" strips was the only ones not to be based on an existing video game; "Pirate STC" was based on a series of adverts for theSega Mega Drive andMega-CD, while the "Megadroid" strips were based on the host robot ofSonic the Comic.
Decap Attack was an adaptation of the Genesis/Mega Drive gameof the same name. The strip was mostly written and drawn by Nigel Kitching, althoughRichard Piers Rayner co-wrote some episodes andMike McMahon drew several. The series outlasted every other non-Sonic strip, getting new stories until issue 132.
The strip contained a very absurdist and manic sense of black humour, dealing with the daily life of Chuck, Head (the talking skull who, to Head's annoyance, gets thrown at enemies), the evil-minded Igor (who is constantly trying to kill Chuck) and the stereotypical mad scientist Professor Frank N. Stein, who is actually putting on his German accent and really comes from Cardiff. The game's adversary Max D. Cap only appeared twice, along with his accountant sidekick Rupert, who is constantly encouraging Max to be more stereotypically evil in his mannerisms.
Three comic strip series based on theStreets of Rage Genesis/Mega Drive games were published inSonic the Comic. The strip first appeared in issue 7 of STC and was written byMark Millar, and the lastStreets of Rage story ran from STC 41-46 and was written by Nigel Kitching. All three series featured artwork by Peter Richardson.
The strip was set in a city ruled by Mr. X and his organised crime group The Syndicate, who were opposed by the video games'player characters Axel, Blaze, Max and later Skate. In the first story, Axel, Blaze and Max quit the police force and become vigilantes.Streets of Rage was darker and more violent than STC's other strips, and the stories were relatively long for the comic, being told over six parts.
In addition toSonic the Comic, nine issues ofSonic the Poster Mag were published. This comic consisted of anA1-sized poster, on the reverse of which was printed a comic strip in A4-sized sections. The poster was folded to match the pages of the comic. Most of the stories were based around Sonic, but one was devoted toShinobi and another toStreets of Rage. Comic stories were published from issue 3 onwards: Issue 1 contained information on the two Sonic cartoon series at the time (Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog andSonic the Hedgehog) and the second featured game tips forSonic Chaos.
In 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1999Sonic Summer Specials were published. The 1995 issue consisted mainly of reprinted material fromSonic the Poster Mag, and the 1999 edition was entirely reprints. In addition, theKnuckles Knock-Out Special was printed in 1996, containing material devoted to Sonic's "friendly rival".
Four 32-page compilation books were released by Ravette Publishing in 1994. Early Sonic stories were reprinted inSonic the Hedgehog Beats the Badniks (issues 1–4) andSonic the Hedgehog: Spin Attack (issues 6 & 8–10), whileShinobi: The Fear Pavilion (issues 1–6) andStreets of Rage: Bad City Fighters (issues 7–12) each collected the complete first story from their respective series.
Twenty-five copies of each book were given away as competition prizes in issues 23 (Beats the Badniks andSpin Attack) and 24 (Shinobi andStreets of Rage), although in each competition the winners were unable to choose which of the two books to receive as a prize.
In 1993,Virgin Publishing released four Sonic novels, written byJames Wallis,Carl Sargent andMarc Gascoigne under the collective pseudonym "Martin Adams".[9] These were based on the origin established inStay Sonic and the original lore bibles and shared many similarities with early STC, including the origin of Robotnik and the early cast (Johnny, Porker, Sally Acorn, Joe Sushi et al.). The second title,Sonic the Hedgehog in the Fourth Dimension, involved a time-travelling Sonic being forced to ensure Kintobor became Robotnik, in order to save Mobius - several years before STC featured a similar plot element.
In its 87th issue, the British video games magazineGamesTM featured a four-page article on “Sonic The Comic,” entitled “Paper With Attitude,”[10][11] which included observations by various people who worked on the comic such as Nigel Kitching, scans of the comic, a production sketch of Captain Plunder, and the history of STC. Amongst the points raised in the article included the following:
• Unlike a number of other comics (such as those made by Marvel) any artwork was drawn only after STC was written as a full script.
• Halfway during Robert Corona's tenure, a new licensing agency came up with new guidelines for drawing Sonic, which included the position, orientation, and the number of his spikes varying from each angle, the fact that Sonic's pupils “always had to be touching some part of the outside of his eyes,” and the fact that they could never show Sonic's teeth.
• There were restrictions on the amount of violence allowed. A lynching scene in the “Knuckles” series, for instance, was redrawn to place the noose around his body rather than his neck, while in a “Sonic” story a gun was redrawn to have it fire a sucker dart. There was, however, more freedom in regards to other Sega franchises, as characterised by the “Decap Attack” series, where Kitching (in his own words) “got away with murder” and in terms of the story where the brain of the detective was physically removed to erase his memories, Kitching was “absurdly proud of this for some reason.”
• The Megadroid mascot was the creation ofRichard Burton.
• Nigel Kitching decided to have Robotnik overthrown in the 100th issue because he felt that the fact that Robotnik remaining dictator of Mobius despite the number of times Sonic defeated him sent out a negative message: that evil “can never actually be defeated.”
• The news, game, and review sections were removed later on during the comic's run due to budgetary reasons.
• Positive comments were made about the unofficial continuation of STC, STC Online. Nigel Kitching noted that the people at STC Online "are producing rather good continuations of the STC strips." Robert Corona noted that he couldn't say “how impressed I am at the dedication and talent that goes into STC Online," feeling that it was great that "those guys refused to accept the end just because the publisher decided to pull the plug." Andy Diggle was also pleased about STC finding a new home, noting that "It's nice to see that STC actually HAS an online presence."[12]
{{cite web}}:|archive-url= is malformed: timestamp (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)Re: question concerning Amy Rose
{{cite web}}:|archive-url= is malformed: timestamp (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)I teamed up with Carl Sargent and Marc Gascoigne to produce four more Sonic books, novels this time, forVirgin Publishing, under the pseudonym of 'Martin Adams'.
