Sonic HQ - Sonic Comics Info

Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to the Comics Introduction page! For you people that have never heard of the comic or have wondered what its like and has been, this page serves as an introduction and a "briefing" of sorts, to help you get acquainted to the Archie Comics place in the Sonic genre!

This information is only brief in comparison to the other materials we have on the pages. So if youre a newbie to the comics, feel free to read this if you like and get yourself acquainted with what the comics are all about!

The Archie Sonic Comics have always worked a different from the norm of the games. Before, Archie was never considered canon as Sega Of America instructed them to follow the guidelines set about by the cartoons - which VERY loosely followed the games. The cartoon that Archie was instructed to follow was "Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog". Needless to say many fans did not like this version of the cartoon, and also did not want it in the comic and wanted to see a change. There WAS, however, another alternative. Waiting in the wings was the better of the two toons, a Saturday morning cartoon called "Sonic The Hedgehog" in which Sonic battled Dr. Robotnik with the help of the Freedom Fighters - Princess Sally, Bunnie Rabbot, Antione D'Coolette, Rotor The Walrus, and Tails The Fox. But there was a problem. While "Adventures" loosely followed the games, it is arguable that the Saturday morning toon went off on a tangent of its own at times. Due to fan requests, Archie went to their Sega liasons and requested that a change be made to the tone of the book. Sally and the rest of the FF's were already in the book so it wouldn't be hard ushering in the switches, and so around Issue #19, "Night Of A Thousand Sonics" which introduced the popular concept of parallel worlds to the book, fans began to see a gradual change of story content in the comics.

Sega Of America had for the longest time used the Fleetway Comics Origin that is used in the UK, but due to poor marketing on their part we fast forward to 1998 where they have marketed out Sega to DiC Animation in making "Sonic Underground". It is as of recent that Sega Of America has officially considered the Archie comics canon and as of now Archie, under SOA's new games liasons to the comic have moved their stories more towards the games - hence the new Sonic Adventure designs and use of other game elements - as well as being allowed to go off on its own. To further prove this - they even allowed Archie to change Robotnik's look to the "Sonic Adventure Eggman" model. And in order to blot out the problem that Sonic Underground causes due to continuity, SoA has even allowed Archie to tackle it as an alternate universe so that the continuity that already is will remain in tact. So, the comic may have had its rocky roads at first, but it has definitely come a LONG way!

Another factor that must be set into precedence is that of the fourth part of "End Game", written by Ken Penders, the premier Sonic writer at the time. The original premise behind Endgame was to serve as the TRUE death of Princess Sally - one of the main characters and Sonic's current would be love interest. Sally was to die by falling off a building on a reconaissance mission into Robotropolis. She was too have been shot down after repelling from the building and was supposed to have died only to be unknowingly replaced by a Robotnik clone. The clone would have lasted for about ten or so issues and later on down the line, the only person who would have realized this is Tails. Sonic wouldn't have believed him at first until it was too late - only realizing that in his supposed death - also to take place in #50 - Doctor Robotnik would have gotten the last laugh after all. Sonic would have become more protective of Tails and would have assumed position as leader of The Freedom Fighters.

Sadly to say, this development NEVER happened.

Zero hour of the release date of Sonic #50, Sega Of America stepped in at the last moment saying that they wanted Sally to stay alive for reasons of their own. Needless to say these reasons have YET to surface. At any rate, MUCH of the issues from #50 up to PROBABLY 64 had already been planned on the events of Sonic #50. Due to Sega's last minute interference, the 48 page #50 was cut to 32 pages at the last second with no way to really correct the errors. Even #51 hints at the problems of a "traitor" in Knothole. (The robotic Sally?) but with Sally still alive, the entire schematics of stories had to be changed. Ken Penders and editor Justin Gabrie were forced to cut back the story that fans had been expecting since FOREVER and instead of the planned story, we got the first part of the shaky Mobius World Tour Plotline - the one that split the Freedom Fighters - AND Sonic fans down the middle, as well as Archie's full artist and writers staff doing a round robin on Sonic to make up for the lost story planning caused by the Sonic 50 cutback.

It seemed like the post Endgame months - especially the EARLY months closer to #50 - were the worst of the bunch with the exceptions of a few. However, things have gotten back on track with stories FINALLY starting an uphill climb around Sonic #68 and #69 and the premise of one writer and one artist on Sonic instead of a round robin bit. With Sonic Adventure coming into view, and Sega having NEW people in its businesses to hopefully not make such decisions again, Sega is taking a larger role of the comics and are working WITH Archie instead of against them. the comic is FINALLY taking a new direction and has received the shot in the arm it needed. All in all things are fastly rising on the uptake for Sonic. And be glad that we even GOT SSS#6 - the Sonic #50 remake which ultimately printed the FULL final #50 story. Archie did it as a sort of "formal apology" to their fans - something they DIDN'T have to do. And it at least shows that sometimes, comic book companies DO listen. Endgame was a case of a company that butted in and made a wrong decision, and a comic company that couldn't give the readers what they wanted, the damage was done, but we're past that now and are finally on the move.

The Sonic comic has had its ups and downs, and its milestones and its blunders like every other comic - but its lasting ability has ALWAYS survived. And with #75 issues to back it up, two spin-off books (Knuckles' solo book, and the 48-page special) and a somewhat successful counter book in the UK - the Fleetway Sonic the Comic.