Sonic the Hedgehog
Promotional artwork from New York Comic-Con by Tyson Hesse (2017)
Publication information
Publisher	IDW Publishing (licensed by Sega of America)
Schedule	Monthly
Genre	Action-adventure Comedy-drama Horror/Psychological thriller (Issue #13–29; #49–56, 2020 Annual, Imposter Syndrome, Scrapnik Island) Science fantasy Superhero
Publication date	April 4, 2018 (2018-04-04)–present
No. of issues	71 (Main issues, including Annuals) 16 (Tangle & Whisper, Bad Guys, Imposter Syndrome, Scrapnik Island) 8 (Misc. one-shots, including 30th Anniversary Specials)
Creative team
Written by	Ian Flynn Evan Stanley Daniel Barnes Gale Galligan Ian Mutchler
Artist(s)	Tyson Hesse Rafa Knight Edwin Huang Kieran Gates Devin Kraft Ryan Jampole Yui Karasuno Min Ho Kim
Penciller(s)	Tracy Yardley Tyson Hesse Nathalie Fourdraine Evan Stanley Adam Bryce Thomas Jamal Peppers Jennifer Hernandez Jonathan Gray Lamar Wells Jack Lawrence Diana Skelly Priscilla Tramontano Aaron Hammerstrom Abigail Bulmer Thomas Rothlisberger Natalie Haines Mauro Fonseca
Inker(s)	Bob Smith Jim Amash Adam Bryce Thomas Jennifer Hernandez Gigi Dutriex Rick Mack Evan Stanley Tracy Yardley
Letterer(s)	Corey Breen Shawn Lee
Colorist(s)	Matt Herms Adam Bryce Thomas Heather Breckel Reggie Graham Leonardo Ito Elaina Unger Valentina Pinto Joana Lafuente
Editor(s)	Joe Hughes David Mariotte Megan Brown John Barber Riley Farmer

Sonic the Hedgehog is an ongoing American comic book series based on the Sega video game franchise, published by IDW Publishing. It is the third licensed comic book iteration based on Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog intellectual property, after Fleetway Publications' Sonic the Comic and Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog series.

Publication history

On July 21, 2017, IDW Publishing announced a deal with Sega to produce a new series of Sonic comics after the cancellation of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series by Archie Comics after a 24-year run.^[1] The new series began with a four-week long event where the first four issues were released each week in April 2018, followed by a monthly release of subsequent issues starting in May 2018. Archie Sonic writer Ian Flynn was later confirmed to return as the series' lead writer, alongside artist Tyson Hesse.^[2] In an interview with Game Informer, Flynn established that IDW Sonic is a brand-new continuity with no connection to the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series by Archie Comics.^[3]

During New York Comic Con 2017, Ian Flynn confirmed that characters old and new would be featured in the series, hinting that characters from the games and the original comics might possibly return.^[4][5][6][7] In January 2018, IDW revealed that Tracy Yardley, who originally worked on Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comics, would be one of the pencillers for the IDW series.

On April 14, 2020, it was announced that Evan Stanley, one of the series' artists, would be writing for the series.^[8]

On June 28, 2020, two original characters from the series, Tangle the Lemur and Whisper the Wolf, were announced to appear in the Sonic mobile game Sonic Forces: Speed Battle as part of its events,^[9][10] with them doing so next month.^[11] Surge the Tenrec would also join Speed Battle on November 21, 2023.^[12] Merchandise, including a plush toy, of the two have been released also.^[13][14] Tangle was also briefly mentioned in the 2022 Sonic game Sonic Frontiers.^[15] It is confirmed by the Lore Manager Chris Hernandez that the comics are canon to the games.^[16]

In November 2023, Sonic editor David Mariotte announced that the series would be taking a hiatus in 2024 until the miniseries Sonic the Hedgehog: Fang the Hunter is concluded.^[17]

Synopsis

The comic follows the adventures of Sonic and his friends (old and new) as they thwart Doctor Eggman and other villains.

After the end of the war, Eggman has genuinely lost his memory and ended up in a remote village where he has taken on the more friendly moniker of Mr. Tinker. Sonic learns that Neo Metal Sonic is now leading the Badniks, plotting to take over the world in Eggman's stead. While Sonic and his friends fight Neo Metal Sonic and his army on Angel Island, an Eggman admirer named Starline kidnaps Mr. Tinker and successfully reverts him back to Eggman after a defeated Metal Sonic returns to him.

While Tangle helps Whisper apprehend her former comrade turned criminal Mimic, Eggman hatches a new scheme involving the Metal Virus, which turns organic material into mindless robots dubbed "Zombots", but it quickly mutates beyond his control. Starline brings in the Deadly Six in hopes that they can control the Zombots, but they betray him. This leads to a falling-out between Starline and Eggman and forces the latter to help Sonic and his friends cure the world.

Afterwards, Sonic and company decide to fix E-123 Omega, whose body was destroyed during the plague. Sonic and Tails investigate an Eggman base to find the blueprints while Rouge, Amy, Cream, and Cheese enter a competition to win parts; the former group discovers a peaceful Badnik created by Mr. Tinker named Belle while the latter comes into conflict with former crime boss Clutch. Meanwhile, Starline, hoping to regain Eggman's respect and rejoin him by proving his own superiority, sets his own plans in motion by allying himself with villains like Zavok and stalking Sonic's friends. Zavok reunites the Deadly Six and they attack the Restoration's home base, but are defeated and banished to their homeworld of Lost Hex.

From the bio-data he has collected, Starline creates Surge and Kitsunami, two cyborgs meant to replace Sonic and Tails and end the status quo between them and Eggman. Upon learning that he has been conditioning them and wiping their memories to create their personalities and being unable to find any trace of their past, Surge and Kit vow to destroy all heroes and villains. Starline, oblivious, moves to accomplish his vision by conquering the Eggman Empire's new capital, Eggperial City, which is expanding itself until it covers the entire planet, and lures Sonic, Tails, and Belle there. However, Eggman defeats Starline and leaves him to die, while Kit flees with Surge in tow after several defeats incapacitate her. Eggman himself is subsequently defeated, and Eggperial City destroyed, by the Restoration and their allies.

Characters

New characters to the series include:

• Tangle the Lemur – an energetic ring-tailed lemur who can elongate her tail for use in combat. She is briefly mentioned in the mainline game Sonic Frontiers.
• Whisper the Wolf – a reserved wolf who uses a Wisp-powered rifle and becomes Tangle's best friend. She was formerly a member of an anti-Eggman mercenary group called the Diamond Cutters.
• Jewel the Beetle – a beetle museum curator and Tangle's childhood friend who later becomes the newest Restoration leader following the Metal Virus pandemic.
• Belle the Tinkerer – a clumsy but kindhearted marionette-like robot created by Eggman when he was "Mr. Tinker".
• Lanolin the Sheep – a nervous sheep who joins the Restoration after Sonic and Amy saved her village.
• Doctor Starline – a platypus scientist who admires Eggman. He dies at Eggman's hands after trying to take over his empire.
• Rough & Tumble – a pair of trouble-making skunk brothers and former mercenaries.
• Mimic – a shapeshifting mimic octopus and former comrade of Whisper who betrayed his team to Eggman.
• Surge the Tenrec – a punkish cyborg lowland streaked tenrec created by Starline to be Sonic's doppelgänger, who is deeply traumatized by Starline's experiments. Like Sonic, she can move at superhuman speeds. Her name also references electrical powers which she displays. She has no memory of her life prior to Starline's experimentation.
• Kitsunami "Kit" the Fennec – a somber cyborg fennec fox created by Starline to be Tails' doppelgänger and Surge's sidekick, who is also deeply traumatized by Starline's experiments. Kit possesses the ability to control water, and his name is a fusion of the word Kitsune, a reference to his powers making it seem as though he has multiple tails which echoes the multi-tailed fox of Japanese myth, and the word Tsunami, which denotes a massive tidal event. Like Surge, he possesses no memory of his life prior to Starline's experimentation.
• Clutch the Opossum – an opossum crime boss who collects Eggtech and uses it for personal profit.

Publications

Reception

Joshua Davison on Bleeding Cool gave the first issue a score of 6.5/10, praising the art and creativity of the story but criticizing Sonic's characterization: "Sonic is an insufferable character... He's smug, annoying, and radical in that 1990's sense."^[18]

Dustin Holland's review of the first issue of the Imposter Syndrome miniseries on Comic Book Resources praised the personalities of new villains Surge the Tenrec and Kit the Fennec, action-filled plot, and appropriately expressive art.^[19]

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW Publishing).

• Official website