Just getting this post ready for April and to get everyone up to speed in the event this thread gets some constant activity. So to get the basic exposition of how IDW acquired the license to produce Sonic the Hedgehog comic's here's an very condensed history.

1) Former Archie comic's contributor Ken Penders performed a lawsuit action for royalties for his characters against Sega and Archie Comics. Archie comic's could not produce a contract that stated any and all his creations were handed over to Sega's copyright and could not be used without permission. Penders won the lawsuit and Sega was displeased with the comic publisher.

2) Meanwhile in the comic universe the entire Sonic reality was shattered and recreated with the repeated effect of a Super Genesis Wave (Multiverse Reset Button). Said reforming of reality removed any and all Pender's based content from the comic series, introducing several new characters in the place of others. A comic book adaptation of Sonic Unleashed was completed before hiatus then cancellation.

2) Sega, disappointed with Archie's handling of the Penders lawsuit and future actions, cancel their license of their IP to the comic publisher and begin talks with IDW. By the end of 2017 it was established that the IDW comics were going to start fresh and not have any lingering Archie content included. Characters outside the comics, such as the Freedom Fighters (Sally, Antoine, Bunnie, Rotor, etc.) have yet to be confirmed or denied as they are owned by Sega since the licensing of the Saturday morning cartoon Sonic the Hedgehog. Head Writer Ian Flynn is a fan of these characters but must discuss with Sega's executives to permit the use of these characters.

And that brings us to today. Here are the summaries for the first few issues.
Issue 1
Issue 3
Issue 4

Cover Art
Issue 1
Issue 2

And the introduction of a new character: Tangle the Lemur. Her tail can be used as a third arm.
Promo Art
Character Reference

So far I'm middle of the road when it's coming to this reboot. Since all of the Archie characters aren't coming back it has soured my mood towards the reboot, and the ominous status of the Freedom Fighters being included is not helping. As of now my main concern is how much of Sega's executive action is going to stifle the comic and it's potential. This is mostly pessimism but I also don't have high regards to Sega/Sonic Team as a whole either. As far as the staff in charge of the new comic go I do have faith in them. Many are long time Archie contributors that turned the comics around during Pender's run as head writer. At the very least the writing and storytelling will be a grade above the games.

 

I think it's good in a lot of ways to start fresh. The Archie comics had been going for a long time and had several retcons, and got kind of...Bloated. There was a lot of baggage in the Archie Sonic continuity, so I can see why they're shutting the door on them, for now anyway. That said, Sega still owns the Freedom Fighters and it would be a shame for the execs to just sit on the rights.

 

The New Sonic Comic Gets Two New Villains

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That entire situation with Ken Penders was silly. Half of his "creations" were just KOs of already established characters.

 

Technically his lawsuit was also against SEGA claiming he had created the Dark Legion for the Echidna race and all that BEFORE Sonic Chronicles came out. Which is part of the entire problem, the bastard known as Penders developed an overinflated sense of self and entitlement to characters he created SPECIFICALY for somebody else's Intellectual Property. Then, because of the lax nature of Archie's contract with Penders, he decided to 'get rich' and 'claim ownership' rights to every single character he created for the comic as if it was his own IP. After he 'won' he declared that he would continue the adventures of his characters in some fashion after having left Archie.

To this day nothing has come of it and the 'fans' of his characters only liked them because they were part of the Sonic Universe, not because of who they were or what they stood for. So basically he destroyed himself and his character's fanbase by acting the 'tool'.

I don't know what to expect of this, I may look into the Reboot, but I'm still very annoyed that Sonic Archie is essentially dead, a comic book I've been collecting and reading for decades and that seemed quite stable, similar to Marvel and DC comic books. Unfortunately everything eventually must evolve or die. I'll probably add the new title to my pull list to see what it's like, I mean the writing team is going to be the same and so I can at least be assured the story should be written intelligently.

That being said. If they don't hold my interest well enough I'll drop it pretty fast.

 

I think I saw somewhere that Archie had wanted to move away from Sonic for a while now. I suspect that the Archie continuity was going to die soon anyway. But it is a shame that it didn't get a proper Grand Finale after all this time.

 

Well in other news we have images of two of the new villains for the comics: Rough and Tumble (the Skunks). They kinda give me a Sleet and Dingo vibe from Sonic Underground. And while I'm here I'm going to drop off a link for a petition to return the Freedom Fighters to comic form. While I did sign it I'm not raising high hopes that anything with come of this. Personally I'd bring the Freedom Fighters into a spin-off of Paper Mario (Original and TYD) styles. Anyways, link is here.

 

I'm sure they're going to introduce new versions of all those guys at some point.

 

I'm not so sure. I've heard mixed messages of "too soon to call" or outright "no" to their inclusion. And any Archie characters arent coming back and I'm more upset about that. The short lived reboot brought some good characters into the franchise. I'm not sure why they arent coming back but most likely to avoid confusion and ties to the Archie series.

 

Could we have a crossover with the Transformers ?

 

Kinda slow so far but they made Amy very cute

 

Not just that but they stuck to her late Archie (Ian Flynn Era) portrayal, in other words she's not just "SONIC MARRY ME" from the games. So +1 for the comics.

 

A bit late for the update but here's the sum of Issue #4. It's still going through introducing the characters phase with little story. If you've read or looked at the previous three you would know what goes on in this issue. Tangle is introduced and she's alright. Nothing too much to write home about at this point. Only comment to make is she is NOT a Sally clone. I emphasis this as a response to the claims otherwise.

Real stars of the comic are Blaze the Cat, one of my favorite characters, and Sonic. Blaze especially for being so freaking cute from the art.

 

lol sonic's reaction to amy and blaze could NOT be any more different


Tangle is okay. She didn't hijack the issue and I like how her ability is something you could imagine working in a video game.

 

Well when your closest friend describes herself as your "self proclaimed girlfriend" and another friend is pretty chill it makes sense.  

 

The tone of these books is pretty consistent with Archie, the writer was the big draw I suppose. I just hope IDW doesn't follow the GD formula of changing the damn book's title every couple of months or so.

 

So issue five is out and its very low stakes this time around. There's still some badnik fighting between Sonic and the Chaotix which serves as a nice distraction. The main focus is Sonic finding Eggman only to discover the doctor has amnesia. Has he reformed or is just playing coy (you can bet which one). It is interesting to see the scientist doing good for a local village, fixing toys, building windmills, and so on. No doubt its all part of a scheme but its interesting. The issue ends with everyone's favorite edgy side characters, Shadow & Rouge, arriving to declare they will destroy the doctor before any scheme he has planned can be made real.

Once again the art, as is usual with Sonic comics, is great. Lovely color palette and inking. Especially love the page of Shadow and Rouge's entrance. That's pure poster material right there.


There's a brief cameo by one of the E-100s, Eta. Sadly he's just E-100 Alpha with a six painted on him. I prefer his Archie look. Not a complaint but one just looks more original.

 

So, I wonder who the mystery villain is. They freaked out when they saw Sonic and the Chaotix and wondered if they'd been found out.

Given that they clearly want this series to be tied more closely with the games (hence the direct references to the game series and that it takes place post-Forces), will this villain make an appearance in the games too?

 

My current theory is either Metal Sonic or Heavy King from Mania.

 

So issue six is out and I'm more than pleased. Ian Flynn, you mad man. Most of the issue is just Sonic vs Shadow but its a treat to watch. There's also call backs to previous games that accuse and defend Eggman. Theres a unexpected, though i suppose you could argue otherwise, twist that Rouge was the Chaotix informant to Mr. Tinker's location. She wanted them to get Sonic to the doctor before Shadow arrived given his reason to distrust the Doctor's reform. But the biggest surprise is Mr. Tinker isn't Eggman because... Eggman has been coordinating the badniks since issue one inside his base.