Sonic the Comic

Sonic the Comic was a UK children's comic published by Fleetway Editions between 1993 and 2002. It was the UK's official SEGA comic and was released every fortnight at 95 pence, later rising to £1.35 before the final issue.

The comic featured the adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and his motley crew of freedom fighters as they struggled to liberate the planet Mobius from the control of the evil dictator, Doctor Ivo Robotnik. It also included a few other original characters like Johnny Lightfoot and Porker Lewis (based on the generic rabbit and pig characters freed from Badniks in the Sonic games), Tekno the Canary and Shortfuse the Cybernik. Robotnik's assistant, filling in the role occupied by Snivley in the "SatAM" series, was Grimer Wormtongue, an old green scientist that also hated Robotnik by the last issue.

The Chaotix Crew appear in STC. Nack the Weasel was once a member of the group, but he betrayed them at one point. In STC, Vector the Crocodile, Charmy Bee, Espio the Chameleon, and Mighty the Armadillo are the Chaotix members. Many other sub-plots and storylines have appeared in the STC comics, such as Tails' adventures in the Nameless Zone, Knuckles' quest to discover the fate of for his ancestors and Amy Rose and Tekno the Canary's adventures through time and space. Occasionaly, storylines would be devoted to Robotnik himself.

The adaptations of the Sonic video games were generally closer than those of the Archie comic, although changes were still made, particularly in the case of Sonic Adventure. This storyline occupied the final issues of the comic containing new material (which also saw Johnny Lightfoot get killed off) - after this arc ended in July 2000, all the stories in the comic into reprint. The comic finally ended with issue 223 in January 2002, which contained a piece written by major writer Nigel Kitching.

The comic generally had a format containing four 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 one issue which began with Tails instead), and in the earliest issues, the remaining three would involve a different Sega game character (see list below). As time rolled on, Sonic's influence spread, and the other strips were supplanted by supporting-character-based stories such as Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Chaotix, Captain Plunder and the anthology, "Sonic's World," which would focus on different characters as it saw fit.

Other stories featured were based on various other Sega video game titles, many of which did not have more than one run. Each series usually lasted for six issues. These included:

• Shinobi (3 series)
• Streets of Rage(3 series)
• Kid Chameleon (2 series)
• Eternal Champions (2 series)
• Golden Axe (2 series)
• Decap Attack (3 series, initially)
• Pirate STC (1 series)
• Marko's Magic Football (1 series)
• Ecco the Dolphin (2 series)
• Wonder Boy (2 series)
• Sparkster [Rocket Knight Adventures] (1 series)
• Mutant League Football (1 series)
• Shining Force (1 series)

(Those in bold also appeared in various Sonic specials and/or yearbooks)

Of these, "Pirate STC" was the only strip not to be based on an existing game; instead, it was based on original characters featured in television adverts for the Sega Mega Drive and Mega CD consoles - most recognisably, a man wearing a fez. "Decap Attack," meanwhile, outlasted all the other non-Sonic strips, being Nigel Kitching's pet project of sorts.

The face of the comic was Megadroid, a cartoon robot built out of Sega Mega Drive parts. He answered reader letters and acted as a liaison between the readers (whom he called 'boomers') and the 'humes who think they're in charge'.

Several of the comic's writers and artists have since had success elsewhere. Mark Millar, writer of the first Streets of Rage story and some Sonic stories, has had success writing comics in the Ultimate Marvel line. Dermot Power [1] (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0694391/), who contributed several pieces of cover artwork, has worked as a concept artist on Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and other films.

External link

• STC Online (http://stconline.co.uk/), an unofficial web-based continuation of Sonic the Comic by fans
• Sonic the Comic FAQ (http://www.rollinsd.freeserve.co.uk/STC-FAQ.htm)
• The Special Zone (http://p072.ezboard.com/fsonichqcommunityfrm18) - a Sonic the Comic message board
• STC Archive (http://stc-archive.gue-network.com) - Complete story index and downloads