Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher. One such publication is the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series, which is the longest-running comic book based on a video game and has released more issues than UK-based Sonic the Comic.
Sonic the Hedgehog has little to do with Sonic the Comic, other than both taking aspects from the video games. Although "Archie" has been derided in the past for its love triangles and multitude of characters, it continues to be read by many STC fans and discussion occasionally comes up in the Message Zone.
Much like STC, Archie's Sonic comics were inspired by the early Western Sonic canon in America, namely the cartoon series Sonic SatAM, albeit far more directly resembling the cartoon's aesthetic and story, depicting Sonic and Tails as members of a sect of Freedom Fighters, technically led by the crown princess of Mobius, Sally Acorn, accompanied by inventor and strategist Rotor the Walrus, cyborg Southern belle and powerhouse brawler Bunnie Rabbot, and cowardly yet snooty French-accented Royal Guard Antoine Depardeau, who were based out of the hidden village Knothole, against a tyrannical Dr. Robotnik who had already conquered Mobius from his smoggy mechanical capital, Robotropolis, accompanied by his nephew Snively Robotnik and a whole fleet of not only Badniks, but the mainline military trooper SWATBots, who was determined to not only conquer other territories and regions of Mobius, intentionally polluting and ruining the ecosystem under his Dominion, but to capture and roboticize any dissident Mobian citizen he could, utilizing the terrifying Roboticizer, having used it first on Sonic's paternal Uncle Charles, the inventor of the machine. While the cartoon would last for only two seasons but end with Sonic and the Freedom Fighters triumphing over Robotnik, albeit with Snively and goblin-esque wizard Ixis Naugus rising from the decimated Robotropolis to take the doctor's place as their new enemies for the canceled future seasons, the comic would continue on after the definitive EndGame Saga story arc, which saw Sally seemingly killed in a plot by Drago Wolfe and his reluctant accomplice Hershey the Cat, and Sonic framed for her death, He would be hounded by both robotics forces and other Freedom Fighter law enforcement before taking the fight to Robotnik in Robotropolis and using his newest superweapon, the Ultimate Annihilator, to erase him from existence. However, he would live on in the form of his roboticized counterpart from an Alternate Zone, Mecha-Robotnik, who would traverse over to the Prime Zone after having killed his own Zone's counterpart of Sonic and Freedom Fighters to in his own words "fill the voids left in their lives" as both he and Prime-Sonic were left ultimately unhappy with victory and were fulfilled by their constant battles. Despite his initial scheme against them failing and his body being destroyed along with his space station, Mecha-Robotnik would upload himself into a New Android body resembling his modern appearance and rechristening him himself Dr. Eggman, while Sonic would age himself up via the power of the Chaos Emeralds while preventing a Temporal laser from destabilizing history and once again erasing Knothole from existence, complete with darker blue fur and green eyes to resemble his modern look. From that point onward, newer villains, namely ancient tyrant Mammoth Mogul, who had founded the Order of Ixis from which Naugus hailed, well as Eggman's artificial "children" Mecha and A.D.A.M. Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge The Bat would eventually also be introduced, playing identical roles as they had in Sonic Adventure 2, with Shadow briefly siding with Eggman while Rouge remained a independent neutral figure who would help out both sides. Slowly but surely, old aspects would be fulfilled or revamped to resemble newer aspects introduced in The modern games, namely the fact that there were in fact millions of Chaos Emeralds of each color belonging to several different sectors throughout the Universe, all being summoned to Mobius via the machinations of ADAM, With Shadow and Tails sending all of them into the Zone of silence, which granted it's then sole inhabitant Feist, a former minion of Naugus, godlike power and allowed him to mold and warp reality to his whim, re-christening the Zone Of Silence the Special Zone And becoming a mischievous but honorable overlord Who would challenge anyone who entered the special Zone to various trials resembling the obstacle course mini-games in order to achieve one of the Chaos Emeralds, of which he had consolidated the thousands of each into a set of seven of each color.
Another uniquity would be the Anti-Freedom Fighters, evil counterparts of the heroes hailing from the inverted counterworld Moebius, namely Sonic's counterpart Scourge, definitively separating each of them to become the Suppression Squad in order to better counter and divide themselves from simply being mirrored versions of the Freedom Fighters, including new appearances and names, himself having gained green fur and blue eyes via the Master Emerald.
Several STC characters made a cameo in Issue 134 of the comic, attending a pop concert. These included Amy Rose, Tekno the Canary, Porker Lewis, Bob Beaky, Ebony, Pyjamas and Metamorphia. Shortfuse the Cybernik also appeared elsewhere in the story. Other similarities would be constant victories and defeats for Robotnik after his initial definitive defeat, as well as adapting Sonic Adventure which would transition the classical aesthetic into the modern games aesthetic for the series, namely giving Sonic his green eyes and Amy her new evergreen bobcut quills.
Another reference
External links
- Sonic the Hedgehog (comic series) at Sonic News Network, the Sonic Wiki
- Mobius Encyclopaedia, the Archie Sonic Wiki.