Comics Giveaway Day Sonic the Hedgehog #1: A Retrospective

Happy Free Comic Book- er, Comics Giveaway Day everyone! IDW has taken this as an opportunity to rerelease their Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 1, so I’m going to take a look back at where we were all the way back in 2018! Time really does fly. In 2017 we were gifted with Sonic Mania (hooray!) and Sonic Forces (boo!) and we were in a really strange spot, the hype for sonic as a character was the highest it had been in a long time, but the faith in Sonic Team was cratering off the back of multiple disappointing releases.

Like many, I was heartbroken with the cancellation of the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comic in late 2016. As a series I grew up with, that world was very dear to me, and it was hard to move on from. It’s strange, in retrospect, just how quick the turnaround between the last days of the Archie Reboot continuity and the new IDW stories were. That gulf felt like a lifetime for a young me. The post-reboot Archie series still has a special place in my heart and it’s well worth a read for anyone who can get their hands on it.

I still remember when the IDW series was announced, with an art piece by Tyson Hesse, featuring Sonic, Tails, Amy Rose and Knuckles. I was absolutely obsessed with Tyson’s art at the time, as he had begun doing pieces for the late Archie run, and I couldn’t be more excited for him to be such a big part of the new era of the comics.

The question for all of us was, naturally, will the new characters be able to live up to the much-beloved Freedom Fighters? Characters that originated in the “SatAM” cartoon, and had become a driving force throughout Archie Sonic’s tenure. For me, that answer is a resounding YES. Tangle and Whisper especially have managed to become fan favourites for almost everyone, and just this year they finally made the jump into a mainline Sonic game, and voiced acted for the first time!

The double edged sword of the IDW run, is undoubtedly the SEGA oversight. One major thing with the Archie run is how little control SEGA really had over the Archie Book. Other than demanding game tie-in issues, the Archie staff were basically able to do whatever they wanted with the characters. This produced some of the best and some of the absolute worst of that original (pre-reboot) run. IDW has operated within much stricter guidelines (though some people overemphasise this), part of this is the benefit that the comics are now fully canonical to the games! The downside is that sonic is a lot more of a static character than he was in Archie, though I don’t really see this as a downside personally, as the new run has avoided much of the tedious love triangles and melodrama that the Archie series was infamous for.

Issue 1, when it released, had an immense task. Much like any reboot. It had to assert itself as something new and fresh, whilst also being authentic to the core of what Sonic is. I think that’s why this first issue is so simple in its overall story, it’s a tone setter. Sonic (the character) is much more of a superhero-type character in this run, he’s famous, he’s beloved and the people of Earth rely on him. This issue also re-establishes his brotherly relationship with Tails which I think is for many the most important character dynamic in the series.

Another important element of the IDW run is that it takes everything from the games into account. As it is canon to the games, the games are also canon to it, and that means all of the games. IDW Sonic takes place in the wake of the events of Sonic Forces. I always respect the comic for not dismissing the plotlines established in that game, as it so easily could have, but taking the fallout of such a war seriously and earnestly, allowing for such an interesting setting, the effects of which we still feel to this day. It can be said for many of the elements of that era, the Zeti have also been used very effectively, and made me genuinely interested to see them again.

I cannot sing the praises of Ian Flynn and Evan Stanley enough, these two have been so consistent and brilliant as the writing team on this book (and amazing art from Evan too!). And in this issue particularly, the always fantastic Tracy Yardley, who I miss dearly from the main book, brings his trademark style here, easing the transition between his many many issues at Archie, and the new tone Ian Flynn was utilising.