Let's Take a Look at Sonic #226 - The Genesis Saga Part 1!

Just a day until Sonic's 20th, and this arrives in the mail: Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog #226. This issue is better known as being part one of the hotly anticipated Genesis saga, which throws the main cast of the Archie continuity back into the SEGA Genesis days of Sonic. In the previous issue, #225, the Eggman of the Archie continuity (who looks like the modern Eggman of the games but has a back story so complicated I've yet to wrap my head around it) unleashed a resurrected Death Egg on the Freedom Fighters. After a bit of fighting, Eggman killed a well known character from the SatAM days and powered up a device that enveloped the universe in white (hmm, sounds like something that is happening in Sonic Generations) and rebooted the entire universe. As such, when issue 226 kicks off Sonic is acting as though he is from the Genesis era (with a modern design), running through Green Hill and bopping badniks which he seems to be encountering for the first time.

The staff of Archie have yet to reveal if this reboot is permanent, or if we are to expect a more SEGA Sonic video game world inhabited by both the game characters and SatAM characters who have been stripped of more than two hundred pages of back story. When Sally, Boomer (Rotor's original name in the Archie comics) and Antoine appear in the issue, they act and look like their earliest counterparts as seen in the cartoons and first twenty issues of the comics. Could this be Archie's goal? Personally, I would love a Sonic comic more rooted in the game world, but would welcome the SatAM characters returning in their original less complicated forms.

Even Snively appears in the issue, though this time he refers to himself as Dr. Eggman's nephew. No longer the nephew of the overly complicated Dr. Ivo Robotnik. Seriously, not to rag on the old Archie comics, but Robotnik was a human named Kintobor who was corrupted and then became Robotnik and then died and then was replaced by an alternate universe Robo-Robotnik who took over and then was destroyed and then downloaded his consciousness into a robot body that looked like modern Eggman and then was de-roboticized and became human. Ugh! I'd much prefer an Eggman who was born a human and simply does what he does because he wants to create his own robotic paradise. Thankfully thats what the Genesis saga gives us and I hope it sticks. Even better, the comic gives us Eggman in his classic costume! Way past cool!

All this talk about continuity and I forgot to mention the great art of Patrick Spaziante. Spaz is known best for his many cover art contributions to the series, though he has also done an occasional story and was the artist behind the NiGHTS into Dreams mini-series which I covered over at the Saturn Junkyard. Spaz does an awesome job on pencils and nails the classic badniks and environments.

The comic moves from Green Hill to Marble Zone, skips Spring Yard and concludes at Labyrinth Zone. The next issue hints at the arrival of Tails and based on interviews, the series will cover the first two Sonic games. Overall, I found Genesis part one to be a breath of fresh air! As somebody who got out of the comics due to them being overcomplicated and relying too much on SatAM characters and locations, I was happy to see game environments and simplified characters. That isn't to say that I don't enjoy deep characterization, but I'd prefer a fresh start and would like to see characters like Sonic, Tails and Eggman develop in a fresh continuity. Here's hoping part two is even better than the first, and that Archie sticks with this plan. I'd hate to see issue #230 tell us that it was all a dream.

Archie's Sonic Genesis Part 3 Cover Revealed

While Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis arc has yet to begin, with the prelude issue #225 just hitting stands, the cover for the third part of the saga has just been revealed! Issue #228 is inspired by the American cover art for Sonic the Hedgehog 3, just as the pervious two issues were inspired by Sonic 1 and 2. Here is the official description:

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #228
"Genesis" Part Three:
The most talked-about story in Sonic comic history continues as Sonic brings a curious new face into his adventures: Miles Prower, the boy genius! As Sonic and his friends continue the good fight against the evil Dr. Robotnik, the perils get more perilous, old memories begin to resurface, and the Death Egg orbits. Don't miss the penultimate issue to this anniversary special event!
SCRIPT: Ian Flynn
ARTIST: Tracy Yardley!, Terry Austin, John Workman and Matt Herms
COVER: Patrick "Spaz" Spaziante
Shipping Date: 8/17/2011
On Sale at Comic Shops: 8/31/2011
Newsstands: Week of 9/6/2011
Comic, 32 pgs, 40 lb. glossy stock, Full-Color

I've just started up a subscription to get my hands on these, so stay tuned to SEGA Memories as I delve into each issue as it releases.

Archie's Sonic #227 Cover Revealed

While the Genesis Saga has yet to kick off in Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog series, the cover for the second part of the arc has been revealed! The mini-series will kick off with issue 225, check out the cover here, followed by part one with issue 226 and part two in issue 227. The four part arc, continuing in issues 228 and 229, looks to be paying homage to the four original Genesis games. However how Sonic and friends enter those classics has yet to be revealed. All that has been said is that somebody's life (probably a SatAM character) depends on the outcome of the Genesis arc. I could care less who dies, as long as we're getting more awesome artwork from Spaz!

After the beak, check out a preview page from Sonic: Genesis!

[source: SEGASHIRO]

Archie's Sonic #225 feeds of our SEGA memories

I'm on to you Archie! After losing me as a reader by not doing a Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation, you try to reel me back in with fancy double sized covers, anniversary logos and the promise of a return of the Death Egg. Well guess what, it's working. Recently revealed over at IGN is the super sweet cover art for Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog #225, which shows the current cast (what happened to Rotor?!) running from the (DUM-DUM-DUMMM!) Death Egg. My guess is that the cover was done by longtime Sonic artist extraordinaire Patrick Spaziante. The story arc is titled the Genesis saga and will play out over the summer during Sonic's 20th anniversary.

Looks like I'll be picking up a few Sonic comics over the summer! And then come winter they'll lose me again by starting a story arc involving Julie-su and Mina the Mongoose creating a girl band.

[source: Sonic Stadium]

My Big Fat Sonic Comic Book Collection

Over the past week I had been on vacation in my home state of Minnesota. Whilst there I did a lot of things that are unrelated to this blog, however I did make it a point to find as many of my Sonic and SEGA collectibles that I could. I found a lot of goodies, and will be featuring them here at SEGA Memories over the next week. The first of these many posts will be of my Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Adventure Series) comic book collection. Let's have a look at these suckers!

While the UK had Sonic the Comic, the US had Sonic the Hedgehog published by Archie Publications. The US comic series began with a 4 issue mini-series, with issue 0 kicking the seires off and issues 1-3. Following the success of the mini-series, a continuing series began with another number 1.

The mini-series and issues 1 to 36.

I got into the series at the very beginning, picking up the premiere issue while on vacation. When I reutrned home I searched out the next issue and found issue number 1 of the continuing series, completely missing the mini-series issues 1-3. Thankfully, I was able to order the issues through Archie and I also started a subscription for the series. I had that subscription all the way up to issue 110. I'll explain why I stopped collecting, but first lets look at the rest of the Sonic series.

Issues 37 to 76, you can find my name printed in issue 76. 

Issues 77 to 110

I began to lose interest at issue 99 and stopped collecting at issue 110. It wasn't so much that I was growing out of the comics, it was more that I didn't like the direction that the series was taking. When the series began things were lighthearted, with a dash of drama, and the comic's universe was a blend of the AoStH cartoon series, the SatAM cartoon series and the Genesis games. While the blend wasn't perfect, I wasn't much of a SatAM fan, I liked the occasional video game adaptation as well as original plots featuring characters such as the badniks, Metal Sonic, Mecha Sonic and Nack/Fang. The Sonic Adventure adaptation was a real fun read. Not the perfect adaptation, but they did a good job fitting it into the comic storyline.

I was especially looking forward to the now deeper video game universe to impact the comic universe. When Sonic Adventure 2 was announced, I eagerly awaited another epic adaptation. Issue 98 was to be, I had thought, to be a multi-part epic concluding with issue 100. Instead, Archie gave SA2 a F.U. and featured an odd adaptation of the City Escape level followed by a "Hey kids, buy the game for the rest of the story!" Cheap. The next issue returned to the ho-hum SatAM plots and Archie had lost me as a reader. SatAM had been off the air for 5 years, and yet Archie was still putting the characters of the show at the forefront of their comics. Meanwhile, Sonic Team had introduced a far deeper Sonic universe with the Dreamcast games and Archie was basically ignoring it. After issue 100, I let my subscription run out and I was done with the comics. But that doesn't mean we're done looking at my collection!

Knuckles appeared in a rather successful series of his own:

The mini-series and the main series, issues 1-32.

Outside of the main Sonic series, there was a slew of spin-off mini-series and special issues. Most cover adaptations of Genesis games while others feature bizarre crossovers (Sabrina the Teenage Witch meets Sonic!?). The best of these special issues have to be the Death Egg Saga trilogy, Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic Vs. Knuckles and Mecha Madness. After so many special issues labeled #1, they decided to simply number the specials and title them "Sonic Super Specials".

The Sally and Tails mini-series, the Death Egg Saga trilogy, many stand alone specials, the numbered Super Specials and a promo version of issue 0 numbered issue 1/4 (one fourth).

Of all my Sonic comics, my favorite would have to be the issue 50 that I had series inkers Rich Koslowski and Andrew Pepoy autograph. Nice guys! They even sold me some original art from issues 48 and 50 of Sonic and issue 25 of Knuckles. I have yet to find those pages, but when I do I'll share them here.

Aside from Sonic, Archie Comics tried to kick off a NiGHTS series. It only lasted 6 issues, but it's a good read. Artist Patrick "Spaz" Spaziante, who also did many of the awesome Sonic covers, did the pencils for NiGHTS. I also found a Shinobi comic published by Dark Horse.

And there you have it, my Sonic comic book collection! Hope you enjoyed them as much as I enjoyed seeing them again. :)

Notes: Following my leaving the comics, the Sonic series has continued to publish issues, with issue 213 being the most recent. The specials and Knuckles series had ceased to be published while I had still been collecting. So despite having been out of it for ten years, I still have a complete collection in that regard. The only issues I have yet to own are the now canceled Sonic X series, the recently debuted Sonic Universe series and Sonic issues 111 onwards. Conveniently, back issues of nearly all the issues I missed are only a click away, should I feel the need.