Blue is Back!
Or at least, that’s how Sega of America wanted you to think back in 1996. Five years after the release of the original Sonic the Hedgehog, the western branches of the company were scrambling to celebrate Sonic’s first semi-prominent anniversary. The original plan was to release Sonic X-treme, the first true 3D game featuring everyone’s favorite hedgehog. The story behind that title’s cancellation has become the stuff of legend, not just infamous in this here part of the world but in the general gaming community. Without that title, Sega decided to heavily promote Sonic’s swan song on the Mega Drive – Sonic 3D: Flickies’ Island, also known as Sonic 3D Blast in the United States. With a port of the game hastily developed for the Sega Saturn, along with a similarly titled Game Gear game that was otherwise unrelated, the marketing blitz began.
It was only natural for Archie Comics to craft a comic adaptation of the newest game in the franchise. Not since issue thirteen’s “This Island Hedgehog” had Archie released a comic at around the same time as the source material it was promoting, SEGA’s huge push filtering into the otherwise left alone plotlines of Archie. Did this unique timing help the 48-page special become a masterpiece? Well, that would be giving it away, wouldn’t it? Either way, let’s strap ourselves in and experience the very last of Archie’s stand-alone specials. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, I present to you our seventh piece of evidence…Sonic Blast.
Browsing Category
Comics
Whenever the fire alarm goes off, don’t forget to take the plushies with you.
Retro/Bits News
- In memory of Greg Martin’s passing, forum member Buyatari has scanned in line art he bought from the man himself [Get nostalgic]
- Barry unboxes the Not Enough Rings comic book [It’s ok, it’s a parody]
Sonic/SEGA News
- Greg Martin, illustrator of Sonic box-arts, has passed away [Rest in peace]
- Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is now out on iOS and Android [With Ryo Hazuki]
- Here are a bunch of SEGA consoles turned into moe anime girls [JAPAN IS SO WEIRD LOL]
I’m bored, it’s 2014 now, somehow it’s still the year of Luigi and I just realized that I wanted to do a Monday Links this week but then I forgot. So let’s just do this. This was the last week of 2013, so there’s not much that happened, but there’s still some cool stuff you should probably check out. And as long as there’s cool stuff, there will be Monday Links. Some of the time anyway. Hopefully more often in 2014.
Retro/Bits News
- Overlord wrote another entry in the “How Fleetway Played The Games” series, he put a lot of effort into it so please read it [British Jerk Sonic is best Sonic]
- SEGAbits did a round table in which we speak about our favorite SEGA games of 2013, with Bartman and me contributing [My pick is the only good pick]
- My Life With SEGA looks at Marvel Super Heroes [Before Marvel vs. Capcom]
Sonic/SEGA News
- Relic Entertainment is working on an existing Japanese MMO, surely it can’t be Phantasy Star Online 2? [Oh hey, it probably is]
- A group of fans released the first version of their Valkyria Chronicles 3 translation [Fans of animu and wars rejoice!]
- The beta of the Dreamcast version of Toejam & Earl 3 got leaked out [It’s a Christmas miracle]
- SEGA gives people a closer look at Ryo Hazuki’s vehicle in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed [Here, here and here]
So the new Sonic titles for the year have come and gone; namely Sonic Lost World, Sonic 2 (2013 remake) by Retro’s very own Stealth & The Taxman, and Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. These all out of the way (and indeed 2013), we’ve not got too much new for a while until information about the next games starts coming out. As such, I think it’s a good time to look back on some earlier titles, and finally finish off the 4-part extravaganza that has been our look at how Fleetway‘s Sonic the Comic covered the Sonic 3 & Knuckles storyline. So, let’s get started!
Hello and welcome to my formal introduction to the Sonic Retro news page! My name is Barry, I’m an admin, writer and graphic designer for Sonic Retro sister site SEGAbits. Since our April 1st partnership, we’ve been making strides to bridge the sites, including bringing Sonic Retro writers on as SEGAbits writers. Now that I’m an official writer over here, consider the bridge built, but we still have improvements in the works.
To show that I have nothing to hide, I thought I’d be upfront about something. The letter to the left is my claim to fame in the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comics, appearing in Sonic Super Special #15’s Sonic Grams. The issue itself was awful, featuring the worst art I have ever seen in a commercial comic book. But my contribution is arguably worse than the work of Many Hands. After gushing a bit too much over Archie’s Sonic Adventure adaptation, I noted my disapproval of a previous issue’s letter asking for the series to stop introducing new characters. It was then that I wrote what I’ll always regret writing: “I say the more characters, the better!”. Could I have unwittingly inspired Ken Penders to soldier ahead with his army of Knuckles clones? Was Mobius 25 Years Later my doing?
I should note that the original letter was edited down by Archie’s Sonic staff. I distinctly remember saying that I wanted more characters from the games, and I gave a specific shout out to the Chaotix. Still, the damage was done. So that’s my confession. At least they didn’t cut the part where I gave kudos to the awesome Patrick Spaziante.
Glad to be on the Sonic Retro writing staff and hopefully you all can forgive me.
That time of year is upon us once again – Summer of Sonic, the Sonic the Hedgehog fan convention in the UK, held its 6th show this weekend just gone; back in London again following a brief visit to Brighton last year. This year the event boasted as guests Takashi Iizuka, Jun Senoue, and Kazuyuki Hoshino; with a playable build of the upcoming new title Sonic Lost World available. So let’s dive in, shall we?
The Sonic the Hedgehog comics, Archie and STC alike, have dedicated followings. One of the people responsible for the comics is Ian Flynn, the chief writer for the Archie series since #160. Recently, he sat down for an interview with the Super Power Flower Hour, a relatively new Sonic-related podcast. He gives his thoughts on the Sonic franchise, working on the comics, the Mega Man comics, and more. Check it out.
When Ken first wrote the ending to Princess Sally’s Crusade, it’s doubtful that he thought beyond that simple page of a happy ending. A moment where Sonic and Sally were able to find peace, years after their battle with the evil Dr. Robotnik had come to a close. Back when the Saturday morning cartoon still reigned supreme, before Sonic Adventure and the Japanese continuity became commonplace, even before most Americans realized there was another comic book being published in the U.K. that tried to be closer to the games, albeit the Kintobor storyline that no longer is considered canon by anyone who works in the halls of SEGA. It was a just a moment where Ken thought he’d be clever, coming up with an interesting spin on the origins of NICOLE, something the TV show never got the chance to cover.
By the time Sonic the Hedgehog #131 hit newsstands, no longer was the comic book storyline the simple tales of good versus evil. The main story had taken on numerous twists and turns, incorporating elements from other shows, other games, a hodgepodge of Sonic the Hedgehog that didn’t always gel correctly. If Ken were to make a comprehensive future of every single character, of every single possibility, he may have gone mad. Indeed, sometimes it felt like his own mental state was in danger, with all the rumblings of internal strife happening in the halls of Archie Comics. Sometimes, it was a miracle the book was published at all, regardless of the quality.
As stated before, when Ken’s final installment of Mobius: 25 Years Later saw print in Sonic #144, that was never the intended ending. Ken had not gone through all that effort to leave the future as a perpetual cliffhanger. There were plans for more, though they never saw fruition. The happy endings for Sonic, Sally, Knuckles, Lara-Su and the rest instead remained only in Ken’s mind, until Ian ushered his own interpretation of the future.
Comics
Mobius: 25 Years Later: The Review, Part 15 – The All-New Adventures of Lara-Su and Old Rotor
When Ian Flynn took over Sonic the Hedgehog as main writer back in 2006, his first task was to wrap up everything the comic had been doing for years. Strung out plotlines with little resolution had become the norm, and had definitely run its course. Sonic #160 through Sonic #174‘s primary purpose was to bring everything back together and reign it in so #175 could be an easy jumping off point, not just for the reader but for Ian to write his own stories involving the sprawling cast of the comic. Part of that spring cleaning was the initial resolution to Mobius: 25 Years Later, even if it had been two years since the storyline had been an ongoing feature in the book.
Though it is possible that revisiting the future would have been on Ian’s mind eventually, the two-part conclusion was not something he decided to write, but was instead editorially dictated by Mike Pellerito. Wanting to also wrap things up to make things easier for oncoming readers, he instructed Ian to find a way to end Ken’s futuristic epic in 22 pages, spread out across two issues. Not content with just having Ian come up with his own ideas, he demanded the young professional incorporate an element in the narrative that could be seen as coming from out of left field: the arrival of King Shadow.
Sometimes, long-running serials can become stale. If you’ve been hired to write for a comic book month after month for years, you can reach a point where you just can’t be as good as you used to be. Ideas get regurgitated. Fast paced action is slowed down. All the creativity of those first few years can dwindle, even if the property is yours. There’s a reason creatives are always looking for new valleys to explore – focusing on just one idea, one story, can drive someone mad. It can compromise the overall arc. It can feel like the story should have ended years beforehand, instead of half-heatedly lurching forward into the abyss.
American comic book companies are aware of this to a degree, oftentimes changing the creatives on a book in order not just to improve sales, but to prevent the material from becoming flat. The hope being that if new minds are always bringing in fresh ideas, the 70+ years of Batman adventures won’t continue to repeat themselves. Very rarely in the modern industry do you get someone on a title for more than a handful of years. Extremely rare is the tenure that Ken Penders enjoyed, writing on Sonic the Hedgehog and its related series for nearly 13.
When Ken was unceremoniously dropped from the title back in 2006, he was replaced by newcomer Ian Flynn, his first story seeing print in Sonic the Hedgehog #160. Though relatively unknown, there was a faction who was excited to see what he would bring to the table, him having been a fan himself, writing his own fanfiction about Sonic in the years previous. Even if sales of the title had gotten better when Ken took over from Karl Bollers as head writer, there was a certain stagnant feeling to the stories being provided. If you’d had gone on record saying that, in your mind, the battle between Sonic and Eggman was over and you were solely invested in the future tales of Mobius, what else would one expect?
With Ian at the helm, it didn’t take long for the new writer to revisit one of the longest running, incomplete tales that had taken hold of the comic since its early days. Dictated by management to wrap it up once and for all, Ian set off to finally finish Mobius: 25 Years Later.