Sonic Underground wasn’t a series anyone asked for. In 1999, the west was finally able to experience Sonic Adventure, a game that, for better or worse, redefined Sonic for a new generation. At the same time, DiC entertainment, who had developed two Sonic animated series concurrently back in 1993, decided to take advantage of the license once again and create a brand new Sonic the Hedgehog series. Instead of trying to base it on the new game, however, the company went in a completely different direction. Making Sonic a prince and giving him two siblings, the trio fought Dr. Robotnik with the power of music in each episode while looking for their long-lost mother. Yes, the show didn’t make a whole lot of sense, and though 40 episodes were produced, it was lost in the shuffle, a strange child that reflected neither what SEGA was trying to do with the character or what even DiC had done a few years prior.
That’s why it might come as a surprise to find that, after all this time, the Underground will be revisited. Announced on the gaming site Destructoid, Issue #50 of the spin-off title Sonic Universe will feature the return of the Sonic Underground universe, picking up right where the show left off. Penned by current comic scribe Ian Flynn, not much has been revealed aside from the cover art and the fact it will serve as an epilogue. Though Sonic Underground isn’t the first Sonic series that comes to mind when thinking of much-needed conclusions, I must admit that I am a bit tickled at the prospect. Will Sonic jam with his siblings for one final time? Will their mother finally be found? Will Robotnik’s final demise come from the wailing tones of a magical guitar? Whatever the answers, they’ll have to fit in a single issue, since that’s all we’re getting.
This isn’t the show’s first appearance in the pages of the Archieverse. For those who remember, the Sonic Underground universe originally appeared in Issue #10 of the short-lived Sonic Super Special series, a simple crossover that simply acknowledged a new show had begun airing without trying to incorporate its continuity in a comic that was already dealing with multiple personality disorder brought on by DiC’s other Sonic cartoons. Sadly, we’ll have to wait until March 2013 before we once again visit the world of Sonic Underground. I just hope that Ian doesn’t take this trip down memory lane too seriously, because if he does…well, that would just be missing the point.
[Source: Destructoid]
