In honor of my brothers birthday coming up, I have decided to make this comic round-up dedicated to one of my brothers favorite characters, Sonic the Hedgehog!
This speedsters franchise was so popular it even was awarded seven records by Guinness World Records in Guinness World Records: Gamer’s Edition 2008. So let’s find out a little about him and my top 3 favorite Sonic comics.
So where did Sonic begin? Sonic was developed after Sega requested a new mascot character to replace Alex Kidd, which was said to be looking too similar to Mario, and compete with Nintendo’s golden boy mascot Mario himself.
Sonic prototype concept art by Naoto Oshima.
My research finds that Sonic was created for a contest to be Sega’s new mascot. Several character designs were submitted and the winning character was a teal hedgehog created by artist Naoto Ohshima. Then Sonic’s character was refined in that the color was chosen to match Sega’s cobalt blue logo, and his shoes evolved from a design inspired by Michael Jackson’s boots; for whatever reason the red shoe color was inspired by Santa Claus and the cover of Jackson’s 1987 album Bad. And I’m not sure if I agree with this but it’s said that his personality was based on Bill Clinton’s “can-do” attitude.
Naoto Oshima’s sketch for first character manual.
Sonic the Hedgehog’s first game was released in 1991 and originated with a tech demo created by Yuji Naka, who had developed an algorithm that allows a sprite to move smoothly on a curve by determining its position with a dot matrix. Naka’s original prototype was a platform game that involved a fast-moving character rolling in a ball through a long winding tube, a concept fleshed out with Ohshima’s character design and levels conceived by designer Hirokazu Yasuhara.
Naoto Oshima’s concept sketches.
With several very successful games, crossovers, tv shows, product, and more, it is only natural that there are also comics, and is one of the longest running comic series! So here are my very bias top 3 favorite comics.
SONIC UNIVERSE 8 – SCOURGE: LOCKDOWN
Everybody knows Sonic the Hedgehog—the cool, blue hero of his world! But on the dark mirror world of Moebius, the mean, green Scourge menaces everyone! He did until he was finally brought to justice, that is. But Scourge’s old flame, Fiona Fox, brings her gang of the Destructix to bust him out. Can Scourge get the gang to follow his lead? Can any of them break out of the maximum-security prison? It’s “Sonic” at his most villainous in Scourge’s breakout story!
The story arc starts out in Sonic The Hedgehog #180-185, where the former Enerjak, Dimitri the Echidna, tells the newly established Acorn Council about his time as Enerjak, how that when he tried to absorb the power of Chaos Emeralds, the energies made him a demi-god. He also said that he was intending to be Enejak with the help of Finitevus, but the mad doctor pulled a double cross and now everyone is in trouble; all the while Sonic tries to ask Eggman for help with the new Enerjak.
SONIC SAGA SERIES 4: HOUSE OF CARDS
This volume collects a crucial point in the history of Sonic’s hometown of New Mobotropolis. After narrowly avoiding annihilation at the hands of Dr. Eggman, the citizens face a bright new future—one full of change. But change isn’t exactly so bright for everyone. Tensions boil over when Sonic does battle with…TAILS?! Brother fights brother, political tensions start to brew, and friends and family are turned against each other. What evils go unchecked during all this infighting? SONIC SAGA VOL. 4 collects selected stories from Sonic the Hedgehog #129, 177-180.
Sonic or Mario? Who’s your favorite? Are you going to be watching the new sonic movie? What are your favorite Sonic games and/or comics? Let’s us know in the comments!
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