Sonic Comic Books
Sonic's History
The beginning
Once there was a war on Mobius, called the "Great War". Mobians under the rule of King Acorn fought against the "Overlanders", a race of human-looking beings with (yet) unknown origin. At this time, Sonic and his friends were still kids or not even born. One day, two hedgehogs named Jules (Sonic's father) and Sir Charles (Sonic's uncle, 'Uncle Chuck' to his friends) rescued an Overlander named Julian, who was hunted by two other Overlanders for 'plotting against them'. In return, Julian offered his services to King Acorn. He became 'Warlord' of the king's troops, and with his help the Overlanders were finally defeated. This was shown in a flashback in issue #50 (current issue is #54).
Sir Charles, who was also a gifted scientist and inventor, built a device called the 'roboticizer', with could turn flesh and bone into robotic equivalents. By being able to change damaged body parts into something robotic, he intended to help injured persons and even prolong the life of older people. Julian however, who was also a scientist, anipulated the device. When Charles used the machine on his brother (who had been injured in the war), Jules was completely turned into a robot. Blaming this failure on himself, Charles gave up the project. This was shown in a flashback in issue #46.
Famous catch-phrase among American Sonic fans: "Sure I'll help with testing the roboticizer, brother. So I just stand here?"
With peace restored, King Acorn ordered that the robot-armies should be dismantled. Julian agreed, but secretly reprogrammed the robots to follow only his commands, and then he took over control. The King was banned into the "Zone of Silence", an alternate dimension that could only be reached through a portal generated by a machine called the Transdimensional Transporter, one of Julian's inventions. Julian changed his name to his last name, Robotnik, and with the stolen plans of the roboticizer he started to turn the living beings of Mobius into robots (that's why Sonic can't just hit them with a spin attack to change them back, as he does in the games. The people are the robots, not just inside them like in the games). This procedure also took away their free will, making them obedient servants to Robotnik. Sir Charles was one of the first to be roboticized. This was all shown in a flashback in issue #43.
Luckily, Sonic and a few others managed to escape into the Great Forest, where they built a small village named Knothole, well hidden from Robotnik. Among them were Princess Sally Acorn the Squirrel, who was the King's daughter and heir to the throne, Antoine the Fox, who was the son of one of the King's Royal Guards, and Rotor the Walrus. Except for their nanny Rosie they were all only about five years of age at that time. This was also shown in issue #43.
Sonic & friends
In the time the comic plays in, Sonic is about 15 years old, and together with Tails, Sally, Bunnie, Rotor, and Antoine they form the 'Knothole Freedom Fighters'. Sonic is their best (and fastest) fighter, Sally does the planning, and Rotor became a technical genius who can fix almost any machine. Sonic and Sally are very close 'friends', much closer than Sonic and Amy are in the Fleetway series. BTW, this Sally is not the one that was shown in the early Fleetway issues and the Sonic Adventure Gamebooks.One day Robotnik's SWATbots captured a bunny and threw her into a portable roboticizer. Sonic managed to save her before the roboticization was complete, but her legs and left arm were already roboticized. So she changed her name into Bunnie Rabbot and joined the Freedom Fighters. Her robotic limbs enable her to lift great weights, which makes her a valuable member on every mission. This was shown in issue #3, in the story "Rabbit Deployment" (not a flashback this time).
In issue #25, Amy Rose was added to the team. Alas, she's only about ten years old in the Archie continuity, and therefore doesn't resemble the Amy from the Fleetway series at all. She only appeared in a few unimportant roles so far.
When Robotnik found out that Amy was Sonic's biggest fan and pen-pal, he kidnapped her and set up a trap for Sonic. In order to save her, Sonic was forced to race against Robotnik in the Collision Chaos Zone, and was then challenged by Mecha-Sonic for another race through the Stardust Speedway Zone. This was also the only issue in which Mecha-Sonic from the Sonic CD game appeared.
Dulcy the Dragon joined the group later (she first appeared in issue #29). With her flying ability she is able to transport the Freedom Fighters over great distances, and her ice and fire breath is an excellent weapon.
How and when Tails met the Freedom Fighters is still a mystery.
In issue #30 Robotnik ran a test with the Transdimensional Teleporter on Sonic's roboticized Uncle Chuck. The experiment failed, but unknown to Robotnik this accident restored Chuck's free will. To free Mobius from Robotnik's clutches, Chuck decided to stay in Robotropolis and spy for the Freedom Fighters, supporting them with the latest informations about Robotnik's evil schemes. Being still a robot on the outside, he was perfect for this job.
In a three-issue mini-series featuring Princess Sally, a skunk named
Geoffrey St. John was introduced. He once was a member of
the King's Secret Service, and now leads the 'Rebel Underground'. Together
with Sally and a bunch of Freedom Fighter trainees they spoiled Robotnik's
plan to replace the core Freedom Fighters with robotic dublicates.
In issue #36, Rotor managed to open a portal to the Zone of Silence. They
discovered Sally's father the King, and in issue #41 they were finally able
to free him. Unfortunately, because of his long stay in the Zone his body
started to turn into crystal after being returned to Mobius, and the
Freedom Fighters just barely managed to stop the process with the help
of Doc Quack the Duck (first introduced in issue #43).
Contents List
EndGame and beyond
In issue #47 the EndGame storyline started, which was an attempt by Ken Penders, one of the main writers for the Sonic series, to 'go beyond the cartoon continuity' and also 'make a clear table to start from'. To reach this goal, Ken wanted to remove the 'main villain' to have room for new enemies, and also write Sally out of the series by letting her die (which was about the same as trying to let Amy Rose die in the Fleetway continuity). In future issues, the comic now is supposed to center more on "Sonic and Tails" alone instead of "Sonic and the Freedom Fighters" as a team.It all starts with the King being miraculously cured from crystallizing. But instead of embracing his daughter after the long years of banishment, all he does is stating mistrust against Sonic and ordering him and Sally to go on a mission in Robotropolis to spy on Robotnik, by which Sonic should prove his loyalty. During the mission, Sally's rope is cut by someone who looks exactly like Sonic, and she falls several stories to the ground. Sonic is accused for killing the princess and sentenced for life imprisonment in the 'Devil's Gulag'.
Famous catch-phrase among American Sonic fans: "Uh, Sonic, why did you cut my rope? I was using it!"
In issue #48 Sonic manages to escape, and the King sends St. John to 'track him down'. While Geoffrey and the others are away, the King gathers everyone in his hut and reveals that he has decided to re-establish the position of 'Warlord' in this realm, and Robotnik is the one he has chosen. At this moment Robotnik and his SWATbots enter the hut, taking everyone prisoner.
In issue #49, Sonic escapes to the Floating Island with the help of
Dulcy, to seek help from Knuckles the Echidna. It is revealed that the
King is only a robot dublicate made by Robotnik, which was used to get
Sonic out of the way and allow Robotnik to take over. Doc Quack was
forced to help replacing the King, because Robotnik is holding his
family hostage.
In issue #50, Sonic, Knuckles and St. John finally realize what's going
on and head back to Knothole, just in time to stop Robotnik's SWATbots
from putting all the villagers into prison containers. But Robotnik
still has a few tricks up his sleeve: he built a machine called the
'Ultimate Annihilator', capable of eradicating all life on Mobius.
A cat named Hershey confesses to Sonic that it was she who cut Sally's
rope while wearing a Sonic-mask. But she had also been cheated, since
the mask had optic lenses built in that let Sally appear to her like
being Robotnik's evil nephew and assistant Snively (similar
to Grimer from the Fleetway series). With Sally dead and Knothole in
ruins, Sonic can think of nothing but revenge. He races to Robotropolis,
fights his way into Robotnik's command center, and both duke it out in
a battle of life and death. During their fight the Annihilator gets
activated, but to Sonic's surprise only Robotnik 'disappears'. His
nephew Snively secretly re-programmed the device to affect only Robotnik,
so he could finally be in charge.
Sonic is brought back to Knothole, and luckily, SEGA America decided
against Ken's crazy idea concerning Sally in the last second and enforced
a 'happy' ending. So Doc Quack reveals that Sally isn't dead, but only in
a coma. He placed her in a stasis tube disguised as a memorial shrine,
and Sonic awakens her by giving her a kiss, in a bad "Sleeping Beauty"
rip-off.
From that point onward, IMHO the Sonic series went downhill... the Freedom
Fighters try to rebuild Robotropolis to what it once was, but there is a
growing mistrust toward the still-roboticized Mobians (who all regained
their free will when the Annihilator went off, but can't be changed back
to normal), the King behaves stranger than ever, and as far as my
information goes concerning future issues, Sonic and Sally will soon part
(after being together for over 50 issues), and the King will order all
roboticized Mobians to be DISMANTLED, which will lead into a
full-blown CIVIL WAR! Robotnik is finally gone, but now the
Mobians are fighting EACH OTHER!
Sonic also met his parents again (both roboticized) and is now mad at his
uncle Chuck because he never told him that they were still alive. I sure
miss the fun, happiness and unbreakable friendships that made the Sonic
cartoon and the stories in earlier Sonic issues so enjoyable... currently
everyone almost behaves like HUMANS would. But that's another
story.
Contents List