Remembering Sonic the Comic -- the British version
Look, just put your own pun about having to go fast here, ok? I can't do this all for you.
Sonic the Hedgehog's comic book adventures are back in the news again, what with SEGA and Archie's relationship breaking up, bringing an end to the longest continuously running comic book series in American history. But we covered all that yesterday -- today instead, I'd like to share my vague memories of the UK equivalent, Sonic the Comic. This one didn't last as long, although I was surprised to learn that the comic ran from 1993 all the way up until 2002.
Sonic the Comic was an odd little fortnightly jobbie -- mostly aimed at children, despite the title it wasn't entirely based around Sonic and in fact, a lot of other comic strips based around Sega titles appeared in its pages, including Kid Chameleon and Eternal Champions. The two most popular non-Sonic strips were a darker, more adult-tinged series based around Streets of Rage and...Decap Attack. That might come as a bit of a shock, but as a game the adventures of Chuck D. Head always seemed more popular here than anywhere else, and this strip ended up easily outlasting any other non-Sonic strip in the comic.
As for Sonic himself, I don't believe that the storylines ever got quite as big and convoluted as the ones in America, at least not during the time when I was reading it. Of course, back then it would have still largely been Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Robotnik. But this was a comic made by folks with a pretty wide range of experience -- everything from Buster to 2000 AD -- and so there was an effort for there to be something for everyone, particularly with the likes of Streets of Rage also on the pages. Sonic the Comic also had more traditional video game magazine-type stuff in its pages too, with space for hints 'n' tips, reviews, and readers' letters all split up into different "Zones" in the mag.
I have nothing but fond memories of this comic for the short time that I read it -- it files away nicely with the Mario Choose Your Own Adventure books (which funnily enough, were my first experience of Mario), or that one excitingly violent literary adaptation of Smash T.V that was attached to a magazine this one time (something I rather wish to seek out again). Eventually however, the comic's publishers Fleetway gradually started paring it down, getting rid of most of the non-Sonic strips and cutting out the video game magazine-type sections, before closing it completely in 2002. There has been a recent fan effort to revive it, mind you -- no surprise, as the reaction to these comics at the time was generally pretty good. Not a major shaker or anything, but a good comic with a strong sense of community -- a nice thing in those days before everyone had the Internet and all that. So long, boomers!
