Games - Sonic the Comic

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	Games - Sonic the Comic

Sonic the Comic, known to its many readers as STC, was a UK children's comic published by Fleetway Editions (the merged companies Fleetway and London Editions, which progressively became integrated with its parent company Egmont until it became known as Egmont Magazines) between 1993 and 2002. It was the UK's official Sega comic and was released every fortnight at 95 pence, later rising to £1.35 before the final issue.

Setting

The comic featured the adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and his motley crew of freedom fighters as they struggled to liberate the planet Mobius from the control of the evil dictator, Doctor Ivo Robotnik. It also included a few other original characters like Johnny Lightfoot and Porker Lewis (based on the generic rabbit and pig characters freed from Badniks in the Sonic games), Tekno the Canary and Shortfuse the Cybernik. Robotnik's assistant was Grimer, a green scientist who was insanely loyal to Robotnik throughout the comic's run.

The Chaotix Crew appear in STC. Nack the Weasel was once a member of the group, but he betrayed them at one point. In STC, Vector the Crocodile, Charmy Bee, Espio the Chameleon, and Mighty the Armadillo are the Chaotix members. Many other sub-plots and storylines have appeared in the STC comics, such as Tails' adventures in the Nameless Zone, Knuckles' quest to discover the fate of for his ancestors and Amy Rose and Tekno the Canary's adventures through time and space. Occasionally, storylines would be devoted to Robotnik himself.

The adaptations of the Sonic video games were generally closer than those of the Archie comic, although changes were still made, particularly in the case of Sonic Adventure. This storyline occupied the final issues of the comic containing new material - after this arc ended in July 2000, all the stories in the comic were reprints of earlier stories. The comic finally ended with issue 223 in January 2002, which contained a special retrospective piece written by major writer Nigel Kitching.

Format

The comic generally had a format containing four stories, each usually following different storylines and being written and drawn by different writers and artists. The first was always a seven page story about Sonic himself (except for one issue which began with Tails instead), and in the earliest issues, the remaining three would involve a different Sega game character (see list below). As time rolled on, Sonic's influence spread, and the other strips were supplanted by supporting-character-based stories such as Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Chaotix, Captain Plunder (an original character, created by Nigel Kitching) and the anthology, "Sonic's World," which would focus on different characters as it saw fit.

Other stories featured were based on various other Sega video game titles. Each run usually lasted for six issues. These included:

Shinobi (3 series)
Streets of Rage(3 series)
Kid Chameleon (2 series)
Eternal Champions (2 series)
Golden Axe (2 series)
Decap Attack (3 series, initially)
"Pirate STC" (1 series)
Marko's Magic Football (1 series)
Ecco the Dolphin (2 series)
Wonder Boy
(2 series)
Sparkster (1 series)
Mutant League Football (1 series)
Shining Force (1 series)

Of these, "Pirate STC" was the only strip not to be based on an existing game; instead, it was based on original characters featured in television adverts for the Sega Mega Drive and Mega CD consoles - most recognisably, a man wearing a fez. Decap Attack, meanwhile, outlasted all the other non-Sonic strips, being Nigel Kitching's pet project of sorts.

Megadroid

The mascot of the comic was a robot named Megadroid. Megadroid went through several redesigns over the years that the comic was in print, but he is most commonly recognised as being comprised of parts of a Sega Mega Drive.

Megadroid serves as the "face" of Sonic the Comic, answering letters as an editor would, and providing story recaps and general magazine news on the inside front cover. He acted as a liaison between the readers (whom he called "boomers") and the "humes who think they're in charge".

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Sonic the Comic ]

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