Sonic’s Return To Comics Seems To Be Going Well
Sonic the Hedgehog held the longest ongoing monthly comic book for a licensed character in the country — until recently. Said comic had been published by Archie Inc. since January 1993, but Sega yanked the rights away from them last year. Reportedly this is because of mismanagement at Archie causing Sega to distrust them — for one thing, Archie inadvertently created a legal loophole that allowed longtime writer Ken Penders to claim ownership of the characters he invented during his tenure with the comic.
Sonic’s new home is IDW Publishing, where the trust is more solid and the contracts never get misplaced. Ian Flynn, who was head writer of the Archie version at the time of its collapse, is back — but he’s writing a new continuity free of decades’ worth of subplot snarls and possible Penders lawsuits. The big question was, would fans follow?
If sales numbers released this weekend by IDW are any indication, the new Sonic comic should have a long life. IDW published the first four issues of Sonic on a weekly schedule, and despite this, they haven’t been able to keep up with demand. Issues #1, #2 and #3 have completely sold out. Their first printings are long gone and the second printing of Issue #1 sold out within six days!
If you missed out on Sonic’s comic rebirth, there’s still a chance. A third printing of Issue #1 and a second printing of Issue #2 will be on comic store shelves May 16. The second printing of Issue #3 will be out a week later on May 23. Don’t miss them this time — IDW can only keep this up for so long!