Sonic the Hedgehog: 30th Anniversary Special // Review
If you’ve been living under a rock for the past month, Sonic the Hedgehog has hit 30 years as a franchise. Also going for almost the same amount of time is the blue blur’s run in comic books. From his time with Archie Comics in 1991 through his time with IDW in the modern day, Sonic has almost always had a comic alongside his media appearances. It’s gotten to the point where fans have more comics than games to run through, and that’s not always a bad thing.
To celebrate, IDW has released a 30th Anniversary book. At 80 pages, it’s a fairly chunky beast with three different tales stored within. Seasons of Chaos is the main story, written by Ian Flynn. Aaron Hammerstrom pencils the story, with extra lineart by Tracy Yardley and Thomas Rothlisberger. Reggie Graham and Matt Froese ink the pages, while Reggie also colors. Sonic Learns to Drive is written by the team of Clint, Justin, Travis, & Griffin McElroy. Mauro Fonseca provides the art, while Valentina Pinto colors. Dr. Eggman’s Birthday is written by Gale Galligan. Thomas Rothlisberger provides the art, while Nathalie Fourdraine colors.
The first story, Seasons of Chaos, is what a lot of Sonic fans have been begging for since the release of Sonic Mania in 2017 and the animated shorts under the Sonic Mania Adventures in 2018. Set in the so-called Classic era of Sonic’s franchise, the story is an adorable and fun look back at Sonic. Focusing on the characters from the Classic era, there are some genuinely fun surprises in this comic that call back on fan-favorites like the Sonic the Hedgehog OVA “movie” from the turn of the century. Chaos emeralds are being found in unexpected places, and Doctor Eggman is collecting them, or at least his robots are. It’s up to Sonic and his friends to stop them from gathering them all! Also, Amy would like to tag along too. That’s not too much to ask, is it?
The writing is damned clever, which is fair to expect from Ian Flynn these days. There’s a few references to Sonic and the internet culture that can be missed, but do not drag the reader out of the experience. Characters feel written like how we got in Sonic Mania and Adventures, but with added dialogue. Really, it’s a great little story.
The art is nothing short of amazing. Aaron Hammerstrom nails the feel of the Mania era, with characters balancing between highly expressed cartoony rubber and sharp on-model art. There are also some pages from Tracey Yardley’s legendary hand and Thomas Rothlisberger does a fantastic job as well. It’s hard to tell these pages apart when you’re reading through for the first time, which is a high credit to the art team. Reggie Graham and Matt Froese deserve a lot of credit for not only inking the pages to look close enough, but also Graham’s credit for the colors is well-deserved. The pages explode with bright colors that feel like an honest update of the 90s games in the best way. This is a beautiful book.
LOOK AT THIS ADORABLE TREASURE HUNTER.
Sonic Learns to Drive is what it says in the title. Sonic is trying his best to take a driver’s lesson, and the fastest thing alive being forced to go within reasonable speed limits is the most entertaining thing imaginable. There’s also the delight of Sonic’s motivation to learn to drive:
Finally, Dr. Eggman’s Birthday remembers that Eggman shares a birthday with that dastardly hedgehog. When his robots realize they’re incompetent at helping the Doctor celebrate his birthday, what can they do to cheer up their boss?
If you’re a Sonic fan, you need this in your collection yesterday. If you’re a fan of fun comics, and fondly remember the Sonic heyday of the 90s, this is also a great book to check out. While it is higher priced, the increased page count and great stories within more than make up for that. While his games may be of varying quality, Sonic’s comic future is looking great.
