IDW Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 1

IDW Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 1 is the first issue in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series published by IDW Publishing.

Official solicitation

 * SONIC'S RACING INTO A NEW ADVENTURE! After defeating the evil Dr. Eggman's latest plot, Sonic is racing around the world to shut down the robotic Badnik forces that are still attacking villages. But it's a big job for one hedgehog—even Sonic! Fortunately, he'll have some help from his best friend: Tails!

Fallout Part 1

 * Written by: Ian Flynn
 * Pencils by: Tracy Yardley
 * Inks by: Jim Amash & Bob Smith
 * Colors by: Matt Herms
 * Letters by: Corey Breen
 * Edited by: Joe Hughes & David Mariotte
 * Published by: Greg Goldstein
 * Special thanks to: Anoulay Tsai, Mai Kiyotaki, Aaron Webber, Michael Cisneros, Sandra Jo, and everyone at Sega for their invaluable assistance

Synopsis
The issue begins with an introduction to the series: it explains that for years, Sonic the Hedgehog has been battling the forces of Dr. Eggman. Every time the mad doctor has attacked, Sonic has showed up and thwarted his schemes, then relaxed until Eggman makes his next move. After their last battle, however, Dr. Eggman had vanished, but his robot army has not.

Back in the present, Sonic sees a town of anthropomorphic animals under attack by Badniks, whom the locals are trying to fight off, which prompts Sonic to head in and see if they need a hand. Inside the town, a resident armed with a Cube Wispon tells the others to get to their storm bunker. The resident nervously tries to take a stand against the invading Egg Pawns but is easily knocked down. Before the Egg Pawns can get him though, Sonic shows up and takes the Egg Pawns out. Helping the resident back on his feet, Sonic gives him back his Cube Hammer and tells him to put it to good use. Sonic then takes off in a hurry to rescue the rest of the town, advising the resident to hide indoors. Soon after, Sonic stumbles upon the town's militia and tells them that Badniks are coming from the north and to go help the resident he just helped. Caught off-guard, the militia nonetheless agrees. Meanwhile, some Moto Bugs are about to get a pair of townspeople who are struggling to open the shelter. Fortunately, Sonic takes out the Moto Bugs, then winks and strikes a cool pose in front of the townspeople before taking off again. Calming down, the townspeople are left star-struck by Sonic's coolness.

Next, Sonic comes across a Super Badnik: an Egg Hammer. Not rattled in the slightest, Sonic forces the Egg Hammer back with some Spin Attacks. As he gloats at the Egg Hammer to goad it into attacking him, however, he notices that he is surrounded by three more Egg Hammers. The Egg Hammers take a unified whack at Sonic. However, Sonic soon after emerges from a manhole, smugly revealing that he used the underground system before the Egg Hammers could hit him. Sonic then runs away while the Egg Hammers chase him. Before one can hit him with its hammer, Tails swoops in and pulls Sonic away. Landing on a building, Sonic thanks Tails for the save and informs him of the town's status. He reveals that he has taken care of the small-fry Badniks and that the town militia can handle the rest. However, the Egg Hammers still pose a threat. Sonic and Tails thus decide to destroy them together and use the Rolling Combo to split an Egg Hammer in half. The both of them continue their collaboration from there and manage to take down two more Egg Hammers. Exhausted, Tails thinks this would be easier if Knuckles was with them, but Sonic assures him that they are doing fine.

Tails quickly notices that the rest of the Badniks are making a run for it. Not willing to risk letting them attack other towns, Sonic tells Tails to cut the Badniks off while he handles the remaining Super Badnik. With Tails on task, Sonic turns his attention to the remaining Egg Hammer. Smashing its head, Sonic lands gracefully on the ground while the Egg Hammer lands on its own hammer. Sonic then yells to Tails to hurry up, as the Badniks were almost out. In response, Tails casually closes the town gate, causing the remaining Badniks from crash into the closing gate, destroying them. Joining up with Tails again, Sonic casually applauds and praises Tails, which the fox cub humbly accepts.

As the duo take a breather, Tails comments that the Badnik attack was much more coordinated than anything else they have seen lately. He begins explaining that after they beat Eggman and his forces, they broke the Eggman Empire's control over their world. This meant that while the Badnik army remained, they were now directionless and no longer a united threat, and any attack from them seemed more accidental than aggression-based. Today, however, the Badniks acted more like an organized army, which makes Tails deduce that something is making Eggman's army more cohesive. Getting the point, Sonic wonders if it means Eggman is back, but Tails does not think that is the case: after his last defeat, Eggman would undoubtedly make sure Sonic and co. knew he was back, as he always does that.

Whatever the case might be, Sonic decides to keep doing what he is doing, which means traveling around and smashing any Badnik he sees, as they are posing a threat whether they are organized or not. Tails nervously notes that someone could be controlling the Badniks, but Sonic thinks it just makes things more fun. Seeing that Sonic is not going to change his mind, Tails tells him to be careful while expressing his worry over the thought of losing Sonic if he gets caught off-guard again. Noticing this, Sonic cheers Tails up and promises to be careful. Sonic then offers Tails to come along with him if he is so worried. Tails is initially eager to come along, just like in the old days, but upon taking a look around and seeing the town in ruins and the people in despair, Tails notes that there are too many Badnik gangs on the lose and that Sonic will be able to handle them faster on his own. Tails thus decides to stay and help the locals rebuild the town. Sonic comments on Tails' decision by calling him a class act and states that they will bash robots again some other time, to which Tails agrees.

Taking his leave, Sonic runs out of town. Unbeknownst to him, however, a Flapper is surveying from a distance. Meanwhile, somewhere else, in an Eggman-themed base, an unseen figure is watching the Flapper's surveillance of Sonic. Unsurprised that Sonic has survived his first trial, the figure orders the next battalion to attack the nearest town in order to draw Sonic in. The figure also orders his troops to make sure that the Resistance knows of Sonic's latest success, as he wants to crush both Sonic and Amy Rose in one strike...

Appearances
Characters:
 * Amy Rose
 * Avatar
 * Badniks
 * Egg Pawn (multiple)
 * Flapper
 * Moto Bug (multiple)
 * Super Badniks
 * Egg Hammer (x4)
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Neo Metal Sonic
 * Resistance
 * Sonic the Hedgehog

Locations:
 * Green Hill
 * Eggman Empire Fortress

Items:
 * Wispon
 * Cube Wispon
 * Unnamed white Wispon

Vehicles:
 * Death Egg Robot
 * Egg Dragoon
 * Egg Emperor
 * Egg Viper

Misc.:
 * Eggman Empire
 * Homing Attack
 * Spin Attack
 * Rolling Combo

Continuity

 * Sonic and Tails save a village. Amy would bring this up in Sonic the Hedgehog #2, "Fallout Part 2".
 * Tails suspects that something is controlling the Badnik gangs. This would be brought up by Sonic in Sonic the Hedgehog #2, "Fallout Part 2".
 * Sonic begins traveling around, battling rogue Badnik gangs. This would continue for several issues.
 * Dr. Eggman is revealed to have gone missing after his defeat in Sonic Forces.

Trivia

 * Several allusions to events in previous Sonic the Hedgehog games are presented in this issue:
 * The first page shows flashbacks to four different occasions in which Sonic battled a notable Eggman mech from various games. This includes the Egg Viper (Sonic Adventure), the Egg Emperor (Sonic Heroes), the Egg Dragoon (Sonic Generations) and the Death Egg Robot (Sonic Forces).
 * Sonic tells the resident that was fighting with a Cube Wispon that he knew someone that was able to wield the weapon proficiently. This refers to the Avatar who debuted in Sonic Forces and was able to use an assortment of Wispons.
 * All the militia members featured are based on species available for avatar creation in Sonic Forces.
 * The gloves and shoes worn by the town's militia are the standard uniform pieces worn by the Resistance's soldiers in Sonic Forces.
 * Tails' comment about Eggman not returning without so much as an "angry vlog" may be in reference to Sonic Heroes, where he (or rather, Neo Metal Sonic) informed Team Sonic of his plan with a holographic letter.
 * Tails displays a genuine fear that Sonic might get caught off guard or become seriously hurt. This may be a nod how Sonic was long assumed to have been killed near the beginning of Sonic Forces, a belief that Tails found hard to deal with.
 * Tails says that they could have dealt with the Egg Hammers faster if Knuckles was with them. This is in reference to Sonic Heroes, where Sonic, Tails and Knuckles faced the Badniks for the first time together. It could also be a nod to Knuckles being a Power Type character in the game, with that particular formation being the only one able to destroy the armored robots.
 * The pose assumed by Sonic after destroying the last Egg Hammer is the same that appeared in Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog #200 after he defeated the Egg Tarantula.

Other features

 * Sonic Letter Squad: Sonic Letter Squad is a section where the comic staff can post fan artwork and fan letters that have been sent in to them. This edition also includes a series introduction message to the readers.
 * Skylanders - Free Digital Aschan

Quotes

 * Narrator: Sonic the Hedgehog has spent years fighting the forces of Dr. Eggman. Time and again the mad doctor attacks, Sonic strikes back, then relaxes until Eggman returns. But after their last battle... ...Dr. Eggman vanished... ...But his robot army did not!


 * Sonic: Whuh-oh-that doesn't look good. Sounds like the locals are putting up a fight. I hope they don't mind me lending a hand!


 * Sonic: Tails!
 * Tails: Could you not risk your life for five minutes?
 * Sonic: Sure, but where's the fun in that?


 * Sonic: They're almost out! C'mon, Tails! Hurry up!
 * Tails: Oh ye of little faith...

Trivia

 * This issue currently has the most alternate covers, with seventeen covers overall, the highest amount of variant covers produced for any Sonic-related comic. This surpasses Sonic Universe #75, which had a total of eight variant covers.
 * The WonderCon variant is a Convention Exclusive that was available at Wonder Con 2018 at the IDW booth.
 * Released at the convention on March 23, 2018, it is the first book in the series to be released, twelve days ahead of the official launch date on April 4.
 * It features Tracy Yardley's B cover with a black and white background.
 * IDWAllCoverA.jpg A cover is the first piece to the 4-part panoramic connecting cover art by Tyson Hesse.
 * IDW_Sonic_The_Hedgehog-1v1.jpg first being revealed online, despite officially being the B cover, Tracy Yardley's cover was mistakenly labeled as Cover A in the top left corner of the cover. This was later corrected upon release.
 * Nathalie Fourdraine made her comic debut with her RI-A cover. Retailers received this variant in a 1:10 ratio to copies ordered.
 * The RI-B cover was done by 3D model artist, Rafa Knight. Retailers received this variant in a 1:25 ratio to copies ordered.
 * Concept art for Rafa Knight's variant cover was done by artist Aaron Hammerstrom.
 * Rafa was not paid for making the cover, even after requesting that Aaron be credited as well.
 * The RI-C cover by Kieran Gates is reminiscent of Modern Sonic official artwork. Retailers received this variant in a 1:100 ratio making it one of the rarest variants.
 * The "More Fun Games" variant is a Retailer Exclusive to by local artist Devin Kraft.
 * The Diamond Retailer Summit variant is a Retailer Exclusive that was given as part of the "Thank You" pack to attendees of the Diamond Retailer Summit 2018.
 * It features Tyson Hesse's A cover with a black and white background.
 * The C2E2 variant is a Convention Exclusive that was available at C2E2 2018 at the IDW booth.
 * It features Tracy Yardley's B cover with a partially black and white background.
 * The "Superstar" variant by Edwin Huang was a Convention Exclusive given as part of a gift package to VIP ticket holders at Tidewater Comic Con 2018.
 * Its art featured an update version of that used for Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog #272's main cover.
 * Edwin was glad he was able to do an updated version due to the previous iteration having so many errors.
 * The "GameStop" or "Crash Course" variant is a Retailer Exclusive that comes with the IDW's Sonic The Hedgehog: Crash Course Board Game only from GameStop.
 * It features Kieran Gates' RI-C cover with a black and white background.
 * The game was originally scheduled to be released on July 25, 2018, but was delayed until September 15, 2018. Currently it is the only Sonic the Hedgehog #1 variant cover yet to be released.
 * The "Spencer's" variant is a Retailer Exclusive that was given as a gift on FCBD 2018 at with the purchase of a limited edition t-shirt featuring Adam Bryce Thomas' B cover for Sonic the Hedgehog #2.
 * Many locations had an extremely limited supply receiving only one or two packs containing four t-shirts (S,M,L,XL) and four comics.
 * The 2nd and 3rd Printing variants feature Tyson Hesse's A cover with a white background. The 2nd printing has a red box and the 3rd has an orange box.
 * The Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 1-4 Box Set contains five unique covers including two Sonic the Hedgehog #1 variants.
 * It includes a Virgin Cover of Tyson Hesse's A cover allowing a unobstructed image when connecting the covers.
 * It also includes a Sketch Cover which can be used to sketch one's own art or used for signing by one's favorite artist.
 * released a limited number of with high ratings of 9.6 or 9.8 of the A cover. Due to the place holder image, there was some confusion as to whether this was a unique cover variant or not.
 * It was stated on 12 April 2018 that the issue had sold out and was slated for a second printing on 2 May 2018. The second printing sold out six days after this announcement and it was then announced a third printing would be available on 16 May 2018, along with the second printing of Sonic the Hedgehog #2.
 * This is the second Sonic-related comic to have sold out, the first being Sonic: Mega Drive.
 * Additionally, it is the first American Sonic comic to sell out twice, prompting a third printing.
 * Sonic the Hedgehog #1 is the best selling regular single issue of a North American Sonic comic, having 21,632 copies ordered by retailers according to . It sold another 3,331 copies in reprints for a total of 24,963.
 * The previous record holder was Archie's Sonic Boom #1 with 17,228 copies ordered.
 * Tracy Yardley had finished the pencils for the issue by 13 January 2018 and described the action sequences that Ian had written to be "challenging".