Mark Millar

Mark Millar is an Award-winning Scottish comic book writer, who wrote several early Sonic the Hedgehog stories for the UK publication Sonic the Comic. He also wrote the first two Streets of Rage stories in that comic. He is, however, far better known for his work in the American comic book indutry, for DC Comics (The Authority, Superman: Red Son) and Marvel Comics (the Ultimate Marvel imprint).

Sonic the Hedgehog
Mark Millar's first work on Sonic the Comic was the story "Robofox" in the second issue, in which he introduced the idea that Doctor Robotnik wished to turn Miles "Tails" Prower into a badnik. He wrote the majority of early Sonic stories, although his interpretation of the characters was quite different from that of Nigel Kitching, who took over the majority of the writing chores before #20 and set the tone for the rest of the series.

In particular, Millar's interpretation of Sonic was different from Kitching's, although both writers portrayed Sonic as a flawed hero who frequently belittled his friends (especilly Tails). While Kitching's Sonic was rather driven and too impatient to let Tails keep up, Millar's Sonic was depicted as vain (taking the time to blow-dry his spikes after a work-out and shower) and gluttonous (eating hundreds of burgers for breakfast)

Millar's stories were frequently located in zones that had appeared in the original Sonic the Hedgehog, such as the Marble Zone, the Labyrinth Zone , and the Scrap Brain Zone. On the other hand, stories by Kitching tended to be set in zones from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Notably, Sonic's home base frequently switched between the Green Hill Zone and the Emerald Hill Zone depending on who had written the story. Although Millar's later stories, such as "Time Racer" from issue #11, did confirm that Emerald Hill was Sonic's home, the text in this story says that Sonic passed through the Spring Yard Zone and the Marble Zone in order to get there, indicating that it was intended to be the Green Hill in an earlier version of the script. The Green Hill Zone was once again Sonic's home in "Happy Christmas Doctor Robotnik", a Millar-penned story from issue #16.

The two writers also used different supporting characters. Although Porker Lewis and Johnny Lightfoot, who appeared in stories by Kitching, became the more famous characters, Millar initially favoured using Sally Acorn. Sally occasionally accompanied Sonic on his adventures and acted as a leader of the Emerald Hill Folk, one time even attempting to banish Sonic from the Zone when she believed he'd turned evil. Sally never appeared in any stories by Kitching, and was replaced as the series' female lead by Amy Rose.