Amy Rose (Sonic the Comic)

Amy Rose is a pink anthropomorphic hedgehog and member of the Freedom Fighters who appeared in the UK fortnightly publication Sonic the Comic. She first appeared in Sonic the Comic #21.

History
Amy first appeared in a two-part story where she was 'arrested' by Doctor Robotnik's Trooper Badniks for the criminal offense of association with Sonic (she had been saying she was his girlfriend). While annoyed at the fact she had been lying about them being an "item," Sonic still had a duty to rescue her and did so, but to his horror, realized that she was now a fugitive and would have to stay with the Freedom Fighters.

Amy's character swiftly matured as the comic went on and became one of the most valuable members of the Freedom Fighters, especially due to her expert marksmanship with her crossbow (which she created herself ) or hand-drawn bow. The notion of a love interest in Sonic was, for the most part, underplayed and one of the comic's writers, Nigel Kitching, revealed he saw it partly as Amy just trying to annoy Sonic. Several times, Sonic would be left exasperated by either civilians assuming the two were dating (which Amy would play along with) or her playing up the crush - because of this, when trapped on the Miracle Planet with her, he faked being lost for two days.

While it had been planned for her to be a more useful member, unfortunately the first three stories she was in (one a Sonic CD adaptation) had her taken hostage as a plot motivator. In the second of these, however, she showed her maturity and quick thinking by brokering a mutually beneficial deal between her kidnappers (Captain Plunder and the Sky Pirates) and the Freedom Fighters. Her appearance was also changed, likely to further distance her from her Mega Drive/Genesis version - she was often seen wearing combat trousers and a white T-shirt that had various slogans or pictures on it, ranging from "Girl Power!" to a Christian cross. When the Sonic Adventure adaptation was released, her hairstyle was altered to reflect the games and she began wearing a bomber jacket.

She appeared often in strips, with a few solo stories by Lew Stringer where she saved the day without the others noticing. She constantly showed pragmatism and quick-thinking: in the story "Plasma" in #78, she both worked out how to defeat the villain and let Sonic believe he had as she knew that, as a symbol of hope for Mobius, "it's important that they think it's him who saves the day!". She also took a second-in-command role, taking full control when Sonic was absent or transformed into Super Sonic; when Sonic was lost in the Special Zone, she led the Freedom Fighters until he returned in #100.

At a later part of the comic's life, Amy would be mostly written by Lew Stringer as a straightforward adventurer and had a long series of back-up strips teamed up with her best friend Tekno. After encountering the mysterious Eternity Ring, they both traveled through time and space to help out people in trouble and save multiple planets (including Earth). Adventures included Mobius in the year 5000AD, helping Hercules complete his thirteenth labour to get into Olympus, and witnessing the birth of life on Mobius. (This was done as editor Deborah Tate wanted different locations for the back-up strips, and the Eternity Ring set-up was inspired by UK strips Adam Eterno and Garth. )

Production background
Nigel Kitching's original plans for Amy had her as a humourous character and an irritant for Sonic, influenced by 1930s/40s "Hollywood screwball comedies" like It's a Wonderful World, while still being a capable fighter. He never made it clear whether Amy really fancied Sonic or whether she was teasing him for the reaction, making him flustered and embarrassed. ("But what Amy was not and never was some weak soppy character who swooned over Sonic like a silly little girl. Well, she did but we were never quite sure if she just doing it for a laugh.") Although she was captured frequently in early strips, she never sobbed or begged for mercy, being as brave as any of the others, and she had the most lethal weapon of all the Freedom Fighters (a crossbow).

Kitching also planned a love triangle between Amy, Sonic and Johnny Lightfoot. ("The idea here would have been to have Johnny genuinely been attracted to Amy, Amy being friendly with Johnny (but not in a romantic way really) and Sonic being troubled by feeling of jealously and having to come to terms with the possibility that he had feeling for this girl who he could not stand.") However, besides a few early hints of Johnny's attraction (as in Sonic the Comic #43, "Badniks Bridge, Part 1"), this plotline was never developed.

Eventually, editor Deborah Tate insisted that Amy had to be more of role model for girls. Being the only regular female character in the strip at the time, Tate dictated that Amy had to be more mature and sensible than anyone else in the strip, something that Nigel Kitching considered an insulting stereotype: where the male characters had rounded personalities with genuine flaws, Amy became one-dimensional. After one final, failed, attempt to convey what he believed the character was all about, Nigel Kitching said that he would no longer use Amy in the lead strip, leading to Lew Stringer picking her up for his Amy and Tekno stories. However, when Kitching returned to the series for his last ten-issue run (after Deborah Tate had been succeeded as editor by Andy Diggle), he used the character exactly as he wanted to.

Trivia

 * Amy in Sonic the Comic uses a distinctive weapon, but unlike the Piko Piko Hammer that she uses in the games, her weapon of choice is a crossbow.
 * Amy in Sonic the Comic has been drawn by almost thirty different artist including Sonic The Comic online.in the last comic she is raped by sonic