Johnny Lightfoot (Sonic the Comic)

Not to be confused with the robot named Johnny in Sonic Rush Adventure

The character of Johnny Lightfoot was originally based on the standard rabbit creature that could often be seen hopping away from a defeated badnik in early games of the series, though he was later adapted to a more humanoid form and gained clothes (including a red jacket). Johnny fought with a unique-looking staff-like weapon, and was one of the most loyal and reliable of the Freedom Fighters, often being a more sensible counter to Sonic. He was said to have many relatives (as actual rabbits tend to have).

Unlike the other Freedom Fighters, he never had much in the way of his solo adventures or major storylines, only having the Agent X saga (see below) and a battle against the forces of Commander Brutus; he even once openly expressed a desire to have his own solo adventure, right before Brutus' Badniks attacked. He would later be briefly turned into a Badnik by Brutus.

A storyline in later issues introduced a villain called Agent X, one of Robotnik's minions. After several appearances, Agent X sabotaged the Freedom Fighter's attack on Robotnik's old Flickies Island base and, after capturing them, revealed himself to be Johnny. It soon turned out that it was not the real Johnny at all, as due to a rip in time and space, he had been captured & replaced by shadow-like aliens. Sonic saved Johnny from the shadow's home dimension and Agent X was destroyed.

The character of Johnny Lightfoot was killed in the final story arc of STC based on Sonic Adventure. Where he attempted to reconnect power to an object the characters needed to defeat the rampaging Chaos. As he reconnected the power, Chaos attacked him and killed him with a powerful blow.

In the unofficial continuation of Sonic the Comic, a nightmare creature took the form of a malevolent undead Johnny in order to feed off Amy's fear. She eventually got rid of it by facing her fear over Johnny's death.

Trivia
Nigel Kitching's tongue-in-cheek explanation in his original pitch for the Sonic Adventure adaptation for Johnny's death was "Johnny is dull, Johnny has always been dull and that is why Johnny must die".

Kitching has also said that he once planned Johnny to be in a love triangle with Sonic and Amy Rose. Though the idea was hinted at in a few stories, this storyline was never developed within the comic. Lew Stringer originally planned for Agent X to actually be Johnny, but Nigel felt that | Johnny was "too nice a guy" to do that; the original plan would also have involved Robotnik, but he was involved in the Drakon Empire plot at the time.