Archie Sonic Boom Issue 1

Archie Sonic Boom Issue 1 is the first issue in the Sonic Boom comic series published by Archie Comics.

Official solicitation

 * Here comes the BOOM! Based on the new hit TV and video game comes Sonic Boom, a new ongoing Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series from Archie Comics! Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends are back and ready to do battle with the evil Dr. Eggman and his diabolical death-machines! This ground-breaking new chapter in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise puts a new ‘spin’ on all your favorite heroes and villains – plus new faces and hilarious new stories chock-full of action! Featuring a stunning first issue cover by Sonic art legend Patrick ‘SPAZ’ Spaziante, and 4-part ‘Here Comes the Boom’ collector covers from series artists Evan Stanley, Rick Bryant, and Matt Herms!

Getting a Little Boulder Part One of... er... One

 * Writer: Ian Flynn
 * Pencils: Evan Stanley
 * Inks: Rick Bryant
 * Colors: Matt Herms
 * Letters: Jack Morelli
 * Assistant Editor: Vincent Lovallo
 * Editor/Executive Director of Editorial: Paul Kaminski
 * Editor-in-chief: Victor Gorelick
 * President: Mike Pellerito
 * Publisher: Jon Goldwater
 * Special thanks to: Tyler Ham, Anthony Gaccione and the character business and licensing department of Sega corporation

Summary
The story begins with Sonic having a fight with Dr. Eggman in his Big Boy on the beach. As Sonic taunts Eggman, Tails then comes to Sonic's aid, but as he analyzes the mech, he gets so impressed that he starts chatting with Eggman about it. Knuckles then arrives and threatens Eggman, but the Big Boy steps him into the ground. Amy then comes and pulls Knuckles out while berating him for not focusing on fighting the enemy, before she starts organizing her team's efforts. Under Amy's directions, they all strike the Big Boy at critical points and topple the mechanical mammoth. Back on the beach, the group briefly admires their handiwork as Tails reports Eggman is retreating to his lair (by having his Big Boy swim there).

The team's respite is interrupted by Sticks as she arrives in a tizzy. Momentarily concerned about her name being introduced as a logo (Sonic explains it is a first issue gimmick and that they will be back to regular letters next month), Sticks reveals Tails' house had been robbed. The rest of the group consoles Tails who worries what was stolen. Sticks insists it was everything and takes the gang to Tails' house, where they see that the whole house is gone: what Sticks meant was that Tails' whole house had been stolen. Tails, baffled and shocked, asks who did this, to which Sticks says was a "cyborg rock golem" which they find hard to believe. Sticks explains that Tails' house was carried off on the head of the golem which came from underground, and Sonic suspects Eggman is behind it, though he regards it as a fluked assassination attempt.

As Tails complains over his thief, Amy assures him they will get the house back with the right plan, to which Sonic comes up with the brilliant plan of finding Tails' house and getting it back, which Amy is quick to poke fun of. Sonic asks Knuckles what he thinks about it, but Knuckles is just confused about how a rock can by a cyborg, so Amy explains it: Eggman planted a device beneath Tails' house that gathered the nearby rocks into the Rock-cyborg which when ran off with the house. However, Knuckles still fails to get it, leaving Sonic and Tails to restrain Amy as her patience wears thin.

Suddenly, Sticks starts sniffing the ground nearby and heads off in a hurry. Everyone suspects she has picked up the scent of the Rock-cyborg and follows her. However, it turns out that Sticks only thought the grass smelled nice and she has been following the Rock-cyborg's footprints away from the lot, which turns out to have lead them straight to the Rock-cyborg and Tails' house.

Tails flies up to his house pierced on top of the Rock-cyborg and sees everything inside it is okay. Meanwhile, as Amy is angered by Knuckles mistaking Tails' house as the Rock-cyborg's hat, Sonic tries getting the cyborg's attention, assuming that anything created by Eggman is programmed to hate him, to lure him back to lot so his friends can set an ambush. Sonic is proven right as the monster follows him. Meanwhile, Sticks climbs up to Tails' house to check its gutters for "illegal wire taps" where Tails tells her to go to safety, but she insists she is safer up on the cyborg. Back at the former site of Tails' house, Amy is planning on how to bring Tails' house back on its foundation when they ambush the Rock-cyborg, but Knuckles remains confused about the plan. Reaching her boiling point, Amy tells him to "try to actually think for the next five minutes". Unbeknownst to Amy, Knuckles does not take what she said well.

No sooner, Sonic arrives with the Rock-cyborg hot on his heels. Together, Knuckles and Amy damage the robot's legs while Tails and Sticks hit it from behind, making the giant fall, and Sonic delivers the final blow by shooting himself through the Rock-cyborg's core, utterly destroying it and making Tails' house fall back on its foundation unharmed. The heroes (excluding Knuckles) then celebrate their victory, where Sticks likes how the Rock-cyborg's remains adorn the surroundings with a pawed walkway, a rock garden and a quarry.

The next day, at Dr. Eggman's lair, Eggman is about to have his breakfast served by Cubot when someone rings on the door. Orbot answers on Eggman's orders and is met by Knuckles who proposes they should team up.

Appearances

 * Team Sonic
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Amy Rose
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Sticks the Badger
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Orbot
 * Cubot
 * Rock-cyborg

Continuity

 * The Big Boy makes it debut. It would be used to fight Team Sonic again in Sonic Boom #2, "Knuckleduster", was deployed in Sonic Boom #3, "Hammer Spaced" and would be used to fight Team Sonic again in Sonic Boom #4, "Sticks & Stones" where it is destroyed for good.
 * Knuckles and Amy have an argument. This argument would culminate in Sonic Boom #2, "Knuckle Duster".
 * Knuckles makes a fake alliance with Dr. Eggman. This alliance would later be broken in Sonic Boom #2, "Knuckle Duster".
 * The Big Boy is heavily damaged. It would be poorly patched from these damages and upgraded in Sonic Boom #2, "Knuckle Duster".

Trivia

 * The characters saying their names as logos is similar to the earlier issues in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series where the characters would say Sonic's name as a logo on the first pages of each issue.
 * Despite Sonic claiming that they would go back to normal lettering in the next issue, the character would continue saying their names as logos on the opening pages for the next three issues.
 * Tails exclamation "Great Scott!" and Eggman's claim that his robot "goes from zero to sixty in under a minute" are well-known lines said by Doc Brown in the Back to the Future movie trilogy.

Off Panel

 * Script: Aleah Baker
 * Pencils/Inks: Ryan Jampole
 * Letters: Jack Morelli
 * Colors: Matt Herms

Summary
In a full-page edition of the Off-Panel strip, Sonic welcomes readers to the new world of Sonic Boom, filled with new friends, new adventures and new..."neckwear" says Knuckles, and he and the rest of the crew are shown each with their own scarfs. Sonic insists that they cannot just copy him, but Knuckles notes that they already did, with Tails retorting that the look suits a pilot really well and Amy that they are fashionable and functional. Sonic questions why Stick's scarf is made out of tinfoil, to which she claims it is so nobody can hear her thoughts, much to Sonic's exasperation. Sonic then turns to the reader and tells them that they will see new experiences (rather than clothes) and asks them to send in their letters and fanart, before Eggman appears and claims he makes the scarf look good. Sonic frustrated yells "NOT HELPING" in response.

Appearances

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Amy Rose
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Sticks the Badger
 * Dr. Eggman

Trivia

 * Tails saying how a scarf suits a pilot might be a reference to how his attire for the Sonic Boom franchise was designed to reinforce that he serves as his team's pilot.
 * Knuckles' scarf has emerald prints similar to the Master Emerald.

Quotes

 * Sonic: STICKS™ THE BADGER! You can relax! We already sent Eggman packing.
 * Sticks: ...Did you just say my name as a logo?
 * Sonic: Yeah, it's a first issue gimmick. We'll go back to regular lettering next month.


 * Knuckles: Ha! That thing's hat looks just like Tails' house!
 * Amy: It is Tails' house!
 * Knuckles: Oh. I didn't know Tails lived in a hat. Does that mean he's got a postal code or a hat size?


 * Amy: I know it's hard, but for Tails' sake, try to actually think for the next five minutes!


 * Dr. Eggman: Hurry up, Cubot! My breakfast loses its evilness if it gets cold!

Reception
Jesse Schedeen of IGN rated this issue of the comic a 7.2 out of 10. He commended Flynn for not having relied on trendy, modern humor or dialogue in the comic's presentation, and also appreciated the fourth-wall humor and "clean, expressive" art style. Schedeen did, however, find the plot "fairly disjointed" and possessing little coherent structure, and he criticized Sticks, whom he considered a needless exposition device.

Trivia

 * The artwork style (specifically the shading, outline, etc.) of the main cover strongly resembles that of the concept artwork of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy for Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric.
 * Dr. Eggman's pose on the main cover is the exact same he is shown with in "The Sidekick" in the Sonic Boom television series.
 * The robot depicted on both covers of this issue is Burnbot, though it would not be introduced in the comics until Sonic Boom #5.
 * This is the first official media to portray the main cast of the Sonic Boom series.

Reprint list
This issue has been reprinted in the following prints:
 * Sonic Boom Volume 1: The Big Boom
 * Sonic Super Digest #10
 * Sonic Super Special Magazine #13