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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![4]
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 he attacks, Sonic has showed up and thwarted his schemes, then relaxed until Eggman made his next move. After their last battle, however, Dr. Eggman had vanished, but his Badnik Horde has not.
Back in the present 1 month after War to Take Back the Planet, Sonic sees Vista View 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 Wispon and tells him to swing it at the robots next time, adding that he knew somebody who 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 Vista View'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 Motobugs are about to get a pair of townspeople who are struggling to open the shelter. Fortunately, Sonic takes out the Motobugs, 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, remarking about how much Sonic seems to put himself in danger. Landing on a building, Sonic thanks Tails for the save and informs him of Vista View'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 Vista View. 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 they want to crush both Sonic and Amy Rose in one strike.
As stated by Ian Flynn on Twitter, there was originally going to be a flashback featuring Infinite. However, due to him being off limits by Sega, this was cut from the final comic.
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.
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.
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: 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 sixteen 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 WonderCon 2018 at the IDW booth.
It was available at the convention on 23 March 2018. It is the first variant in the series to be released, twelve days ahead of the official launch date on 4 April 2018.
It features Tracy Yardley's B cover with a black and white background.
The full image of the four connected cover A covers.
Cover A is the first piece of the 4-part panoramic connecting cover art by Tyson Hesse.[5]
The version of cover B that was incorrectly labeled as cover A.
Upon first being revealed online, despite officially being cover B, 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 Sonic comic debut with her RI-A cover. Retailers received this variant in a 1:10 ratio to copies ordered.
Cover RI-B 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.[6]
Rafa was originally not paid for making the cover, even after requesting that Aaron be credited as well.[7]
Cover RI-C 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 "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.
It features Kieran Gates' RI-C cover with a black and white background.
The game was originally scheduled to be released on 25 July 2018, but was delayed until December 2018.[9][10] This was the latest Sonic the Hedgehog #1 variant cover that was released.
The "Spencer's" variant is a retailer exclusive that was given as a gift on FCBD 2018 at Spencer's with the purchase of a limited edition t-shirt featuring Adam Bryce Thomas' cover B artwork 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 second and third 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.
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.
Dynamic Forces released a limited number of CGC graded copies 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.[2] 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.[3]
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,[11] according to Comichron. It sold another 3,331 copies in reprints for a total of 24,963.
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".[12][13]
This issue was nominated for "Comic Book of the Year, $3.99 or Under" in the 2018 Diamond Gem Awards.[14]
