Sonic the Hedgehog: Winter Jam[1] is a one-shot comic book special, published by IDW Publishing. The special is themed around winter and serves as a spin-off of the IDW Sonic the Hedgehog comic series.
Official solicitation[]
- Sonic and pals are getting into the spirit of the holidays with fun, food, and plenty of snow! But when Dr. Eggman's robots start making trouble, the gang find themselves in a real Winter Jam![1]
Featured stories[]
- Story: Iasmin Omar Ata
- Art: Min Ho Kim
- Colors: Reggie Graham
- Letters: Shawn Lee
- Editor: David Mariotte
- Production: Johanna Nattalie
- Special thanks to: Mai Kiyotaki, Afia Khan, Michael Cisneros, Sandra Jo, Sonic Team, and everyone at Sega for their invaluable assistance
Synopsis[]
Back at Dr. Eggman's base, Orbot and Cubot are observing their creator watching reality TV shows for his research, prompting Orbot to go in a rant about Eggman's poor work ethic, before noticing a paper drawing with the words WINTER JAM on it. Orbot comes up with an idea, but Cubot's dim-wittiness fails to understand at first glance.
A while later, Sonic and his friends are relaxing in Green Hill, when a Giant Chopper ambushes them, and swallows them, taking them to an unknown location. Cubot announces to them that they are in Orbot and Cubot's Winter Jam, while the Badnik Horde cheers for them. Orbot reveals that the prize for winning is a purple Chaos Emerald, but only one team can have it. To prevent Omega from blowing up the arena to escape, Cubot manipulates the robot's single-track mind by saying that they will reveal a new, ready-to-destroy Badnik to the winner. Omega complies with this, and Orbot breaks everyone into teams of two, since Shadow and Knuckles refused to join their game. The former gave them a threatening glare, while the latter punched them into the horizon. Team Sonic, Team Dark, Team Rose, Team Big's first activities are to create a scenery related to the holidays. Sonic costs him and Tails a win due to his carelessness, entangling both into the lights. Omega hangs multiple wreaths on the wall, impressing Orbot and Cubot, while Rouge tries to steal the Chaos Emerald, but Omega attacks the two robots, creating a huge explosion that destroys the wall and knocks Rogue down. Team Rose scores the win with a snack spread, even if Cream's "full-course" jelly cake turned out to be a mess of the leftover ingredients. The teams are interviewed before moving on to the next activity.
The next game is "Snowball Jam", where a team has to carry an Eggman Doll to the finish line safely, while avoiding snowballs from the other teams trying to destroy it. Team Rose's Eggman Doll is unfortunately decimated by Omega's rapid-fire snowballs. Sonic takes the Eggman Doll, but the doll can't handle his high speeds, disintegrating into mere fleeces. Team Big is demoralized and surrenders, giving Team Dark the win for Snowball Jam. The teams are interviewed again.
The contestants go through several more games before coming playing Sculpt Jam, where the teams have to make ice sculptures. Team Sonic creates a simple sculpture of Sonic and Tails' friendship, but it is fragile and collapses, leaving Sonic distraught at his constant failures at a reality show. Froggy somehow manages to use laser eye beams to create a beautiful sculpture of Eggman. This forces Cubot to reveal that "Froggy" is actually a Badnik; the real Froggy escaped the Giant Chopper. Omega goes in a frenzy and destroys the arena, while Rouge steals the Chaos Emerald. The commotion causes Eggman to arrive at the scene and is shocked by what is going on. Cubot presses a button that sends Sonic's friends out of arena and back to Green Hill, with Big reuniting with the real Froggy, while Tails gets the Chaos Emerald. Artificial snow rains down on Green Hill and the lights that landed from the set make a beautiful scene. Sonic says they should enjoy the moment and the group goes back to relaxing and playing.
Back at Eggman's base, Dr. Eggman goes in a fury and deletes all his research from the reality TV he has been watching, storming off angrily, while Orbot and Cubot give a thumbs-up to each other for finally getting Dr. Eggman to focus on something worth researching.
Appearances[]
Characters:
- Amy Rose
- Avatar (cameo)
- Badnik Horde
- Akatento
- Balloon (first appearance)
- Bell (first appearance)
- Bu-Bu (first appearance)
- Egg Pawn
- Eggman Doll (first appearance)
- Flickey
- Froggy Badnik (first appearance)
- Gaogao
- Geji-Geji (first appearance)
- Gohla
- Giant Chopper
- Ginpe
- Guards
- Guruguru (first appearance)
- Hariisen (first appearance)
- KeroKero (first appearance)
- Kubinaga (first appearance)
- Kura-Kura (first appearance)
- Leon (first appearance)
- Mogu (first appearance)
- Mon (first appearance)
- Pen (first appearance)
- Pierrot
- Snowy
- Yadokk (first appearance)
- Yukigasen (first appearance)
- Barry the Quokka (cameo)
- Big the Cat
- Cheese
- Conductor (cameo)
- Conductor's Wife (cameo)
- Cream the Rabbit
- Cubot
- Dr. Eggman
- E-123 Omega
- Froggy
- Knuckles the Echidna (flashback)
- Metal Sonic (cameo)
- Mecha Sonic Mark III (cameo)
- Miles "Tails" Prower
- Orbot
- Rouge the Bat
- Shadow the Hedgehog (flashback)
- Sonic the Hedgehog
Locations:
- Sonic's universe
- Sonic's World
- Angel Island (flashback)
- Green Hill
- Sonic's World
Objects:
Trivia[]
- The Conductor, the Conductor's wife, the red wolf Avatar, Barry the Quokka, "Ian Jr.", Ian Mutchler's Avatar character, as well as an early design for the Conductor and Barry, and Min Ho Kim's personal Sonic character can be seen on various screens on Page 2.[5]
- Mecha Sonic Mark III can be seen suspended in a tube on Page 2.
- Sonic's emphasis on "endless summer" on Page 4 references Sonic the Hedgehog: Endless Summer.
- Team Rose's pose on Page 9 references Amy and Cream's pose when paired in Sonic Advance 3.
- Cubot referring to Big and "Froggy" as "big guy, little guy" on Page 9 references Lazy Days (Livin' in Paradise).
- Omega's targeting reticles on Page 11 resemble those seen in Lock-On Shooting Stages of Sonic Adventure 2.
- All the food an beverages Amy prepares on Page 12 are from Sonic the Hedgehog: The Official Cookbook.
- The interviewing room bares a strong resemblance to the media room from Sonic Generations.
- A picture of Metal Sonic that can be seen in the interviewing room resembles the Mona Lisa.
- The Eggman Doll closely resembles the design of Tails Doll.
- Sonic and Tails are said to have an unbreakable bond by Cubot. This references the name of their pair in Sonic Advance 3.
- On Page 18, Sonic and Tails' destroyed ice statue being described as "diamond dust" references Diamond Dust Zone.
- Omega repeatedly saying "annihilate-charge" on Page 21 references lines he says when attacking in Sonic Heroes.
- Tails saying "I guess all's well that ends well, right?" on Page 23 references the final cutscene of the English version of Sonic Adventure.
- On Page 4 & 5, Tails is seen with a Body Board, which bears a very similar appearance to the body board seen in Sonic the Hedgehog OVA.
Quotes[]
- Rouge: I should have known better than to trust Omega with a crafting challenge.
- Omega: Affirmative. Sub-optimal judgment executed.
- Rouge: Hey, you went along with it!
- Omega: Affirmative. Sub-optimal judgment executed.
- Sonic: B-but...I went fast...I should have...won...
- Tails: Hey, do you think we could cut this part out?
- Orbot: Absolutely not. Next!
- Amy: What kind of reveal is that?!
- Cubot: Well, technically it's a reveal, even if devastatingly disappointing! Them's the breaks in showbiz, folks!
- Rouge: All right, time for a take-two on my plan--(takes the emerald) Don't mind if I do!
- Cubot: That wasn't part of the outline, either!
- Rouge: Them's the breaks in showbiz! (winks)
Trivia[]
- On cover A, two snowmen can be seen in the background, resembling the Conductor and Barry the Quokka from The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, respectively.
- The artist for this cover, Min Ho Kim, was also the character artist for the game.
- The snowboard which Sonic is seen riding on in cover A is based on a similar snowboard seen in a piece of artwork for Sonic Adventure.
Artwork created by Min Ho Kim for Christmas 2023
- In a piece of artwork created by Min Ho Kim for the Sonic Social Media channels for Christmas 2023, a copy of 'Winter Jam' can be spotted amongst the piles of presents.
Gallery[]
Cover artwork[]
| Gallery |
|---|
 Cover A colors. Art by Min Ho Kim.  Cover B thumbnails. Art by Abigail Oz.  Cover B pencils. Art by Abigail Oz.  Cover B lineart. Art by Abigail Oz.  Cover B colors. Art by Abigail Oz.  Cover RI (10) colors. Art by Iasmin Omar Ata. |
Early covers[]
| Gallery |
|---|
 Cover A. Art by Min Ho Kim.  Cover B. Art by Abigail Oz.  Cover RI (10). Art by Iasmin Omar Ata.  Cover RI (25). Art by Adam Bryce Thomas.  IDW exclusive Cover. Art by Priscilla Tramontano. |
Preview pages[]
| Gallery |
|---|
 Page one  Page two  Page three  Page four |
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Sonic the Hedgehog: Winter Jam Cover A (Kim). Penguin Random House (25 August 2023). Retrieved on 25 August 2023.
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog: Winter Jam Variant B (Oz). Penguin Random House (25 August 2023). Retrieved on 25 August 2023.
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog: Winter Jam Variant RI (10) (Ata). Penguin Random House (25 August 2023). Retrieved on 25 August 2023.
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog: Winter Jam Variant RI (25) (Thomas). Penguin Random House (25 August 2023). Retrieved on 25 August 2023.
- ↑ Min Ho Kim (@deegeemin) on Tumblr. Tumblr (17 December 2023). "Min Ho Kim: Quick round of character refs from Eggman’s screen going in order from left to right! [Conductor’s wife and Conductor, Barry and Gadget, Early Conductor design, Early Barry design (his outside eye markings are white tho), My uh Sonicsona lol]"
