Sonic the Hedgehog has been the subject of many spin-offs in printed media, such as books and comics.
Comic books
Several comic books have been released, each establishing a different storyline about Sonic.
- Sonic the Hedgehog promotional comic (Various, US) 1991
- Sonic the Hedgehog Story Comic (Mega Drive Fan, Japan) 1991
- Sonic the Hedgehog (Shogakukan, Japan) 1992 - 1993
- Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics, US) 1993 - present
- Sonic the Comic (Fleetway Editions, UK) 1993 - 2002
- Knuckles the Echidna (Comic Series) (Archie Comics, US) 1997 - 1999
- Sonic X (Archie Comics, US) 2005 - 2008
- Dash & Spin; Super Fast Sonic!! (Coro Coro Comics, Japan) 2005
- Sonic Universe (Archie Comics, US) 2009 - present
- Sonic Boom (Archie Comics, US) 2014 - 2015
Sonic fan-made dōjinshi made by a variety of artists (including Rikdo Koshi) have also been released in Japan. In the UK there was also a short lived Sunday comic strip and a series of Christmas annuals. Whilst there were some slight connections (such as both projects occasionally using regular Sonic the Comic artists Richard Elson), the three projects appeared strongly to be separate from one another with the Sunday comic and annuals preferring self contained gag strips over Sonic the Comic's continuing plot lines and maturer stance.
Novels
- Stay Sonic by Mike Pattenden (Fantail, UK) developed the "Kintobor origin", first introduced in the Sonic promotional comic, in much greater detail. This background was used as the basis of most subsequent UK Sonic stories, including Sonic the Comic.[1]
James Wallis, Carl Sargent and Marc Gascoigne (writing under the pseudonym Martin Adams) wrote four Sonic the Hedgehog novels based on his origin established in Stay Sonic. They were published in the UK by Virgin Publishing.
- Sonic the Hedgehog in Robotnik's Laboratory 1993 - Sonic tries to rescue his friends from the eponymous lab.
- Sonic the Hedgehog in the Fourth Dimension 1993 - Sonic and Tails try to prevent Robotnik from altering history, encountering the Organisers - human scientists who maintain the laws of Time and Space - and helping them against the mythos creatures, paramilitary mythological creatures who are trying to exist in reality. Sonic briefly altered history so Robotnik was never formed, but had to change it back to stop the mythos creatures altering the Big Bang.
- Sonic the Hedgehog and the Silicon Warriors 1993 - Robotnik imprisons Mobians inside a vast computer system, forcing Sonic and Tails to battle thinly-veiled versions of other computer game characters (Road Warriors II). It featured many puns and frequent breachings of the fourth wall, with Sonic directly talking to the reader on several ocassions.
- Sonic the Hedgehog in Castle Robotnik 1994 - Robotnik creates a robotic duplicate of Sonic and situates himself in a classic horror movie villain castle, protected by likewise common horror movie creatures.
Michael Teitelbaum wrote a series of Sonic novels based on the backstory of Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) and the Archie Comics continuity. They were published in the US by Troll Associates.
- Sonic the Hedgehog 1993
- Sonic the Hedgehog: Robotnik's Revenge 1994
- Sonic the Hedgehog: Fortress of Fear 1995
- Sonic the Hedgehog: Friend or Foe? 1995
- Sonic & Knuckles 1995
- Sonic X-Treme 1996
A series of Sonic X novels were published by Grosset & Dunlap.
- Meteor Shower Messenger, Paul Ruditis 2005
- Spaceship Blue Typhoon, Diana Gallagher 2005
- Aqua Planet, Charlotte Fullerton 2006
- Dr. Eggman Goes to War, Charlotte Fullerton 2006
- Battle at Ice Palace, Charlotte Fullerton 2006
- Desperately Seeking Sonic, Charlotte Fullerton 2007
Picture books
Ladybird published a series of picture books in the UK in 1994.
- Sonic the Story - a re-telling of the Kintobor origin, narrated by Tails
- Sonic the Hedgehog: Robotnik's Oil
- Sonic the Hedgehog: The Invisible Robotnik
In the US, the first Troll Associates book by Michael Teitenbaum was adapted into a picture book published by Watermill Press. The picture book was written by by Judy Nayer and illustrated by Ron Zalme.
Three books, written by John Michlig and illustrated by Art Mawhinney, were published by Golden Books Entertainment under their "Look Look Books" banner. Originally available through Scholastic book clubs, these books have sold a combined total of over half a million copies worldwide. While the two who worked on the books never met, Michlig later praised the way Mawhinney drew out his scripts.[2]
- Sonic the Hedgehog: Sonic's Shoes Blues
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2: The Secret Admirer
- Sonic the Hedgehog 3: Up Against the Wall
Golden Book published another book under their "Big Golden Book" banner, this time written by Parker Smith and illustrated by Penry Creative.
Gamebooks
A series of six Sonic Adventure Gamebooks were published in the UK between 1993 and 1996 by Puffin under the Fantail label.
- Book 1 - Metal City Mayhem, James Wallis (ISBN 0-14-090391-7)
- Book 2 - Zone Rangers, James Wallis (ISBN 0-14-090392-5)
- Book 3 - Sonic v. Zonik, Nigel Gross and Jon Sutherland (ISBN 0-14-090406-9)
- Book 4 - The Zone Zapper, Nigel Gross and Jon Sutherland (ISBN 0-14-090407-7)
- Book 5 - Theme Park Panic, Marc Gascoigne and Jonathan Green (ISBN 0-14-037847-2)
- Book 6 - Stormin' Sonic, Marc Gascoigne and Jonathan Green (ISBN 0-14-037848-0)
Another series, also called Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure Gamebooks but published by Ladybird, were released in the UK in 1994.
- Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure Gamebook 1
- Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure Gamebook 2
- Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure Gamebook 3
- Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure Gamebook 4
Others
Other books published by Ladybird include:
- Where's Sonic? - A puzzle book in the style of the Where's Wally? books, each page presented the reader with a different puzzle, each one inspired by a different level from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis.
- Where's Sonic Now?
- Sonic the Hedgehog Puzzle Book 1
- Sonic the Hedgehog Puzzle Book 2
- Sonic the Hedgehog Colouring Poster Book
- Sonic the Hedgehog Joke Book
Other books published by Troll Associates include:
- Sonic Activity Book, Michael Teitelbaum (Troll Associates, US) 1995
- How to Draw Sonic the Hedgehog & the Gang, Michael Teitelbaum
Two yearbooks were published by Grandreams Limited. These featured one-shot comics normally involving Sonic foiling Dr Robotnik's plans (but included one Shinobi comic), Sega game reviews and other novelty Sonic and Sega-related features such as an "interview with Sonic".
French publisher Hachette Livre has also been told by Sega to create a series of chapter and activity books related to the Sonic franchise. They were scheduled to come out at the end of 2013.
Other books featuring Sonic include:
- Look and Find Sonic the Hedgehog - Another book similar to Where's Waldo; each page is a puzzle with hidden objects and characters from the SatAM storyline, but in locations from Sonic games on the Genesis. (ISBN 0-7853-1139-4)
- Sonic the Hedgehog Paint 'n' Marker, published by Golden Books Entertainment
- Sonic the Hedgehog Book, published in Japan
- Sonic the Hedgehog (Play-a-Sound Book) by Raymond MacKemp, art by Rod Vass, sounds by Kristan Nordine
- The History of Sonic the Hedgehog
- SegaSonic Hedgehog Ecology
References
- ↑ "Re: knuckles color in the first strip" - Post by Nigel Kitching to the Sonic the Comic Yahoo! Group. (Registration required.)
- ↑ http://www.fullyarticulated.com/publishedwork.html