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Archie

Community, Fan Works, Interview, Podcasts

Feature: A History of Sonic The Hedgehog Podcast, Tom Campbell

Everyone loves podcasts. Podcasts are great, and with some countries still imposing lockdown measures into early 2021, the mini podcast renaissance we’re experiencing looks set to hold with so many working from home or otherwise just having more time on their hands – but what is surprising is the relatively small number of Sonic-related offerings out there.

This is where Tom Campbell comes in. Well-known to wrestling fans for his work at Cultaholic, Tom has launched a new podcast series called A History of Sonic the Hedgehog which covers, well… Sonic’s history. It’s all fairly self-explanatory, but there are a few things that set this effort apart. Not only is it extremely well produced, it’s absolutely packed with information while keeping things relatively brief and is peppered with various snippets of adverts and interviews from back in the day to tie everything together, as well as a few new interviews and some roundtable discussions that give the whole thing a nice personal touch.

Episode 1 and 2 go over the history of the main series games with a few pit stops along the way and while the amount of new information here will depend largely on how familiar you yourself already are with the tale (and why not acquaint yourself with our wiki?), the way it’s all presented here is very entertaining. Episode 3 goes into the history of the comics and touches mostly on Fleetway and Archie with a quick swing around to IDW to close it out. This episode is utterly fantastic for anyone with even a passing interest in any of these comics, featuring interviews with Nigel Kitching, Michael Stephenson, Ken Penders and Ian Flynn! What a line-up!

All in all, this is not only a fantastically well-written and well-produced look into the entire Sonic franchise, it’s origins and history and how things got to where they are today, it’s also a love letter to it from someone who is very clearly a passionate, lifelong fan and whose expertise has allowed him to do it the justice it deserves. It goes without saying that I think you should absolutely check it out wherever you get your podcasts from, or go straight to the source!

I reached out to Tom to ask him a few questions about the podcast and his plans with it, and what brought him here in the first place. I was pleasantly surprised by his final answer and you might be too! Hit the jump to read on.

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Opinion, Podcasts

SEGA News Bits: Sonic the Hedgehog comics coming to IDW in 2018


While we are a bit late on talking about this due to the long weekend away from technology, we are covering the big news that Sonic the Hedgehog comics are back but this time with IDW as a publisher. If you guys didn’t hear, Archie’s Sonic the Hedgehog series ended less than a week ago and SEGA was quick to announce their new partnership with IDW! If you guys watched our previous SEGA News Bits episodes discussing all things Sonic the Hedgehog comics related, you’d know that we have wanted the Sonic the Hedgehog brand to end up at IDW for a long while. So on this episode of the SEGA News Bits we talk about Sonic joining IDW, the potential crossovers, and our hopes for how the transition is handled. There is still a lot of details to hash out on how IDW will be handling their own series, but what do you wanna see? Let us know in the comments below and will you be picking up the new IDW Sonic the Hedgehog series come 2018?
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Opinion, Podcasts

SEGA News Bits: Sonic Mania Vinyls and The End of Archie


On this SEGA News Bits we discuss the news that spread through social media like wild fire. SEGA has announced that they would be moving on from licensing Sonic the Hedgehogcomics to Archie. It has been about six month since Archie Comics released a brand new issue of Sonic the Hedgehog and its multiple side series, but now with  San Diego Comic Con closing in they finally let the cat out of the bag. On this episode we discuss what leaving Archie Comics could mean for Sonic the Hedgehog comics, what happened in the last story arc, what comic book publishers should take over, and what Archie Comics original characters we will miss if the series continues without them.
After the break, check out our video covering Sonic Mania‘s limited edition vinyl!
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Comics, Humor

How Fleetway Played The Games, Part 10: Of Prosecutors and Goodbyes

Can you really believe it’s been six whole years since I started this Fleetway thing back in part 1? How time flies when you’re having fun… or are too lazy to keep writing really long pieces without year-long gaps!
Anyway… last time a lot of things happened. Amongst other things there was a new foe, a tragedy, a crisis of confidence, some time travel shenanigans, and on the tail end of that we’d just discovered a Drakon Prosecutor back in the distant past of the Floating Island. You can read all of that in part 9 though: let’s dive in and get back to where we were, shall we? Hit the jump for the second half of StC’s adaptation of Sonic Adventure – and remember, LARGE spoilers for the end of Sonic the Comic lie beyond, as this part covers the very end of the comic’s run of original material.
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Comics, Humor

How Fleetway Played The Games, Part 9: Of Chaos and Chaos Emeralds


Once again it’s just over a year since last time in the series. Having gone through a variety of one-offs and short-run stories, we rejoin Sonic the Comic at issue #175, for the final original story in the comic’s run – the 10-part adaptation of the Dreamcast launch title and fan-favourite that is Sonic Adventure. The world of Sonic Adventure being as different as it is to what had already been established through StC’s continuity, the writers decided to do their own unique take on the story. I’ll warn you at this point though – because this is the last story of StC, there’s some MAJOR spoilers ahead in tying up loose ends and just throwing a few curve balls at the reader. Consider yourselves warned, OK? Where else do you get spoiler warnings for material that’s nearly 2 decades old?
Right. Let’s get this thing rolling! Hit the jump to continue.
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Comics, Opinion, Podcasts

SEGA News Bits: Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Comic Cancelled Rumor and Analysis


On this SEGA News Bits, Barry and George share their analysis of the rumor that Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comics are cancelled. How did this rumor spring up? Is there any validity to it? What could happen to the Sonic comic books should it happen? Give the video a watch to find out!
SEGA News Bits is a production of SEGAbits, covering all things SEGA and Sonic the Hedgehog. When we touch on Sonic stories, you’ll be seeing them here on Sonic Retro as well. If you enjoyed this episode of the SEGA News Bits, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and never miss an episode!

Comics, Humor

How Fleetway Played The Games, Part 8: Of Flickies and Space Marines

part8-01Goodness, has it really been a year since the last time we visited the world of Sonic the Comic? Well, as time marches on, so does the progress in our quest, as we cover the penultimate game adaptation in the Fleetway series – Sonic 3D: Flickies’ Island (Or Sonic 3D: Blast, as the Yanks might know it, but as that name was only used in North America we won’t be seeing it again in this Euro-focused story!) It’s a short one this time, only covering 3 issues. Written at a time when games were beginning to become thin on the ground in the late 90s, the writers went in a slightly different direction with the story, as we’ll see. The island itself was featured in the comic for a few months afterwards as a base of operations for Dr Robotnik, but just as a location now available for the writers to use. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s start back at the beginning, shall we? Hit the jump to continue – there is of course spoilers a-plenty ahead. Continue Reading

Comics

Archie Comics Sonic the Hedgehog May 2015 Solicitations – Worlds Unite begins!

Archie Comics have sent out the latest comic solicitations, highlighting what SEGA and Sonic fans can expect from the publisher in May! With the epic Sonic and Mega Man crossover incoming, Capcom’s Mega Man books will be a must read for those who want to follow the event, meaning throughout the crossover we’ll be highlighting the Mega Man titles that fall under the Worlds Unite umbrella. After the break, check out the covers, synopsis, and story details direct from our friends at Archie.
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Comics

Humble Archie Comics Bundle Includes All of Sonic/Mega Man: Worlds Collide

Still the best Sonic comic coverSo if you haven’t had the chance to read the Sonic and Mega Man Archie Comics cross-over yet, now’s a pretty good chance to buy a complete collection of all the issues if you don’t mind not having it physically. Humble Bundle and Archie are working together to sell a cheap bundle with all three volumes of the Worlds Collide cross-over, and also a bunch of other stuff like The Best of Archie, Afterlife With Archie, The Death of Archie, Archie: The Married Life, more Afterlife With Archie etc.
There are three different tiers you can choose from, each of which includes one volume with 4 issues. The first tier you can pay whatever you want for, for the second tier you need to pay more than the average and for the final tier you need to pay at least 15 bucks. Not a bad deal considering that that’s about half of what you’d normally pay for all of that, and that’s not including how much you’d pay for all of that other Archie stuff. And who wouldn’t want to read Archie Meets KISS? Also, as with all Humble Bundles you can decide how much of the money goes to charity and more comics will be included later on.
It’s also a pretty good way of catching up on all of that Worlds Collide stuff before they’re gonna mix in Rad Future Mega Man and Toilet Paper Sonic as well in its upcoming sequel.

Comics, Humor

How Fleetway Played The Games, Part 7: Of Chaotix and Metallixes

p7-000Another year draws to a close, and as such it’s more than time for another visit to the wonderful world of Fleetway’s Sonic the Comic. You may remember from last time that our heroes had just got the stolen Master Emerald back onto the Floating Island and blew up the Death Egg; and in the process of doing so they defeated a Metallix, who idly mentioned in chat about an “elite brotherhood” of the robots. All back up to speed now? It’s OK, you can go read part 6 again, I’ll wait.
You’re done? Right. Let’s jump back in, shall we?
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