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Fleetway

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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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, 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, 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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Comics, Humor

How Fleetway Played The Games, Part 6: Of Master Emeralds and Death Eggs

part6-001So the new Sonic titles for the year have come and gone; namely Sonic Lost World, Sonic 2 (2013 remake) by Retro’s very own Stealth & The Taxman, and Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. These all out of the way (and indeed 2013), we’ve not got too much new for a while until information about the next games starts coming out. As such, I think it’s a good time to look back on some earlier titles, and finally finish off the 4-part extravaganza that has been our look at how Fleetway‘s Sonic the Comic covered the Sonic 3 & Knuckles storyline. So, let’s get started!

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Comics, Community, Interviews

Interview With Ian Flynn

The Sonic the Hedgehog comics, Archie and STC alike, have dedicated followings. One of the people responsible for the comics is Ian Flynn, the chief writer for the Archie series since #160. Recently, he sat down for an interview with the Super Power Flower Hour, a relatively new Sonic-related podcast. He gives his thoughts on the Sonic franchise, working on the comics, the Mega Man comics, and more. Check it out.

Comics

How Fleetway Played The Games, Part 5: Of Ice and Repairing

Welcome back to the second half of our look at the interim arcs of the Sonic 3 & Knuckles adaptation! Last time we travelled with Sonic and Amy Rose to the Marble Garden Zone, escaped the newly-revealed secret headquarters of Sonic & company as Big Arms smashed the place to pieces, and did some gambling with the Mario Marxio Brothers in the Carnival Night Zone. However we’ve got much more ground to cover, so let’s get started!

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Comics

How Fleetway Played The Games, Part 4: Of Evacuating and Electricians

 

You’ve waited over a year for it, but it’s here: the second part of possibly Sonic the Comic’s best story arc, that of Sonic 3 and Knuckles. However, I’m teasing a bit, sorry! The build-up to the final conclusion to the game’s story (which by 16-bit Sonic standards, was quite involved) took a couple of months, presumably to stretch out the material as much as possible before the next game came out. As such, we got a few shorter arcs before the final main story started, and that’s what we’ll be looking at today & next week, covering the final conclusion in Part 6 – simply as you miss things otherwise. Hey, don’t look so sad, you there at the back – there’s some fun stuff here. Think of these as an early Christmas present!

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Comics, Humor

How Fleetway Played The Games, Part 3: Of Emeralds and Echidnas

So the big day is finally here, and at long last after months of waiting, Sonic Generations is finally here for us all to enjoy – so long as you live in North America, that is. Us poor sods in the Old World have to wait another 3 whole days before we can open our shiny new disk boxes; listening meanwhile in tormented agony to our crowing friends across the pond, blasting their way though Sky Sanctuary and Planet Wisp in glorious HD.

Clearly, we need to find something that only we in Europe (if I’m honest, more specifically the UK, but work with me here) really had, in order to sustain us until Friday finally rolls around (pun totally intended). Ladies and gentlemen, I present the first part of Sonic the Comic‘s finest hour: the adaptation of Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

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