Sonic's 900th Comic | Sonic Speed Reading 

11:00 Honestly while 06 story was canceled out it still makes sense for Sonic to recognize Soleana's present day locations, the game ended with Sonic visiting Soleana for the festival. And who says he didn't explore the city and surrounding areas. 😂

It's crazy that this little hedgehog has ballooned out to a massive fanbase and lore that would take a new fan YEARS to fully comprehend. It's so cool the brought back some of the past comic writers and artists.

The old city that the Egg Mazinger is in is likely a reference to Robotropolis' outskirts in the Sonic OVA. The Egg-Mech here reminded me of Metal Robotnik instantly when I read this.

6:10 I can confirm that 900th Adventure doesn’t take place after Frontiers. IDW Sonic (for right now, since Ian and Evan had said that Frontiers will influence the comics in the future, so post-Frontiers IDW stories are inevitable) is still set after Forces. Ian did confirm that 900th Adventure (as well as Endless Summer) takes place after the Urban Warfare arc (aka the Eggperial City takedown). *Spoilers for anyone who hasn’t read Endless Summer btw* Sonic mentions he’s saved the world 900 times in Endless Summer when talking to Jewel, so that comic takes place after this one. And since Endless Summer is supposed to take place after the Misadventures arc (the current arc, which Endless Summer references Issues #63 and #64), the same goes for 900th Adventure. 9:04 I originally thought the urban location was the closest thing we’d get to a “canon Ancient Relics” from the Sonic OVA, but Daniel Barnes confirmed that this is just an Abandoned City somewhere on Earth. *Spoilers for anyone who hasn’t read Issue #63* And no, this isn’t Station Square. The city is okay post-Perfect Chaos! Back during interviews of Frontiers, someone asked Takashi Iizuka what the state of Station Square was and Iizuka confirmed the city rebuilt itself after the massive flood. However, the residents are still afraid of Chaos and do not forgive it for what it had done. And this fact said by Iizuka is confirmed through IDW Sonic, where Issue #63 showed one of the places Sonic and Blaze visited prior to visiting Spagonia being Station Square. Sonic and Blaze went to the Casino Area’s Clothing Shop right across from Casinopolis! 11:06 Nah, nah, you got it right, Nick. All good!

Im genuinely suprised they actually bought back the writers from Fleetway’s Sonic the Comic. Like holy crap the last time Nigel Kitching worked on something Sonic related was Exit: Sonic for Sonic the Comic Online serving as a distant future finale

Even if I wasn’t over the moon with what was presented here, this really did feel more like a glorified annual than a celebration of Sonic’s comic history.

9:10 I feel like the Eggman Robot in the abandoned city is a nod to Metal Robotnik and Robotropolis from the OVA. While the mech designs aren't a one for one match, it is neat that we once again get to see Sonic and a Mecha modelled off Eggman once again duke it out in an abandoned city!

This sums up my opinion on this issue perfectly - it's a wasted opportunity that they weren't allowed to play around with the other continuities (not even a little) but I am so glad so many creators that care about this franchise got together and could give us such a fun comic even with the limitations they had

I think it’s entirely possible sonic still went to the 06 locations on his own time after the events of the game were reset. We see he still went to Soleana so I think it’s not too out of the question.

I don’t need it to be a massive Continuity crossover, but I think it would’ve been cool if there was a Scene we is the warp Topaz is really freaking out and open up a portal right below sonics legs. The hedgehog, then proceeds to fall through several dimensions, resembling several Sonic Comic runs: Archie, Fleetway, the French Sonic Comic, and heck why not throw in a reference to the Sonic Boom comics? I’m not saying, we have to see sonic interact with any of the exclusive characters from the series, just show him briefly pass by those dimensions: maybe bump into some iconic location for a brief second? Perhaps have a blacked out shadowy silhouette of a character from another comic series? Just something like that.

The fact they brought in one of the UK writers was a great touch.

Crazy that it was only last year that Spider-Man, one of the greatest franchises of the comic medium got its own 900th issue and Sonic just a year later reached the same milestone. Not even a comic book character in origin and 29 years younger than the Spider-Man franchise.

It’s, frankly, a flawed premise I’m surprised the team wanted to tackle. There was no way they could include what ACTUALLY helped make the franchise hit ‘900’ adventures, so I’m surprised they didn’t try a different angle, or better yet something different. But for what it is, the art is stunning!

I think, that the abandoned wrecked city is a homage to the "Ancient Ruins Zone" from Sonic OVA, it clearly has the look of that specific version of "New York" since it was canon on OVA's lore that long time ago the human population nearly got wiped out and the survivors escaped into the "Land of the Sky" leaving the surface of the world to become "The Land of Darkness" including the Ancient Ruins being what remained of the current day civilization at the time the movie was released.

9:05 Not sure if this is official or not but my mind went immediately to the Dark Lands from the Sonic OVA, idk the presence of a large Eggman Mech and a ruined city backdrop just gives me huge Sonic OVA vibes and I'm here for it!

For the Mazinger boss fight against Eggman that COULD be the ruins of Station Square, but given the context it might be a reference to the "ancient civilization's" ruins in the land of darkness from the Sonic OVA. Given how that scene was an homage to the Robo-Robotnik fight from that movie I feel like it would fit better that way.

From your rant it sounds like you want your cake and eat it to, you acknowledge that it's great the comics are canon yet want it to break out of the consistency that allows it to be canon. The IDW comics have been introducing characters, bringing back past characters (mecha Sonic) and so on, while yes it would be great to give writers free reign, consistency must remain for it to be canon. The one thing I can agree with is it would be interesting to see Sonic go to the other worlds throughout the multiverse (Archie, fleetway, etc)

11:22 In the japanese version of Team Sonic Racing, Sonic asks Silver: “What happened to your energy from when we first met? Weren't you all like, "I will destroy you!”? Silver, of course, states that he has no recollection of this and Sonic quickly changes the subject. I think it’s an interesting point to bring up, especially with all the 06 acknowledgment we’ve been receiving recently, that Sonic remembering 06 may be a part of the canon now

From what I heard come issue 75 there will be a time skip that will have the comics taking place after Sonic Frontiers. It doesn’t really tell if this story takes place after Frontiers but I still find it interesting nonetheless.

Incredible we are at the 900th, overall a real nice adventure celebrating the adventure of the blue blur. 💙

You know it's kind of crazy that Sonic the Hedgehog has had 900 adventures: time surely has flown by at Sonic speed 😎 And speaking as a rush fan, my heart was very warm seeing blazing cream team up again: I hope they bring that sort of energy back to the games as well 💗

"An adventure with Blaze and Cream" is literally just Rush - Cream took the role of Blaze's Tails in that game

Further references that me and some others put together there WERE references they're just way more subtle than we expected: 5:31 very reminiscent to Archie throwbacks like the first genesis wave, and sonic X, with simple green hill and showing sonic interact with it on a 2d plane 6:45 VERY remincient of how one of the special zones were depicted in evans ghost of the future, specifically the special zone where Scourge was trapped in, you might argue its just a fan comic but... 8:06 Reggie Graham being the colorist here is a PERFECT pick, as they have done art for the fan continuation StCOnline 9:16 Clearly the darklands from OVA 10:20 I think this is supposed to be reminiscent of AoStH with how colorful it is and Blaze being a responsible big sister to cream parrelelling Sonic Sez with Sonic and Tails 12:35 Bablyon Rogues and Team dark in a treasure scramble plays out much like the many plotlines in sonic universe, which if it had a main cast it would probably be those two teams 14:00 ending in a cave seems to be a call back to the old Knothole base from Archie, since that's arguably where the comic adventures "all began"

I think that old City is actually a reference to the Sonic OVA, specifically where Sonic and Tails first run into Metal Robotnik

It’s tripped up along the road but this franchise is still running strong.

I think the abandoned city with the Eggman Mazinger mecha might be a reference to the Sonic OVA, where the abandoned city was below the Land of the Sky, in Eggman's Land of Darkness.

Justice for Rings. But really, it was nice getting to see all these game characters in one comic.

I wish we could just get big ol collection books that put everything in chronological order for Archie like we are for IDW… it’d be great for old fans that just want to read these stories without having to dig up their old comics and look up a reading list and it’d be good for new fans that wanna read it for the first time!

The wrecked city from the Orbit & Cubot story might be a homage to the one in the OVA movie where Sonic, Tails, & Knux fight Metal Robotnik.

If I recall correctly, there's almost a little wink and a nod in the very last cutscene of Sonic 06, that Sonic perhaps remembered the events of the story. It was always my head cannon that he was the only one who remembered because he has affinities for special energies or whatever.

I do wanna say that the ending of Sonic '06 DID imply that Sonic retained his memories of the events despite Elise erasing the events. However, future games DO also imply if not outright state that Sonic definitely remembers the events (I THINK even Generations had Blaze curious about Crisis City, having some familiarity with it but nothing definitive but I'm going off memory on this one). In the Japanese version of Team Sonic Racing, Sonic has some curious words for Silver at Haunted Castle: - Sonic: You've come all this way from the future so let's just take this chance to enjoy a race! Silver: You're right... There's no point in getting concerned now... Sonic: Heh! What happened to your energy from when we first met? Weren't you like, "I will destroy you!"? Silver: I don't recall ever saying anything like that...? Sonic: Well, the race is about to start! Let's rock!" - Of course, I say ALL of this knowing that the Rivals duology exists sooo... *shrug*

Why we couldn't get more Archie love? Reason starts with a K! But seriously 900, that's pretty bloody impressive for the blue blur, so glad the collaboration happeened, the art looks crisp and awesome.

I love the box art based on Sonic 1. If anyone asks me what I mean by Shadow and other modern characters can keep their modern proportions but be put in the Classic artstyle, I point to that cover.

Well, I can still believe Sonic still remembers Tropical Jungle since he was still in Soleanna for the festival after they blew out Solaris's flame. Plus he's Sonic, who's to say that he didn't explore the areas around the place afterwards?

10:42 Blaze and Cream were a duo in Sonic Rush, so it was really cool to see them together after all this time.

9:20 Im not sure but the giant mech combined with the ruined city reminds me a LOT of the Sonic OVA when they went to the Land of Darkness and fought Metal Robotic

9:03 I think the abandoned city might be a reference to the “ancient relics”/ abandoned city in the land of darkness from the sonic ova but idk they do look pretty similar

I 200% agree with your gripe with this issue- as cool as it is, to be able to claim 900 issues... but then actually ignore the archie and fleetway characters- especially in a portal hopping adventure- feels incredibly deflating. I was looking at every spoiler page for this issue to see if this wouldve been the issue wed see these old characters and canons again... but so bummed out when it had... nothing from those past adventures ._. When would be a better chance? The 1000th issue-?

Apparently, while the events of 06 were retconned out via time-travel, Sonic and Elise are shown to still remember it (at least vaguely).

On the topic of the limitations of idw, I kind of agree that you can only do so much with the characters we already have. When I think of the best parts of IDW, I think of the metal virus and Imposter syndrome arcs. They're examples of out there ideas that really pushed the characters in the situations they found themselves in. Metal virus pushed the stakes and made one of the darkest official stories and the trio of Surge, Kitsunami, and Dr. Starline really highlighted and explored the philosophies of Sonic, Tails, and Eggman while being compelling characters in their own right. New characters offer new opportunities for storytelling and new ways to look at previously existing ones, so it's up to sega to decide when they want to add said new characters and how much they want them to impact the world. Also, the name reading at the end was incredibly funny. Your fans are great😂.

9:05 I think this city is from the 90's animated sonic movie released in japan and later got an English dub (the place where tails says an iconic line "AHH I'm afraid of lightning) its the OVA I just forgot the name

@9:05 I’m fairly certain that the beat down city is supposed to resemble Robotropolis from the Sonic OVA. That would line up as it’s the same place Sonic ran into Metal Robotnik for the first time.

11:18 Colors DS and Generations also has Blaze and Silver remember some 06 events. And Elise recognize Sonic a tiny bit, I guess, at the end of 06. After the timeline reset. (Silver only was shown to have memory fragments of Sonic 06 in Colors DS)

I literally purchased my first Sonic Comic book at Barnes and Noble yesterday. And now this happens. That's plain awesome!

This all-star cast of creators working on 900 did make me wonder, if Sega would've reached out to Greg Martin to do a piece of cover art. I like to think they would've if they could and that warms my heart.

Hey man, after about 900 comics, I didn't expect everything to be given spotlight. This current comic is doing the best it can even with the many restrictions it has. Restrictions that mostly wouldn't probably be there if it weren't for all of Ken Pender's absolute bullshit a decade ago. Sega still hasn't recovered from his vile sting and a good amount of The restrictions are simply just not wanting to do what he did. He ruined a beloved comic, all because he was to greedy about something he didn't really care about that much. He didn't want to make a Sonic comic, he wanted to make HIS comic.

It was slightly misleading to present it as #900 when it was in actuality a celebration of the game canon and history, not the comics. It bizarrely didn't even include IDW characters, despite them being canon to the games, though I suspect it was to avoid accusations of bias from fans who hoped to see the Freedom Fighters and Sticks. (Really though, we know Sticks is canon, when are we gonna' see her show up Ian???) However, I don't think it's quite accurate to call it the "cost of Canon". The ability to expand and celebrate the Sonic canon as successfully as Ian Flynn has is extremely commendable, and frankly one of the biggest selling points of Modern Sonic (IDW, Frontiers, etc.) for me. Any shortcomings of the issue come solely from legal and licensing hurdles, not Flynn abiding to continuity. It was still IMO a fantastic issue that kept a smile on my face from start to finish. Highlight was Cream and Blaze finally getting to adventure together again. Cream is Blaze's 'Tails' and I hate when this is forgotten!

5:33 I'm with you. More game elements in the comics! I wanna see Rings, people! If they're still needed in the games, they're needed in the comics!

Sonic continuity is beyond saving at this point.

Man, can't believe they brought in the Fleetway guys. That is just amazing 👏

Im happy i managed to find this yesterday as it was a real fun read and i especially loved the sonic and blaze segment as rush is what got me into the series

I think the big drawback is more that Sega has Sonic be the big focus when in some cases he shouldn't have to be. Yes you can always have him be the big point, but it wouldn't hurt to have Shadow, Knuckles, Rouge, Amy or even Blaze have a bigger focus.

20:11 even shadow is allowed to be used in memes~

Says "pecking order". DBZA fans: *Scared of Mr Popo's training noises.*

I kinda like how Shadow tells Sonic to give him the Topaz. Based off his face it doesn’t seem like him being aggressive or angry, but more of him being like “An ultimate life form would have a better handle on this topaz, so give it to me so I can sort this out.”

9:16 I think this is supposed to be a reference to the ancient city in the dark world of the Sonic OVA

Wow this is awesome! I love these comics so much.

Actually, Blaze and Cream met in the Archie Comics during Treasure Team Tango.

God sonics ART IS SO FUCKING GOOOOOOOD these people know anatomy

Orbot saying big oof is something I never knew I needed

My take on Sonic 06's canonicity is that, while time travel shenanigans did take place, the people at the heart of it remembered the events. They were aware it all got blipped. Also, love love love seeing Kitching and Elson back on Sonic, even if they didn't get to work together. Nostalgia bias talking, but I think the greatest creative team, and greatest milestone, belong to Sonic the Comic 100. That had Nigel Kitching and Lew Stringer writing, Richard Elson, the late great Nigel Dobbyn, Roberto Corona and, oh hey, Nigel Kitching on art duties, the mighty John Burns on colouring, Elitta Fell and Tom Frame lettering, all with Deborah tate as editor. It's a shame that Elson had to redraw Tails. He always had such a distinctive take on the little guy, which is probably why Sega had issues.

My best guess is that this takes place around issue #64 and Endless Summer since Blaze and Silver headed out on their own at the end of that, and Endless Summer had Sonic mentioned saving the world 900 times in that one. This was supposed to be released before that special. The abandoned city reminded me of the one from the Sonic OVA, just like the fight. I also noticed this was the first ever that Orbot and Cubot fought Sonic. "Big oof." I loved seeing Blaze in action, and Shadow threatening Jet was pretty great too. XD 18:25 That shot of Sonic and Shadow is from Evan's fan comic. Still awesome.

Seeing the fleetway sonic stuff gave me nostalgia, here in the UK in the 90s it was harder to find any sonic archies but i had afew. I had mostly STC.

Considering that they only did some tongue-in-cheek callbacks to Sonic’s past history, and yet not all of them were made to be there, I may give it a read for one time.

14:00 Fucking happy gilmore ref "ARE YOU TOO GOOD FOR YOUR HOME!?"

One thing I wonder is what consequences Mimic's infiltration will have. Maybe he sabotages some tech that will affect an future story. Maybe he severely injures someone. Maybe people will loose faith in the restoration. Maybe Lanolin's guilt will affect her decisions Maybe even all of them

The City shown in 8:53 is the abandoned city where Sonic, Tails, And Knuckles Fight Metal Robotnik In the OVA. I assume the robot shown there is a refrance to that

at 9:10 i think i know what it is! it seems to be the city from the land of darkness from the OVA, as seen from the vines, the buildings, and just the overall vibe of the place

10:52 personally, I think that is speed jungle from sonic superstars

that city is definitely metal city from riders with the futuristic cars.(think if i remember hearing this still takes place before frontiers,think with eggman's defeat in the eggperial city arc the'll likely have time go by to go past frontiers events finding ways to make it work with sage being with eggman now.) really love the sonic characters doing a relay race of sorts with the warp topaz(especially amy slamming away the orca/shadow trouncing the babylon rogues & definitely blaze adventuring with cream the rabbit again.),do like sega actually acknowledged all of their comics to let idw celebrate(especially bringing back fleetway's creator.:3),love the heavy ova vibes from the mazinger eggbot in the city(it seriously might as well be robotropilis/would love the ova characters to be in idw,make them residents of little planet to go over that issue.) and how we're starting to see more of the past games levels in idw. i'm as the most i would've actually liked is sonic running into the other game characters like the classic cast or his allies(shahra,prof. pickle/maybe chip,merlina, or maybe even cosmo.) as i knew the fleetway or archie(would really love to see aquatic folk come back as i loved them in archie's last legs.) characters weren't going to show after everything that's happened but would be nice if they did rerelease the issues they can.

9:07 Eggman does the Obari sword pose! Love that guy!

As soon as you said you're finally a real youtuber I knew it would be raid.

9:03 - 9:20 Could this be Robotropolis from the Sonic OVA, by any chance?

All of this... AND NO PATRICK SPAZ?!

I love your videos man! I can’t wait for the next video!

10:42 i swear this is the best style in sonic and you can’t change my mind

I wonder if Sega, even during the initial boom of Sonic's popularity back in the early 90s, ever once suspected that love for the blue blur and his friends would last as long as it did 😊

I can't help but wonder if the Warp Topaz Cave is supposed to be a VERY subtle nod to the Freedom Fighter's underground base from the VERY first Archie comics. It's hard to tell when there's no tech or identifying marks around. It was "the beginning" for Ian Flynn, after all.

Honestly, I really like where the franchise is at right now, and this issue was a joy to read! But I do agree that while I think we do need limits to make sure that we don’t make the same mistakes Archie did sometimes, I do wish Sega would loosen their grip on the reigns every now and again. (I really want the Freedom Fighters and Naugus back in a major way!)

If you want to experience the Fleetway comics, the youtuber Sonic The Comic Reviews has alot of audio retrospectives and comic readings of it. His mic quality ain't great, but it beats buying all the comics online at collector's markup.

now we wait for the 1000th issue -- and who knows, maybe then, we'll be able to see all the iterations of sonic truly crossover 24:58, oh hey you said that too!! i really hope so

Ain’t this the city where robotnik set up of base in sonic OVA

0:59 wooooooowwwww sonic selecttt. I think that was the 1st sonic comic i ever read and that was back in like 2013. I think thats how i found out about sonic

9:09 I do believe the city and that Mech are a reference to the Sonic OVAs land of darkness/robotropolis and metal robotnik respectively. Oh and hey, theres a video idea for the next Mecha March Maddness, you're welcome lol

A 'Sonic The Hedgehog' ongoing focusing on the main cast and a 'Sonic Universe'-esque book to cover the axillary characters (Babylon Rouges, Chaotix, Team Dark, etc) would allow fans to have the best of both Sonic flavours. But I doubt IDW can support two books.

I felt the abandoned city might be referencing the OVA and the "Land of Darkness"

Brother, there's many instances in the games before and after Generations where characters remember what happened in '06. Evem then, Generations sticked '06 back into the main canon with Crisis City

Now we just need to get to issue 1000

8:13 People who never read Fleetway and only know it through the internet: “WAIT! SONIC CALLS TAILS BUDDY IN FLEETWAY!?!?!?!?”

The city isn’t anything we’ve seen in canon, but it’s a pretty clear reference to the OVA, especially with a fight against a robotic mecha

19:08 damn, bro's speaking for all the fans I can respect that🗿

I feel like it's gonna be some time before the bad taste of Archie is removed from Sega. My hope is that, over time, they start slowly but surely trusting more writers and artists to begin doing their own thing. Now this could easily lead into the melodramatic soap opera that comics turned into, but hopefully eventually there will be a nice equilibrium between corporate oversight and artistic freedom. For a time at least.

14:37 ITS OVER NINE HUNDREEEED WHAT!? 900!? YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!?

1:53 man i love the artstyle here tbh

During that list of names, I was waiting for you to mention Spaz.

I think the entire mecha fight is supposed to be an OVA reference, specifically to the Land of Darkness and the ruined city, and the fight Sonic had with Metal Robotnik. There are way too many parallels for it not to be.

10:27 I have two theories: A. This is a warped and corrupted version of Mirage Saloon or... B. This is the elusive Desert Dazzle. The desert level cut from the 2011 port of Sonic CD

I know you did just talk at length about it here, but I still think there is a really good video to be made talking about how the SEGA mandates are greatly hindering the IDW run. I understand why they are apprehensive after Sonic the Comic and Middle Years Archie, but by the time these mandates came in, these problems were remedied by a good creative team. I didn't finish this issue because I got straight up bored. And with each passing IDW issue, im getting more and more bored. I worry greatly for the long-run quality of the IDW series because of these mandates.

5:30 Fun fact, Generations canonizes the rings.

Will be coming back to this episode in a year, when the comic is included a trade.