Sonic the Hedgehog is arguably the best video-game-based comic series of the last three decades. It debuted in 1993 and continued for 24 years, making it the longest-running licensed comic. As part of the Archiverse, the comics have created numerous incredible characters over the years, like Scourge, Echidna, and Knuckles.
Despite having had such a good run for all these years, Archie Comics was forced to discontinue its most lucrative and beloved comics in 2017. Many readers were perplexed that year, wondering why they had to take such drastic measures. Even now, many fans of Sonic the Hedgehog remain ignorant of the reasons. So, stay with us as we debunk why Archie Comics has abandoned Sonic the Hedgehog.
A Series of Lawsuits Against SEGA and Archie Comics
Archie Comics published a large number of Sonic the Hedgehog comics, which include spinoffs and comic crossovers in addition to the main issues. Since 1993, the Main Universe alone has released 290 issues, with each volume coming out roughly once a month. However, if we consider the miniseries featuring Knuckles, Echidna, and other characters, as well as Mega Man spinoffs, the numbers exceed 500. In order to run these various comics simultaneously, Archie Comics has employed numerous artists over the years, but they failed to anticipate the consequences of not keeping up to date with contract documentation.
Ken Penders is one of the main artists who created many characters for SEGA’s Sonic the Hedgehog after joining Archie Comics in 1993. As a lead writer and artist, he produced stories and artwork for Archie Comics but left his position due to internal conflicts. Three years after leaving the company, Penders filed for copyright on every character, narrative, and artwork he designed. This happened shortly after the release of Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, a game that used concepts and characters from the stories he wrote.
Typically, whatever a contractual artist works on belongs to the company for whom they work, but Penders claimed never to have signed the contract documents, and Archie Comics was not very cautious with them. Penders eventually created his own comics based on the characters he designed for Archie, prompting SEGA and Archie to sue him in court. As the years passed, Archie Comics was unable to produce the paperwork required to show ownership of Penders’ work, and he finally won the legal dispute.
As a result, Archie was forced to remove all the characters designed by Ken Penders, resulting in a reboot under IDW Publishing. In the midst of all this, other former artists of Archie Comics, such as Scott Fulop, followed up on Penders’ lawsuits, alleging that they owed royalties for the characters they created, albeit the majority of the lawsuits were dismissed instantly. In the end, SEGA and Archie Comics had far too many legal conflicts to deal with, and they had no choice but to let go of Sonic the Hedgehog.
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Inconsistency With Lore Over the Years
Although the legal difficulties with its former artists were the primary cause for Archie Comics’s decision to abandon Sonic the Hedgehog, other minor issues accumulated over time. When certain characters are removed from the Archieverse, there are bound to be plotholes in the narrative. Even though Penders’ actions were not as detrimental to the comics when he initially filed a lawsuit in 2010, they subsequently proved to be a devastating blow to Archie Comics.
When Hershey the Cat was cut off in issue #237, it became apparent that comics could not be continued in the same way they did for all those years. However, once story arcs such as Unsung Heroes and several prominent characters from Endangered Species and Worlds Collide were removed, various inconsistencies in the lore became evident.
Prior to the reboot, this caused a lot of confusion among readers, since the story was all over the place, and writers had to come up with new themes to rectify the timeline without using Penders’s characters. In fact, Sonic the Hedgehog began as a continuation of the TV seriesSatAm but grew into its own thing over time. Longtime Sonic the Hedgehog fans were bewildered by the mix-up between the games and comics, resulting in many fan wars on social media as they all had personal opinions about the comics’ lore.
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SEGA’s Official Statement
With everything going on, including lawsuits and inaccuracies in the comics’ lore, SEGA had every reason to cut ties with Archie Comics, especially given their poor contract and staff management, which led to the fateful reboot of Sonic the Hedgehog and Archie Comics’ farewell to the beloved comic. Here is SEGA’s full statement following the end of their deal with Archie Comics:
After 24 years of memorable storytelling, SEGA of America will conclude their Sonic the Hedgehog publishing partnership program with Archie Comics. This does not mark the end of Sonic in comics, but signifies SEGA of America’s decision to take a different direction for the series that will be announced at a later date. SEGA would like to thank Sonic’s amazing fans for their loyalty and passion over all the years. SEGA looks forward to providing more information soon.
For those unaware, Sonic the Hedgehog is now running as a new series following its reboot in 2018 and is published under IDW Publishing, with 71 main issues released thus far. So, have you tried the rebooted comics yet?
