Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW Publishing)

On July 21, 2017, IDW Publishing announced a deal with Sega to produce a new series of Sonic comics following the cancellation of the previous Sonic the Hedgehog series by Archie Comics after a 24-year run.[1] The new series began with a four-week long event where the first four issues were released each week in April 2018, followed by a monthly release of subsequent issues starting in May 2018. Archie Sonic writer Ian Flynn was later confirmed to return as the series' lead writer, alongside artist Tyson Hesse.[2]

During New York Comic Con 2017, Ian Flynn confirmed that characters old and new would be featured in the series, hinting that characters from the games and the original comics might possibly return.[3][4][5][6] In January 2018, IDW revealed that Tracy Yardley, who originally worked on Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comics, would be one of the pencillers for the IDW series.

On April 14, 2020, it was announced that Evan Stanley, one of the series' artists, would be writing for the series.[7]

On June 28, 2020, two characters from the series, Tangle the Lemur and Whisper the Wolf, were announced to appear in the Sonic mobile game Sonic Forces: Speed Battle.[8]

The events of the comic begin shortly after the events of Sonic Forces,[9] in which Doctor Eggman has gone missing following his defeat by the Resistance, but the remnants of his Badnik army continue to attack around the world. After the robot attacks suddenly become more coordinated, Sonic, while investigating the cause, discovers that Eggman has sustained amnesia and taken on the friendly persona of "Mr. Tinker" in the village that found him. After observing Mr. Tinker's work, Sonic decides he is truly reformed, although he has to convince Shadow of the same. It is revealed that Metal Sonic is leading the Eggman Empire in his master's absence, intending to eventually restore Eggman to his proper place. He conquers Angel Island, where the heroes fight him. Metal Sonic with the Master Emerald assumes a Super Mode, then uses his biodata to transform into the stronger Master Overlord. Through a combined effort by the Resistance and their allies, Metal Sonic is thwarted and Angel Island liberated. In the aftermath, Knuckles disbands the Resistance, which Amy later reorganizes into the "Restoration".

Meanwhile, Mr. Tinker is kidnapped by two criminals, Rough and Tumble, at the behest of Doctor Starline, a platypus who has become enamored by Eggman's work. With some help from Metal Sonic, Starline restores Eggman's memories, being rewarded with a position as the doctor's head assistant. Eggman then develops the Metal Virus, a contagion that turns organic material to machines under his control, and prepares to unleash it on the world from his new "Faceship" flying base. He tricks Rough and Tumble into infecting themselves during a battle with Sonic and Amy; the hedgehogs defeat the newly coined "Zombots", but Sonic is infected in the process.

In the Tangle & Whisper miniseries, Tangle finds Whisper chasing after who appears to be Sonic, revealing to be a shapeshifting octopus named Mimic. She offers to help her track down Mimic, in which Whisper reluctantly accepts. After being nearly killed by Mimic's bombs while investigating, Whisper shares her backstory and explanation of her trauma in which she and Mimic were part of a mercenary group named the Diamond Cutters, and Mimic betrayed and helped Eggman kill the rest of her team in a trap. Tangle and Whisper then find and successfully defeat Mimic, but Tangle dissuades Whisper from killing him, not wanting her to do what Mimic has done to her team. After imprisoning Mimic, Tangle and Whisper separate paths, but promise to meet again soon.

As Eggman spreads the Metal Virus across the world, Sonic learns that he can keep his infection at bay by running. Eventually, however, his speed loses its ability to counteract the virus, as revealed by Cream's robot aide, Gemerl. Despite the best efforts of Sonic and his allies, they are unable to stop the virus; most of them become Zombots and E-123 Omega is nearly destroyed fighting the hordes. With only Angel Island still unaffected, Knuckles allows the demoralized survivors to take shelter there. Eventually, the virus mutates beyond Eggman's control, having been unleashed in an imperfect state. Starline, disillusioned, secretly recruits the Zeti known as the Deadly Six to regain control of the Zombots, but the Cacaphonic Conch he tries to control them with is rendered useless when his lungs give out. The Zeti soon chase Eggman, Starline, and Metal Sonic out of the Faceship, then steal the Chaos Emeralds on board and plot to conquer and terrorize the world. Rouge, who recently infiltrated the ship, witnesses the Zeti leader, Zavok, take command and secretly notifies the Restoration. Forced to ally with Sonic and company, Eggman and Metal Sonic fire Starline and confiscate his portal-generating Warp Topaz, stating that combining its power with the emeralds' can eradicate the virus. While Sonic staves off his near-complete infection using a treadmill, the other survivors split up to defeat five of the Zeti and retrieve the emeralds. Zavok discovers Angel Island at sunset, but Rouge steals the emerald powering the Faceship, causing it to crash. An enraged Zavok morphs into a giant and sets Sonic's infected allies on the survivors, but Sonic and Silver manage to claim the final emerald, and their transformation into Super Sonic and Super Silver cures the former. After defeating Zavok, Sonic and Silver cure the world and destroy the Metal Virus by sending it through a portal to the sun. However, emeralds' power overloads the Warp Topaz as Starline had forewarned, causing it to explode and teleport Sonic to Blaze's realm, the Sol Dimension. In his absence, Silver returns to the future and the world starts to recover from the plague, while Eggman and his robots return to their normal plans of villainy. Eventually, Blaze restores an amnesiac Sonic's memories and sends him home.

In the Bad Guys miniseries, Starline, planning to conquer the world and surpass Eggman to regain his respect, breaks into a prison and frees Eggman's former assistants, Rough, Tumble, Mimic, and Zavok, to recruit them for his plan.[10] As part of the plan, they raid one of Eggman's bases for the Power Cores, artifacts which amplifies one's ability. Fearing the other villains are too dangerous to let free, Starline plans to kill them after he has finished using them, but Mimic and Zavok learn of his deceit. After raiding another of Eggman's bases, the two turn on Starline, expose him to Rough and Tumble, and force him to erase Mimic's Eggnet data, preventing Eggman from tracking the shapeshifter.[11] Starline escapes using his new Tricore, which can amplify multiple abilities at once, and the villains part ways as Eggman attacks. In the aftermath, Starline disavows Eggman altogether, deciding to conquer the world for himself.

To rebuild the still-damaged Omega, Sonic and Tails search one of Eggman's abandoned bases, while Amy, Rouge, and Cream compete in Chao races to obtain parts from a champion Chao racer known as Clutch.[12] Shadow, also in White Park, discovers that Clutch is abusive to his losing Chao, locking them up in a cage, prompting Rouge's team to devise a rescue plan. Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails come across a wooden marionette-like robot named Belle, who accompanies them to Clutch's residence at a mountain chateau. As Clutch unleashes his collection of Badniks on the group and escapes, a hooded figure, who turns out to be Starline, kidnaps Tails and Rouge for experimentation and triggers an avalanche to distract Sonic and Shadow. Belle frees the captive Chao, who help the girls and Gemerl defeat the Badniks. Starline confronts Tails and attempts to kidnap him again, but fails and takes the full force of the avalanche. Back home, Omega is successfully fixed thanks to Belle's reading of Eggman blueprints. Unknown to Sonic and co., Starline has survived and has taken a sample of Tails' fur.

Seeking a new home for Belle, Sonic and Tails introduce her to the Restoration, now led by Tangle's childhood friend, Jewel the Beetle. Thereafter, Sonic, Tails, and Amy go to investigate a tower Eggman has built out in the ocean, but the facility's spatial warping properties trap them inside. Meanwhile, Belle meets and befriends Tangle, and when they learn of the tower, they go there on a mission of their own. While Tangle finds Sonic's team and rescues them, Belle, to her horror, learns she is a Badnik whom Eggman created under his Mr. Tinker persona. Sonic and co. flee as a portal that Tangle compromised implodes the tower, and Belle comes clean about her origins. Later, Belle is kidnapped by Starline when the now-reunited Deadly Six attack Restoration HQ. While Sonic and Tails thwart the invasion and deport the Zeti back to the Lost Hex, Starline copies Belle's emotional data and escapes, leaving a depressed Belle to be rescued by the Chaotix.

The comic book series uses both characters from the video games and original characters created for the comic.

Bleeding Cool gave the first issue a score of 6.5/10, praising the art and creativity of the story but criticizing Sonic's characterization: "Sonic is an insufferable character... He's smug, annoying, and radical in that 1990's sense."[13]

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