Sonic the Comic!

My STC Archive - Final Day

Exit: Sonic (Part 2) from STC #275 (2018)

It took a little longer than expected but here we are, the conclusion to Exit: Sonic!

I spoke about the genesis of getting the story together in the previous post so I’ll talk about the art this time:

Most of the “big” STC stories that everyone talks about were usually written by Nigel Kitching and drawn by Richard Elson - there were so many other incredible talents on the comic but a lot of discussions always come back to those two because of stories like ‘The Sonic Terminator’, the Knuckles and Death Egg stories, 'The Brotherhood of Metallix’, 'Running Wild’, the Drakon Empire stories, the final run featuring Chaos…

Those stories are what first drove me to *really* start drawing comics and I always hoped I’d be able to come close to the incredible talent that Elson showcased - in fact, to this day when writing a Sonic story, it’s Elson’s art style that I see in my head while I’m putting it all together.

I knew for this final STC story from Nigel Kitching that I needed to pull out all the stops and push myself to produce not only the best work I’ve done for the comic, but also to give it as much classic Elson style as possible.

From the character designs and poses to the background style, I researched the Elson STC back catalogue extensively to consider how he would have put the scene together and then merged that with my own style to create something that’s hopefully still unique but the homage and influence is clear.

Beyond that, I also attempted to find ways to homage certain scenes from the comics history too. Page 3 is one big homage in the scenes. Panel 1 being based on the infamous scene in STC #35 where Robotnik had been captured and Porker Lewis is attempting to interrogate him for information while panel 2 recreates the camera angle used in STC #123 when the Drakons invaded the Emerald Chamber! 

Page 7 recreates the iconic Super Sonic pose used in 'Running Wild’ through to 'The Final Victory’ in STC #100 only using the more modern character style from later issues such as STC #184.

Page 8 takes inspiration from both STC #184 and the incredible splash page of Sonic fighting the Knuckles Metallix. 

There’s even a homage to Nigel Kitching’s cover from STC #86 on page 12!

What else is there to say about Exit: Sonic?

Originally Nigel K had asked for an entirely new look for Amy Rose, and I did begin sketching some ideas (I should’ve asked Richard Elson as the look he created for the STC25 exclusive poster was incredible!) but after we lost a beloved member of the team, Matt Dittmer, earlier this year - Amy was his favourite character so I decided to keep the classic look only make the top black instead of white as a mark of respect. That splash panel of Amy kicking Robotnik’s butt is my tribute to Matt.

The final pages had to have panels modified and re-drawn as after I’d quizzed him, Nigel K realised he’d forgotten to include a key plot point in the script so the ending as originally drawn didn’t make sense, oops!

I was originally going to draw the epilogue but Nigel K really wanted to so how could I turn him down? It looks stunning and is a perfect cap to the tale!

The story as originally pitched turned out quite differently to what I thought it was originally going to be - I knew there was a misdirection over Sonic’s “illness” but I had no idea Kintobor was returning (for good this time!) until I got the second part of the script just a month before we were aiming to launch the story - it certainly gave me a shock!

It was an absolute privilege and honour to get to draw a (second) story written by Nigel Kitching - As I’ve probably said many times before, so many of his stories from Sonic the Comic are still etched into my mind 25 years later and had so much influence on my formative years, I still hold Decap Attack single-handedly responsible for my twisted sense of humour! With 'In Memory’ it was a more straight-forward affair of receiving a script and drawing it so to get to commision 'Exit: Sonic’ and collaborate with Nigel on it was a super rewarding experience - certainly one I never imagined I’d get, so thank you so much for not only taking the time to come back to STC for one more epic tale, but allowing me to come along for the ride!

Even though he didn’t directly collaborate on Exit: Sonic, I have to say a huge thank you to Richard Elson - his art in the comic inspired me so much and was such a major influence on this story.

Another STC artist whose work inspired me so much (I have a page of his original art from STC #66 on my wall) and deserves a huge chunk of praise is Nigel Dobbyn - who took my inks and elevated them to a whole other level with his amazing colours. I can’t thank Nigel enough for being willing to take the time to colour Exit: Sonic!

I am genuinely so happy with the way this story has turned out, it may have exploded from the original 7 pages to 17 but I poured so much of my love for STC into the art and I hope it shows. I devoted every ounce of time I had outside of my job and sleeping (oh, and STC #275 and 'The Battle for Drak’ and the STC25 convention!) to put this story together over the first half of the year and I think they’re the best pages I’ve ever produced.

I hope everyone enjoyed reading it as much as I did making it! 😃