COVER

So yeah, I drew this picture sometime in 2002, on a whim basically. I had the story and the script for the comic worked out and to get myself back into the swing of things Sonic-style I decided to sit down and see if I could still draw the characters. I like this picture but it looks a bit dated now, Eggman looks quite peculiar, as do the titles, a problem I later solved by printing the titles out first.

1

It was damn hard to find that picture of Flickie’s Island from Sonic 3D on the Internet, eventually I tracked it down and did a pretty good but definitely not great job of editing it to distinguish a difference between Crystal Island and Egg Island. Eggman sprites are a bit messed up here as I thought about trying to do the whole comic with those Advanced ones but realised there wouldn’t be enough frames for him, also that Sonic Pocket Adventure sprite I used purposely so he could be talking on a phone. What a bland background lol, I got that from a library I stumbled across at Sonic Fan Games HQ, like most of the backgrounds used in this comic.

2

Here’s Eggman absorbing the evil energy of the Emeralds, I quite liked the inverted scattering picture, though I didn’t remove that black border for it. Much like the fact that I didn’t know how to make the background of a selected picture transparent when I made this comic. That scene taken from Sonic 3D is meant to show Eggman looking at Emeralds…

3

Again the fact that I didn’t know about transparency can be seen here and notice that none of the E-1000 Robots have gun arms because I didn’t attach them to the sprites. I have these huge text boxes for no real reason lol but what a beautiful shot of South Island : )

4

Despite their huge size, the text boxes in my first comic had more influence on the comic as I used them to set the stage for the reader, whereas now they are used only to show a change in location because now the characters, having been established in this comic, tell the story themselves.

5

Big black shadows of the Robots flying overhead, but unnecessarily HUGE text pasted onto the pictures, due to the size of the background I got.

6

I love this scene of Emerald heights but I can’t find this background anymore, meaning that I will have to make a compromise for the Re-make. This comic has lots of hand-made paint work in it from explosions to ! and ?, newer comics have effects sprites for that, mainly because I never really got the hand-made stuff right…

7

Basic but effective we see Sonic and Tails smashing the Robots and I quite like the way that came out here. A re-make of that scene would be pretty similar I think. Also, there’s my first ever custom sprite (*cough*re-colour*cough*) which was a re-colouring of a basic Cream sprite to make her look like a male rabbit. And yay that found an Emerald hidden in the grass! : )

8

Got those huge speech bubbles again here, notice the Dynamite Dux have a few cameos here. I wanted to establish that South Island is very technologically sparse but there is a huge area that is comprised of technology, showing that these furry woodland creatures do recognise the advantages of technology, but do not exploit it like Eggman.

9

Less spectacular fight scene but check it out! Pachacamac!! What is the significance of that in relation to what we know form the Tales Of Shadow comics? Well, that’s something I plan to work on. At the time I was thinking of having about five Echidnas just spread all over the Planet…Also something I could use later on..

10

Oh my God look at Eggman’s head! Lol. That’s an edited Sonic Pocket Adventure sprite again, this time slapped crudely onto Eggman’s head lol. Eggman jumps into his Egg-O-Matic for the classic Sonic 1 showdown and switches again to Advanced sprites because the Advanced ones have Eggman laughing…

11

Here’s where I made the decision to switch to slightly smaller Emerald sprites for when characters are carrying them. That face off with Eggman and Sonic was actually the first scene I did of the whole comic just to see how to do it. Got a nice little “Robotnik? More like an Eggman” line there from Sonic which I borrowed from a fan comic I read somewhere. Once Eggman is hit he reverts to Mega Drive sprites because he’s burning : )

12

Wow, that Egg-O-Matic sure blew up! And just like that Eggman nabs one of the Emeralds and flies away. Course I made lots of use of the Spraypaint tool in this comic, something I stopped using later on but is handy for dust and fire effects.

13

Eggman’s back in Robotropolis and already getting ready to find another Emerald, why the hell does that Robot have such a HUUUUUUUUUUUGE speech box!? Nevertheless, Eggman’s Air Ship takes off and yay for me I found the whole sprite for it : D

14

What’s wrong with those E-1000’s? Oh that’s right, I forgot to fill in the gaps in their arms and legs lol. That Air Ship interior was custom made by me from other parts, you can’t tell can you *shot* There’s an explosive shell from Floating Island’s automatic defences, which we see against Chaos in Tales Of Shadow: Chaos Control.

15

Eggman’s announcement of Floating Island and much of this sequence was inspired by the Knuckles Saga in Fleetway comics, only it was Sonic who made that announcement. Woohoo, there’s a re-colour of a part of Sonic 3D again to show the entrance to the Emerald Chamber : D Sonic’s “Eh…Eh…Eggman!!” line was in Sonic Adventure too, I never knew that when I wrote this script, which is interesting I suppose.

16

That’s a custom, edited-together long shot of Angel Island to show the full area outside the Emerald Chamber. There’s the real Emerald Chamber background from Sonic Fan games HQ before I edited it for the start of the comic and inside the Death Egg.

17

Yahoo! Sonic Vs Knuckles! I like this scene, I think it works well. Yeah I could do it better now but I still love the Spindash into a knockout Spin Attack! : D (Knuckles here is about as hard for Sonic to beat as he was in Sonic 3 & Knuckles lol)

18

There you go, Eggman’s set up his own Emerald Shrine but right now we don’t know where….Yeah, that’s suspense people. Now we’re drawing from Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog for the creation of Eggman’s newest Robot…

19

By using data collected on Sonic, which matches his speed, enhancing the armour and the strength of the Robot and using the power of the Grey Emerald we get Mecha Sonic! Not a bad introduction I think and it sets up what I wanted with Metal being Eggman’s right-hand Robot

20

Can’t see it too well but Knuckles is tied up at the wrists here and cools his head down to tell the story of the Emeralds, which accidentally shows Eight of the Jewels, something I will change in the remake, and sets up Sonic’s own absorption of their powers later on

21

By giving Knuckles the Red Emerald, the three of them become friends and agree to work together. I wanted Knuckles and Sonic to get along after the initial misunderstandings because I felt it worked better for all three of them to work as friends. Later on, after seeing Knuckles’s attitude in Sonic X, I decided to tweak Knuckles a bit and make him more aggressive. Anyways, Mecha swoops down and takes out Tails, making Sonic shout REAL loud…And how about that Spraypaint tool lol

22

First ever high-speed battle didn’t come off very well, I mean you get the idea but it looks a bit of a mess. The dialogue helps us to know what’s happened but I would re-do this scene using the speed/blurring techniques I use now to make it much better. Knuckles thinks he’s bad ass but gets beaten too. Mecha’s dialogue and actions are important to remember as later battles with Metal and Mecha Knuckles show a similarity

23

Now we see where Eggman’s Shrine is…It’s onboard the Death Egg! Dun-dun-DUNNNNNNNNN!

24

Lol and cuz I wanted a big picture of the Death Egg rising into orbit, not just a little sprite, I nabbed a scene from Sonic Underground and substituted it for the Death Egg. Now…I guess I would probably use sprite techniques to do this…Depends how it went…

25

This is good stuff, using an emergency shuttle to go after Eggman, but how did Tails and Sonic know there would be another shuttle? Never mind, I’ll sort that out maybe. Notice I don’t make Tails run here or much at all in my comics if I can help it? That’s because Tails flies at high speeds to catch up with Sonic, he can’t match Sonic in speed any other way, unlike Knuckles, who is able to keep up with Sonic at a regular pace

26

That sprite of Sonic in the shuttle was on some sprite sheet I found at Sonic Fan Games HQ, it helped to inspire the whole emergency shuttle idea further lol. “Red” as a nickname for Knuckles comes from Fleetway and I did some tricky and pretty crappy editing for the docking bay…

27

Here’s another interior background I got from Sonic Fan Games HQ to show the Death Egg control room, the big picture showing the outside of space I stuck there myself. I had to edit this room to add right onto the Death Egg Emerald Shrine so that the scene could flow like it does

28

Sonic Vs Mecha Round Two. Less showy so it makes for a less messy scene and that Mecha edited onto Sonic’s back was hard to do without knowing about transparency. Ooh, I flipped Eggman and made a new pose lol : D

29

Tails being blasted gives Sonic the fuel he needs to break free but also sets off the Death Ray countdown which cannot be stopped. I knew I would have trouble “pinning Mecha down under debris” and two years later when I re-did the scene for "I, Metal", I still couldn’t get it right.

30

Emeralds look a bit messed up there. Why do they go so small when released from their Shrines? Because they power down to conserve energy and to be carried around, it’s in Tales Of Shadow: Marooned! This was meant to show Sonic looking around the room, at the Emeralds, then at the reader, then over his shoulder at Eggman. It comes off okay I think.

31

Tails thinks Sonic is gonna die, only Knuckles understands what he is really going to do because Knuckles knows the legends about the Emeralds and their positive energies. Obviously the reader should know as well as this scene bares resemblance to most Sonic games involving Super Sonic. There go the Emeralds, doing their Dragonball Z thing again lol

32

And boom, there’s Super Sonic! That scene of him emerging from the blast was the second scene I did in this whole comic. The sprite is an edited Sonic sprite to make him look like Super from Sonic Adventure. I alternate between that custom sprite and the Sonic 3 Super sprite depending on the emotions and body language I need expressing. Of course I already re-made this scene for the First Anniversary and it works much better now

33

Tails has a tear in his eye but I bet you can’t see it. And boom, just like that Sonic takes out Mecha, that is a display of power, by the way. It shows us, in case there was any doubt, that only extreme methods such as Super Sonic can destroy Metal Sonic.

34

Sonic isn’t playing around and says “ass” here, the only swear word I have Sonic say until his frustrated “damn” in The Chaos Ring Saga. Why? Because I am going for a mature theme in my comics, yes, but that doesn’t mean I have to fill it with swearing, I don’t associate Sonic with swearing in any way. Here’s Super’s first ever energy blast and it works pretty well I think, especially considering my ignorance of the damn transparency option lol

35

Sonic destroys the Destiny Bridge to make it safer for the inhabitants of his home, it make sit harder for Eggman to get over to South Island and stops people from South Island wandering onto Egg Island. Sonic’s powers leave him here as he has calmed down and done what he set out to do. Knuckles is activating a machine to use the Emeralds’ powers to raise the Island but I might re-make it to show him simply placing the final Emerald in place, which would automatically raise the Island.

36

Yahoo! It’s Sonic 3 & Knuckles all over again as Floating Island rises back up into the sky. I edited the second frame and like how this works, though the one I did for Tales Of Shadow: Chaos Control looks more impressive so I’ll have to bare that in mind…

37

Knuckles and Sonic part on good terms, though their high-five looks a bit crappy. And we get my first ever Sonic and Tails running “the end…for now” scene, which brings my first comic to an end. For my first ever attempt this is still quite good. I learned new tricks and new techniques as I went through all my additional comics, which is why I wish to re-make this comic to allow it to shine as bright as I originally intended it too. I will keep the original version up as well though, to keep the comparisons in mind. I take the Mick a lot in this commentary but I do really like what I did with this comic and am man enough to find humour in my original endeavours where it is so clear that I knew nothing about sprite comics lol.

Thanks for reading

-Stuart/SkSpAwN