No, there was never a Dredd back-up strip in StC. They were both published by Egmont/Fleetway, but as far as I recall from having owned and read every single StC there was never any bleed over from one series into the other.

What Craig said. I own the full run, too - and it never happened.

I've never heard about that To be continued in... moment, though (but with the exception of the occasional volume of Slaine or Nikolai Dante, I've never been a 2000AD reader). Thanks for that.

Ah, many thanks. I wonder what happened then? The final page of the final issue of Lawman of the Furture states "Double Dredd! Dredd's adventures continue weekly in 2000AD, and fortnightly in Sonic The Comic!", alongside a halfpage picture of a mocked-up Sonic The Comic cover. (with a mocked up 2000AD cover above it).

But thanks very much- while it sadly means that I DON'T have any extra strips to track down, at least I can sleep peacefully again.

I've heard Sonic The Comic featured some sterling work by Dredd stalwart Mike McMahon and other 2000AD artists... I may have to indulge in a few off eBay...

Spookythecat

We wont forgive or forget the huge slight against the comic that was named Mike McMahon. So not fair we got him and 2000AD inherited Elson.

Elson's recent stuff for 2000AD, notably Kingdom (with Dan Abnett) has been phenomenal- though I never got on with his earlier work (Atavar, etc). You should pick Kingdom up in collected format- it's very good indeed.

What did McMahon do to Sonic, then? He's one of the greatest comic artists this country has ever produced, and his work on Sonic is very highly regarded in the circles I waft about it. Is it not so in the Sonic community? Ooh, interesting!

Spookythecat

I may be remembering things wrong, but McMahon was the artist infamous for making every single side-character an ambigious dog eared mammal with a vacant expression. I pulled a random cover that he drew which includes one such creature.

It's not too bad in retrospect, but when you compare to the previous issue's cover

You can see a major quality shift. I don't think he was reviled in the Sonic community... he was just the weakest artist on the team in my opinion.

I've always had an interest in Sonic the Comic... I live in the US, so I have absolutely NO idea where I could pick up some cheap issues... (hopefully in chronology, cuz im weird like that)

You can't, Epi. They don't sell it anymore. It's been out of print for a good seven or eight years now. The only way to pick it up is through Ebay.

Thanks Craig, that's interesting. As it goes, I prefer the McMahon cover- but then I'm a big fan of his work, even the later stuff, where he went all expressionist on our asses. In 2000AD circles he's divisive, because (obviously) along with Carlos Ezquerra, he's the definitive artist of Dredd's early years, and also responsible for a magnificent run on Slaine. However, he later returned to Dredd with a strip called 'Howler', that split the readership- the style he demonstrates in that cover you linked to is similar to the style he used in Howler. Personally I have no problem with it (and in the StC cover, I like the Slaine references!) but coming on the back of his more traditional earlier stuff, it was a shock. See also 'Muto Maniac', for Toxic! (the orignal one, not that thing that is currently on the shelves).

I should point out at this point that I've never read Sonic The Comic, and up til the last year have had no interest in the character... but now my eldest boy is absolutely rapt by the games, and I've bought him a few of the colected comics (the smaller-format, manga-style books), which he loves. I'd like to get him some more, but would prefer them to be the British issues of StC, for no other reason than I'm first and foremost an enormous fan of British comics. Coming here, and talking to you guys has firmed up the floating idea I had, and I think I'll now go off and pick him up a bunch.

Were Elson and McMahon central to the strip? Can you reccommend a run of issues that would feature them more than other artists? And who do you rate as the "best" artists on the strip? In fact, what would be the "best" run of issues (say, ten to fifteen in total), regardless of my natural favouring of McMahon/ Elson?

Cheers again,

Spookythecat

I like the smaller manga graphic novel format. Im trying to collect them all, but its surprising how there are so few bookstores and comic shops that don't have the ones Im looking for?

Also, if it helps, there is something similar to Sonic the Comic (i think?) that is free, called Sonic the Comic online.

That's a fan comic, Epi.

Elson was the predominant artist on the entire run. Let me look up my list of which issues he did, and I'll drop you a PM - but you could do a lot worse than pick up the comics from the Brotherhood of Metallix/Running Wild era.

Again, let me do some digging to get a list together and I'll be in touch.

Thanks Samanfur! So- that would be issues 59 to 62 and 80 to 82, then? You see- when I get the comics-buying bit between my teeth, nothing stops me. Wiki is my friend! Sadly, there's only one of those available on eBay at the moment... anyone know of any UK comic shops (or similar) that have any issues going?

Spookythecat

I've never seen any for sale since the publication stopped, but that's not to say that they're not out there. eBay's probably your best bet, I'm afraid.

(Let's see here, oh... Ukers talking amongst themselves. No contributions I'll be able to make here, time to shove off and find other threads to rui-- wait, what?)

scarpers

Hey now, you fine blokes making up words again or is this a typo?

Heh. "Scarpers"- it means "to run away quickly, in the manner of a small boy caught scrumping". Usually hollered in a loud voice, eg: "Scarper lads!".

Spookythecat

Ah. Thought maybe you meant to type "scampers" (which apparently means the same thing... huh) and in the process of typing you confused your right and left forefingers. Welp, that settles that mystery! I'll just be--

scrumping

ಠ_ಠ

Heh. "Scrumping"- "the act of stealing apples from trees in an orchard", a passtime traditionally carried out by small boys in the Garden of England. See also "Scrumpy Cider"- an alcoholic drink made from fermented apples that have dropped off trees and gone a bit bad, along with twigs and some dirt. Traditionally imbibed in Somerset and Devon and notoriously powerful. As in "If you're lookin' fer zummat t'drink in 'ere mate, I carrrnt really reccommend th' Scrumpy. Mind you, it is vurry noyse. Larrrst toime Oi 'ad two points ov th' stuff, I fell off the Tor and broke both moy legs, arrr" (1)

Spookthecat

(1) Actually said to me in the Rifleman's Arms, in Glastonbury.

A land where boys talk unconventionally and get drunk and steal things? Yes please.

On the topic of StC online, not to be picky but it's not 'just' a fan comic. Yes, it's made by fans not the official writers of StC, howevet it is set in the same universe and is supposed to be a continuation of the StC storyline where the comics left off. I don't read it myself, but I hear some of the comic writers think very highly of the thing, and have even contributed ideas and other elements on occasion.

On the topic of artists: no offence to mr. McMahon, but I really didn't like his art style. It reminded me rather of a child's drawings - indeed, of my own style of drawing Sonic at the time - and I wasn't impressed. The colors, all his artwork in general for that matter, were very flat and two-dimentional, the characters looked goofy and misshapen, rather grotesquely out of proportion and generally very childish and silly. When you feel you yourself can do as good as if not better work than the comic artist, you begin to question why you buy the comic in the first place. Then I'd turn the page to a story drawn by Elson and I'd remember the reason

And finally if you're looking for a decent story to showcase the glory years of StC, you seriously can't do better than the comic's Sonic and Knuckles game tie-in. I can't recall the issue numbers, but that storyline was seriously epic, and some of the visuals (drawn by Elson as I recall) were utterly amazing! Sonic freefalling amongst an army of Eggrobos while the Floating Island blasts chunks out of the Death Egg in the background, anyone?

Yeah, I'd have to add my thoughts and suggest the Sonic 3 and Knuckles adaptations, although I have no idea what issues they might have been. They were by far the best issues drawn by Elson (<3) especially he still traditionally painted the pages before moving to digital artwork. That said, I'd probably also recommend the Chaos saga just to see what his last great output for it was.

Another thought;- you might want to pick up the issues that featured reprints of the older storylines, since some issues to my recollection would therefore have ran two Elson strips; one more modern and the other classic. You also get a bit more bang for your buck since you'd have two more pages of comic then the older issues (since the format of the stories was 7-5-5-5 pages, the issues with the reprints would have been 7-5-5-7). Also, the four issues leading up to Issue 100 are an all time classic since all the stories converged into one truely epic finale.

Ah, StC, how I miss thee.