IDW Sonic the Hedgehog Free Comic Book Day 2021

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 Writer | * Gale Galligan
* David Mariotte

***IDW Sonic the Hedgehog Free Comic Book Day 2021*** is a Free Comic Book Day issue for the *Sonic the Hedgehog* comic series published by IDW Publishing. This issue was made to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the *Sonic the Hedgehog* series.

## Summary

### Solicitation

*Celebrating 30 years of the world's fastest hedgehog! There's no telling how Sonic will react when he sees the results of Amy Rose's new hobby-she's been making tell-all comics about her adventures with Sonic, Miles "Tails" Prower, and their friends! New York Times bestselling author Gale Galligan (The Baby-Sitters Club graphic novels) spills the beans! Plus, fun extras to catch readers up on Sonic's ongoing adventures, on the road to issue 50!*
*Sonics 30th anniversary celebration will be a huge priority for IDW and Sega this year!*
## Featured stories

### Amy's New Hobby

* **Story**: Gale Galligan
* **Art**: Thomas Rothlisberger
* **Colors**: Nathalie Fourdraine
* **Letters**: Shawn Lee
* **Assistant Editor**: Riley Farmer
* **Editor**: David Mariotte
* **Special thanks to**: Mai Kiyotaki, Michael Cisneros, Sandra Jo, Sonic Team, and everyone at Sega for their invaluable assistance

#### Synopsis

Tails walks to Amy's house and waves to her car, the Breeze. Amy is busy setting the table, preparing for Tails' arrival. Soon, she hears a knock at the door and allows the fox cub to enter. Tails explains that since Sonic was out doing his solo thing, he was getting lonely by himself; Amy notes that she knows the feeling. Looking at all the snacks that Amy prepared, Tails happily tells her that she did not need to do this but she does not mind. The young hedgehog then asks what Sonic was up to this time, with Tails replying that he was just patrolling around. According to him, Sonic gets a little stir-crazy if he stands still for a short while. Amy jokes that it must have caused a few problems and Tails confirms this. The fox cub talks about one time where they were looking for Dr. Eggman's new secret base and decided to wait for Badniks to show up so that they could see where they went. This meant staying quiet and standing still. However, as soon as Sonic saw the robots, he ran out from behind the bushes to destroy the Badniks with a Spin Dash. Tails falters in continuing his story once he sees Amy writing down something.

Tails flies over Amy to see what she was writing, which startles her. The fox cub teasingly asks if she was taking notes on Sonic, or even secretly working for Eggman. Amy denies this but struggles to give a reason. She asks Tails not to make fun of her and leads him to her desk. There, she presents a large book to him. Inside, he finds fan comics that Amy has made of herself and the others, including Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Eggman, Bean, Fang, and Metal Sonic. Tails asks Amy if anyone else has seen them, to which she shyly replies no, believing they are not very good. He tells her to wait for a second before going outside; there, he finds Mighty and Ray and shows them a comic strip of Mighty trying to lightly squeeze a cheeseburger, only to completely crush it instead, causing its contents to spill onto his face. Despite Amy's nervousness, the duo are amused by her work and continue reading more strips.

Elsewhere, Sonic notices a commotion and runs over to see what is happening. He finds many people, including some of his friends, gathered together with pieces of paper, laughing and smiling as they read them. When he asks what is going on, Tails excitedly runs up and hands him Amy's book, wanting him to read it. Amy becomes more anxious than ever before, although when Sonic reads her comics, he is impressed and commends her for capturing his personality and including the new chili dog stand, as well as recording their adventures in general. This prompts him to ask Amy if she knew about the time they encountered Eggman on his birthday; when she answers no, he begins recounting the story to her while she draws it out in her book.

#### Appearances

**Characters**:

* Amy Rose
* Badniks ***(Mentioned)***
* Bark the Polar Bear
* Bean the Dynamite
* Dr. Eggman ***(Mentioned)***
* Fang the Sniper ***(drawings)***
* Honey the Cat ***(First appearance)***
* Knuckles the Echidna ***(Mentioned)***
* Mach the Rabbit ***(First appearance)***
* Max the Monkey ***(First appearance)***
* Metal Sonic ***(drawings)***
* Mighty the Armadillo
* Miles "Tails" Prower
* Ray the Flying Squirrel
* Sharps the Parakeet ***(First appearance)***
* Sonic the Hedgehog

**Races and species**:

* Flicky

**Locations**:

* Classic Sonic's world
	+ Classic Amy's house

**Items**:

* Chili dog ***(Mentioned)***

**Vehicles**:

* Breeze ***(First appearance)***

**Misc.**:

* Spin Dash

#### Continuity

* Sonic mentions how he and Tails confronted Dr. Eggman on his own birthday, which occurred in *Sonic the Hedgehog 30th Anniversary Special*, "Dr. Eggman's Birthday".

#### Trivia

* Amy's house features several references to *Sonic the Hedgehog CD*, which was her debut game:
	+ A sign that says "Future" can be seen above her door. This is a reference to Time Warp signs.
	+ A pink Little Planet flower can be seen beside the entrance, resembling the ones found in Palmtree Panic.
	+ Amy's desk lamp is shaped like a Hotaru, a Badnik that appears in Stardust Speedway.
* At the bottom of page four, Amy wrote Sonic's name with a Cool S.
* At the bottom of page five, Amy's comic has Sonic using a couple lines he said in *Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie*. The strip is also named "Strange, Isn't It?", referencing Sonic's famous line from the climax of the movie.
* Amy is shown to sign off her comics with "By A. Rose", similar to how the title screen of the *Sonic Mania Adventures* episode, "From: A. Rose", suggested she signs things.
* In this story, Sonic is drawn with a pair of fangs, possibly referencing that he had fangs during his early design development.
* Sonic's praise for Amy's comic ("This is way past cool!") is a callback to the phrase "Way past cool!", which was Sonic's catchphrase in the *Sonic the Hedgehog* television series.

### Race to the Empire

* **Story**: David Mariotte
* **Art**: Various
* **Colors**: Various
* **Letters**: Shawn Lee & Corey Breen

#### Synopsis

*This recap covers the events of Sonic the Hedgehog #1-#40 and Sonic the Hedgehog: Bad Guys while briefly skimming over the events of Sonic the Hedgehog #41-#44 and setting up the events of Sonic the Hedgehog #45-#49 and Sonic the Hedgehog: Imposter Syndrome.*
## Other features

* **Sonic Letters Squad**: Sonic Letters Squad is a section where the comic staff can post fan artwork and fan letters that have been sent in to them. The other page showcases the raw artwork for the main cover for this issue.

## Quotes

**Tails**: Hey, what are you doing?
**Amy**: ***Ack!***
**Tails**: Taking notes on Sonic? You aren't secretly working for Eggman or something, are you?
**Amy**: What? ***No!*** I just-- --Promise you won't make fun of me?
**Mighty**: ***Ha ha!***
**Ray**: I remember that! The way you drew the cheeseburger squishing is hilarious!
**Tails**: Right?!
**Ray**: Ooh, there's more!
**Sonic**: Is this me?
**Amy**: Y-yes?
**Sonic**: Amy! This is way past cool! You really showed how awesome I am!
## Trivia

* This is the first *Sonic* comic released for Free Comic Book Day since 2016.
* The cover features several references and Easter eggs:
	+ The sticky note seen in the left corner of the cover features lyrics from "Fastest Thing Alive", the theme song for the *Sonic the Hedgehog* television series.
	+ Tails is seen in Emerald Hill from *Sonic the Hedgehog 2*, the game in which he debuted.
	+ Knuckles is seen in Mushroom Hill from *Sonic & Knuckles*.
	+ Amy is seen in Collision Chaos' good future, from *Sonic the Hedgehog CD*, the game in which she debuted.

## Reference

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Solicit`

## External Links

IDW Sonic the Hedgehog 30th Anniversary Free Comic Book Day 2021 at Sonic News Network, the Sonic wiki.