#fang the hunter idw series

[sparkles-rule-4eva]

These silly brothers absolutely going insane in two very different ways over seeing an entire airship disappear into thin air 🤭💙💛

[egg-emperor]

AAAHHH YESSSS I NEED EGGMAN AND FANG INTERACTIONS

telling them he could've just let them drown and only didn't due to his curiosity, then threatening them with a much worse fate of Choppers if they don't do what he asks ohoho love it >:)

HE'S SO CUTE AND SINISTER!

and SQUISHY... 🥰

and HEAVY-

poor crab just gave up after all that struggle and fell down lol

[lunastars21]

“Ya think it’ll be worth it?”

“As long as i hit something, I don’t really care”

“Tsch, typical knucklehead

I couldn’t make em sit for the life of me, so I��m sorry it looks like Knuxs is doing the splits AUGHH

Knuckles’s show releases tomorrow, and fang’s last issue comes out in 6 days

Let’s hope for the best for these boys!!!

[mike-the-hedgehog]

IDW Sonic Fang the Hunter Full variant covers sets. My favourite one has got to be the four connecting covers of the RI covers that make a background theme. I really enjoyed Fang the Hunter mini series and am looking forward to Issue #69 on 29 May 😊

[therummesoccupied]

FANG THE HUNTER: ISSUE #4 - THOUGHTS

I know! I'm very late! I'm sorry!

It's just... I can't think of a ton to say about this one that I didn't already say about the other three.

The writing is good, there are lots of neat character moments, art is stretchy and fun with plenty of visual inspiration from the games... yeah, it's cool!

Some specific points I'd like to note, though...

I do really love this scene where Fang just straight-up yoinks the Heavy Shinobi's katana and KO's him with it. It's the kind of thing I wouldn't normally think SEGA would allow, since we haven't really seen any character use a sword in canon since Black Knight (if Black Knight is even canon, for that matter).

Perhaps its the anime kid in me, but that was rad as hell.

I've seen a few folks complain about this moment - namely after Fang's proclamation that "Nobody takes what's mine" back in Issue 2, but... I dunno, I think it's fine.

Firstly, the situations are not equivalent. This isn't really a case of somebody "taking" Bark from him as much as him choosing to leave Bark behind.

Secondly, a big part of this comic's story has been the growing strain on the Hooligans' relationship as the story has gone on. His feelings about the other two have certainly changed since then.

Thirdly, I think he pretty clearly... doesn't mean it?? Like, all it takes is Bean looking at him funny and he decides to go help Bark out.

I dunno, this does not seem like a huge deal to me.

I also really like the fight between Bark and the Heavy King.

With the detail they add to Bark accruing damage over the course of their brawl and the little bits of lighting and shadow they add to him, they manage to make Bark look... kinda badass?

Like, I get he was always meant to be a cool fighty guy, but he's also always had that Silly Classic Sonic verneer over him that keeps him from seeming too... I dunno, COOL!

I'm just glad they even went the length to add this little bit of visual intensity.

Speaking of Bean and Bark, though, I must regretfully acknowledge that what I predicted did ultimately come to pass...

The Hooligans have broken up.

(Also I keep seeing Sonic YouTubers refer to them as the "Hoodlums?" That's... not their name? Whatever, it's just weird.)

Anyway, I actually really enjoy this move. It's not often in IDW we get to have a tale end in tragedy, so it's nice to see the conclusion here be so bitter. These are three characters we've been used to seeing together for YEARS, even before IDW Sonic began, and now, they're no more.

Maybe they'll have a heartwarming reunion someday, but thus far, this split has even carried over into the games, as we've seen in Sonic Superstars.

Speaking of Superstars...

That's how our comic ends - with Fang setting off for Northstar Island to begin the plot of Sonic Superstars!

In the time since this issue came out, I've learned this move was fairly controversial, but I dunno, I found it neat! This is the first time I can think of that we've had the plot of IDW play directly into a specific game!

They haven't firmly established if or when stuff like Team Sonic Racing or Sonic Frontiers happens within the comic yet (my personal headcanon is that neither have occured up to this point) so it's cool to see the IDW story so clearly connect itself to the games this way.

It's also neat to see IDW's Classic Era link itself to the Modern Era with Fang ending up in possession of the Warp Topaz, which of course, we will later see appear in the hands of Dr. Starline. I already did my big rant about how much I LOVE the Warp Topaz being here and how it has firmly gotten me onboard the Unified Timeline now, but it's still a very cool note to end on.

It does leave me asking a few questions, though?

Firstly, if Fang has the Warp Topaz at the beginning of Superstars' plot... why doesn't he... use it? I can't think of a single time he teleports or warps around in that game. Heck, his ace in the hole is a big mech of himself that doesn't appear to do anything of the sort.

Then... how does it end up in the cave where Starline finds it? Was there some form of confrontation between Starline and Fang we'll never get to see?

And wouldn't that be SICK??

As weird as the choice to end the story with Fang in possession of the Warp Topaz was, I'm pretty happy with how this miniseries came out! I really hope that, in the future, we get more arcs like this centered around specific members of the games cast.

I like the IDW cast just fine, but... c'mon. You KNOW that's not who we're picking up the comic to see.

The book tells me everything I need to know about them just by the way it puts them in the story.

The reason I love arcs like this and Scrapnik Island is because they take the characters I'm already familiar with from my time with the games - Fang and Mecha Sonic - and tells me things I didn't know about them, puts them in situations I've never seen them in before. Takes stuff I know from the games and EXPANDS upon it!

All in all, this is up there with Scrapnik Island and Chao Races & Badnik Bases as my favorite arcs in the series.

With Fang in the rear view, we head back to the Modern era for the Phantom Riders arc, the first issue of which is already out, and I hope to talk about it before the next one is released this time.

Thanks for reading!

[sonknuxadow]

i kind of want to read stc because ive never read it before but i also never finished the sonic x comics but i also kind of want to re read at least part of archie because certain sections of it are just a huge blur to me because of the fact that i read the entire series including spinoffs and side comics over the course of like . 2 months tops. so many choices so many sonic comics to read .

[infinitethejackal]

i love the fang the hunter miniseries so far <3. Specially, i adore team hooligan's characterization and like its refreshing spin on the idea of their dynamic, ya know?. idk i am a bit sleepy to fully articulate it but i am just rotating them in my head. bean and barks dynamic is so warm to me (in my head they totally grew up close, or at least bark has known bean since the latter was young), and fang is 100% the sort of character i adore (selfish and horrible old man that's also a tiny cartoon animal. i want him to explode <3). Frankly, i would love if there just wasn't a sonic n tails b plot. i really want to see more of this bean, bark and fang!. i should draw them later.

[thankskenpenders]

IDW's Fang the Hunter miniseries! All four issues are out now! I don't have as much to say about it as I did with the Knuckles show, but I do have some thoughts.

So! This is a pretty fun miniseries. I liked it.

It's fun to see Ian get to write a four-issue arc starring the Hooligans, his precious boys, with a B-plot showing Sonic and Tails' perspective on this little adventure. As always, Ian captures the characters' voices well. In particular, I really liked Bean in this, who despite being a slapstick screwball is actually a pretty perceptive guy. He often acts as sort of a voice of reason for Fang, seeing right through his sweet talking and pointing out how badly all of their schemes go but sticking around nonetheless just for funsies. And the art (illustrated this time by Mauro Fonseca for the first issue and Thomas Rothlisberger for the rest) is as good as we've come to expect from IDW's Classic Sonic output. Overall, this is a fun little romp that captures the vibes of the Classic era very well.

...But...

Well, as I've said before with the Amy and Tails anniversary specials, I feel like we're kind of seeing diminishing returns with these Classic spinoffs. They're fun, sure, and very nice to look at, but their writing always leave me wanting more.

A big part of this is just that there's just less to work with compared to the Modern universe. The Classic cast is much smaller, and within that cast there are a bunch of characters currently going unused, some of which are currently off-limits. Aside from the appearance of the Witchcarters in Tails' special, we've pretty much just stuck with the cast of Sonic Mania and the Hooligans, as established in the first special. No Chaotix, no Battle Bird Armada, barely any Honey. (Classic Vector was able to get a tiny cameo in the Amy special only because he was so obscured that it gave the IDW team plausible deniability to say it was actually a different character if Sega complained.) It's a very small box, and Ian's recent Classic comics haven't particularly expanded the boundaries of that box. They're just excuses to play the hits for old times' sake. And that was a lot of fun the first time around, but the novelty is starting to wear off for me.

I will admit, sure, the tighter focus on a specific set of characters from the games is a big part of the appeal of these Classic comics. They're simpler. They're nostalgic. They're shining the spotlight on characters that can't be used in the main series. They're the slavishly faithful old school Sonic comics that we could never get in the '90s, because the comics we did get diverged into their own continuities with tons of new characters. I get all that.

But the thing is, the Sonic comics have always added all those new characters because you can just do so much more with them. The game cast is great! But they're corporate mascots Sega keeps on a tight leash. You can do so much with a character like Sally or Surge that you could never do with any of the game characters, and by pushing into new territory with these new characters you can also bring out interesting new sides of the game cast. Maybe Sonic himself can't have some crazy complex character arc, but you can see how he'll respond to the things going on with these other characters, and how these other characters' arcs are informed by their relationships with Sonic.

So I look at the Fang miniseries, and I'm like. This was pretty fun. But by the end, what was the point of the story? What did we learn about the Hooligans as characters that we didn't already know? Is the point just to depict an adventure where things go off the rails a little and Bean and Bark end up a little miffed, explaining why they weren't with Fang in Superstars? There's potential for an arc there about the dissolution of the group, but it really does come off more as the type of spat these three probably get into all the time before coming back together for the next job. It's neither super dramatic nor super funny, feeling more like it ends on a fairly matter-of-fact note where Fang's like "welp, time to go do the events of Sonic Superstars" at the end, not particularly plussed by anything that happened in this arc. What we're left with is four issues of the Hooligans encountering recognizable characters and visiting recognizable locations from the Classic games, with little that really feels new or fresh here.

Ironically, the most interesting story element to me here (aside from Bean's characterization) is its tie to the main comics, something previous specials couldn't do since Sega had yet to reunify the Classic and Modern timelines. The plot of this comic revolves around Fang following the myth of the "eighth Chaos Emerald," riffing on both old playground rumors and Sonic the Fighters. What they actually end up finding isn't an extra Emerald, but rather the Warp Topaz that would eventually end up in Starline's possession in the Modern era, having apparently been found by the Hard-Boiled Heavies in the cave seen in the 900th Adventure special.

That's kinda neat, and the abilities of the Warp Topaz are used in fun ways. But this isn't exactly something to write home about for people who aren't lore nerds like me. There isn't a particularly meaningful connection between Fang and Starline's arcs here due to the presence of the Warp Topaz, it's just a thing for the wiki. Again, Ian's in his connect the dots mode a little more than I'd like here.

(...So wait, if Starline didn't find the Warp Topaz himself, did he track down the cave where the Heavies found it to leave that "greatness began here" graffiti? Eh, I guess that sounds like something he'd do. He's known for nothing if not his obsessiveness.)

So, again. This was a pretty good miniseries. This all makes it sound like I hated it, but I did like it overall. I particularly liked seeing the Hooligans fight the Hard-Boiled Heavies. But it leaves me feeling less fulfilled than something like Scrapnik Island or Tangle & Whisper or Imposter Syndrome. I get that, by the very definition of the word, Classic Sonic is always going to remain trapped in amber to some extent. This isn't the version of the franchise that's supposed to grow and change. That's what Modern Sonic does. Classic Sonic will always be trapped in the early '90s. I'm not asking for them to add a dozen new characters with complex dramatic arcs to the Classic comics, since that's not what Classic Sonic is about. But I think the other Classic Sonic stories not written by Ian - i.e. the driving school story by the McElroys and the two stories about Amy by Gale Galligan - show that you can tell fresh new Classic Sonic stories that aren't just about remixing the hits from the games.

If we're going to continue getting Classic Sonic comics from Ian (and I hope we do!), then I just hope he's able to find a better balance between familiar and new ideas, like he and Evan do so consistently with their Modern Sonic output.

[sparkles-rule-4eva]

I'M SO EXCITED

Sonic fandom we are being fed

[tacorerooster]

If Amy doesn’t appear in the 3rd Sonic Movie, these line are gonna ring extra hollow. Makes it more of a very late April Fools joke on Amy fans.

You had her finally be playable in a mainline game after 17 years with Sonic Frontiers, her finally getting to be Playable in the Classic games, then be part of the main cast in Sonic Superstars. Making it seem like Sega finally see her as important as Tails and Knuckles, the whole year of Amy, only for it to get overshadowed multiple times. She gets a Stand Alone idw comic that’s 1 issue. Fang the hunter a obscure side character, gets a whole 4 part mini series, which Amy isn’t even in. Amy gets a game about her birthday, with arguably the best writing for a Sonic game. Shadow gets a whole ass rerelease with a full ass DLC just for him with his name in the title.

And people just don’t seem to care about Amy if she is in the movie or not. I’ve seen more people asking about Rouge at this point.

It’s just so weird feeling to do this whole push for her then go nowhere with it.

[tailschannel]

First look at IDW Sonic's upcoming Fang the Hunter mini-series

Set in the Classic era, this new multi-issue series features Fang the Hunter, Bean the Dynamite, Bark the Polar Bear, and Sonic. A homage to Sonic the Fighters, they set out to find an eighth Chaos Emerald.

Long have legends swirled of the mysterious and fantastic power of...the eighth Chaos Emerald! At least, that's the rumor Fang the Hunter has heard. And he's going to track this treasure down with a little help from his gang, Bark the Polar Bear and Bean the Dynamite! First stop: that Chaos Emerald expert himself, Sonic the Hedgehog!

The mini-series was previously teased at the publisher's San Diego Comic-Con panel, before its full reveal today.

Cover A by Aaron Hammerstrom

Cover B by Mark Hughes,

Retail Incentive Cover by Mauro Fonseca,

Written by Ian Flynn,

Illustrated by Mauro Fonseca.

(article contributed by MC for the Tails' Channel newsfeed, with files from IDWSonicNews.)

[idwsonicnews]

As the Fang the Hunter mini-series prepares to debut, IDW Sonic is going to take a temporary break, according to editor David Mariotte on Bluesky.

Similar to Imposter Syndrome's accommodation, new Sonic issues will resume following the Fang mini, starting at Issue 69.

[annon-guy2]

Sonic X: What If...? Poll

Explanations for if they're in Sonic X;

Mighty and Ray: They would be Sonic's friends and/or members of Team Chaotix.

Bean and Bark: They'd be independent antagonists, but they'd be more mischievous than dangerous.

Trip and Fang: Trip would be Sonic's friend from the start and Fang would be a recurring independent antagonist, serving as Trip's Arch-Enemy as well as rivals to Knuckles and Rouge.

Honey and Heavy King: Honey would be a recurring ally to Sonic and friends while Heavy King would be an ally to Eggman.

Silver and Blaze: Silver would be a rival at first, but would go on to be a friend and ally while Blaze's story would be like the Rush Games. They would only appear for a single story arc in the New World Sagas, but would come back as a main characters during the Metarex Saga.

Metal Sonic and Sage: They would be Eggman's prized creations and surrogate children like in the Games. Sage would serve as a counterfoil to Chris in regards to their parentage.

Sticks and Omega: Sticks would be a friend of Amy's that joins around the time Vanilla does. Omega would be built around the time the Sonic Adventure Adaption story happens, but like Gamma, he would rebel out of not being used to his full potential. Team Dark will be formed in the Metarex Arc.

Chip and Mephiles: Chip would be a friend of Sonic that stayed due to amnesia, but his identity as Light Gaia would be revealed during the Metarex Arc. Mephiles would have a backstory change. In this idea, Mephiles would be Dark Gaia and a recurring antagonist, especially during the Metarex Saga where he approves of the Metarex's genocidal schemes to kill all animal life.

Tangle and Whisper: Sonic and friends would meet them after being warped to Chris' world. They would remain as friends and allies to Sonic and company. Whisper's backstory would be altered slightly since Sonic Forces doesn't occur in Sonic X.

Jewel and Belle: Jewel would be a supporting character and ally to Sonic and company. Belle would have a backstory change where instead of being built by Mr. Tinker, Chris' grandfather Chuck would build and create her.

Surge and Kit: Like in the IDW Comics, Dr. Starline would create them. By the time the show happens, Starline is killed off trying to kill Sonic and overthrow Eggman. The Imposter Duo are recurring antagonists. They possibly reform later on in the series after experiencing praise of heroics by accidentally stopping a crime or stopping Eggman before Sonic.

Rough and Tumble: Like in the IDW Comics, the Skunk Brothers would be recurring independent antagonists, causing mischief than actual harm.

[lunastars21]

My Gang is my family, And They're the best around

(A One shot Fanfic of team Hooligan based on the aftermath of superstars, Spoilers ahead! Read under the cut at your own risk!)

Team hooligan's base of operations was inside an entire mountain ya know! Needing a special code to open a secret door, the base was cozy and made sure each of it's members were comfortable, Bark's room was cold and felt like the north pole inside (sweater recommended), beans room always smelled of gunpowder and fire, he even had an explosive testing room inside to try out new bombs he makes, so that explains that. And fangs room which seems to be the only 'normal' one of the group, but it definitely smelled like lavander..and gold, who knows how much money he hides in there.

Fang went on a solo mission a few days ago for doctor Eggman, despite bark's bad feeling the Jerboa went to go do the job anyway because of the high pay that was promised, the duo decided to sit this mission out and just relax, plus bean didn't want to miss out on playing Mario wonder today! And that's exactly what he was doing, sitting on the living room couch and playing the game, his eyes sparkling with excitement as bark walks into the room with a cup of coffee. He sits down in the couch and watches bean play, thinking of grabbing a controller later to join in eventually.

....Bark looks at his phone a bit concerned however, Fang hasn't gotten back to him since his last message which was sent last night. It said he had one last idea he could use to maybe change the tides against team sonic and their new lizard pest of an ally. But bark ask if he was certain it would work..he didn't get a reply..so he sighs as there still wasn't an update. "Oh you know he's fine!" Bean assure his best buddy, Not turning away from the game. "You know team sonic! They find some way around it but they don't kill him ya know! They too good for that, or else Eggman would've kicked the bucket already!" The duck waves a hand, bark nods agreeing..bean's right, if anything, fang would just have a couple of bruises but then get right back up on his feet In the morning. But still, the feeling in his gut just kept bothering him..what was so different about this mission from the other times they went against sonic and his friends that made it so.. different..

His thought process was cut short as the duo heard the garage door open and close, bean pausing his game and jumping up. "See! That must be him! The mission is done, an we gonna get pizza! Ya want pineapple?" He jokes as bark chuckles, playfully pushing the duck as he gets up to go open the door..but it opens already by Fang, the duo stare at his condition in disbelief...Fang was covered in ash, the tip of his tail still on fire, the queen was completely busted, also covered in ash with springs and bolts falling off her, the last of her strength used to get fang home. So she collapses on the floor and her tire goes flat, tied up to the queen via a net was a giant Mech Head of Fang, also covered in ash and busted to a similar condition of the queen, The room is just silent for a moment.

"uh...man is it BBQ season! We can definitely use that flame to bust a grill right!" Bean jokes, but fang's expression definitely shows he doesn't want to hear it.. actually, he didn't even have the motivation to grouch at bean for such a terrible joke...he just...walks past the duo, his tail dragging across the floor. "Don't talk to me.." is all he says as he goes to his room and closes the door behind him. They both look at each other with a worried expression, Bark knew something would definitely go wrong...he'd go to take a look at the giant Robot Head, despite it's condition it looked like it was expertly made! Using some Eggman tech, it seems it was a state of the art mech! It must take a lot of hits before it could go crashing down. "Wow it really looks like him!" Bean peeks over his shoulder, "Though the brown circle on its head bugs me, should've made an actual hat lol" the child taps it a bit, Bark nods...no he gets it, Fang actually really tired his hardest this mission, he pulled all the stops, he learned from his own mistakes, and he didn't run away...but despite it all he Still failed. He looks a bit sorrowful, sure he doesn't like it when he works for Eggman, the jobs aren't worth it for the money. But the fact that fang really went all out on this mission, he gets why he's so upset at such a big loss.

"so uh..what we do, I bet your brain is already cooking up a plan!" Bean would hop on the busted queen as bark nods, putting a paw on his chin, they shouldn't go talk to him directly...he's a man that shows emotion through action rather than words. And bugging him would just piss him off more, he knows this. They should give him some space, but it still do something to get his spirits up, that's when bark looks at the queen, it's fang's pride and joy..if they can repair it, it'll sure make him satisfied to at least talk about what happened in Northstar island, Bark snaps his fingers and points ta the queen.

"hm? Fix up the queen? I don't see why not! I'm not a mechanic expert butttttt, I'm sure she comes with an instruction manual!" Bean hops down as he goes to the garage to look for one, Bark nods as he seperated the net from the queen and pushes her to the center of the room, he knows how to drive the queen but not how to repair it..he's not an expert at that kind of thing, but it's worth a shot.

For the next hour or so, bean and bark try to put the queen back together. Bean couldn't find an instruction manual unfortunately, so they'll just have to wing it! Plus they saw fang fix it plenty of times how hard can it be?...hard... extremely hard, every button on her did something and the duo accidentally activated it each one. They summoned the spring and she'd bounce around everywhere, bean getting squished and shaped into an accordion to try and stop it. The drill, which made a hole in the floor and the two panicked trying to pull her out! The newly added missiles which fired at the wall and made yet another hole! The orb shields, which were a new addition, panicked the duo as it circle around the queen and started knocking things over. Especially bean's Nintendo switch dock which he quickly caught. "Phew! Safe!" Then the television fell on top of him, Bark had to put it back in place and help bean up.

Eventually, Fang finally exits his room, with a towel around his neck and shoulders. He got all the ash off him thanks to a nice shower..but then stares at the duo making a mess of the living room as they pumped the queens tire with too much air and now she's tilted downwards, They both turn to fang and nervously smile. "L-look we can explain! We thought fixing your bike would cheer you up but ah...we.. aren't experts at this." Bean tried to explain, as the queens tire suddenly pops and the air comes out, making her fly around the room before hitting the wall and falling in the floor...the duo look at fang worriedly.

At first, he's silently staring...but then he starts to Snicker, then chuckle...till he finally burst out laughing, slapping his knee! "NYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! YOU BOTH COULDN'T FIX A BUCKET OF BOLTS EVEN IF YOU TRIED!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!" He'd burst laughing! The two have a sigh of relief, at least he's smiling! "Hey! I'm a bomb maker not a repair man!" Bean giggles as he puts his hands behind his head, Bark nods agreeing, as fang walks over to the queen and positions her to stand up again. "Look how about this, I'll reach you all everything there is to know about to queen, so if I'm not around, ya won't fuck up the next time you try to repair her!" They both nod as they walk over. "Oki Doki! You're the boss!" Bean salutes as bark gives a thumbs up. Fang gives a slight smile.."thanks..." He mutters, bark's eyes sparkle but fang now changes back to the subject at hand. "Now then! First off ya need to know about all her gadgets.."

[davidmariottecomics]

Goodbye IDW! Hello Something New!

Hi there! 

After seven years and some change, today, 12/22/2023, is my last day at IDW Publishing. It's for good reasons. Things just timed out that my last day could be the last work day of the year for IDW and in the new year, I'll be starting a new job elsewhere. I'll still be in comics and once I can talk about the new gig, I'm really stoked to be letting you all know. So, today, I want to say my goodbye to IDW. 

But first, before I get to that, I did have something else notable happen this week. I sent my last tweet!  I'm officially shutting down my Twitter at the end of the year and if you see a Twitter account claiming to be me after January 1st, it's an imposter. If you'd like to keep up with me, however, I've got good news! There are lots of other ways to find me still. Here are a few! 

Check out and bookmark my website! Get access to my blog, plus lots of behind the scenes stuff and new projects at my Patreon!  Subscribe to a newsletter version of my blog for free at Buttondown!  Follow my blog on Tumblr!  Keep up with my main socials: Bluesky and Instagram (I'm @davidmariotte at both)! 

Okay, with that out of the way, let's talk about it. This is not my first time saying goodbye. In fact, almost exactly a year ago, I said my farewells to Transformers, one of the hallmarks of my IDW run. I don't want to revisit that too much, so if you want to read about my early days at IDW or that part of my career or a big list of thank yous to my collaborators, you can! And while I've had significant runs with other books, most notably Sonic the Hedgehog which with January's Sonic: Fang the Hunter #1 will mark 100 issues of Sonic at IDW under my editorial eye, or my personally exciting, if shorter runs on stuff like Godzilla, Samurai Jack, the Hasbro Action books, Canto, Scarenthood, The Kill Lock, The October Faction, Wynonna Earp, Brynmore, Atomic Robo, or literally so many other books, I don't want this to just be a retrospective on the work. In fact, I'm largely not interested in talking about the past when I say goodbye this time. 

IDW has afforded me a lot. They've helped me find my place in the industry. They let me do some writing. They let me do a lot of editing. I learned various other skills both through directly on the course of the job and through my own interest because of what I was doing and seeing there. I have made true lifelong friendships. And I have made comics. So leaving feels weird. I'm very bummed to be leaving a place that really has been my home (and for the past couple of years, has quite literally been mostly at my home) for so long. But I am even more excited about what's to come. On my side, I can't announce it just yet, but watch this space for some big news soon (after a couple weeks of much needed vacation). 

Talking about the future I actually can say a little more about, I wanna tell you how excited I am for IDW. Yes, I'm leaving, but IDW remains home to so many people--both at the company and our freelance creators--and so many projects that are close to my heart. Next year is their 25th anniversary. That is an impressive feat in not just the world of comics, but any industry. For the milestone, they've got a lot of cool stuff planned. 

I'm not going to blow up IDW's spot and say anything about what's coming up too early. Just to talk about the things that are already public knowledge, you've got things like the new TMNT: The Last Ronin sequel! The TMNT ongoing on it's road to issue #150! There are cool new originals like Golgotha Motor Mountain! There's the launch of the aforementioned Fang the Hunter which is IDW's first Classic Sonic mini-series and sees 100 unique issues of Sonic at IDW and is just laugh-out-loud funny and full of such good action! And I'll tease this, when the Sonic ongoing is back with issue #69 in May, you'll be in for an absolute treat as that series runs up to #75! 

I know some readers of this blog don't read a ton of American direct market comics. You aren't "Wednesday Warriors" who go to the comic shop every week. You like the comics you like and I've been graced to be a person working on those comics. If you aren't as familiar with how these comics work, let me assure you of a couple things. The books I was editing and many unannounced projects that I set up will still be happening. Because of the timelines of comic production, you'll still see my name in IDW books for a few more months and, at the same time, you'll see new credits creeping in. And if we've done everything right, that'll be about the only thing you'll notice is different, at least at first. As the editors really take the reins and take over, we'll both be in for the treat of the unknown! I'll be reading them with a good sense of professional jealousy. 

Now, there's one other book that has been announced for next year and I wanted to do a special call out for. Godzilla: Valentine's Day Special went to press this week. It's the last IDW book I saw all the way from inception to completion. And, in many ways, it's kind of a really good analogy of a comics editorial career. I think, genuinely, this may be the book that went from conception to reality the fastest in my career. I think it took... less than a week from a half-joking suggestion of doing a Godzilla Valentine's Day book to getting Zoe Tunnell's pitch in and approved by Toho and getting it on the publishing schedule. Usually these things take a bit--people are working on other projects, licensors need time to review things, whatever other bumps happen along the way--but this was like lightning. Everyone just got it instantly. And then Zoe turned in the script and it was great! Things continued, as they do, and then... we got a curveball or two. I won't go into too much detail, but major thanks to Sebastian Piriz and Rebecca Nalty for getting it done and having a book that we were all so proud of that I could send to press this week. And it struck me on that final press day that despite the curveballs we had been thrown, when it came to actually getting it approved, everything was so easy, straightforward, and smooth. When you read it in February, if I've done my job right, maybe you'll remember seeing somewhere that there were some curveballs. But mostly, you'll just have a really good book in your hands. (BTW, you did JUST MISS the final order cutoff on that, so do check in with your shop about still trying to get you a copy!) 

Most of the time, after a book like that goes to press, an editor gets ready to do it again--maybe in a few minutes or days or the next week. For the first time in a long time, I won't be getting ready to do it again at IDW. That's a complicated feeling, but I'm so excited for the future. 

The best metaphor I've been able to come up with for what is happening is it's like I've been working in a one room office constantly for the past seven years. It's got that dull office lighting, you know the kind. Each day, projects come and go across my desk, and as they otherwise disappear into the world, I put up one of those glow-in-the-dark stars as a memory of it. And each day, I work with so many people--my coworkers at IDW who've helped foster my growth, my collaborators as both a writer and editor who have made so many stories with me, all the folks where things never quite lined up but we kept trying, and the readers who are an inherent part of the ecosystem, the reason we make what we do. And so, for each of those people, I put up a little glow in the dark toy. 

Now, for the first time, I'm going to get up and leave the office. As I flick the switch behind me, everything in there that has been soaking up light for years now glows. Some of the glows are slight. Some are so fantastically bright, it feels like they're drawing attention through the walls of the room. Together, they make the room brighter than it was when I left. Now, sometimes, I might sneak in to borrow a toy--make a copy of it for the new office I'm doing the same thing in. Other people will certainly do the same and make they've got their Evan Stanley figure on their shelf. If I ever return for a longer time, I'll be so glad to flick the light back on and let them all absorb even more light to glow an even longer time. If I don't, I rest happy that the glow goes on and forever people will be able to come back and discover some part of it. And I'll start working on a new office soon. 

If I keep going,  I'm a little afraid that I won't be able to stop. So, for now, I'll just say again, thank you. The future is about to be very exciting. Next year is for the creators you love or don't know you love yet, the books that are going to light you up that you've come to expect and the ones that will catch you by total surprise. While there are a lot of things I'm going to miss deeply and books that I'm going to wish I had gotten to do more on, I also have the really exciting experience of getting to see this stuff as a fan of IDW, just like you. And, hey, I hope you'll be a fan of the stuff I do next too! 

As for next steps, like I've said, I'm not going far. I'll still be in comics. I'll share the news when I can.

Before that, I'm getting a little break. Not too long, just a few weeks, and obviously the holidays are part of those, but in my time between my jobs, I'm going to be working on some personal projects. I put together a little tracking list recently and I have something like 40 projects in various stages of gestation right now. Obviously, I'm not going to be working on all of those at once, and chances are, some of them will never see the light of day, but I'm going to be working on trying to bring a couple of them to you in the new year (and beyond). If you're an artist that I've had the pleasure of working with in the past and you think you might be interested in peeping the list and seeing what we could do together, let me know. You can reach me on my website contact page, through my email, or through Discord (feel free to ask if you don't have it!). 

And if you read this blog, you'll see me hyping my last IDW projects up until we run out of what I left behind. Simultaneously, once I've got stuff to start hyping up for my personal projects and for the new gig, you'll see those start to pop up here too! I'll also keep talking about making comics and my thoughts on the state of the world and whatever else it is I blog about here on a regular basis! 

Thanks for reading. Bye-DW! Next week, I'll be doing a little Best of 2023. But for now, onto our regular features. 

What I enjoyed this week: Dungeons & Daddies (Podcast), Reverse 1999 (Video Game), Nancy (Comic), Lego Masters (TV show), Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror (Short story collection), Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Links (Video Game), Cunk on Earth (TV show), I'm a Virgo (TV show), The Boy and the Heron (Movie), an easy last week at IDW, all the well-wishes that've already poured in, leaving today to celebrate Christmas with my family and then have some downtime to work on my stuff, signing the paperwork for the new job, not being on Twitter anymore, getting all of our mail out in a timely fashion for the holidays, Chainsaw Man (Manga), I picked up Superman and Hawkgirl, so excited to get caught up on those, and knowing that in leaving this job, there are certain folks I just get to deepen my relationships with as friends, instead of co-workers. 

New Releases this week (12/20/2023): Godzilla: The War for Humanity #3 (Editor) Godzilla Rivals: Jet Jaguar vs. Megalon (Editor)

Announcements: The Cartoonist Cooperative is still doing E-Sim cards for Gaza. You can donate a digital sim card so that residents can get access to the internet and have more functional phones and, in exchange, get some comics or a drawing or whatever else is available from the many participating artists. Additionally, the CC is hosting their mini-comic awards! It's a cool way to maybe get your mini-comic recognized and make some scratch!

You can also give more directly. If you don't have money, and I get it, you can call or fax or email or show up at the offices of your representatives. Keep your eyes open for actions too, whether they're another general strike or demonstrations and marches in your area. Given the nature of the things, they often come together fairly quickly, so do exercise your due diligence. Also, of course, being informed and just giving your time to Palestinian journalists and writers is incredibly valuable. 

While Becca has got some things brewing for next year (and now on a schedule), you should reach out if you'd like to work on comics with them! You can find their gallery on their website and also, y'know, maybe pick up a few things for belated gifts while you're there!

Finally, I called out my Patreon earlier. You can support me (and boy, that would be cool during the time between paychecks because vacation is nice, but living is still expensive) and get not just this blog, but a lot of cool special features like extra posts, comics, infographics, and more! At the $10+ levels, you can also access stuff like a holiday gift guide I made, a podcast pilot for a spicy show with Becca, and a ton more! 

Pic of the Week: Happy holidays from Becca and me! If you wanna full card in your inbox, lemme know! 

[mike-the-hedgehog]

My IDW Sonic Comics Physical Variants Collection Of 231

The collection I have so far the following:

IDW Sonic Issue 1-69 Cover A B & RI Covers on going series missing some Cover B's & RI Covers

Miniseries:

Bad Guys 1-4 Cover A's

Imposter Syndrome Full Sets

Scrapnik Island Full Sets

Fang the Hunter Full Sets

One Shot Specials:

Sonic 30th Anniversary Full Sets

5th Anniversary Edition Full Sets

Tails 30th Anniversary Full Sets (Not Including online exclusive)

Endless Summer Full Sets

Winter Jam Full Sets

900th Adventure two RI Covers 1:10 1:25

Sonic Movie 2

Halloween Special Missing One Variant Cover

Amy's 30th Anniversary Full Sets (Not Including online exclusive)

Halloween ComicFest

Annual 2019 2020 2022

Free Comic Book Day 2021 2022

Issue #1 C2E2 Convention Foil Variant Covers Sonic Logo & Rafa Knight

I've been collecting since April 2018 the series first started and first time got Into reading a Sonic comic too 😊