Webcomic / Sonic the Comic – Online!

Unofficially Official or Officially Unofficial?

Sonic the Comic-Online! is a Fan Sequel of the long running Sonic the Comic, resurrected in webcomic form; with the consent of several of the original writers and artists. It began in 2003 and releases on a slow update schedule, releasing on average two issues per year (and now once per year after issue 276). It bears many of the hallmarks of the original series upon which it is based, making use of its own distinct Sonic continuity, as well as continuing and beginning strips based on other Sega games. It has a rather broad selection of readers, primarily from the USA with the UK coming in second, and a smaller spread worldwide.

STCO begins at an undefined, but short, amount of time following the final story arc of STC. Sonic and friends are attempting to recover the sunken Floating Island, the fate of Dr. Zachary is revealed and a series of antagonists are set up as the upcoming threat, primarily The Syndicate, The Family, and Kane Broadcasting Company. This eventually leads into an adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2, which culminated in the total destruction of the Special Zone. These events began the lead up to Kane convincing the population of Mobius that Sonic has been the real threat all along, whilst Grimer executes a final maneuver in honor of the mentally handicapped (and presumed dead) Doctor Robotnik to turn Sonic's closest friends against him.

Then Robotnik returns to power, built into a giant supercomputer to regulate his insanity, under the guidance of the Drakon Empire who are using him as a cover for their invasion force; another attempt at capturing the Emerald Mines on the Floating Island, and, thanks to a deal Sonic made to prevent the destruction of the Special Zone destroying Mobius, the Drakon Empire and Robotnik have the ability to destroy Mobius on a whim.

Issues #275 and #276 have a final Sonic story being written by the original comic's head writers.

Not to be confused with Archie Sonic Online, an online continuation of Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics), or Sonic the Continuation, a separate Fleetway fan-sequel.

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This comic provides examples of:

• Action Girl: Plenty, like Amy Rose and Tekno the Canary.
• Adapted Out:
  • The original Sonic the Comic ended after the Sonic Adventure arc. The arc was loosely based on the Adventure games, however it ignored all the humans and kept the characters on a World of Funny Animals. The fan-sequel adapts future Sonic games but hit a road due to the large amount of human characters. What did they do? Ignore them. Thus, Shadow's backstory is completely different because Gerald and Maria aren't characters in the comic.
  • Cream appears as a Sky Pirate. As a result of her role change, her mother Vanilla is absent.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: Sally is given a redesign obviously inspired by her SatAM incarnation. Now she looks like a Sega-Sonic character rather than a giant, humanoid squirrel in a suit. However, whether it be a Series Continuity Error or a retcon, by issue 275 Sally is back to her old design.
• Adaptation Distillation:
  • You would never have guessed that the Syndicate arc was an adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2 until Shadow arrived on the scene. Or that the Kane arc was essentially a very, very loose Sonic Heroes adaptation.
  • The Chaotix story "Rage Against the Machine" with Espio entering cyberspace takes from Shadow the Hedgehog, especially since the old Kintobor security program that's fighting off the bad doctor's Internet propaganda is a dead ringer for Shadow.
• Adaptational Villainy: Many of the game's canon characters, such as Rouge, Babylon Rogues, and Bean, are more evil than their game counterparts. Played straight with Shadow The Hedgehog but subverted with Shadow II, the A.I. based on Shadow The Hedgehog who is one of good guys fighting against Robotnik.

• Ambiguous Gender: In "The Universe Game" Void is female in this continuity, although he was male in the game. The writer of that story explained that, having not played Sonic Shuffle (which the story is very loosely based on), he assumed the Void was female based on his somewhat feminine appearance.
• Anti-Climax: Occasionally some threats are dispatched more easily than expected.
• Apocalypse How: As Iblis, Super Sonic causes a Class 4 in Silver's Bad Future in Sonic the Comic – Online!.
• Art Evolution: Due to having many artists it can be bumpy though. Also, when compared to Sonic the Comic it is easy to see that the characters are no longer simply their classic designs with an eye color change (though some artists do just use their classic designs like the original comic).
• Ascended Extra: Set from being a Villain of the week to being the main villain in the Tekno and Shorty story arc.
• Batman Gambit: How Super Sonic is finally defeated in Unleashed. His hunger for Chaos Energy allowed Tails and co to guide him into the Emerald Chamber with fake Chaos Emeralds, then had Porker eject the Chaos Energy from the chamber. Naturally, since Super is made of Chaos Energy, this either killed him or depowered Sonic once more. His true fate is currently unknown.
• Berserk Button: After the Kane arc Amy has one mentioning Sonic's name in front of her makes her go somewhat ballistic, reapeated firing her crossbow at a target with a picture of Sonic and when she meets Sonic after Kane arc she quickly and angry pulls out a gun on him.
• Big Bad Ensemble: With Robotnik driven insane several characters have taken the place of the Big Bad; Dr. Zachary, Don Long-Legs head of The Family, Grimer, Dr. Robotnik and The Drakon Empire.
• Break the Cutie: Tekno, where she ends up on the brink of insanity if not insane. She gets better later.
• Break the Haughty: For Sonic, the culmination of the Kane arc was initially expected to be a Heroic BSoD, but then followed up with Despair Event Horizon and then Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds combined with What the Hell, Hero?.
• Breaking Lecture: Grimer; single handedly pulling off something that Robotnik could never do. He made the whole of Mobius hate and fear Sonic, and served the planet on a plate to the mob. Just because Robotnik's villainous breakdown gave him nothing to do anymore. Oh, and he's going to get away with it, since he's already jumped to a parallel dimension. That is, until the finale when he finally got his comeuppance.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: The Kintobor computer at the end of the 2012 Christmas special.
• Broken Pedestal: Following the media smear campaign and everything else, Sonic became this to the remaining Freedom Fighters (except for Tails). Let's just say that, when you know the Sonicverse as a whole, it's pretty jarring to see even Amy hating Sonic.
• Bullying the Dragon: All of Mobius sans Tails and a few others hunting down Sonic non-stop is really asking for Super Sonic to break free. As of issue 266 it has come back to bit them in the butt hard.
• Canon Foreigner: As will the original run, practically the entire cast, Johnny Lightfoot and Porker Lewis were in the first Sonic game.
• Cave Full Of Crazy: Tekno trying to locate the Eternity Ring in Sunrise. Rather hilariously lampshaded as well; the largest text on the wall is "I'M NOT CRAZY,".
• Character Development: Sonic seems to be developing into less of a Jerkass and becoming more conventionally herioc. He's still far from the noble hero we all know though.

• Cloud Cuckoolander: An entire universe full. And then there's Charmy Bee. And Lord Dave.
• Continuity Nod: In issue 250 various characters from older issues popped up. In 255, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise (in a way that could also be taken as a Sonic Generations adaptation), various Sonic and Robotnik incarnations from the comics history appeared in Sonic's story.
• Composite Character: Buddy the Drakon takes on the role that froggy did in the sonic games, but is also the weakened form of Chaos as well.

• Dartboard of Hate: Amy uses a picture of Sonic for target practice with her crossbow.
• Deal with the Devil: Sonic goes to the Drakon Empire to try and save Mobius from Dr. Zachary and Shadow.
• Depending on the Artist:
  • The eye colors of the characters. It can switch between the Fleetway-canon colors (brown eyes for Amy, brown eyes for Tails, blue eyes for Knuckles, etc) and SegaSonic colors (green eyes for Amy, blue eyes for Tails, purple eyes for Knuckles, etc) depending on who's drawing it.
  • Most fans use the modern design for Sonic, but some of the artists stay true to the original comic and use the "classic" Sonic design with green eyes.
• Disney Death: Set. He came back the issue after he died, only to be killed again by the same character that killed him. Word of God states this was the plan all along.
• Everyone Has Standards: Even Sonic is pretty disgusted when he gets a chance to see just how much of an ass he was in the past.
• Expy: The cover of #277 features bird versions of the Teen Titans, whom the Chaotix meet while searching for Charmy
• Fake Ultimate Hero: In the print series, this was Tails' main trait in the Nameless Zone, as his letters home had claimed that Sonic was his sidekick. Deconstructed for a little while as Tails became more confident, and finally inverted when Tails really did become the Hero of Mobius.
• Falsely Reformed Villain: Max Gamble and Nack the Weasel both have allegedly gone straight become zone leaders and helping groups of people out of the goodness of their hearts, Nack helping the weasels and Gamble helping insect refugees from the Special Zone (who are certainly not Family members), the truth is that Gamble is working for Don Long-Legs head of The Family, and Nack is trying to take over the Ocean Falls Zone.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: Tekno killing a villain known as "Set", complete with a Gory Discretion Shot by beating him to death.
• Fighting Your Friend: In War of the Rose, Sonic battles Amy because of Sonic's Broken Pedestal. However Amy views Sonic as a Evil Former Friend.
• Footnote Fever: Done by Megadroid; referencing a previous issue when something important to the plot was carried over.

• Gory Discretion Shot: When Tekno apparently kills Set.
• Grand Finale: Issues 275 and 276 have a Distant Finale story written by the original STC writers to close the series.
• Great Offscreen War: The Great War between the Echidnas of Megopolis City and the Drakons of the invading Drakon Empire which took place eight thousand years ago over Mobius' Emerald mines which could contain the Chaos energy, a powerful but highly unstable energy source created by scientists on Drak the Drakons home planet, the Drakons were able to steal seven Emeralds before the war began. The gems, when combined with the Chaos energy, formed the legendary Chaos Emeralds. Two days before the war began, Pochacamac, leader of the Megopolis tribe, managed to steal the sacred Emeralds back from the Drakons, both to keep to return them to their true home and to prevent the Drakons from conquering the entire galaxy. Angered, the Drakons sent out a scout to examine the Echidna defenses before sending a full-scale invasion force to claim the Emeralds. A battle erupted inside Pochacmac's command room, with Drakon Prosecutors and Sentinels fighting against Sonic the Hedgehog and echidnas armed with Guardian Robots. The fight was briefly interrupted when a Prosecutor struck the Emeralds with his Dimensional Staff, causing a chain reaction that turned a fallen Drakon warrior into the mighty Chaos. The ensuing explosion weakened the gathered Drakon soldiers enough for Knuckles and the other tribesmen to fight back while Sonic and Pochacmac took care of Chaos. After a final push, the echidnas drove the Drakon invaders out of the city, but the war was far from over. Although no victor was ever declared, the failure of the Drakons to claim their intended prize suggests the Mobian defence held out, albeit at a great cost.
• Hannibal Lecture: Grimer; single handedly pulled off something that Robotnik could never do. He made the whole of Mobius hate and fear Sonic, and served the planet on a plate to the mob. Just because Robotnik's Villainous Breakdown gave him nothing to do anymore. Oh, and he's going to get away with it, since he's already jumped to a parallel dimension. That is, until the finale when he finally got his comeuppance.

• Heroic BSoD: Amy has been suffering one since the Kane arc because of finding out about Sonic's questionable decisions and the actions of the Neo Metallix posing as Sonic.
• Heroic Resolve: So long as something exists to menace Mobius, Sonic will never give up.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: This trope has become Sonic's downfall - the Kane Broadcasting Company uses their footage to convince the population of Mobius that Sonic is actually a villain who might be worse than Robotnik, and the worst part of it is, the footage they have to back up their claims, while very one-sided, is still genuine. Sonic's base can spy on every zone in the world, Sonic himself is a bit of a dick, and his super form is a monster who's already caused havoc before. Not to mention the fact that he created Robotnik... This smear campaign worked so well in conjunction with the Big Bad's evil scheme that Sonic is now a complete outcast, loathed and feared worldwide; even the Freedom Fighters (sans Tails) no longer trust him.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Amy and Tekno, but not so much as the series has progressed. More of a running joke that's been carried over from the original series.
  • They actually get together in the finale of the series.
• High-Altitude Interrogation: Used by Sonic on Grouchio Marxio to find out who bought mega mack from him to make bombs, Sonic does this by holding Grouchio high over a vat of Mega Mack.

• I Hate Past Me: This is Sonic's reaction to meeting his past self It leads to this conversation:
  Past Johnny: "Look - there's a PLAQUE on the statue (A statue of Johnny Lightfoot build after his death)."
  Past Sonic: "Heh, probably says 'JOHNNY LIGHTFOOT - PROFESSIONAL SIDEKICK'."
  Present Sonic: "YOU CREEP! Johnny was more of a hero than you'll EVER be!
• Killed Off for Real:

• Set, Shadow the Hedgehog, Vichama and most of the residents of the Special Zone have also been killed off, however there is a digital recreation of Shadow the Hedgehog called Shadow II.
• Grimer in Exit: Sonic, courtesy of Super Sonic, and Robotnik courtesy of Kintobor.

• Laser-Guided Karma: Issue 266 gives a massive case of this to nearly all of the cast for thier non-stop hunting of Sonic with the release of Super Sonic.
  • Grimer in the finale, after causing trouble for the heroes, making Sonic a fugitive and freeing Robotnik, he finally gets his comeuppance by being killed by Super Sonic. He's even literally killed by his eye lasers.

• The Man Behind the Man: Grimer was the one who gave Kane the information to ruin Sonic with a smear campaign and he tipped The Family off about the Special Zone imploding before it imploded, allowing the mob to wreak havoc on Mobius, he was also behind the Neo Metallix.
• Mistaken for an Imposter: Past Sonic thinks present Sonic In Memory is an imposter, or an Evil Twin.
• Mood Whiplash: STC #250 ends with Sonic ostracized from Mobius but still determined to protect it from Robotnik's invasion while STC #251 starts with Sonic complaining about being bored and having nothing to do. To be fair, the writer of the #251 lead story explained in the Message Zone that he wasn't aware of precisely how #250 would end and would have changed the beginning of #251 if he'd known.
• Monster of the Week: Very frequent. In the early days, they were generally super-powerful Badniks, but around the 100 mark they started using a menagerie of inept supervillains, alien threats, and other such things.
• Mythology Gag:
  • One story has Amy fighting a group of Badniks undercover as Tails Dolls. Yep, like that one from Sonic R. That one that players say is cursed.
  • Amy has worn her Sonic Boom attire once.

• No-Dialogue Episode: The final page of "Exit: Sonic" has Kintobor listening to Robotnik's robot consciousness raving against him, then silently deleting him from existence.
• Omnicidal Maniac:
  • Dr. Zachary and Dr. Robotnik fall under this as Vichama, but pale in comparison to Super Sonic.
  • Zachary manipulated Shadow the Hedgehog into destroying the Special Zone, and almost did the same to Mobius if it weren't for Sonic asking for help from the Drakon Empire.
• Passing the Torch: Sonic passes the responsibility of being hero of Mobius to Tails, while he tries to clear his name.
• The Plan: Dr. Zachary's escape in 'Prisoner' was planned by Knuckles in an attempt to find out the location of his lost race. If the Omnicidal Maniac didn't escape no one would complain.

• Schizo Tech: Echidnas. Their empire appeared rather tribal, savage, and mystic, but at the same time developed technologies that sometimes surpassed Robotnik's creations. For instance the Guardians, combat robots-cum-mecha battlesuits designed to protect their facilities ( such as the Floating Island ). Oh and the Floating Island itself.
• Shout-Out:
  • Features the occasional shout-outs to the Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics). In the 250th milestone issue Sally was revamped from her original anthro-shift design◊ to something that more resembles her Archie◊ design◊ (though it looks like something Sega would make). Joe Sushi also wore a jacket◊ similar to his Archie design◊.
  • Amy is seen wearing a Green Lantern shirt in one of her solo stories.
  • During the Prank War story of Decap Attack, an iron maiden is shown based on the Golem of Prague. Chuck is later seen sitting on explosives and holding a cowboy hat very similar to Major Kong.
  • In #277, as Cream is launched up in the air, she remembers how she read about Knuckles' gliding method in Sonic comics. The panel shows the #1 covers for not only the printed Fleetway version, but also the Archie version and the IDW version.
• Silent Antagonist: Robotnik after been driven insane does not say a word, until he is built into a giant supercomputer to regulate his insanity, under the guidance of the Drakon Empire.
• Super Mode: Sonic turns into Hyper Sonic and destroys much of the drakon army in the form in issue 275. In contrast to his Super Sonic form. Hyper Sonic harkens much closer to the heroic portrayal of Super Sonic in the games and other media.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: The Chaotix Crew. Mighty and Espio can barely stand each other and everyone in the team outright despises Charmy Bee.

• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Zachary delivers one of these to Knuckles in a story in the online comic, which provokes Knuckles into losing his temper and allowing him to escape.
• Toilet Humour: One had to feel sorry for the Omniviewer at the end of "Rage Inside the Machine", where he is accidentally consumed by Vector and has to wait to be excreted to get out of his body.
• Undying Loyalty: After the Kane arc, Tails is the only person who still believes in Sonic.
• Unlimited Wardrobe: Amy wears a different outfit in each story. We've yet to see the red dress from the games, though.

• We Used to Be Friends: Sonic and Amy (although it is implied Amy still trusts Sonic on some level, it's just impossible to be sure about him given the circumstances).
• Wham Episode Sonic's fall from grace and "exile" from Mobius in which he was disgraced in the eyes of every Mobian after a malicious smear campaign by the Kane Broadcasting Company, Sonic is now a fugitive, accused of being a terrorist.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Let's just say that the other Freedom Fighters are not impressed by Tails still believing in Sonic following the Kane Network's revelations about him.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Averted: Sonic's natural tendency is to just plow through his enemies with sheer force and speed, but when faced with an enemy who this doesn't work against he tends to get more tactical and use his powers more creatively (grabbing hold of them and super-vibrating himself, creating cyclones with his speed, angling his attacks so that his momentum is transferred to the enemy, or timing the attack to strike at the point where the enemy is most vulnerable).

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