IDW Sonic reading order
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I love the IDW Publishing Sonic the Hedgehog comics but they bear the marks of a common pox amongst American comic books: Little boxes containing editors notes telling you to go read something else if you want to know what’s happening. It isn’t a sprawl of crossovers with a shared universe like most cape comics but it still has spawned a bunch of miniseries and once-off comics that make reading it less straightforward than it should be.
If you want to dip your toes into the series without committing to a long, ongoing storyline I recommend Scrapnik Island, which was released as a four-issue miniseries or a single, paperback volume. It’s a standalone story with some neat horror vibes and absolutely gorgeous colouring and it only features Sonic and Tails from the main cast so you don’t have to know lots of characters going in. Seasons of Chaos is also a cute, standalone volume featuring the younger versions of the cast.
If you do want to jump into the series I keep my own reading order, shown in the big table below. This is not strictly by publication date or chronology, but trying to keep things in manageable chunks of numbered issues with occasional breaks to slot in the side stories, some of which do tie heavily back into the main plot.
If you want a reading order that is more faithful to release order there is Bobby Schroeder’s.
Mainline series
The IDW comics and mainline Sonic games take place in the same setting as each other with Ian Flynn being the head writer for both since Sonic Frontiers (2022). The comics start in the aftermath of Sonic Forces (2017), with the events of Sonic Frontiers happening sometime before issue #84.
The first column of the table divides the comic into broad story arcs. These are not official names and are mostly there to show useful jumping-on or -off points. The second column lists all the individual monthly issues and the third and fourth are the paperback volumes and hardback collections the stories are collected in, respectively.
Due to my reading order differing from the way that IDW have bundled issues together some volumes appear multiple times in the third column. If you are reading the volumes and following this guide just ignore the volumes when they appear crossed out.
The names of unreleased titles appear in italics.
| Arc | Issue | Volume | Coll. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fallout | #1 | 1: Fallout! | 1 |
| #2 | |||
| #3 | |||
| #4 | |||
| #5 | 2: The Fate of Dr. Eggman | ||
| #6 | |||
| #7 | |||
| #8 | |||
| #9 | 3: Battle for Angel Island | ||
| #10 | |||
| #11 | |||
| #12 | |||
| Tangle & Whisper | Annual 2019 | Tangle & Whisper | 2 |
| Tangle & Whisper #1 | |||
| Tangle & Whisper #2 | |||
| Tangle & Whisper #3 | |||
| Tangle & Whisper #4 | |||
| Metal Virus | #13 | 4: Infection | |
| #14 | |||
| #15 | |||
| #16 | |||
| #17 | 5: Crisis City | ||
| #18 | |||
| #19 | |||
| #20 | |||
| #21 | 6: The Last Minute | 3 | |
| #22 | |||
| #23 | |||
| #24 | |||
| Annual 2020 | |||
| #25 | 7: All or Nothing | ||
| #26 | |||
| #27 | |||
| #28 | |||
| #29 | |||
| #30 | 8: Out of the Blue | ||
| #31 | |||
| #32 | |||
| Operation Remaster, Part 1 | Bad Guys #1 | Bad Guys | 4 |
| Bad Guys #2 | |||
| Bad Guys #3 | |||
| Bad Guys #4 | |||
| #33 | 9: Chao Races & Badnik Bases | ||
| #34 | |||
| #35 | |||
| #36 | |||
| #37 | 10: Test Run! | ||
| #38 | |||
| #39 | |||
| #40 | |||
| #41 | 11: Zeti Hunt! | 5 | |
| #42 | |||
| #43 | |||
| #44 | |||
| Operation Remaster, Part 2 | #45 | 12: Trial By Fire | |
| #46 | |||
| #47 | |||
| #48 | |||
| #49 | |||
| Imposter Syndrome #1 | Imposter Syndrome | ||
| Imposter Syndrome #2 | |||
| Imposter Syndrome #3 | |||
| Imposter Syndrome #4 | |||
| #50 | 13: Battle for the Empire | ||
| #51 | 6 | ||
| #52 | 14: Overpowered | ||
| #53 | |||
| #54 | |||
| #55 | |||
| #56 | |||
| Scraps | Annual 2022 | ||
| Free Comic Book Day 2022 | |||
| Scrapnik Island #1 | Scrapnik Island | ||
| Scrapnik Island #2 | |||
| Scrapnik Island #3 | |||
| Scrapnik Island #4 | |||
| #1 |
ⁿ/ₐ | ⁿ/ₐ | |
| Diamond Cutters | #57 | 15: Urban Warfare | |
| #58 | |||
| #59 | |||
| #60 | |||
| #61 | |||
| #62 | 16: Misadventures | ||
| #63 | |||
| #64 | |||
| #65 | |||
| #66 | |||
| Endless Summer | |||
| Halloween Special | |||
| Winter Jam | |||
| Spring Broken | |||
| #67 | 17: Adventure Awaits | ||
| #68 | |||
| #69 | 18: Extreme Competition | ||
| #70 | |||
| #71 | |||
| #72 | 19: Collision Course | ||
| #73 | |||
| #74 | |||
| #75 | |||
| Scattered Pieces | Annual 2024 | 20: Cause & Effect (December) | |
| #76 | |||
| #77 | |||
| #78 | |||
| #79 | 21: Reprise (April) | ||
| #80 | |||
| #81 | |||
| #82 (November) | |||
| #83 (December) | |||
| #84 (January) | ⁿ/ₐ | ||
| Chaotix’s |
Mega Drive era
There are a few comics that feature the “classic” versions of the characters that form their own separate prequel era, taking place somewhere between the Mega Drive Sonic games (and more recent games that use those designs like Sonic Mania and Sonic Superstars) and when the cast received their “modern” redesigns in Sonic Adventure. These are all pretty standalone and don’t need to be read in any particular order.
| Issue | Volume |
|---|---|
| Seasons of Chaos | |
| Tails’ |
ⁿ/ₐ |
| Amy’s |
|
| Knuckles’ |
|
| Fang the Hunter #1 | Fang the Hunter |
| Fang the Hunter #2 | |
| Fang the Hunter #3 | |
| Fang the Hunter #4 |
Other comics
Promotional comics
Sega also publishes promotional comics for upcoming games. These are generally released for free and act as prequels for the games they are promoting.
- Sonic Forces #1: Moment of Truth1
- Sonic Forces #2: Stress Test
- Sonic Forces #3: Looming Shadow
- Sonic Forces #4: Rise of Infinite
- Team Sonic Racing
- Sonic Frontiers: Convergence
- Sonic Superstars: Fang’s Big Break2
Sparkflame
An independent comic anthology by the team who make the IDW comics.
Sonic and the Blade of Courage
An ongoing manga published monthly in Coro Coro Comic. It is drawn by Yuki Imada, who also made Jet Black Hedgehog, a loose adaptation of Shadow Generations. No official English translation of either comic has been published.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2: The Official Movie Pre-Quill
A promotional comic for the second Paramount Sonic the Hedgehog movie.
DC × Sonic the Hedgehog
A crossover with the Justice League.