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 and is also available as as 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.
If you want to dive into the series you three options:
- Individual issues as they come out monthly, plus the occasional annuals and miniseries
- Paperback volumes that collect four to five issues and the one-off special comics and come out a few months after the issues they contain
- Hardback collections that collect three volumes at a time plus any other miniseries and keep things the most straightforward, but are a couple of years behind
Whichever way you want to read you can find them yourself but if you want help with how to read them I keep my own reading order. 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 an alternative reading order you could also try Bobby Schroeder’s.
Mainline series
The table is divided up into a few different story arcs. These are not official names and just there to show where major storylines start and end and could be useful jumping-on or -off points.
If you are reading individual issues follow the second column.
The third column shows what volume each issue is collected in. Sometimes, due to my reading order being a little different to IDW’s, issues appear in here twice. If you are reading the volumes and following this guide just ignore the volumes when they appear crossed out.
The last column is what hardback collection each issue is collected in.
Titles that appear in the table in italics are not yet released.
| Arc | Issue | Volume | Collection |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neo Metal Sonic | #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 | |||
| Surge & Kit | 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 | |||
| #45 | 12: Trial By Fire | ||
| #46 | |||
| #47 | |||
| #48 | |||
| Imposter Syndrome #1 | Imposter Syndrome | ||
| Imposter Syndrome #2 | |||
| Imposter Syndrome #3 | |||
| Imposter Syndrome #4 | |||
| #49 | |||
| #50 | 13: Battle for the Empire | ||
| #51 | ⁿ/ₐ | ||
| #52 | 14: Overpowered | ||
| #53 | |||
| #54 | |||
| #55 | |||
| #56 | |||
| Diamond Cutters | #57 | 15: Urban Warfare | |
| #58 | |||
| #59 | |||
| #60 | |||
| #61 | |||
| #62 | 16: Misadventures | ||
| #63 | |||
| #64 | |||
| #65 | |||
| #66 | |||
| #67 | 17: Adventure Awaits | ||
| #68 | |||
| #69 | 18: Extreme Competition | ||
| #70 | |||
| #71 | |||
| #72 | 19: Collision Course | ||
| #73 | |||
| #74 | |||
| #75 | |||
| ⁿ/ₐ | Annual 2024 | ⁿ/ₐ |
Standalone
These are stories that are standalone and only make minor, if any, reference to the ongoing storylines of the comics. I’ve still included which volume they appear in. None of these have, as of yet, been published in the hardback collections. If you want to put these into the main reading order you could slap them all in between issues #56 and #57 to give a break in between storylines.
| Issue | Volume |
|---|---|
|
Scrapnik Island #1 Scrapnik Island #2 Scrapnik Island #3 Scrapnik Island #4 |
Scrapnik Island |
| Free Comic Book Day 2022 | 13: Battle for the Empire |
| Annual 2022 | |
| Sonic #1 5th Anniversary Edition | ⁿ/ₐ |
| 900th Adventure | 17: Adventure Awaits |
| Endless Summer | |
| Halloween Special | |
| Winter Jam | 18: Extreme Competition |
| Spring Broken |
Mega Drive era
There are a few comics that feature the “classic” versions of the characters that form their own separate prequel era. These are all pretty standalone and don’t need to be read in any particular order.
| Issue | Volume |
|---|---|
| 30th Anniversary | Seasons of Chaos |
| 30th Anniversary: Free Comic Book Day 2021 | |
| Tails’ 30th Anniversary | ⁿ/ₐ |
| Amy’s 30th Anniversary | |
| Knuckles’ 30th Anniversary | |
|
Fang the Hunter #1 Fang the Hunter #2 Fang the Hunter #3 Fang the Hunter #4 |
Fang the Hunter |
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 #1-41
- Team Sonic Racing
- Sonic Frontiers: Convergence
- Sonic Superstars: Fang’s Big Break2
Some other stuff
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2: The Official Movie Pre-Quill — A promotional comic for the second Paramount Sonic the Hedgehog movie
- Sonic The Hedgehog: The IDW Comic Art Collection — An artbook