Sonic The Hedgehog Select Volume 1 (Sonic Select)

The very first issue of Sonic Select takes a few of the Sonic Special issues from the mid 90's and re-prints select stories from those issues. So please note; although the cover has more recent designs of the characters, the artwork in these comics comes straight from the 90's, but I personally have gotten used to the artwork change, but still I thought it be best to warn people, in case they were expecting more recent Sonic stories. The specials and the stories included in this book are as follows; From the 'Sonic: In Your Face' special; 1. The Quest; Sally Acorn, Sonic and the other Freedom Fighters embark on a quest to retrieve a mysterious treasure and at the same time the reader discovers NICOLE's origin. Followed by a double poster. 2. The Mirror Zone; Sonic and Tails do battle against Robotnik's Swatbots in the Mirror Zone, note that a mirror IS required to read the backwards text. 3. Tails' Tallest Tale; Tails' first official solo story where he attends a Sonic Fan Club meeting, but it is soon crashed by Robotnik himself. From the 'Sonic and Knuckles' special (loosely based on the Mega Drive/Genesis game); 4. Panic In The Sky; a two-parter where Sonic and Tails venture fourth to the Floating Island and team up with Knuckles when the island is mysteriously heading towards the Freedom Fighters home of Knothole, loaded with weapons. 5. Fire Drill; Knuckles does battle against an unknown foe in the Sandopolis Zone on the Floating Island. 6. Lord of the Floating Island; Knuckles helps out a baby kangaroo find it's mum when a solar eclipse effects the Floating Island's weather patterns. From the 'Sonic In Triple Trouble' special (loosely based on the Game Gear game); 7. TTTriple TTTrouble; a four parter where Robotnik accidently splits a Chaos Emerald into two and hires Fang/Nack the Weasel in order to find it. Meanwhile both Sonic and Knuckles are each all ready hot on the trail of the broken emerald piecies. 8. Submersible Rehearsal; Tails takes his new submarine the Sea Fox out for a test spin and helps out a seagull when it gets into danger thanks to Robotnik's Octobot. (Note: This story was re-printed again in Sonic Select Book 8, which features more stories about Tails). 9. First Contact; After aiding Vector the Crocodile; Knuckles attempts to find a mysterious being called 'Archimedes' and tries to discover their true identity. And from the 'Sonic Live!' special; 10. The Substitute Freedom Fighters; When Sally and the other Freedom Fighters get captured by Robotnik; Larry Lynx bands together a secondary group of Freedom Fighters to come to their aid. Overall for it's price you're getting 10 stories all together, so it's not too bad in that regard. Just be aware that maybe one or two stories may be re-printed in other books, especially if like me you started collecting them at a later point in the print run first, but each book should bring something unique to the table regardless. Overall this I quite a good start to the Sonic Select series, given the amount of stories they packed into this book. Defenately recommended if you're a Sonic fan, but defenately if you're a Knuckles fan, seeing as though there are plenty of Knuckles related stories in this book.

Bought for my son. Perhaps a bit too young still to read comics and enjoy the same thrill as watching a sonic cartoon. I have read it though and find it quite an interesting illustration of the sonic characters

There have been a lot of reprints of Archie Sonic Comics over the years, so I can understand that some people might find it hard to keep track. However, if you're looking for a place to start then the Sonic Archives and Sonic Select books are the place. The two titles work well together, with Sonic Archive publishing the main Sonic comics in order, while Sonic Select focuses on publishing the best of the various special issues. I have a lot of fun reading the old Archie Sonic stories and if you're after some lighthearted fun, this is a good book.

Sonic has been in so many forms that I'm beginning to lose track; computer games, toys, cartoons and of course comic books. After reading the Sonic Archives #10 I was disappointed but felt a glimmer of hope due to Spaz's work and decided to buy both Sonic Select 1 and 2 (see my soon to come review for the latter)to see if these special collections would meet my expectations. Book 1 does not. The story, the very back-bone of good comics is broken. This is best illustrated in the Sonic Triple Trouble spin off comic strip. This would of been a great opportunity for a grand Sonic adventure based off said game but instead Sonic transfers between all the games zones in 2 pages. Hardly exciting. Naturally the entire comic is also peppered with bad jokes and one liners such as "Hey, moldilocks!" and "your mama". Can you imagine Knuckles saying "your mama"? Thought not. The cover and cover inserts (provided by Spaz) aside the artwork in this comic is, frankly laughable. Passable at best it is drawn apparently to heighten its 'humorous' nature. The inkers have stuck to basic line work with little to no shadow experimentation. This could have been fixed by colour blending and effects but this book sticks to flat tones. Without the main man Patrick Spaziante the book's artistic flavour is lost. This is a book I can only recommend for the most die hard of Sonic fans, particularly the younger audience it was seemingly intended for. If you really want to jump into niche Sonic then I recommend the game Sonic Triple Trouble; something the comic advertises quite clearly.