Super Sonic Monthly #4: Road to 100 teases a bigger connected story

Welcome to another edition of Super Sonic Monthly, your one-stop shop for exclusive art, news, and the one place where your fan questions can be answered by IDW’s Sonic editorial staff!

The Road to 100 is clearly building toward something major. This week, the editorial team confirms that issues #82 through #100 connect to a larger story with big implications, even as they keep specifics under wraps.

There are plenty of teases of future character arcs for Surge and Kit, hints at new dynamics like Tangle and Espio, and also insights into how the IDW crew balances continuity, experimentation, and craft. If you’ve been following the recent arcs and post–Frontiers fallout, the message is clear: the next phase of IDW Sonic is already taking shape.

That’s not all, IDW has given AIPT an exclusive look at three covers for Sonic the Hedgehog #87! Get your preorders in, with the issue due out in comic shops in May 2026!

Let’s dive in!

Big Picture & Creative Direction

– Noah asks: Are there any plans to expand further on Surge/Kit’s origins before being taken by Starline?

Sonic Editorial: At the moment, no. We’re really interested in how these two tragic characters, both created with a purpose, deal with that purpose being lost. They have big plans to become heroes, but can they actually handle the pressure and selflessness that comes with it? We’ll have to see!

– Fern asks: I know there’s a lot of awesome team-ups we’d all love to see, but someday, can we please have a Sonic IDW arc with Tangle and Espio teaming up and having an awesome adventure?

Sonic Editorial: That would be a really fun story – their different personalities and skillsets might make them an unlikely duo, but unusual and new circumstances are a way to grow and learn. Tangle’s usual team is Whisper and the rest of the Diamond Cutters, and obviously Espio normally works with the other Chaotix members, so I think the challenge would be finding the reason why they are separated from their normal group and what causes them to need to work with each other.

– Ray (or raytcm) asks: What long-term story arcs or themes can fans expect for IDW Sonic after the ongoing events (Metal Virus, Surge & Kit, Scrapniks, etc.)? Will there ever be a universe-shaking saga comparable to Archie Sonic’s big events?

Sonic Editorial: Now, we don’t want y’all to whip out the tin foil hats, but all of the mini arcs on the Road to 100, from #82-#100, are connected to a larger plot with major implications on our characters. We’ve already started laying the groundwork for reveals and giving away hints at new technology, but we can’t speak too much about it! We’ll leave this discussion to the fan theorists!

– CitrusTheNerd asks: How does the team craft new story arcs? What considerations are made to ensure that the plot is unique from the variety of other adventures Sonic has been on?

Sonic Editorial: What a good question! One of the really fun things about Sonic is that while we always want to make sure we’re staying true to the characters and franchise, the stories themselves can thrive across a lot of genres. That definitely helps in keeping our minds open and the ideas fresh. We’ve thought about what a post-apocalyptic Sonic story might look like, or going full sci-fi with Sonic in space, or a high-fantasy inspired arc. Even when those ideas don’t pan out, they still get the creative juices flowing!

– Andy Mayer asks: We already had Tangle mentioned in Sonic Frontiers. How much would it take for IDW characters to be featured in a future game, even if it’s just a supporting role?

Sonic Editorial: Your support is the first step! After that, we let the creative minds behind the Sonic games create the best stories for all of you! For example, Tangle and Whisper are available as DLC characters in Sonic Racing: Crossworlds this month, which is super exciting!

– John asks: Howdy! Any chance that we’ll be able to see more of Silver’s future or the Sol Dimension in the comics? They’re blank canvases ripe to be explored!

Sonic Editorial: Hey there! The IDW comics have shown a hint of Blaze’s world before (check out issue #30!), but for the time being, all of Blaze and Silver’s adventures will take place while they are in present-day Sonic’s world.

Character Arcs & Relationships

– Makoh asks: If Eggman’s encounter with Mimic hadn’t happened, would Mimic have stayed on the team, or would he have betrayed them at the end of the day?

Sonic Editorial: This is a great question! Personally, we think that Mimic was bent on betraying them. He’s simply too selfish to give up things for the greater good.

– Captain Daybreak asks: Out of every character, who is your favourite character to write for?

Sonic Editorial: That’s a great question! Why don’t we ask some of the talented writers who make the Sonic comics so wonderful?

“I love them all, but if I’m being honest, it’s Dr. Eggman. It’s just fun to be unapologetically evil. In…in comics, I mean. Fictionally! Don’t do real evil!” – Ian Flynn

“The Chaotix! (Do they count as one character?).” – Danny Barnes Jr.

“Amy, she’s the most fun to write funny lines for!” -Evan Stanley

“Sonic when he’s having an existential crisis!” -Iasmin Omar Ata

“Gotta be Tails – always a super genius but never a know-it-all.” -Kiel Phegley

– CitrusTheNerd asks: When creating new characters for the comics, what sort of things does the team consider in order to make the new character a worthy addition? (Design, personality, story significance, etc.)

Sonic Editorial: All of the above! There’s tons of ways to come up with characters, but we want to make sure the decisions we make in development supports the story we’re trying to tell. Usually we create new characters when the story calls for it, which helps determine who the character should be and what their role is. We can work backwards from there to establish a design and personality that makes sense with what the story needs.

Worldbuilding & Continuity

– Ray (or raytcm) asks: What hints can you give for IDW Sonic #84 and onward? Will it be an adaptation of Sonic Frontiers or after the events of Sonic Frontiers?

Sonic Editorial: The events of Sonic #84 take place after the end of Sonic Frontiers! Although the events of the game have an impact on the characters, we will only tangentially be discussing the game! We can’t give too many spoilers!

– Makoh asks: Mimic’s ability to shapeshift is unique to him, or can it be used by every Octopus?

Sonic Editorial: We’ll have to ask the next octopus that shows up!

– Speed asks: How is IDW going to incorporate with the games?

Sonic Editorial: We’ve already begun! On the IDW side, you’ll notice that the events, and fallout, of Sonic Frontiers has made an appearance following Sonic #84. On the games side, we’re excited to have Tangle and Whisper, two comic original characters, appear in the Sonic Racing: Crossworlds game!

– Payge C asks: How do artists make the layouts for the comics? I struggle with drawing on small canvases, so I wanted to know how some of the artists go about drawing them

Sonic Editorial: In my experience, there can be a pretty wide range of what layouts look like – some artists turn in really tight, detailed thumbnails, and others are more loose and flowing. Artists can have personal and unique workflows that they have developed over lots of time and practice, so the only real standard is that the editorial team can tell what’s going on (that includes stick figures)!

If you’re interested in learning about composition and panel layouts, though, there are plenty of online guides that can help, and you might be able to check out books about making comics from your local library as well. Composition can get pretty complicated, but one big idea to keep in mind is figuring out how you want someone’s eye to be guided through the page – having a clear visual hierarchy can immediately draw someone’s attention to the most important elements and keep readers from getting stuck or lost as to where they should look next.

– Payge C asks: How can I get better at quick and rough sketches when making a comic, so I don’t overwork myself too hard by making clean, polished rough layouts?

Sonic Editorial: Comics are a ton of work, and speaking for myself, I know that sometimes chasing perfection can prevent “done” from happening! I try to keep in mind the purpose of rough layouts – they’re the phase when you’re brainstorming how to visually tell the story, so they don’t need to be super detailed or polished.

Layouts can convey character order, poses and actions, props, backgrounds, and perspective shots, even where speech balloons and captions are going to go, but they should be loose enough that if you realize something’s not working, you can just scrap it and redraw it another way. Maybe you can try drawing your layouts in pen, or with a timer for how long you can spend on each one, so you’re forced to not dwell on the details and you can iterate more options faster without getting too precious about making each one super neat and clean. And like I said in the last answer, there’s nothing wrong with a stick figure in the layouts stage!

– 🐝BeezyBee_063🐝 asks: First things first, I highly appreciate the work & effort you all put in the comics, especially when it comes to coloring and library; with that said, I would love to know how the coloring process is being done from scratch.

Sonic Editorial: We have amazing colorists on Sonic, so I’m glad to see them getting a shout-out! Coloring can’t start until the inks are ready, but as soon as lineart is complete, we send over those files and the script to the colorist. The colorist needs the script to take note of things like “What time of day/night is it and what’s going on with the environment?” The current time and the passing of time informs how the characters and backgrounds should be colored, like if it’s an outside scene at night, or if characters are trapped inside a burning building, for example! They also pay attention to things like “When a setting/location changes, how can the colors make it clear to the audience that we’re in a different place?” or “Are there specific colors noted in the script that are narratively important?”

With all that (and more!) in mind, they can then start actually working on the colors. Almost all Sonic work is done fully digitally, so pages are “flatted” first, which basically means each every single section/element is cleanly filled with a distinct color so it can be easily selected later on without interfering or spilling over into neighboring sections. These aren’t the final colors, so the colorist then goes in and renders the pages until everything is finished. Then the colors go through a lot of review and adjustments until the files are finally sent to the printer!

– Alyssa asks: Hi I’d be totally into an IDW version of something like Sonic Universe. Is it possible for ya’ll to make something like that?

Sonic Editorial: Totally! In the Road to 100, we’re really trying to focus on all of the amazing characters that influence Sonic’s life. For example, if you’ve been wanting more Blaze and Silver, you will love Issues #89-91, as the pair embark on their own adventure!

We also work hard to give our characters the opportunity to shine, such as the Chaotix 30th Anniversary or the Knuckles 35th Anniversary Special! Could we one day have a series focusing on all of these characters? It’s entirely possible! We’ll just have to see!

– Sammy asks: Will we ever see Infinite the Jackal return or be introduced into the comics? He has the potential to be a really cool presence!

Sonic Editorial: Not even we know the fate of Infinite, but we agree that he’s a fantastic character.

– John asks: Could we see more of the Lost Hex in the comics? Or Zeti that aren’t the Deadly Six? I’d love to see more of what that place and the (less evil) locals are like!

Sonic Editorial: Right now, there are no plans to bring back the Zeti, but who knows where our next adventures will take us!

And that’s a wrap on Super Sonic Monthly! We’ve still got a few more editions to go before we will open up the call for questions, so stay tuned!