Originally printed as the top header picture for Sonic Super Special #10 and then spiraled wildly out of control.
So this one was hella fun! Originally, Vin (the assistant editor) asked me what I'd wanted to do for this issues header. I'd mentioned always wanting to reinterpret the cast of the Sonic comics as black and white cartoon characters. He'd asked me to draw the Freedom Fighters.
...I did and then I sorta kinda didn't wanna stop. Now I want to do a second wave to tackle any characters not featured here in addition to a possible side project Mike Pellerito (President) wants me to tackle for Archie. So yeah, this one went nuts and because of it I'm havin' lots of fun!
Each character was designed using stylistic elements found only in old black & white cartoons. Characters featured are:
* Sonic! AKA Mr. Needlemouse - Obviously based on Mickey Mouse in design
* Tails! - Mickey Mouse shorts
* Knuckles! - Fightin' stovepipe hat hobo!
* Amy Rose, Cream the Rabbit, and Cheese the Chao! - Flapper Girl, Oswald ears
* Uncle Chuck! - Dapper fellow with a cane and a bowler hat
* Princess Sally! - She's happy now that she's be Unclockworkicized! Compare her pose with Nicole's
* Antoine & Bunnie! - Happily married couple, Bunnie has square Oswald ears to differentiate her from Cream and Vanilla
* Boomer! - Chubby newsie type walrus mechanic
* Nicole the Clockwork-Lynx! - She's a wind-up girl
* King Acorn - He's written in Tim Curry's old voice now. I based his design off King Blozo from Popeye/Thimble Theater
* Vanilla the Rabbit - Classy rabbit lady. Doesn't she look motherly? The carrot on her umbrella even has eyes
* Shadow AKA Mr. Grumpymouse! - His precious Maria was tied to a railroad track so now he threatens to close down the orphanage!
* Rouge! - Sultry Femme Fatale Bat lady!
* E-123 Omega! - That's one angry trashcan!
* Vector! - He's in his old design, but instead of listening to music, he's just really, really cold.
* Espio and Charmy! - Did they even have Ninja's in black/white cartoons? Espio's too stoic for artistic interpretation (also, "Japanese" tropes from that era are really racist lol) and Charmy's an annoyance no matter what the time period.
* Mighty and Ray! - Obviously based on Popeye. Ray is his precocious second in command!
* Blaze and Marine! - The polar opposite of Amy and Cream. Blaze is a conservative flapper girl, while Marine is a rough and tumble lady pirate!
* Silver! - This poindexter is always trying to bend spoons with his mind.
* Bean, Bark, and Nack - This gang of Hooligans are nothing but troublemakers! (Also, Bean is wall-eyed AND pie-eyed.)
* Thrash! - Fightin' stovepipe hat hobo
* Professor Eggman and his sidekick, Snivvles - Based off of Pajama Eggman of course.
* Naugus the Goblin King - Devilish little claw-handed imp!
Hope you enjoyed it! I'd upload these so that they're a bit larger but it wont seem that DevArt will let me. Oh well.
More...